By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Rowan County and much of the rest of the state received a good steady rain Tuesday and more is expected today.
“You’ll probably get another 1 to 2 inches,” said Vince DiCarlo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “You won’t be getting as much as the hill country to your west, but you’ll still be getting a good amount of rain.”
The rain comes from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay, which wreaked havoc with much of Florida for most of the past week. The storm came ashore on Florida a record four times.
Fay is now trekking across North Carolina on her slow march to the sea. Farmers surely welcome the rain, though there’s a question of whether the precipitation is too little, too late to help many crops.
“Your long, durational rains will be over by the end of the day (today),” DiCarlo said.
He said showers can be expected to continue through the weekend.
DiCarlo said the National Weather Service has two rain recording stations in Rowan County ó one near Catawba College and the other in the county’s southeast corner. He said both those stations recorded between 1 and 2 inches of rain Tuesday.
That seems to be the norm.
At Salisbury Fire Station No. 1 on Innes Street, firefighters recorded 1.6 inches of rain Tuesday. That’s about the same amount that several weather watchers in Spencer reported.
The Salisbury Post’s AccuWeather report is based on data from the city of Salisbury’s recording station. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, that station was reporting Tuesday’s rainfall total at 1.35 inches. (To get an update on the city’s rainfall total, go to: www.salisburync.gov/weather/.)
John Thomason, a transportation supervisor with the N.C. Department of Transportation, said the rain was steady, but hadn’t resulted in many road problems as he was aware.
He said the entrance to a subdivision in Landis was blocked late Tuesday afternoon because of water on the roadway, but said that was one of the few problems he’d heard of.
“I’m heading toward Miller’s Chapel,” Thomason said about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. “I’ve heard they’ve got a tree down in the road out there.”
He said additional problems would likely depend largely on how much rain falls in the mountains over the next day or two. Thomason said if downpours fall in the mountains, local rivers will likely be filled to overflowing, likely causing trouble for motorists and transportation officials.
About 10 p.m. Tuesday, a steady rain continued across much of Rowan County.