Warning: Drought likely here until February

Last week's rainfall and the soaking showers of Thursday haven't been enough to ease the statewide drought, meaning North Carolinians need to continue conservation measures, Gov. Mike Easley says.

In the face of plummeting water supplies from a drought expected to last until February, Easley warns that the worst might lie ahead.

"The rain last week certainly helped, but forecasters say we need several months of normal to above-normal rainfall before we see any improvement in the drought," Easley said in a statement Thursday. "We must do all we can to save water now so we do not face even more severe shortages this fall and winter."

Raleigh residents got some rain Thursday. It wasn't much, but it was slow and steady. The National Weather Service recorded 0.18 inch at N.C. State's Centennial Campus and 0.31 inch at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Showers are likely again today and tonight, and rainfall is possible again on Saturday.

Forecasters and water managers say North Carolina is heading into the fall dry season while long-range weather predictions are pointing toward a dry winter. That could set the stage for an even more severe drought next summer, they say. Winter usually has a stretch of rain that replenishes rivers, reservoirs and groundwater.

North Carolina's latest drought map shows all but three counties remained at the same level of drought as last week. Drought is gripping all 100 counties with all but two coastal counties, Carteret and Pamlico, falling under the three worst categories of dryness -- severe, extreme and exceptional.

The Triangle is in extreme drought. Forecasters say it would take up to 24 inches of rain to break this severity of dryness and restore rivers, reservoirs and groundwater to normal levels. They also warn that the type of rain is just as important as the amount.

Downpours from hurricanes and tropical storms, North Carolina's traditional drought-busters, fill rivers and reservoirs but might not recharge groundwater supplies. For that, the state needs slow, soaking rains, said Ryan Boyles, North Carolina's chief climatologist, but the state is unlikely to get such weather this winter.

Water managers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday's rainfall had little impact on streams that feed two of the Triangle's primary water sources, Falls and Jordan lakes. Water levels in those reservoirs rose slightly Saturday and Sunday but quickly dropped, they said. Also, the heaviest rain fell south of the reservoirs and the streams that feed them.

"We only saw two or three days of pickup, but now we're right back into it," said Terry Brown, water project manager with the Corps in Wilmington.

Easley, who last week urged all government-run water systems to adopt at least voluntary conservation measures, praised communities and water systems that are following either voluntary or mandatory rules.

About 4.8 million North Carolinians are following either mandatory or voluntary conservation rules.