fyi
Severe drought conditions develop across Georgia
Northwest, southeast Georgia getting even drier.
Severe drought conditions have developed across northwest and southeast
Georgia. The remainder of the state is still in moderate to mild drought,
except the lower Flint River Valley, which is abnormally dry for the middle
of April.
By David Stooksbury, University of Georgia
Severe drought conditions have developed across northwest and southeast
Georgia. The remainder of the state is still in moderate to mild drought,
except the lower Flint River Valley, which is abnormally dry for the middle
of April.
In northwest Georgia, Polk, Floyd, Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa
counties are in severe drought.
In southeast Georgia, severe drought conditions are east and south of a
line through Thomas, Brooks, Cook, Berrien, Coffee, Jeff Davis, Toombs,
Tattnall, Evans, Bryan and Chatham counties.
Moderate drought conditions are found north and west of a line through
Haralson, Paulding, Bartow, Gordon, Pickens, Gilmer, Union and Towns
counties.
Grady, Colquitt, Tift, Irwin, Ben Hill, Telfair, Wheeler, Montgomery,
Treutlen, Emanuel, Candler, Bulloch and Effingham counties are also in a
moderate drought. The rest of the state is in mild drought, except the
lower Flint River Valley, which is abnormally dry.
In the regions with severe drought, the soil moisture and stream flow
levels are at or below the 5th percentile. That means that soil moisture
and stream flow levels are greater than the current values in 95 out of 100
years.
In the regions with moderate drought, soil moisture and stream flow levels
are between the 5th and 10th percentiles, so these levels are greater than
the current values in 90 of 100 years.
Deep deficits
Rainfall deficits for Jan. 1 through April 16 include Athens at 4.02
inches, Augusta 4.27, Columbus 5.04, Savannah 5.67, Macon 6.03, Plains
6.44, Brunswick 6.87, Tiger 7.54, Atlanta 7.98, Alma 8.42, Tifton 9.02,
Blairsville 9.64 and LaFayette 11.27.
During the past week, portions of Georgia received beneficial rain. Among
the places getting more than 1 inch of rain over the past seven days are
Pine Mountain at 1.02 inches, Alpharetta 1.10, Atlanta 1.14, Arlington
1.21, Athens 1.37, LaFayette 1.47, Macon 1.67, Newton 1.84, Albany 2.03,
Jeffersonville 2.33, Augusta 2.44, Columbus 2.58, Elberton 2.80, Dublin
3.04 and Cordele 3.37.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports daily record-low flows for April 16 in
northwest Georgia on the Coosawattee River near Pine Chapel at Carters and
near Ellijay and on Cedar Creek near Cedartown.
In southeast and south-central Georgia, daily record-low flows were
reported on the Ocmulgee River at Lumber City, the Altamaha at Doctortown
and near Baxley, the Ogeechee near Eden, the Ochlockonee near Thomasville,
the Alapaha near Alapaha and at Statenville, the Suwannee at Fargo, the
Little Satilla near Offerman and the Satilla near Waycross and at Atkinson.
Over the past two weeks, Lake Lanier's water level has remained nearly
constant and is 2.5 feet below full summer pool. Hartwell and Clarks Hill
are 1.8 and 1.1 feet below full summer pool, respectively.
Levels are near the desired level for middle April at Allatoona and
Carters. West Point and Walter F. George have levels above the guidance for
middle April.
Groundwater levels have shown some improvement with recent rains across
southwest Georgia. Levels across south-central and southeast Georgia
continue to drop.
Little relief
Little if any relief from the drought is anticipated in the foreseeable
future.
The entire state remains under the level-1 outdoor water-use schedule.
Outdoor watering is allowed only from midnight to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to
midnight on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at odd-number street addresses
and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at even-number addresses. It's
banned all day on Fridays.
Local water authorities may further restrict outdoor watering.
The state drought response committee will assess the dry weather and
discuss outdoor water use schedules April 18 at 1 p.m. The group will meet
in Suite 1252 East Tower in the Floyd State Office Towers at 2 Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta.
The committee includes representatives of several state agencies, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geologic Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, a regional development center, the agricultural industry and the
business community.
Updated weather information is at www.georgiaweather.net. This University
of Georgia network has 71 automated weather stations statewide.
Updated drought information is at www.georgiadrought.org. The site includes
updated climatic conditions and information on how to deal with the
drought.
(David Stooksbury is the state climatologist and a professor engineering
and atmospheric sciences in the University of Georgia College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: [log in to unmask]
|
