Drought in Western Dare, North Carolina

Severe drought (D2) designation in June deteriorated to extreme drought (D3) conditions for Mainland Dare County in early July 2011. Although no significant precipitation occurred during the month, with only typical summertime afternoon showers and thunderstorms, conditions improved slightly to severe drought (D2) by mid July.

Severe drought (D2) began impacting Eastern North Carolina in early June and worsened to extreme drought (D3) by early July for several extreme eastern North Carolina counties. Since last winter the region has received well below normal precipitation. Streamflows over Eastern North Carolina were well below normal with several sites showing less than ten percentile range of streamflow. Groundwater conditions were listed as much below to record low levels across the region. As of July 8th, Local Climatological Data Sites New Bern and Cape Hatteras observed fifty-four and seventy-six percent of normal precipitation, respectively. As a result of these conditions, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources banned open burning in Eastern North Carolina.