A tropical storm could be exactly what the Lowcountry needs - WCIV-TV | ABC News 4 - Charleston News, Sports, Weather

A tropical storm could be exactly what the Lowcountry needs

By Valencia Wicker
vwicker@abcnews4.com

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- It turns out the three inches of rain meteorologists were expecting across the Lowcountry, thanks to the remnants of Beryl, came just in the nick of time.

"Well, right now over the last six months, we've been running anywhere from five to 10 inches below normal for that time frame," said Frank Alsheimer, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service.

The lack of rain has raised concerns of controlled burns spreading into wildfires.

"All this rain is really going to help that. We obviously still need more because if we go through a dry period for the next two weeks, we're back to where we started," Alsheimer said.

While the rain will help the current drought situation, Alsheimer says it certainly isn't enough.

"We need several more instances of heavy rain to get us out of the drought," said Alsheimer. "So, this is a good start but, we need to keep it coming."