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Florence After Five: Inundated Ecosystems

Climate Blog

A photo of cloudy skies in Weaverville on December 29

Jan 3, 2024

Winter Gets a Warm, Wet Start in December

Fall-like temperatures carried over into December, but our fall drought faded as wetter weather emerged last month. A few areas also picked up snow, but most of the state finished 2023 with no accumulations. Warm Throughout December The calendar said it was December, but it rarely felt like winter thanks to prevailing warmth last month.…
A photo of low levels at Jordan Lake, which exposed old roadbeds and home foundations

Dec 5, 2023

A Dry Start to November Lets Drought Deepen

Dry weather continued and drought expanded in November, while temperatures ranged from wintry to warm throughout the month. We also close the book on a dry fall and an active hurricane season. Drought Goes to the Extreme With only one decent rain event all month in most areas, November was quite dry in North Carolina.…
A map of global sea surface temperature anomalies in October 2023

Nov 15, 2023

Winter Outlook 2023-24: Awaiting Wetter Weather With El Niño’s Return

Following a snow-free year in many areas and with drought now gripping more than half of the state, a pattern change – both from what we’ve seen in recent winters and in recent weeks – would be welcome. So could the newly emerging El Niño be the answer? In our twelfth annual winter outlook, we’ll…
A photo of the Collett Ridge wildfire burning in the mountains of Cherokee County

Nov 2, 2023

Drought Digs In During a Bone Dry October

Dry weather dominated October, which led to drought expansion and intensification. Our average temperatures were near normal, balanced by warmer days and a few cool nights. Precipitation Passes Us By Rain last month was as rare as full-sized candy bars on Halloween night, which made it a dry month overall. Preliminary data from the National…
A photo of changing leaf colors and mountain ash berries in western North Carolina

Oct 3, 2023

Autumn Arrived and the Tropics Came Alive in September

September saw a timely change of seasons and mostly dry weather, apart from Ophelia. That tropical storm was part of an active month across the Atlantic. From Summer into Fall Sweltering heat gave way to more seasonable conditions in September, so it averaged out as a slightly warmer than normal month overall. The National Centers…
A satellite image of Ophelia over eastern North Carolina on Saturday morning

Sep 25, 2023

Rapid Reaction: Surprisingly Strong Ophelia Surges In

Short-lived but not short on moisture, Tropical Storm Ophelia snuck up to the coast on Friday and made for a wet and windy start to the weekend across eastern North Carolina. Ophelia was not the product of a tropical wave crossing the Atlantic, as we typically see this time of year. Instead, it was the…
An aerial photo of the inlet in Hatteras Island cut by Hurricane Isabel in 2003

Sep 18, 2023

Twenty Years Ago, Isabel Punched Above Its Weight

Hurricanes and the Outer Banks go together like cats and mice. It’s not exactly a productive pairing for one of them, but it’s also hard to imagine life any other way. But for decades, it seemed, there was an uneasy and perhaps unnatural truce between the two. Even as the Atlantic experienced its own awakening…
A photo of flooding in Fair Bluff, NC, after Hurricane Florence

Sep 14, 2023

Florence After Five: Redefining the Future

This is the final in a four-part blog post series remembering Hurricane Florence for its five-year anniversary. The sheer extremity of Hurricane Florence left people across the state – from homeowners to local and state officials – questioning what they believed they knew about hurricane impacts. After all, the storm and its rain amounts were…
A photo of a flooded farm in Duplin County

Sep 13, 2023

Florence After Five: Inundated Ecosystems

This is the third in a four-part blog post series remembering Hurricane Florence for its five-year anniversary. More than 100 miles from the ocean, a small pond in the Sandhills exemplifies the significant and sustained impact Hurricane Florence had on the natural landscape, long after the winds and rain were finished back in September 2018.…