We have had warm weather the past few days, particularly in the afternoons and even some of the evenings, have been on the warm side. And Corey Davis, the Assistant State Climatologist for North Carolina, joins me now to talk about that. We are certainly fully into spring now, aren’t we? That’s
“Right, Mike, you know that last freeze is out of the way now, and we are seeing that late spring even early summer, like weather you mentioned, those afternoon high temperatures. So far in April, most of eastern North and South Carolina has seen 10 to 15 days. That’s almost half of the month where those afternoon highs got to at least 80 degrees. That’s pretty unusual for this time of the year. We usually don’t start stacking up those 80-degree days until we’re on into the month of May. The other area where we’ve seen that warmth is in some of the night time lows now we have had a few cooler nights over the last couple weeks, but also we’ve had a number of nights where it never dropped below 60 degrees so far this month. So those warm nights have also elevated our overall temperatures. And when we look at the overall temperature rankings so far this month, it is tracking as the warmest April on record in places like Charlotte and Raleigh and Elizabeth City, and then one of the top five or top 10 warmest Aprils for most of the rest of North and South Carolina. And just as a preview, the forecast does show a return of more of that summer, like warmth by the end of the month. So think there’s a pretty good shot that some areas will have their warmest April, or at least close to it.”
All right, we’ll check in with the forecast and get some more details from you on that in just a moment. But first of all, let’s look at the precipitation, and that’s been spotty at best. What areas have gotten some and what areas are suffering?
“Yeah, you’re right. Mike, really hit or miss precipitation, and that’s not too unusual for this time of the year. As we start seeing more of our rain coming from those pop-up afternoon showers and storms. You know the nature of those is that some areas will get a lot. Some areas even a few miles away, might not see any rain at all. So when we look across the Carolinas, places like the triad are in pretty decent shape. They’re tracking about an inch above their normal rainfall so far this month. Even across the central part of the state, Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, are pretty much spot on their monthly average so far, but especially as we start getting further east, down toward the coastline, that’s where we’re seeing some of the bigger deficits so far this month, areas that have consistently missed out, Charleston, South Carolina, is almost two inches below their normal rainfall. Myrtle Beach is about an inch below normal, and then New Bern is about three quarters of an inch below normal. So not surprisingly, all three of these areas have seen worsening drought over the month, and just this week, we’ve seen an expansion of severe drought across parts of eastern North and South Carolina. Again, that tracks with the precipitation deficits that we’re seeing. It tracks with some of the drier soil moisture conditions that we’re seeing, and also with some of the river and stream levels. Without that rain to replenish those levels, they have consistently dropped here over the last few weeks.”
Any relief insight, what does the forecast look like?
“Well, you know, we’ve this cloudy kind of dream over the last few days. See some showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday afternoon, and we’ll see more of that through the night tonight, and then especially tomorrow. We’ve had a week cold front that’s pretty much stalled out over us for the last few days. That front will move out tonight, and then another one will replace it, coming in from the west. So Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, that should give us our best chance of showers and storms for the week. Most areas should see some we’re not looking at widespread high totals of, say, an inch or more. But again, you may see at least a quarter to half an inch from these showers and storms. After that, we will clear out really nicely for Sunday, high temperatures in the low 70s. That’s definitely the most beautiful looking day over the next week. And then we’ll start to warm up by Monday, upper 70s, then low 80s by Tuesday, maybe upper 80s by Wednesday. So before the month of April is officially out, we do expect to see that return of the summer like warmth and again, that should help elevate those April temperatures to near record levels.”
He is Corey Davis, Assistant State Climatologist for North Carolina, and always, thank you. And I know as well, it’s Hurricane Season, and we’re talking Carolina Hurricanes… so far so good.
“That’s right, there has been no tropical depression in the playoffs so far. That’s two wins in two games for the Hurricanes. Of course, I was there on Tuesday night. I know that’s a huge advantage for the team with that crowd behind them, so hopefully they can carry some of that momentum up into New Jersey and beat the Devil here over the weekend.”