Oppressive heat remains through the weekend. Forecast rain unlikely to easy drought.
If your July 4th weekend plans involve being outdoors, expect to be wet from sweat and potentially some afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
The kind of heat and humidity that enveloped the Triangle last week returned Thursday and will remain through most of the weekend. High temperatures will approach 100 each day through Saturday, with humidity making it feel several degrees warmer, according to the National Weather Service.
“Obviously this level of heat can affect anyone,” Nicholas Petro, a meteorologist with the weather service in Raleigh, said.
The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning on Friday for much of the Triangle. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., the warning said, heat index values could top 110 degrees, increasing the risk of heat illness.
Thursday saw a 101-degree high temperature, tying a record set in 2012. That was 10 degrees above normal highs for July 4.
The July 5 record is 102 degrees, and the NWS was forecasting that temperatures will peak just below that. Friday. The heat index at Raleigh-Durham International Airport is expected to reach 111 degrees.
Forecasters called for spotty rain on Friday. An approaching cold front will bring more numerous showers and storms Saturday afternoon and evening into Sunday, when the oppressive heat is expected to ease a bit. Still, parts of the Sandhills and Coastal Plain could see another heat advisory Saturday, according to a NWS forecast Friday morning.
Still, both the weather service and The News & Observer’s news gathering partner, ABC11, predict high temperatures will climb above 90 for the foreseeable future, with little relief from the mugginess.
Saturday’s rain will likely be followed by a quick return to high temperatures, with forecasters predicting that highs will reach the mid-90s early next week and overnight lows will only dip into the mid-70s.
“With continued heat related stresses, heat-related illnesses will be possible especially among individuals (who are) sensitive to heat and do not have access to effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” the NWS forecast said.
Drought conditions expand
The recent heat and lack of rainfall has caused virtually all of North Carolina to either enter drought conditions or be classified as abnormally dry, according to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council.
About 9% of North Carolina is in severe drought, including places such as Columbus, Craven and Wayne counties. And 65% of the state is in moderate drought, including all of the Triangle, all of the Triad and most of Eastern North Carolina.
“The occurrence during the growing season has made the impacts much worse than the 2021 drought period. Agriculture is expected to see significant damage to corn, tobacco and soybean crops,” Klaus Albertin, the drought council’s chair, said in a statement.
The month just ended was the driest June on record, according to the N.C. State Climate Office. North Carolina’s precipitation in June was 1.35 inches, while the state normally sees about 4.5 inches of rain in June.
Groundwater levels are starting to fall steadily, Albertin warned, and stream levels are down to a trickle in large parts of central and eastern North Carolina.
Severe drought conditions typically come with unavoidable loss of crops and dried out ground that is more difficult to reverse, Corey Davis, the N.C. State Climate Office’s assistant state climatologist, said in a blog post.
The drought is one of the fastest to develop in recent memory, Davis wrote.
On June 18, the drought map classified about 61% of North Carolina as abnormally dry, the second-largest expansion of the category since 2000. Then about 56.5% entered moderate drought on June 25, followed by severe drought setting in this week.
“That’s a remarkably rapid degradation over the course of less than one month,” Davis wrote.
