"Severe" Drought

[RaleighRob]

^I've always thought that saying came from the northern states. Down here, April tends to be the month with the most perennial flowers. (Dogwoods, azaleas, redbuds, tulips, jasmine, I could go on.)

Last year was a drought year, but in 2006 I seem to remember May being way more rainy than April (or maybe it was 2005).

Go figure.

[ChiefJoJo]

Raleigh is now on stage 1. Hopefully, people will realize just because the lake is full, it doesn't mean we are not still vulnerable and that we should not continue reasonable conservation measures. If we let everyone water like mad, it will be that much more difficult to manage in the next drought situation, therefore this is a good policy, along with tiered rates.

[dmccall]

We're now one foot above a full pool. New drought status is out tomorrow. Probably will be "severe" instead of "extreme".

In related news, Applebee's is expected to rename their most popular appetizer. The new name is "Severe Shrimp Poppers". One of these days our drought will be downgraded to "Downright Tangy".

[Jones_]

We're now one foot above a full pool. New drought status is out tomorrow. Probably will be "severe" instead of "extreme".

In related news, Applebee's is expected to rename their most popular appetizer. The new name is "Severe Shrimp Poppers". One of these days our drought will be downgraded to "Downright Tangy".

[swimmer8866]

Despite being cautious about water supply, I do think the drought window needs to be redefined. They keep referencing back to January 2007 which shows a deficit of 7-8 inches, but we lived through that, its done...since flows subsurface and at the surface are normal or above, I think you can safely remove central NC from drought status of any kind. This does not mean though that development of permanant conservation measures should not be pursued....

[Gard]

Not directly part of the drought, but it is part of our water supply...The city reports that the water treatment plant at Lake Benson is moving right along and right on schedule to open in 2010. They also have some pictures of the site up:

http://www.raleighnc.gov/portal/server.pt/...0-10513650.html

[Raleighmark]

I cut and pasted my post from another forum I read. Stream flows are really not up that much. We have a long ways to go before ground water is normal. That's why the still refer back to Jan. 2007

Here is some streamflow data for various creeks in Wake County.

ROCKY BRANCH BELOW PULLEN DRIVE Mean = 3.2 cfs current value = 0.59 cfs

SWIFT CREEK NEAR APEX, NC Mean = 73 cfs Current value = 9.3cfs

PIGEON HOUSE CR AT CAMERON VILLAGE Mean = 0.62 cfs Current value = 0.18 cfs

WALNUT CREEK AT SUNNYBROOK DRIVE Mean = 68 cfs current value = 31 cfs

CRABTREE CREEK AT HWY 70 Mean = 250 cfs current value = 119 cfs

WHITE OAK CR AT MOUTH NEAR GREEN LEVEL Mean = 46 cfs current value = 9.4 cfs

Here are some for Durham County

LITTLE RIVER AT SR1461 Mean = 221 cfs current value = 50 cfs

ENO RIVER NEAR DURHAM Mean = 279 cfs current value = 91 cfs

MOUNTAIN CREEK AT SR1617 Mean = 30 cfs current value = 6.6 cfs

NORTHEAST CREEK AT SR1100 Mean = 51 cfs current value = 20 cfs

All these readings are from April 9th after the nice wet spell we have had lately. I looked at a few graphs and they dropped quite rapidly after the rain.

[swimmer8866]

No real rain in 10 days and have you seen the drop in falls lake gang? Down 4 inches in that time frame.

It will get very dry and we will end up in trouble quickly unless it rains. By the way, watering looks like its in full swing again in raleigh. What a waste.

[Jones_]

This 7 day forecast is about how the drought kicked off last year...full resevoirs, then really hot, really soon, with no rain. Not sounding an alarm or anything but just putting the awareness out there. Hopefully still being at stage 1 restrictions will help some.

[dmccall]

This 7 day forecast is about how the drought kicked off last year...full resevoirs, they really hot, really soon, with no rain. Not sounding an alarm or anything but just putting the awareness out there. Hopefully still being at stage 1 restrictions will help some.

[Jones_]

How does saving matter when we can't save any more?

[JeffC]

For the first time I remember in over two years, the NC Drought Monitoring map is completely clean. Not a single county in the state is even "abnormally dry"...

Here's the map