Drought worsens with some possible relief on the way for the holiday week

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - It’s no surprise, the drought continues to worsen across the Western Carolinas as rain has been very little and very hard to come by.

The drought monitor released Thursday morning shows more of the area under an extreme drought. The area currently includes all of Cherokee and Polk counties, most Spartanburg County, northern Greenville and Union counties, and southern parts of Macon, Jackson, Transylvania, Henderson, and Rutherford counties. The severe drought area has also been expanded with everyone at least in a moderate drought.

The fall has been incredibly dry. In fact, it’s currently on pace to be the driest fall on record. So far, we’ve only had 9 days of measurable rainfall. November is the driest month so far of the season.

Only 9 days of rain this fall(Fox Carolina)

Since the beginning of the fall season, we’ve only received 1.73 inches of rain. This puts us at a deficit of almost seven and half inches of rain. That’s less than a fourth of our normal rainfall for the season.

Rain deficit continues to build(Fox Carolina)

We do have some relief in sight but unfortunately, it’s during one of the busiest travel times of the holiday week. Rain ramps up Monday afternoon through the day on Tuesday, potentially bringing an inch and a half to two and a half inches of rain.