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Rapid Reaction: Fred Fosters Floods in Western NC

Corey Davis

A map of the most recent snow event bringing at least 6 inches to parts of North Carolina

Nov 19, 2021

Climate Curiosities: Our Last Big Snow Events

After a couple of lackluster winters in a row — and with an outlook that doesn’t exactly scream “snow days on the way!” — the flakes feel fleeting and snow seems scarce across North Carolina. By opening up the historical records, we can see just how long it’s been since significant snow fell in different…
A map of global sea surface temperature anomalies in October 2021

Nov 9, 2021

Winter Outlook 2021-22: La Niña, Take Two?

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but for some meteorologists, it’s feeling a bit like Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, a La Niña event is developing as we head into the winter, leaving us to wonder how — or even if — it will affect our weather. Last year’s event never produced…
The October 2021 temperature summary infographic, highlighting the monthly average temperature, departure from normal, and comparison to historical and recent years

Nov 2, 2021

October Bewitched by Warmth and Bedeviled by Drought Development

A paranormal October saw temperatures levitate above the historical average while precipitation mysteriously vanished, summoning the specter of drought back to North Carolina. Warm Weather Returns A cool end to September proved to be only a brief preview of fall rather than a sign of the changing seasons, as October overwhelmingly featured above-normal temperatures across…

Oct 7, 2021

Five Years Later, Five Lessons Learned from Matthew

It’s a rare storm that now stands out more for its similarities to, rather than its differences from, others in its era. Five years ago today, Hurricane Matthew brushed the North Carolina coastline but still caused incredible inland impacts. It wasn’t our first modern hurricane to produce significant freshwater flooding — Floyd in 1999 held…
A photo of changing leaf colors in the northern Mountains of North Carolina

Oct 4, 2021

Fall’s Arrival Comes With a September Pattern and Leaf Color Change

A warm start to last month gave way to a more seasonable finish, while a mostly dry month saw needed rain across parts of the Piedmont. That pattern change has also spurred on changing leaves, beginning in the west. Summery to Start, Fall-Like to Finish Three weeks of warm weather followed by a sudden late-month…
Weekly Drought Update Infographic for September 7, 2021.

Sep 23, 2021

New Resources Address Drought Communication Challenges

A dusty old weather pun says that drought is a very dry topic, but in practice, communicating about drought is an issue saturated with challenges, misconceptions, and opportunities. That was the inspiration behind a NOAA-funded project that our office completed in partnership with the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CISA), aiming to increase the transparency…
A chart showing the historical hottest temperature occurrence, by month, for Raleigh

Sep 13, 2021

Climate Curiosities: When the Dog Days are the Doggonest

After sliding through this June and July with relatively few hot days, it may have seemed like we were out of the woods when it came to summer’s highest heat. But then came August and hundred-degree temperatures in the eastern Piedmont and Sandhills. Existing datasets tell us that our hottest weather typically occurs in July,…
The August 2021 temperature summary infographic, highlighting the monthly average temperature, departure from normal, and comparison to historical and recent years

Sep 3, 2021

A Slow-Starting Summer Heated Up in August

Steamy summer weather settled in during August, while Fred’s heavy rain made for a wet month. That wrapped up a summer notable for its tropical rainfall and drought disappearance. Hot Weather Blankets the State The warmest weather of the year so far waited until August to arrive. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports…
A photo of the swollen Broad River in Bat Cave, NC

Aug 19, 2021

Rapid Reaction: Fred Fosters Floods in Western NC

The third tropical storm to affect North Carolina in the past two months targeted the Mountains with heavy rainfall and flooding this week. Like Claudette in June and Elsa in July, Tropical Storm Fred tracked through the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall along the Gulf coast, and its remnants had an impact on North…