Drought declared in additional South Carolina counties

The South Carolina Drought Response Committee upgraded the drought status for 17 counties in the state. Fourteen counties were upgraded to “incipient,” the first level of drought: Lancaster, Kershaw, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington, Lee, Florence, Dillon, Marion, Williamsburg, Georgetown, Horry, Beaufort and Jasper. Three counties were upgraded to “moderate,” the second level of drought: McCormick, Greenwood, and Edgefield.  Oconee, Pickens, Anderson, and Abbeville counties remain in moderate drought, and all other counties remain in incipient status.  the very dry Upstate finally receiving some much needed rain, while rainfall for the Pee Dee region has significantly decreased.  Despite improved rainfall coverage for the Upstate, the Committee decided to maintain the drought status of those counties out of concern the rainfall relief may be short-lived.  The Committee decided that the lack of rainfall in the Pee Dee was sufficient to warrant an upgrade to incipient for all counties in that region. The primary drought impacts being reported at this time are to agriculture, and for some counties those impacts are highly variable and may be significant.  The Committee will continue to monitor the situation closely and reevaluate conditions in four to six weeks.