The N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council is advising water users in Wake and other nearby counties to minimize non-essential water use because of the moderate drought in Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Orange, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Lee, Person, Vance, Wake and Warren counties.
For those area residents who remember the drought in 2007, the idea of a rapidly falling water level in Falls Lake is scary. Today, Wednesday, the lake level had fallen to 249.04 feet below its normal level at the top of the conservation pool of 251.5 feet above mean sea level.
By this time in the year, the Piedmont normally would have received between 35 to 40 inches of rain, but this year pockets of the Piedmont have received only 25 to 30 inches. In the Raleigh area, there is a statistical surplus of 3.98 inches because of heavy rains early in the year. The area has received 40.43 inches of rain as measured by the Weather Service at the Raleigh-Durham Airport.
Other counties in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains are also abnormally dry.
