Wednesday and especially Thursday brought some beneficial rain to our area. Some spots saw over 2 inches of rain! Let's look at some of the rainfall totals we had across our area and in the Triangle, and we'll dive into how that rain helped us. We'll also look ahead to see if we'll have any more help.
During rain events like the one we had the past couple of days, we always try to emphasize that there will be some rain "hot spots". These are specific parts of our area that receive heavier rain or multiple rounds of showers that bring some higher totals. The areas in pink below highlight areas that saw between 1.5-2.5" of rain. Our highest total out of these areas was a 1.49" recorded near Southern Pines.
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Taking a closer look though at the Triangle, we can see even some hot spots on a smaller scale. Fuquay-Varina received 2.10" between Wednesday morning and Friday morning while RDU only received half an inch.
So, how did this benefit us? Any rain is really helpful to help green up our local vegetation and increase soil moisture at least a little bit. As of 8 a.m. on May 8th, 2026, the burn ban is lifted for the rest of the state of North Carolina. That means that the rain was able to help conditions just enough to allow for burning permits to be reissued, but caution still needs to be taken!
We still need a lot of rain to help our drought conditions, though. As of climatology data from earlier this week, we need 10-15" of rain according the National Centers of Environmental Information to break the drought within a one month period.
For Wake county and even some surrounding areas, there is at or near a 0% chance of the drought ending over the next month.
No significant rain chances are expected over the next seven days either. The Weather Prediction Center has maybe up around an inch of rain with some higher amounts to the south and east.
Unfortunately, The Climate Prediction Center is showing drier that normal conditions being possible across our area in the long term, and they also predict the drought to only continue for much of the state into the summertime.
It's hard to break the drought conditions during the summertime as we see less fronts that bring significant rain and more isolated showers and storms instead. The strengthening Bermuda high offshore in the Atlantic is the main culprit for bringing overall drier conditions and hotter temperatures.