MORNING NEWSBREAK | This year’s July in the Lowcountry seems a little hotter and more humid than usual with heat indices routinely reaching 110 degrees. But thanks to quick afternoon thunderstorms that seem to break out daily, residents don’t often think much about drought. But weather officials say rain gauges aren’t as full in much of the state as they should be.
“The weather hasn’t exactly followed the rules over the last month,” State Climatologist Hope Mizzell told media outlets this week. “We experienced a wet winter, a relatively wet spring and then June hit: The rain stopped, and the thermostat soared.”
State officials on July 9 upgraded the drought status from normal to severe of more than a dozen counties from the Pee Dee to Upstate: Horry, Georgetown, Williamsburg, Clarendon, Sumter, Calhoun, Florence, Marion, Darlington, Marlboro, Lee, Chesterfield and Kershaw counties.
“The degradation from normal to severe has been happening for the last three to four weeks,” said meteorologist Adam Hartman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center. “It’s a rapid onset of drought.”
Counties in the Lowcountry, including Charleston, Berkeley and Beaufort counties, are listed as above average drought levels, but not quite as severe.
“It’s kind of a double whammy,” Hartman said “Even if you had the normal rainfall, you’re operating at a loss for soils because of the heat.”
Hartman added the area needs drenching, slow-moving rainfall to alleviate the drought, as a quick storm – like ones in the Lowcountry lately — will likely not have time to soak into the soil.
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