South Carolina now in incipient drought

The South Carolina Drought Response Committee has upgraded the drought status to the first level of drought for the entire state. Previously, only nine counties were considered incipient drought. Committee members yesterday recognized the forecast for heavy rain next week, but decided to upgrade the incipient status statewide because they couldn’t ignore several indicators. Rainfalls totals over the past 60 days have ranged from 1.44” at Bluffton to nearly 8 inches at Central. Committee member Dennis Chastain of Pickens County said, “The various parameters that we observe to come to a decision on the drought status have been giving us mixed signals lately. So, we rely on local observers, folks on the ground, when those parameters don’t give us a clear indication….”