No rain relief in sight as drought expands in Carolinas

CHARLOTTE — Drought conditions are expanding across North Carolina and South Carolina.

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The drought monitor, which is released every Thursday, shows declining soil conditions from “abnormally dry” to “moderate drought” for spots around and southeast of Charlotte.

This includes parts of Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Stanly, Anson and Richmond counties in North Carolina.

In South Carolina, parts of York, Chester, Lancaster, and Chesterfield counties have also been upgraded to moderate drought conditions.

The mountains remain unchanged in their status of abnormally dry conditions.

In other parts of the Carolinas, we are seeing severe drought start to occur, notably east of Raleigh and south of Columbia.

Unfortunately, there are no big rain chances in the forecast to help alleviate these conditions.

In fact, the 6-10 day precipitation outlook for the Southeast shows below normal rainfall is expected in the region through the middle parts of October.

As conditions stay mostly dry through the extended forecast, we’ll need to closely keep an eye on the Carolinas fall wildfire season, as drought can often make fire danger higher than normal.

Watch Thursday’s forecast in the video below

Thursday afternoon's forecast with Meteorologist Danielle Miller

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