NCDC: Climate of 2002 - June - North Carolina Drought

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Climate of 2002 - June
North Carolina Drought

National Climatic Data Center, 15 July 2002

June marked the third consecutive month with much below normal precipitation for North Carolina, but most of the months since May 1998 have been drier than normal. The persistent dryness for much of the last 12 months has resulted in the driest July-June in the 108-year record. The cumulative dryness of the last four years has resulted in a statewide long-term (Palmer) index whose severity rivals that of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1980s droughts. Agriculture has been severely impacted, with the USDA rating 62% of North Carolina's pasture and range land in the poor to very poor category by early July.

According to a June 26 press release by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources' Drought Monitoring Council, the drought's impacts include:

drying wells
the amount of water evaporating from Jordan lake is greater than the amount flowing into the lake
several water supply reservoirs have less than 100 days of water left. Ten water systems across the state were operating under mandatory water conservation measures, and 37 have issued a call for voluntary conservation. Many more systems need to start or tighten water conservation requirements.
"We have never seen such harsh drought conditions this early in the summer," said Woody Yonts, chairman of the state's Drought Monitoring Council.

Conditions in adjoining eastern Tennessee have been very dry. According to the National Weather Service, eastern Tennessee foresters "state that we are now in what is referred to as Oak Decline. This applies mainly to the red oaks that become stressed and die after a few years of water deficits."

Period	Rank
Statewide Precipitation Ranks for North Carolina , 2001-2002
Jun	11^th driest
May-Jun	10^th driest
Apr-Jun	2^nd driest
Mar-Jun	5^th driest
Feb-Jun	2^nd driest
Jan-Jun	8^th driest
Dec-Jun	4^th driest
Nov-Jun	3^rd driest
Oct-Jun	1^st driest
Sep-Jun	1^st driest
Aug-Jun	1^st driest
Jul-Jun	1^st driest

North Carolina statewide precipitation departures, January 1998 - present

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North Carolina statewide Palmer Z Index, January 1998 - present

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North Carolina statewide precipitation, July-June 1895-2002

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North Carolina statewide Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, January 1900 - June 2002

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NCDC / Clim. Monitoring / Climate-2002 / Jun / U.S. Regional Drought / Search / Help

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