RALEIGH
Torrential rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay this week helped pull North Carolina out of the worst category of drought, but a scientist said today that the drought is far from over.
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed no counties this week in the exceptional drought category. Last week, there were 21 counties in the category, which is the worst on the federal scale.
Jerad Bales, director of the U.S. Geological Survey North Carolina Water Science Center in Raleigh, said the state generally has received rain at the right times to keep most reservoirs in good shape.
"It does seem like in the last 10 years we have been in drought conditions more than we've been out," Bales said.
Bales said despite high stream flows because of heavy rains, the groundwater takes longer to recover and needs steady rain to do it.
But total recovery from drought conditions takes time. In 2002, the state emerged from drought because of heavy rain in the fall but Bales said it took nine months of steady rain for the ground water system to recover.
The USGS said 33 of its 74 rain gauges in Mecklenburg County on Tuesday and Wednesday exceeded the 100-year rainfall for a 24-hour period. Rainfall greater than 10 inches were recorded at seven gauges and 53 others recorded more than 5 inches.
The USGS said the heavy rain didn't break records, pointing to a 1997 storm that dumped 13.11 inches of rain on Mecklenburg County.
But records for flooding were broken at 9 stream gauges in Mecklenburg and neighboring counties. Record stream flows were recorded Thursday on the South Fork Catawba River, Haw River, Deep River and Eno River.
The National Weather Service said there was a chance of thunderstorms, especially in eastern North Carolina, through Sunday. Meteorologist Brandon Locklear at the weather service Raleigh bureau said there is a lessening chance of storms in central and western parts of the state.
"Monday is the day we are expecting to be pretty good," Locklear said. "The moisture and the storms will be exiting the area and temperatures will be in the mid-80s with low humidity."
Locklear said the week ahead looks dry and that the high pressure ridge over mid-Atlantic and Southern states was expected to block the progress of Tropical Storm Hannah in the Atlantic Ocean.
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