2019 Wilmington's 2nd driest year ever

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. -- The Cape Fear Region hasn’t just been stuck in a heat wave that only broke this past weekend.

The Wilmington-area is also enduring its second driest first seven months of the year since records started being kept in 1871, according to the National Weather Service.

A year after Wilmington International Airport recorded 55 inches of rain -- a record -- in the first seven months of 2018, the airport has seen just over 17 inches of precipitation this year.

The average is 31.3 inches.

The dry spell has left suburban gardeners struggling to keep their lawns green and their backyard vegetable patches from withering away.

Farmers also have struggled to keep their crops alive, and utilities across the region have asked residents for voluntary water savings as tourists drive up demand. Those water conservation measures remain in effect in Brunswick County.

But officials said it could be a lot worse if not for the drenching Wilmington received last year.

“For the year, the past 12 months, we’re doing OK,” said Dave Lowenthal, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Wilmington office. “But it has been a dry 2019.”

Rainfall in the Port City really began to taper off in April, when the area saw 3.83 inches compared to a normal average of 4.84 inches.

The dry spell began to intensify as temperatures began to rise, with Wilmington receiving only 0.63 inches of rain in May -- nearly 4 inches below normal.

In June, the region saw about half its normal rainfall of just over 5 inches. The situation hasn’t improved in July, with only 3.41 inches compared to a normal rainfall amount of 6.98 inches.

Lowenthal said the region could see a little relief starting later this week as the pattern of typical late-afternoon summer pop-up showers shows a chance of returning.

“Hopefully, we’ll get back to more normal precipitation patterns starting Thursday, bringing us some relief,” he said.

Last year’s torrential rains replenished the region’s water table, but the lack of recent moisture is drawing down those levels.

According to the N.C. Drought Monitor, all of Eastern North Carolina south of Kinston and east of Interstate 95 is either abnormally dry or in the first stage of drought.

Trouble brewing in the tropics?

While officials would prefer to see several days -- or even weeks -- of nice, soaking rain to alleviate our dry conditions, Mother Nature might have other plans.

The tropics are beginning to heat up as we head into August, with at least two systems attracting the recent attention of the National Hurricane Center. And more tropical waves are spinning off the western tip of Africa to begin the slow slog across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean.

While not unusual for August and September -- the height of the Atlantic hurricane season, Larry Cahoon, an oceanographer with the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), said he’s warily watching area ocean temperatures.

According to buoys maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the ocean temperature south of Bald Head Island was 84 degrees on Tuesday -- about the same as it was off South Florida. It was 82 degrees off Savannah, Georgia.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center also has said it expects the El Nino conditions that existed earlier this summer to start falling apart. El Nino weather conditions often help prevent the formation of tropical storm systems.

“I’m always nervous a year after a hit,” Cahoon said Tuesday, referring to Hurricane Florence that pummeled the region last September. “But I’m a little more nervous than I would be otherwise because that ocean is hot.”

It has been a relatively quiet hurricane season so far. The last named storm this season was Barry, which barely reached hurricane strength as it drenched central Louisiana on July 13. Before Barry, subtropical storm Andrea lasted less than a day as it moved through the Atlantic well offshore.

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Parched Port City

Wilmington has seen roughly 55% of its normal rainfall through July.

• July rainfall: 3.41 inches (2019) / 6.98 inches (normal)
• Since June 1: 5.96 inches / 12.16 inches
• Since Jan. 1: 17.24 inches / 31.06 inches

Source: National Weather Service