Drought conditions worsen across NC

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s been a dry year across North Carolina pushing much of the state into a moderate drought. While the clear, dry conditions may mean good beach weather, it is also having a very negative effect on our environment.

There are sick and dying lawns all over our area, which means lots of business for the Lawn Doctor. Although the doctor can’t make it rain, he does have a prescription for helping keep your lawn alive.

“It’s basically like a physical fitness program,” John McGee said. “The better health that the plant is in, when it becomes stressed from drought or high temperatures, it’s able to withstand that, or it’s able to recover.”

But experts say a speedy recovery is not likely.

“With a La Nina we expect a warmer and drier winter, so if we head into next growing season with lack of rainfall, that can have significant implications for the farmers and for fire weather concerns as we head into spring,” said Steven Pfaff, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

2010 is on its way to becoming one of the driest years in southeastern North Carolina’s history, but with a little help from some activity in the tropics, we could be getting some much needed rain as early as Sunday.

Most of us have not been alive long enough to remember a September this dry. Right now, this September is the driest one Wilmington has experienced since 1931.