Drought Monitor puts most of NC in drought

RALEIGH -- All but a small portion of North Carolina is now classified as being in a drought based on the latest information from the U.S. Drought Monitor. The U.S. Drought Monitor released a report this week that shows 97 percent of the state in some form of drought, up from 65 percent last week. Conditions are worse in the southwestern part of the state, where seven counties are under "exceptional" drought, the most severe category. The only three counties not suffering from drought are in the northeastern corner of the state. Last week's report showed most of eastern North Carolina classified as abnormally dry. But rainfall totals are relatively low across interior North Carolina, which helped the drought conditions expand eastward. --- On the Web: U.S. Drought Monitor, http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)