AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
The Triangle is no longer in exceptional drought, the worst of the drought categories, after recent storms and rain brought some relief to dry conditions throughout the state.
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Overall, just 2% of the state is now in exceptional drought, and about 9% of the state is considered “abnormally dry,” according to the latest report from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.
But recent rain doesn’t mean the drought is over.
“It took a few weeks for multiple rounds of rain to have an impact, but much of the northern Piedmont is finally out of (exceptional drought),” according to the latest report. “In that region, soil moisture, streamflow and lake levels have begun to recover, and they’re no longer on a record dry start to the year. That doesn’t mean the drought is over, but it has helped plants perk up again and extended water supplies for a few more weeks.”
Parts of northern Wake County, Durham and Orange counties were in exceptional drought, starting in June. Now, conditions have improved enough to move Wake County to severe drought, the second-worst drought category, with most of Durham and Orange counties still in extreme drought, the third worst.
The most recent report from North Carolina’s Drought Management Advisory Council doesn’t include recent rain on Wednesday and Thursday.
As of 3 p.m. Thursday, parts of the Triangle saw 1-4 inches of rain over the last 24 hours with more wet weather in the forecast. Meteorologists have previously said it takes about 4 inches of rain to change a drought category.
As of Tuesday, Raleigh was 15.46 inches below its typical rainfall since August 2025, according to the North Carolina State Climate Office. That’s an improvement over early June when the area was 20.44 inches below its normal rainfall.
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“We want ideally a longer duration kind of light-to-moderate rainfall really to help with those drought areas, and, obviously, we’ll welcome any rainfall, but just keep in mind that an excessive amount of rainfall for a very short period of time could be problematic,” Meteorologist Kathleen Pelczynski told The N&O previously.
There are more than 120 water systems in North Carolina with mandatory or voluntary restrictions related to the drought, including Raleigh and Durham, according to the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources.
“To substantially improve our drinking water supplies, it has to rain upstream of the reservoirs,” said Linwood Peele, a supervisor with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water, The News & Observer reported previously. “It matters where the rain falls, and how fast it falls. The rain helped conditions here, but we need the lakes and reservoirs to fill back up, the groundwater and aquifers replenished and soil moisture restored.”
So far this month, Butner has had 6.8 inches of rain “which has provided beneficial runoff to nearby Falls Lake,” according to the latest drought data.
The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, released in mid-July, shows the drought persisting through October for most of North and South Carolina.
“Seasonable wetness favors a gradual reduction in drought coverage, but a drier signal during August, and the potential for reduced Atlantic tropical cyclone activity, may make drought slower to ease across portions of the Southeast, particularly across the Carolinas,” according to that outlook.
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