“The unprecedented aspects of 2020 included our climate in North Carolina, which the statistics show was an extreme year in our modern history.”
So report Corey Davis, Assistant State Climatologist of North Carolina, and Kathie Dello, State Climatologist of North Carolina and director of the North Carolina State Climate Office at NC State University.
“According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, 2020 was our second-wettest year on record and tied for our third-warmest year on record dating back to 1895. That makes 2020 the only time in the past 126 years with both our annual temperatures and precipitation ranked in the top five.
“Perhaps more unusual than the rankings themselves is the story of how we got there: a persistent warm and wet pattern that was defined not by a single event, but by the sum of its parts.”
