Source: Corey Davis, NCSU CLIMATE OFFICE, 6/3/21


It was a dry month for North Carolina in May, but also a cooler one with a unique high pressure pattern. The ongoing dry weather this spring has seen drought emerge and expand.

Dry Weather Dominates
Limited rainfall last month yielded one of the driest Mays in recent memory. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, it was our 13th-driest May since 1895 with a preliminary statewide average precipitation of 2.19 inches — only about 55% of the long-term average.

The last May that dry in North Carolina was in 2007 as a historic drought developed that spring. Prior to that, May in both 1997 and 1987 were marginally drier than this one, meaning we only see a May this dry roughly every ten years.

Last month started the same way April finished — with several cold frontal passages that soaked the slopes of the southern Mountains but brought only light rain east of the Appalachians.

By mid-month, high pressure sitting over the Carolinas made rainfall increasingly rare. Even afternoon showers were suppressed in this pattern, and sites like Wilmington went 11 straight days without measurable rainfall.

For the full report, click here.