With a weakened Hurricane Dorian lurking just off the Carolina coasts and tracking northeastward, a sharp gradient of precipitation amounts was produced. 10-15 inches of rain was dumped on some coastal locations in South Carolina (e.g. Pawleys Island 15.21”; Georgetown 13.38”; North Myrtle Beach 10.44”) and North Carolina (Wilmington coop 13.07”; Smith Creek 11.36”; Wilmington NWS 10.80”; Kingston 8.68”), but totals rapidly declined to the west, with no rain at all in central sections of the Carolinas. Several tornadoes were spawned in the eastern Carolinas, and a severe storm surge on Ocracoke Island required numerous rescues. With that stated, D0 and D1 was removed from northeastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina (some 2 cat improvements, D1 to nothing), and some D0 was erased in southeastern South Carolina. Further inland, however, a week of no rain, above-normal temperatures, and windy conditions increased 60-day deficits and evapotranspiration rates. The D1 and D2 areas corresponded to 2-month deficits of 3-6 inches, while newly added D0 areas were generally 50-70% of normal for the same time period. USDA statewide short to very short topsoil moisture percentages have also increased across parts of the Southeast: Virginia (77), Georgia (64), Alabama (53), South Carolina (50), and North Carolina (33). USGS 7-day averaged stream flow have also declined across central sections of Alabama and Georgia, with numerous sites in the lower tenth percentile (much below normal), while western and central South Carolina, Florida Panhandle, and southern Virginia were in the 10-24th percentile (below normal). USDA/NASS pastures for the week ending Sep. 8 were rated very poor to poor in Virginia (50%), North Carolina (26%), South Carolina (22%), Georgia (25%), and Alabama (20%).

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