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Rapid Reaction: Tropical Storm Chantal Soaks Central North Carolina

Climate Blog

A photo of small barn in Reidsville with sunny blue skies overhead

Oct 6, 2025

Drought Digs Back in During a Storm-Sapped September

Limited rainfall brought drought back last month, while our temperatures were mostly typical for the first month of fall. Last month had a quiet start but a busy end in the tropics, as we discuss in our hurricane season update. Note: Due to the federal government shutdown, statewide statistics and rankings from the National Centers…
An aerial view of flooding west of Asheville after Hurricane Helene

Sep 25, 2025

One Year After Helene, New Perspectives on Our Worst Storms

The sights and stories that slowly trickled out of western North Carolina last September were so shocking, they were at times hard to believe. Swollen rivers practically wiped out charming mountain towns such as Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, and Swannanoa. The death toll climbed across Buncombe County as search and rescue teams surveyed areas hit…
A photo of a scenic overlook under cloudy skies at Chimney Rock State Park earlier this month

Sep 4, 2025

A Fall-Like Feeling Arrived With Mixed Rainfall in August

Cooler weather made for an unseasonable August, while we started wet and finished the month on a dry note. In this post, we also wrap up the summer and look at the big weather stories awaiting this fall. An Early Chill Interrupts Summer In a sudden shift after a hot end to July, August brought…
A photo of Kathie Dello speaking to students at Morehead Planetarium's Teen Science Cafe

Aug 28, 2025

Six Years of Service and Science: Honoring our Departing Director, Kathie Dello

This week, we at the State Climate Office say farewell to our director, Dr. Kathie Dello, and wish her all the best as she begins a new chapter in her service to the state of North Carolina as the Assistant Secretary of Resilience at the NC Department of Environmental Quality. When Kathie arrived in North…
A photo of waves crashing into homes in Buxton during Hurricane Erin

Aug 22, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Hurricane Erin a Close Call with Coastal Damage

The first hurricane – and the first major hurricane – of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season passed off our coastline this week, and despite not making a direct landfall, it still had big impacts in parts of eastern North Carolina. Over the warm water in the central Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Erin became a formidable storm,…
A photo of boats piled up at the marina in Southport following Hurricane Isaias

Aug 5, 2025

Isaias’s Coastal Hit a Turning Point for NC Storms, Preparedness

Five years ago, an overactive Atlantic brought an early-season hurricane to North Carolina’s doorstep. Just after 11 pm on August 3, 2020, Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category-1 storm near Ocean Isle Beach along our southern coastline. Sneaking in overnight during a year dominated by other big news stories, Isaias and its impacts weren’t…
A photo of the sunset at Topsail Island with a rain shower visible in the distance

Aug 5, 2025

Summer Sizzles in a Stormy, Steamy July

July saw a wet start including Tropical Storm Chantal and month-long warmth, especially overnight. To help communities prepare for hot weather like that, an Extreme Heat Cohort is being offered again this year. Chantal Leads a Storm-Soaked Month Our first tropical event of the season, plus plenty of other rainy days, made for an overall…
A photo of instruments including a black globe thermometer at our Jockey's Ridge State Park ECONet station

Jul 30, 2025

How Heat Stress – and Monitoring – is Changing in NC

Thirty minutes into the most recent Olympic women’s soccer gold medal match between the United States and Brazil, officials recognized it was time for a break. However, it wasn’t for a foul or a penalty, and the only goal of the game wouldn’t be scored until the second half. No, in this case, the precisely…
A photo of cars in deep flood waters at a shopping center in Chapel Hill after Tropical Storm Chantal

Jul 7, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Tropical Storm Chantal Soaks Central North Carolina

The first tropical system of the season to affect North Carolina produced locally heavy rainfall and flooding in parts of the Piedmont and Sandhills. Tropical Storm Chantal wasn’t particularly intense or long-lasting, but it had big impacts in areas such as Alamance, Chatham, Moore, and Orange counties where the heaviest rain occurred. Like many early-season…