COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The committee that monitors drought conditions in South Carolina warns that drier than normal conditions have spread across the entire state.
The South Carolina Drought Response Committee declared nine mostly coastal counties in an incipient drought last week, meaning the entire state is now in the first stage of the state's four stages of drought conditions.
State Climatologist Hope Mizzell says a hotter and drier than normal May is extending the drought in South Carolina. Charleston had its second driest May ever with just 0.41 inches of rain.
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows more extreme levels of drought spreading toward South Carolina from south Georgia.
And the dry, hot weather isn't going anywhere soon. Seven-day forecasts across the state call for only a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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