North Carolina, 2001

Drought in North Carolina, March 1 to 31, 2001

March 1 to 31, 2001 · NWS GSP · 29 events in 29 counties and zones

Despite beneficial rain during March, the drought continued to grip most of the area. Severe water restrictions were implemented in parts of the North Carolina piedmont, where reservoir had dropped to all-time low levels.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
29

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

Despite beneficial rain during March, the drought continued to grip most of the area. Severe water restrictions were implemented in parts of the North Carolina piedmont, where reservoir had dropped to all-time low levels. In Concord, food establishments were asked to use paper and plastic products to conserve water.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 9:36 PM EST, 2 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 9:36 PM EST, 2 hours 24 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
936 PM EST WED FEB 28 2001

MIN TEMP FCSTS LOOK GOOD ACROSS THE BOARD THIS EVENING. SAT LOOPS
AND UPPER AIR CHARTS INDICATE A FAIR AMOUNT OF UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE
TO OVERSPREAD THE CWFA IN THE FAST NW FLOW ALOFT. SOME 850 MB
MOISTURE LOOKS TO BE LINGERING AS WELL WITH FOG PRODUCT INDICATING
STRATCU INCREASING...BUT NEW ETA PROGS THIS MOISTURE TO BE ADVECTED
SE OVERNIGHT. ON THE AVERAGE...A PARTLY CLOUDY SKY CWFA WIDE LOOKS
GOOD.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   38  61  40  59 /   0   0   0  20
AND   38  62  40  60 /   0   0   0  20
CLT   35  57  37  60 /   0   0   0  10
HKY   34  56  33  57 /   0   0   0  10
AVL   31  55  31  51 /   0   0  10  20

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

29 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Alexander

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Alexander forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.921, -81.177 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Avery

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Avery forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
36.077, -81.922 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Buncombe

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Buncombe forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.611, -82.530 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Burke

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Burke forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Cabarrus

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Cabarrus forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.387, -80.552 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Caldwell

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Caldwell forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Catawba

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Catawba forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.663, -81.214 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Cleveland

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Cleveland forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.334, -81.556 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Davie

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Davie forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.929, -80.544 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Gaston

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Gaston forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.294, -81.180 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Graham

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Graham forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.350, -83.834 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Haywood

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Haywood forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.556, -82.982 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Henderson

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Henderson forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.336, -82.480 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Iredell

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Iredell forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.807, -80.873 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Lincoln

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Lincoln forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.486, -81.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Macon

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Macon forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.150, -83.422 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Madison

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Madison forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.858, -82.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, McDowell

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
McDowell forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Mecklenburg

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Mecklenburg forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.247, -80.833 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Mitchell

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Mitchell forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
36.013, -82.163 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Northern Jackson

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Northern Jackson forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.287, -83.141 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Polk

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Polk forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Rowan

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Rowan forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.640, -80.525 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Rutherford

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Rutherford forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Southern Jackson

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Southern Jackson forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.287, -83.141 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Swain

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Swain forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.487, -83.493 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Transylvania

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Transylvania forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.202, -82.798 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Union

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Union forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
34.988, -80.531 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Yancey

When
March 1, 12:00 AM EST to March 31, 11:59 PM EST
Where
Yancey forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
35.899, -82.308 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought
A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, March 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5237669, 5237670, 5237671, 5237672, 5237673, 5237674, 5237675, 5237676, 5237677, 5237678, 5237679, 5237680, 5237681, 5237682, 5237683, 5237684, 5237685, 5237686, 5237687, 5237688, 5237689, 5237690, 5237691, 5237692, 5237693, 5237694, 5237695, 5237696, 5237697.