We are in the middle of a really dry stretch of weather here across the Western Carolinas. The good news is there may be some assistance as we get into the upcoming work week thanks in part to a couple systems that may provide a little precipitation for the region.
Just how dry has it been lately? Most of our coverage area has seen 1 inch or less of precipitation in the past 30 days. November is usually one of the driest months of the year but averages are still in the 3+ inch range. So from a percentage standpoint it’s been significant.
The lowest amounts of rainfall has been focused from Eastern Caldwell county over into Alexander County, that extends east from there into the Piedmont near Statesville. Amounts in those areas have been less than 1 inch.
Precipitation amounts of over 1 inch have been coming back across the western sections along the Blue Ridge but that’s still a significant amount below what is normal for November.
Downtown Marion for example picked up 1.31 inches of rain in the month of November and that all fell in a four day period. In fact on November 12th, 1.12 inches was recorded.
Marion is currently running an 11 day stretch without rainfall and over the 22 day stretch, only 0.08 inches. So as you can see it has been dry recently and this has played a big part in the local wildfires that have popped up.
The big change coming up this week is that a couple short waves aloft will veer the flow from northwest and westerly over to more of a southwest orientation. This will scoop up a bit more in the way of moisture.
Current rainfall amounts don’t like to be overly aggressive in the model guidance. At that point some is better than none.
The other thing we will notice this week is a lot cooler air across the region, some of that will be a result of increased clouds as well as a northeast wind.