By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
Believe it or not, we’re still in a drought.
On Tuesday, about 11/2 inches of rain had fallen on Salisbury by 3:15 p.m., according to the Salisbury Fire Department.
And it’s only been a few weeks since downpours drenched Rowan County, sending creeks rising above roads.
But the drought persists at a “moderate” degree in the Piedmont, the National Weather Service says.
“It looks like the whole area is still in a drought,” said Andrew Kimball, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.
Kimball said he based that conclusion on rainfall information as of Sept. 9.
Areas east of Rowan, including Fayetteville and Raleigh, are no longer in a drought, Kimball said.
But some areas west of Rowan ó into the mountains ó are still dealing with severe to extreme drought conditions, he said.
The Charlotte area is just short of the average rainfall amount so far this month.
According to National Weather Service figures, 1.7 inches of rain had fallen at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as of Monday.
The average rainfall during the first half of September is 1.92 inches, said Jeffrey Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
But the Charlotte area is about an inch above the average for the year. The airport has gotten 32.47 inches of rain this year, Taylor said. The average is 31.4 inches.
“We’ve been below average for several months until the recent rainfall,” Taylor said.