Why is NC seeing so much rain and flooding in July?

There has been a head-spinning amount of flooding this month, and not just in North Carolina.

It includes Texas, New Mexico, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Missouri. The Texas floods were from the remnants of a tropical storm.

The flooding in central North Carolina was from Tropical Depression Chantal. In parts of Chapel Hill, there was more rain than we saw from Hurricane Fran in September 1996.

It doesn’t always take a tropical system to cause major flooding.

Earlier this week, New Jersey and New York saw one of the most intense storms in their histories. The flooding wreaked havoc on airports, subways, roads and more. The rain on the East Coast had nothing to do with a tropical storm.

Also, people don’t have to be in a floodplain to get bad damage. For example, 43% of repeatedly flooded North Carolina buildings are outside of designated FEMA flood zones.

WRAL News looked ot examine why we’re dealing with more dangerous rain events and why the state has had so much rain in July. Some areas of central North Carolina saw between 9 to 12 inches of rain, which is more than double some areas’ normal monthly rainfall.

Related: Wet July: Storms leave behind damage in Sanford as residents grow concerned over torrential month

WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell explained what’s happening. She said there is a lack of sinking air to prevent storms. Fronts have stayed north and west, so central North Carolina has stayed hot and humid.

“We’re just stuck in this hot, humid, stormy pattern, so we’ve got a lot of energy in these storms and they’re able to dump some pretty intense rainfall,” Campbell said.

The Atlantic hurricane season tends to peak on Sept. 10. Activity in the tropics tends to ramp up in August, Campbell said.

August and September tend to report more flash flood reports than July in central North Carolina, Campbell said.

Anyone who doesn’t have flood insurance because they don’t live on a floodplain should know that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s [FEMA] flood maps are outdated. They rely on 1970s data.

WRAL Climate Change reporter Liz McLaughlin has been digging into this and more.

“[The maps] really only take rivers and coastal flooding into account and really ignore small waterways that now overflow,” McLaughlin said. “And, it doesn’t take climate change into account, so people are really underestimating their risk.”

The trends over the past few decades have shown increasing intensity in rainfall.

Since 1970, rainfall intensity has increased by 21% in the Triangle. It means more rain in less time. It includes:

Rising temps: Warmer air holds about 4% more water vapor for every 1°F of warming, so downpours get heavier.

Record ocean temps: Oceans absorb 90% of global warming, super‑heating the fuel for systems like former Tropical Storm Chantal

The climate is changing – our maps and infrastructure may not be keeping pace – but North Carolina residents can.

There are still simple steps you can take right now, to make sure you’re prepared.

Contractors showed us what to look for around the house before a storm hits. WRAL has also highlighted weather tools and alerts you can sign up for to stay informed.

If the worst does happen, WRAL 5 On Your Side has extensive reporting on how you can respond.

WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell and WRAL climate change reporter Liz McLaughlin contributed to this story.