Stanly County emerges from drought classification

Apr 17, 2009      The Stanly News and Press

Tiffany Thompson

Apr. 17, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Stanly County has not been under a drought advisory since March 31, according to information released by the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.

"The biggest part of the state, about 76 counties, are not showing signs of a drought," said Woody Younts, chair of the Drought Management Advisory Council.

The entire county has been under a normal drought level due to recent levels of precipitation.

Precipitation totals for the area ranged from eight to 15 inches since January, with totals in the Charlotte area reaching nearly 12 inches, according to the North Carolina Department of Environment and National Resources Division of Water Resources.

"The recent rains has certainly helped the drought conditions in the short term. We are pleased because the reservoirs are full and the streams are at normal levels. Hopefully through continued rainfall the ground water level will also reach normal levels," Younts said.

In 2009, Stanly County saw moderate drought conditions beginning Feb. 10 and extending until March 10. An abnormally dry period preceded this from Jan. 27 until Feb. 3, as well as followed from March 17 until March 24.

The county saw more than a month of normal conditions at the beginning of the year, which followed abnormally dry conditions that closed out 2008.

Since March 13, 2007, Stanly County experienced numerous periods of abnormally dry conditions, as well as moderate drought, but its the year between Aug. 14, 2007 and Aug. 26, 2008 that was such a concern for the area.

During that time, much of the county -- and at times 100 percent of the county -- was classified as being in a severe to exceptional drought.

According to the Advisory Council's drought classifications, exceptional drought is the highest level.

From Aug. 10, 2007 until March 4, 2008, 100 percent of the county was classified as being in an exceptional drought, with the exception of Oct. 30-Nov. 6 2007, where the county was classified as being in an extreme drought -- the second highest classification level.

The county began slowly improving the drought conditions on March 11, 2008, where 100 percent of the county was classified as being in an extreme drought.

Those numbers slipped down to 19 percent in April as 80 percent of the county improved to being in a severe drought.

But the concern was not over as 100 percent of the county was again in an extreme drought in June and July of 2008.

By Sept. 23, much of the county was classified as being under abnormally dry to normal conditions, which continued until Dec. 9.

Younts said that the short term outlook for the drought is good, but the long term is harder to determine.

"The long term outlook is better than it was, but without enough guidance on what to expect for rainfall, it is difficult to determine what to expect. We'll have to wait and see how things go and hopefully, as time moves ahead, we'll have more information," he said.

Younts encourages water users to continue to conserve as the hotter months are just around the corner.

"We need to not waste our water so we can be prepared if the drought conditions return," he said.

Contact Tiffany Thompson at (704) 982-2121 ext. 24 or snaponline24@carolina.rr.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0457-34223239

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