Source: Corey Davis, NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 6/30/22

Our scattered showers were exactly that last month, while our temperatures turned up during two stretches of extreme heat. Both have caused expanding dryness and drought across North Carolina.

Dry Weather Dominates
Rain was tough to come by last month, and as a result, we had our driest June in more than three decades. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports a preliminary statewide average precipitation of 1.61 inches and our 2nd-driest June since 1895.

The month started with encouraging signs, especially at the drought-affected southern Coastal Plain. On June 2 and 3, a cold front brought more than 2 inches of rain in some areas, including 3.48 inches in Wilmington.

After that, the moisture was mostly missing, even during otherwise intense thunderstorm events. A line of fast-moving storms on Friday, June 17 brought wind gusts exceeding 40 mph across the Piedmont and Sandhills, and it caused more than 240,000 power outages across the state. However, even the hardest-hit areas picked up less than half an inch of rain as those storms raced through.

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