Severe drought conditions (D2) persisted across the mountains of northwest North Carolina. However, a subtropical low developed along the carolina coast on September 25th-26th and tracked directly over our area resulting in a prolonged period of rainfall across the region.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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 (D2) persisted across the mountains of northwest North Carolina. However, a subtropical low developed along the carolina coast on September 25th-26th and tracked directly over our area resulting in a prolonged period of rainfall across the region. This rain, along with beneficial rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay on August 26th-27th, reduced the area in D2 drought to Watauga, Ashe and portions of Wilkes counties by the end of September.
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 Aug 31, 8:34 PM EST, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 934 PM EDT SUN AUG 31 2008 .SYNOPSIS... STRONG HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE BUILDING DOWN THE EAST COAST TONIGHT...BRINGING DRIER AND A LITTLE COOLER AIR INTO THE REGION MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM MONDAY MORNING/... SURFACE DEW POINTS ARE JUST STARTING TO LOWER IN THE NORTHERN COUNTY WARNING AREA. 18UTC NAM/WRF/GFS ALL HAD A SIGNIFICANT DROP IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IN THE EASTERN COUNTY WARNING AREA BY MORNING. BASED ON RADAR TRENDS AND THE AIRMASS GRADUALLY STABILIZING...HAVE CUT BACK CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FOR TONIGHT. ALSO ADDED MORE CLOUD COVER IN THE FAVORED EASTERLY FLOW UPSLOPE AREAS. SATELLITE PICTURES ALREADY SHOWING CLOUDS FILLING IN OVER MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA. ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO MINIMUM TEMPERATURES FOR TONIGHT. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM MONDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT/... WITH DRIER THETA-E AIR ADVECTING IN...REMOVED PRECIP FOR MONDAY. ANY LOW CLOUDS/FOG EARLY IN THE MORNING SHOULD ERODE MORE QUICKLY WITH ADVECTION OF DRY AIR. GUIDANCE TREND HAS BEEN TO COOL HIGH TEMPERATURES AND FOLLOWED THIS TREND BY USING A MIX OF COOLER ETA MOS AND GFS MOS FOR HIGHS. WITH THE SFC HIGH PRESSURE STILL BUILDING INTO THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT...IT MAY BE HARD FOR MOST LOCATIONS TO DECOUPLE THOUGH IT SHOULD BE A CLEAR NIGHT. LOWERED TEMPERATURES AND DEW POINTS TEMPERATURES MONDAY NIGHT AND PLAYED IT CLOSE TO MOS GUD. WITH DRY AIR IN PLACE...LOWS IN THE 40S ARE POSSIBLE IN THE COLDEST NORTHERN VALLEYS. && .LONG TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... ALL MODELS DEVELOP A STRONG MID LEVEL RIDGING OVER ERN CONUS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WITH ITS AXIS SHIFTING EASTWARD OVER THE MID ATLC REGION. WHILE THE OVERALL PATTERN IS SIMILAR THERE ARE ENOUGH DETAIL DIFFERENCES TO IMPACT THE TRACKS OF TROPICAL SYSTEMS GUSTAV AND HANNA MAINLY MID AND LATE PERIOD. REFER TO LATEST NHC ADVISORIES FOR DETAILED INFORMATION. A SUNNY DAY EXPECTED TUESDAY WITH LOW RH. LOWERED DEW POINTS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND ELECTED TO GO WITH NAM WINDS. HIGHS ON TUESDAY WILL RANGE FROM THE LOWER 80S TO AROUND 90. TUESDAY NIGHT SHOULD BE COOL WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS. WILL GENERALLY SEE A WARMING TREND AFTER TUESDAY...AND THE NEXT CHANCE OF PRECIP TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK. PLAYED EXTENDED PERIODS CLOSE TO HPCGUIDE WHICH WAS A BLEND OF THE ECMWF AND GFS ALONG THE EAST COAST WITH NHC PLACEMENT OF GUSTAV AND HANNA. ADJUSTED FOR A SLIGHTLY MORE EASTWARD TRACK OF HANNA AND AN ACCELERATION DURING THE WEEKEND...AS IT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE APPROACHING TROF. && .AVIATION /02Z MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... HIGH PRESSURE WILL GRADUALLY BUILD INTO THE AREA TONIGHT. MVFR HAZE OVER THE REGION WILL DISSIPATE AS A DRIER AIRMASS MOVES IN AND SURFACE DEW POINTS DROP. DRYING WILL TAKE PLACE FROM NORTHEAST TO SOUTHWEST...WITH THE EASTERLY LOW LEVEL WINDS EXPECTED TO ENHANCE STRATUS DEVELOPMENT ON THE EAST SLOPES OF THE BLUE RIDGE. DRY AIR WILL BE FAR ENOUGH INTO VIRGINIA TONIGHT TO KEEP KROA OUT OF THE LOW CLOUDS. VISIBILITIES ARE ALREADY DOWN TO 3SM AT KDAN AND KLWB. HAVE VISIBILITIES DROPPING AT THESE SITES OVERNIGHT...KLWB GOING DOWN TO THE TYPICAL VLIFR CONDITIONS. MODELS ARE INDICATING GOOD MIXING ON MONDAY WITH SURFACE DEW POINTS DROPPING INTO THE 50S. ANY FOG AND STRATUS IN THE MORNING WILL DISSIPATE QUICKLY. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL INTO THE THURSDAY...WITH HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE MID ATLANTIC REGION. && .RNK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... VA...NONE. NC...NONE. WV...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...JJ NEAR TERM...AMS SHORT TERM...JJ/KK LONG TERM...JJ/KK AVIATION...AMS/PH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 432 AM EDT SUN AUG 31 2008 NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-010845- 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- 432 AM EDT SUN AUG 31 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. 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.
4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought (D2) conditions continued for the county through the month of September.
Severe drought (D2) conditions continued for all but the northeast one-quarter of Ashe County through the month of September.
Severe drought (D2) conditions covered all but the northeast one-quarter of Wilkes county at the beginning of September. By the end of the month, only the extreme southwest portion of Wilkes county was in a severe drought.
The extreme southwest portion of Yadkin county was under a severe drought (D2) at the beginning of September, but by the middle of the month, conditions had improved to moderate (D1) and remained that way through the end of September.
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, September 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: 136606, 136607, 136608, 136610.