{"id":2272,"date":"2026-06-12T11:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2272"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:04:10","slug":"exceptional-drought-is-back-in-triangle-how-much-rain-does-nc-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2272","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Exceptional\u2019 drought is back in Triangle. How much rain does NC need?"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Portions of North Carolina, including parts of the Triangle, are now in \u201cexceptional\u201d drought with little consistent forecasted rain in our future.<\/p>\n

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Durham, Orange, Granville and Alamance counties are all now in \u2018exceptional\u2019 drought, the highest ranking drought rating, according to latest data released Thursday, June 11, from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.<\/p>\n

About half of North Carolina is in \u201csevere\u201d drought with another third listed as in \u201cextreme\u201d drought.<\/p>\n

North Carolina could see scattered thunderstorms over the next week as a heat wave sends temperatures into triple digits<\/a>, but meteorologists have repeatedly said the state needs consistent, soaking rainfall<\/b> to help bridge the gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want ideally a longer duration kind of light-to-moderate rainfall really to help with those drought areas, and, obviously, we\u2019ll welcome any rainfall, but just keep in mind that an excessive amount of rainfall for a very short period of time could be problematic\u201d said meteorologist Kathleen Pelczynski.<\/p>\n

There are nearly 100 water systems<\/a> that have mandatory or voluntary restrictions due to the drought, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality\u2019s Division of Water Resources.<\/p>\n

Durham will begin Stage 2 water restrictions<\/a> on Monday, June 15, and the city of Raleigh is upping enforcement of its water restrictions.<\/p>\n

Parts of the state benefitted from rain in late May, which broke an eight-month streak of drier-than-normal months, according to the North Carolina State Climate Office\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

That helped rid the state of exceptional drought in Mecklenburg and Union counties<\/a> in May, but it is now back.<\/p>\n

May\u2019s rainfall was focused on the western half of the state, while the Triangle and Triad continued to see less-than-normal rainfall.<\/p>\n

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Raleigh only got 1.54 inches of rain in May, with seven out of the last nine months in city getting less than 2 inches of precipitation, according to the Climate Office.<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service\u2019s Climate Prediction Center forecasts the drought to persist<\/a> or \u201cdrought remains, but improve\u201d throughout North Carolina in its seasonal drought outlook it released on May 31.<\/p>\n

It usually takes a couple of inches of rain to change the drought status in a particular area, said Andrew Kren, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, in a previous interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the current forecast suggests near-normal precipitation over the next seven-10 days and a hint of above-normal precipitation possible through late June, there is no clear signal for significant drought improvement,\u201d according to the National Weather Service media briefing from Thursday. \u201cGiven the severity, we urge all partners to emphasize proactive water conservation measures within your organizations and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This drought is nearly a year in the making when the state began seeing less rain than usual in August 2025, according to Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist at the North Carolina State Climate Office.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina State Climate Office tracks the precipitation deficit in many locations in North Carolina. Here are how far below the average rainfall totals are for some areas from August 2025 to Thursday, June 11:<\/p>\n

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the location and intensity of drought across the country. A new map is posted every Thursday at ncdrought.org<\/a>, which includes a map archive.<\/p>\n

People who want to drill down into the data can visit drought.gov\/states\/north-carolina<\/a> for an interactive map.<\/p>\n

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Portions of this story were previously published<\/a> in The News & Observer.<\/i><\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 3:04 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parts of Durham, Chapel Hill and Burlington are in exceptional drought as the lack of rain continues in North Carolina. 100 NC places have water restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Exceptional\u2019 drought is back in Triangle. 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