Severe drought conditions existed over southern portions of Wilkes and Yadkin County at the start of May. With lack of rainfall during the second half of the month, extreme drought conditions pushed north into area.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS RNK wrote it up.
Severe drought conditions existed over southern portions of Wilkes and Yadkin County at the start of May. With lack of rainfall during the second half of the month, extreme drought conditions pushed north into area.
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 Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 30, 9:04 PM EST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1004 PM EDT WED APR 30 2008 .SYNOPSIS... HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLIDE OFF THE COAST THURSDAY. A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NORTH THROUGH THE TENNESSEE AND OHIO VALLEYS BRINGING WARMER AIR BACK INTO THE MID ATLANTIC REGION FROM THE SOUTHWEST. A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE APPALACHIANS LATE SATURDAY BRINGING THE THREAT OF SHOWERS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD BACK INTO THE AREA FOR THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/... WARM AIR ADVECTION CLOUDS MOVING THROUGH SRN WV TO CLIP NRN ZONES OVERNIGHT. ASIDE FROM TWEAKING THE SKY GRIDS...NO CHANGES. THOUGHT ABOUT RAISING T-MINS VCNTY OF CLOUD COVER...BUT LATE NIGHT CLEARING MAY STILL ALLOW NUMBERS TO REACH CURRENT PREDICITIONS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE CENTERED OVER THE EASTERN CONUS TONIGHT PROVIDING MAINLY CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS. SOME INCREASE IN CLOUD COVER WILL TAKE PLACE ALONG THE WESTERN SLOPES AS WARM AIR ADVECTION GETS UNDERWAY LATER TONIGHT. THIS WILL KEEP THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS WARM...RELATIVE TO THE VALLEYS. VALLEYS SHOULD DECOUPLE WITH A STRONG SURFACE BASED INVERSION TO START OFF THE DAY THURSDAY. AFTER A COOL START...LOOK FOR TEMPS TO RISE QUICKLY WITH A WARM AFTERNOON ANTICIPATED THURSDAY. THE HIGH IS FCST TO SLIP OFF THE COAST THURSDAY...DRY WEATHER PREVAILING AS MOISTURE ALONG THE WESTERN FRINGE OF THE HIGH IS PRETTY SPARSE. SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGHOUT THE DAY...PROVIDING A BREEZE FOR THE AFTERNOON. 85H TEMPS ARE PROGGED AROUND +10 DEG C...YIELDING AN AFTN TMAX PRETTY CLOSE TO NORMAL WITH READINGS IN THE 70S BELOW 3KFT IN ELEVATION...60S 3K-5KFT...55 TO 62 5-6KFT. && .SHORT TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... H85 TEMPS WARM TO NEAR +15C JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WHICH HAS BEEN SLOWED DOWN BY THE MODELS AGAIN. LEFT SLT CHC POPS IN FOR FRIDAY...ALTHOUGH THE COLUMN IS RATHER DRY...MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES NEAR 7C/KM MAY BE SUFFICIENT FOR ISOLATED SHWS/STORMS TO FIRE. CONTINUED TREND IN GRIDS OF GOING AT LEAST A FEW DEGREES ABOVE MOS TEMPS FOR MAX/MIN TEMPS...ESPECIALLY WITH THE SLOWER ARRIVING FRONT LATER SATURDAY. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... UPPER RIDGE SLOW TO GIVE WAY IN THE EAST THIS WEEKEND THUS ANOTHER SHRTWV MAY RIDE NE ALONG THE FRONT THROUGH CENTRAL VIRGINIA ON SUNDAY. BECAUSE OF THIS...INC POPS AND EXPANDED THEM THROUGHOUT THE DAY FROM THE BLUE RIDGE AND EAST. THE OLD 0Z GFS RUN WAS TOO FAST AND TOO COLD BEHIND THE FRONT INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...SO THE ECMWF WAS FOLLOWED MORE CLOSELY. PLUS...THERE WAS A PRETTY RADICAL CHANGE BETWEEN THE 6Z AND 12Z GFS IN REGARDS TO THE H5 PATTERN NEXT WEEK. NONETHELESS...EXPECTING SOMEWHAT COOLER/DRIER AIR TO STICK AROUND FOR PART OF NEXT WEEK WITH HIGH PRESSURE TAKING ITS TIME MOVING EAST...WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY ALLOW WARMER SW WINDS TO ARRIVE. && .AVIATION /02Z THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... VFR CIGS/VSBYS EXPECTED THE NEXT 24 HOURS. LOOK FOR A GRADUAL INCREASE IN CLOUDS AOA 15 KFT ON THURSDAY. WINDS WILL BE INCREASING FROM THE S-SW TO AROUND 10 KTS IN MOST LOCATIONS DURING THE DAY. THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...LOOKS LIKE VFR CONDITIONS UNDER HIGH PRESSURE. SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY NIGHT...ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS THE REGION BRINGING A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH PERIODS OF MVFR/POSSIBLY IFR CONDITIONS. && .RNK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... VA...NONE. NC...NONE. WV...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...PM NEAR TERM...PM SHORT TERM...KM LONG TERM...KM AVIATION...DS/JJ
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1006 AM EDT WED APR 30 2008 NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-011415- ASHE-ALLEGHANY NC-SURRY-STOKES-ROCKINGHAM-CASWELL-WATAUGA-WILKES- YADKIN-TAZEWELL-SMYTH-BLAND-GILES-WYTHE-PULASKI-MONTGOMERY-GRAYSON- CARROLL-FLOYD-CRAIG-ALLEGHANY VA-BATH-ROANOKE-BOTETOURT-ROCKBRIDGE- PATRICK-FRANKLIN-BEDFORD-AMHERST-HENRY-PITTSYLVANIA-CAMPBELL- APPOMATTOX-BUCKINGHAM-HALIFAX-CHARLOTTE-MERCER-SUMMERS-MONROE- GREENBRIER- 1006 AM EDT WED APR 30 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA...NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...CENTRAL VIRGINIA...SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA AND SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought conditions (D2) along the extreme southern portion of the county pushed north to cover the entire county by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the southern portion of the county dropped into the extreme drought category (D3) during the latter half of the month.
Severe drought conditions (D2)along the southern portion of the county pushed north to cover the entire county by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the southwestern portion of the county dropped into the extreme drought category (D3) during the latter half of the month.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, May 2008
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: 99654, 99655.