Source: Corey Davis and Kathie Dello, NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 7/2/21


While the rain reigned in eastern North Carolina last month, the western Piedmont stayed dry and has seen a degradation on the state drought map. Plus, how do our temperatures compare to the recent records out west?

From Really Dry to Record Wet
In some months, a statewide average acts as a good representation for conditions all across North Carolina. June was not one of those months, especially in terms of our precipitation.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the preliminary statewide average precipitation last month was 6.04 inches, which ranks as the 20th-wettest June out of the past 127 years. However, that number obscures the extremes in precipitation from east to west.

The first two weeks of the month were marked by heavy rains across the eastern half of the state from a stalled frontal boundary on June 2-3 and long-lived showers and thunderstorms on June 9-11.

A drier week followed those deluges, but then along came Claudette. After making landfall on the Gulf coast, it remained remarkably well-organized and maintained tropical storm strength over eastern North Carolina on June 20-21.
Along with producing an EF0 tornado in Chowan County and wind gusts up to 53 mph at the southern coastline, Claudette brought more than 2 inches of rain to parts of the southern Piedmont and Coastal Plain.

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