The Drought Monitor released this morning shows that extreme drought (D3) has expanded from 7.4 percent of the state’s area to over 11 percent in the last week. Most of the expansion occurred in counties to the southeast of the Atlanta metro area, although there was also some expansion in the far northwest. The northwestern region is also now designated as feeling impacts from both short- and long-term drought, which means that water quantity measures like streamflow and ground water levels are also being impacted in addition to soil moisture. Moderate drought also expanded in western North Carolina. Further expansion may be seen in the next week since little rainfall is expected in the drought areas.
