Well, if you’ve looked at your calendar, your watch, whatever, you probably realize today is July 25… that means it’s Christmas in July! I am talking with Corey “Santa” Davis today from the State Climate Office of North Carolina to see what is on everyone’s lists. Corey, Merry Christmas! How’s your season going so far?

“Oh, Merry Christmas in July, Mike! It’s a fantastic summer holiday season. Of course, nowhere close to the real Christmas. But you know, when we look at the weather across the state here, over the past few weeks, we have had some nice gifts that we’ve gotten, especially compared to where things stood at this time last year.”

Yes, yes! Let’s take a look at the gifts that we have had. What is the first thing on your list that you see we have been gifted with this Christmas in July?

“Well, you know, for folks, especially across the northern Piedmont in North Carolina, especially from the triad out through the triangle, one thing we have already crossed off our list this year is more rain, because we have had plenty of it over the past few weeks. Of course, we remember a few weekends ago we had Tropical Storm Chantal that moved through that’s been the big event of the month so far. But the rain has not stopped there. Just about every week we’ve seen several more inches of rain added to those monthly totals. Even over the past week, places like Greensboro, chapel, Hill, Yanceyville, they’ve had another two to two and a half inches of rain. So with about a week left in the month of July, this is shaping up to be not just one of the wettest Julys on record, one of the all-time wettest months on record in places like Burlington and Nevin, more than 17 inches of rain so far this month. So again, those areas do not want to see any more rainfall in the rest of July. They have seen plenty over the last few weeks.”

Boy, they sure have! Okay, well, that is the gift that just keeps on giving, whether we want it to or not. What’s next? Who else has some requests to make of Santa?

“Well, I think the corn growers in the Carolinas had been awfully good this year because their gift came early. They got that nice wet June again, you think about where things stood last year at this point, we had just been through that flash drought, that extreme hot weather, and also those stretches of dry weather in late June and early July. The corn crop was in such rough shape at this point a year ago, but they had, by contrast, a much wetter June, more cooperative temperatures as well. So the corn crop continues to be in great shape, especially across North Carolina. This week, more than 80% of the corn is rated in good or excellent condition. And the corn progress is really keeping up and even running ahead of those historical averages. At this point, most of the corn going through that dough phase. Again, a huge change from where things were last year at this point.”

Well, Santa, you are being very, very kind. Now, corn growers, all right, so they’re very happy. But what about other planters? Are they being equally as good?

“I think so, and the cotton growers, especially down in South Carolina, they’ve gotten a nice gift from the weather just over the past week, first off going back to that wet weather we had in June that’s kept soil moisture levels in pretty good shape. So there’s been good moisture reserves in the ground for those cotton crops to pull from. In South Carolina this week, we’re seeing that more than half of the cotton has finished setting bowls. That’s a really important milestone in the life of these cotton crops, and it’s also a phase in the life of cotton where it’s very sensitive to the moisture. You don’t want too little moisture. In that case, those bowls may not fill out, but you also don’t want too much moisture, because that increases the risk of fungus and diseases to spread. And those areas down in South Carolina have not seen quite as much rain, but they’ve seen a little bit of rain in the last week. So that should really be ideal for keeping that cotton growing as it should be at this time of the year.”

Well, we’ve had a lot of good kids that have made some requests. They’re on your list there. But I have a feeling somebody must be naughty and we’re all paying for it. Tell us about that.

“Well, Mike, I know a lot of folks here at the end of July would like to have a break from that summer heat, and we actually did get a taste of that earlier this week, back on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, high temperatures generally only made it up in the mid to upper 80s, actually a few degrees below normal for this time of the year. But yeah, I think there’s some coal in all of our stockings, because we are in store for more of that extreme heat, probably the hottest weather of the summer so far. And of course, this period in late July is historically our hottest time of the year, but it will be a level above that normal heat. We’re talking about upper 90s to low one hundreds through the weekend, stretching on through the middle of next week, there’s high pressure that’s setting up right over the top of us in the Carolinas, so that no not only will bring in some of those extreme temperatures, it’ll also shut down those rain chances for the next seven days or so. So that is the big weather story in the forecast. More heat on the way, similar to what we saw back in late June, but this one could be even hotter and even longer lasting than that spell.”

The coal in the stocking is burning embers. It is just hot, hot, hot! Let’s take a look at the forecast. What do you see coming up? Any relief?

“At least until next Wednesday, it looks like we’re going to keep those upper 90s. And again, some areas could see a low 100s in the forecast. It looks like Sunday is probably going to be the hottest day of some of the forecasters, showing widespread temperatures at or above 100 degrees across North and South Carolina. We may start getting a slight break by the middle of next week, and maybe some better rain chances by next Wednesday or Thursday. But again, the forecast at least for the next seven days or so is looking pretty brutal in terms of that heat.”

Santa, bring some of that December weather if you would! I would be okay with that. “Santa” Davis from the North Carolina Climate Office, thank you so much. We appreciate it, and maybe, maybe we can all behave just a little bit better and maybe we can get some relief…I would hope so. Enjoy your weekend and stay cool, maybe head to the North Pole, why don’t you!

“That’s a great idea. Merry Christmas in July, Mike.”