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Rapid Reaction: Smoky Skies Create Unhealthy Air Quality

Climate Blog

A photo of Interstate 95 underwater in Lumberton after Hurricane Florence

Sep 12, 2023

Florence After Five: Communities, Disconnected

This is the second in a four-part blog post series remembering Hurricane Florence for its five-year anniversary. During the days-long deluge from Hurricane Florence, even as electricity and cell phone service were cut off across eastern North Carolina, there remained one way of monitoring the storm’s local impacts from afar. Navigation apps such as Google…
A satellite image of Hurricane Florence approaching North Carolina on September 12, 2018

Sep 11, 2023

Florence After Five: An Anxious Arrival

This is the first in a four-part blog post series remembering Hurricane Florence for its five-year anniversary. Within arm’s reach on the desk of Steve Pfaff, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, is a printed map graphic. At first, it’s unassuming – weather maps are hardly out of place…
An aerial photo of a flooded section of Interstate 40 in Pender County after Hurricane Florence

Sep 11, 2023

Florence After Five

In September 2018, Hurricane Florence bore down on North Carolina for five days, producing record-breaking rainfall totals and leaving widespread flooding and damage in its wake. For the five-year anniversary of the storm, we’re taking a detailed look at Florence, from the lead-up to the storm through the ongoing recovery efforts. The posts are listed…
A photo of a tree down along the shores of Lake Norman after the August 7 tornado event

Sep 6, 2023

August Saw Extreme Heat and Damaging Storms

Hot weather carried over into August, and also featured many dry days until Idalia’s arrival. When we did have rain, it often came from severe and damaging thunderstorms throughout the month. Heat Holds Steady After summer started in earnest in July, it hit high gear in August with persistent heat throughout the month. The National…
A satellite image of Idalia over eastern North Carolina early on Thursday, August 31

Aug 31, 2023

Rapid Reaction: Idalia Ends August on a Wet Note

The first tropical storm of the season to affect North Carolina lashed the southeastern part of the state with rain and wind, but apparently caused minimal overall damage and benefitted areas that slipped into drought during a hot, dry August. Idalia formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday and reached hurricane strength early on…
A photo of the Spring Creek wildfire taken from the air

Aug 24, 2023

Rapid Reaction: Drought Comes Back, in a Flash

A little over six weeks ago, the town of Bayboro, which sits on the Pamlico River along North Carolina’s central coastline, was soaked by 1.89 inches of rain in a single day on July 7. Since then, they have had just 1.87 inches in total, putting them more than six inches below normal during that…
A photo of a sunflower field in at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh

Aug 2, 2023

July Sizzles, With a Severe Weather Twist

Summer finally set in last month with the arrival of above-normal temperatures. Much of the state was on the dry side, but thunderstorms brought locally heavy rain and even severe weather. Summer Heat Takes Hold Our climatological hottest month of the year lived up to that billing, with a preliminary statewide average temperature of 78.7°F…
A photo of sunrise over the Pasquotank River on June 16

Jul 10, 2023

Smoke and Storms Fill the Skies in June

Cool and at times smoky conditions continued in June, while a week of showers and storms reversed the dry pattern we started the month with. We also look at the numbers after the first half of 2023, and preview the main storylines for the end of the year. Spared from Summer Heat, but Not Smoke…
A photo of a smoky haze over Winston-Salem on June 6

Jun 13, 2023

Rapid Reaction: Smoky Skies Create Unhealthy Air Quality

Our summer started not with sun but smoke last week, which yielded the most widespread hazardous air quality episode seen in many years across the eastern United States. Together with our partners at the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (NC DAQ), who are responsible for operating a network of air quality monitoring sites and issuing air…