PlainHazard

North Carolina drought

Every recorded drought record since 1996 · 58 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 1,652 drought records in North Carolina from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 86 a year since 2000. The costliest was the September 1, 2007 drought ($35.6 million in 2025 dollars). North Carolina ranks 16th of 51 states and territories by count and 17th of 50 per square mile.

Drought in North Carolina, 1996 to 2026

Drought records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $1 million
  • $1 million or more
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
1,6521996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
86average
Deaths
00 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars
$52Mas filed
Busiest year
2007341 records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Are drought records common in North Carolina?

North Carolina averages about 86 drought records a year since 2000, 16th of 51 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2007 (341). Per 10,000 square miles of land, North Carolina records 340 drought records since 1996, 17th of 50 states and territories by that measure.

  1. 1. Hawaii 2624
  2. 2. New Jersey 1205
  3. 3. Delaware 1062
  4. 4. Oklahoma 971
  5. 5. Georgia 900
  6. 6. Texas 711
  7. 7. New Mexico 528
  8. 8. Alabama 527
  9. 9. Tennessee 477
  10. 10. Iowa 466
  11. 17. North Carolina 340

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in North Carolina have the most drought records?

Per square mile, Polk County leads North Carolina: 38 days with a drought record since 1996, 159.9 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Caldwell County has the most drought records (77 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

  1. Polk County 159.9 (56)
  2. Mitchell County 158.2 (35)
  3. Alexander County 142.3 (37)
  4. Avery County 141.5 (35)
  5. Davie County 132.7 (35)
  6. Graham County 126.7 (37)
  7. Lincoln County 125.1 (37)
  8. Yancey County 112.0 (35)
  9. Watauga County 99.2 (31)
  10. Gaston County 98.4 (35)
  11. Cabarrus County 96.9 (35)
  12. Henderson County 96.5 (36)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is drought season in North Carolina?

North Carolina's drought records by month. The busiest month is August (234 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 64 · Feb 52 · Mar 78 · Apr 117 · May 158 · Jun 154 · Jul 156 · Aug 234 · Sep 148 · Oct 184 · Nov 209 · Dec 98 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest drought records in North Carolina

North Carolina: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2007-09-01 DroughtStokes County · forecast zone Stokes One storm episode: 9 records in 9 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $36M
2007-10-01 DroughtCaswell County · forecast zone Caswell One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $6.0M
2019-10-01 DroughtYadkin County · forecast zone Yadkin 0 0 $4.6M
1998-10-10 DroughtWilkes County · forecast zone Wilkes One storm episode: 8 records in 8 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $4.5M
2007-06-12 DroughtCaldwell County and Watauga County · forecast zone Watauga 0 0 $598K

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are drought records becoming more frequent in North Carolina?

North Carolina's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Drought: North Carolina and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
DecadeNorth CarolinaUnited StatesNorth Carolina's share
1996-992445,6004.4%
2000s1,03118,5715.6%
2010s9131,4410.3%
2020-2628630,1470.9%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent drought records in North Carolina

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2026-06-01 DroughtYadkin County · forecast zone Yadkin 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtWilkes County · forecast zone Wilkes 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtWatauga County · forecast zone Watauga 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtSurry County · forecast zone Surry 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtStokes County · forecast zone Stokes 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtRockingham County · forecast zone Rockingham 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtCaswell County · forecast zone Caswell 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtAshe County · forecast zone Ashe 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtAlleghany County · forecast zone Alleghany 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtCarteret County · forecast zone West Carteret 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtWashington County · forecast zone Washington 0 0 –
2026-06-01 DroughtCraven County · forecast zone Southern Craven 0 0 –

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for drought records in North Carolina

FEMA has declared 1 disaster in North Carolina for drought, counting its incident type and declarations that name the hazard in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 0 were major disasters, the latest on August 11, 1977.

The 12 most recent
DeclaredNumberTitleAreas named
1977-08-11EM-3049Drought49

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next