Much of North Carolina continues to experience moderate drought, according to the latest advisory from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.

The DMAC classified all or parts of 65 counties, including all of The Smoky Mountain News coverage area, as experiencing moderate drought, or D1 conditions. 

It was a time and a place, and now that place is gone.

Or is it?

I came across some version of that idiom about time and place a few months ago, just as we at The Smoky Mountain News were beginning to discuss how to cover the one-year anniversary of Helene’s historic and deadly impact on this place we call home.

North Carolina is drought-free in the latest advisory issued Thursday by the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council (DMAC), marking the first time since Oct. 15 that the state has been free of drought or abnormally dry conditions. 

The Environmental Action Community of Western North Carolina (EAC) will host renowned speaker Andrew Jones, at the Terrace Hotel Auditorium (689 N.  Lakeshore Drive, Lake Junaluska) from 6:30-8 p.m. May 15 in a free interactive presentation on climate, resilience and action. 

The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council has classified most of the state as abnormally dry, while 56 counties are at least partially in a moderate drought, including almost the entire Smoky Mountain News coverage area. 

Like a three-pack-a-day smoker who blames their chronic cough on allergies, or a recent flu shot  —  everything but their addiction  —  President-elect Donald Trump continues to embrace an absurd and criminally irresponsible brand of denialism on the subject of climate change. 

The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council continues to classify much of Eastern North Carolina as being in a moderate drought, but the entire western part of the state has returned to normal.

After several weeks of increasingly dry conditions, Western North Carolina has finally seen some much-needed rain, taking the whole region out of drought conditions and into a “moderately dry state.” 

The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council has again classified the whole state as at least abnormally dry with a moderate drought now affecting the entire Smoky Mountain News coverage area other than a sliver of northern Haywood County. 

The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council has again classified the whole state as at least abnormally dry with a moderate drought affecting three far-west counties and most of the eastern part of the state.