Drought conditions have been improving in North Carolina over the last week thanks to a more active weather pattern featuring afternoon and evening storms.
A drought takes weeks, and sometimes, months to develop, so it doesn't completely wash away in a week's time.
The latest drought monitor map released Thursday morning shows around half of the state remains under the at least abnormally dry category up to a moderate drought.
However, that's a marked improvement from a week ago when around 95-percent of the state was at least abnormally dry.
The severe drought from recent weeks in eastern North Carolina has now been downgraded to a moderate drought.
A large part of the state has seen above normal rainfall over the last week that has even led to localized flooding in spots in recent days.
While flooding is not needed, the wetter weather is welcomed news to many farmers that have been struggling to grow some crops due to a dry late spring and early summer.
Improvement in the drought conditions should continue for at least the next couple of weeks.
Long range outlooks show some likelihood for wetter-than-normal conditions to continue across the state.
