After some improvement in the drought across the region during the month of August, the last three weeks haven’t brought much drought relief to the region and the lack of rain in the forecast doesn’t post a good omen.
According to the federal government’s U.S. Drought Monitor, varying degrees of drought impact about two-thirds of the state. The map to the right shows current conditions.
If you take a look back all the way at the August 7 drought conditions, the current ones don’t look too bad. That said, the recent lack of rain is definitely beginning to rear it’s head across the region.
The Georgia EPD has declared a Level 1 Drought Response in the following 53 counties: Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dade, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Fulton, Gilmer, Gordon, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Lamar, Lumpkin, Meriwether, Morgan, Murray, Newton, Oconee, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Polk, Rockdale, Spalding, Troup, Twiggs, Union, Walker, Walton, White, Whitfield and Wilkinson.
READ: Officials urge conservation during Level 1 Drought
All of Habersham County remains in a D1 (moderate) drought, with the far SW corner still in a severe drought. The biggest relief over the past month has been to Rabun County where just D0 (abnormally dry) conditions exist.
Compared to last week, there hasn’t been much change, and this is all a massive improvement over where we were a month ago. The only real noticeable change is far NE Rabun County moving out of no drought into abnormally dry conditions.
This is still considered short-term drought, as is evidenced by just a large area of abnormally dry only 4 months ago, and non-existent drought at the start of the year.
Even better news lies on the horizon with the global weather models showing an uptick in total rainfall over the coming 7-10 days that could help ease the drought back to just “severe” rather than “extreme”.
The region’s rainfall is averaging around a foot under normal so far this year.
Here are some of the local rainfall deficits:
Helen:-15.38″
Cornelia: -13.08″
Dahlonega: -12.98″
Elberton: -12.36″
Toccoa: -11.61″
Gainesville: -11.59″
Clayton: -9.68″
Blairsville:-6.01″
And here are a few of the lake level deficits:
Blue Ridge: -11.56′ (being lowered to winter levels)
Lanier: -5.95′
Chatuge:-5.54′
Hartwell: -5.25′
Russell: -1.74′
Burton: -.04′
Unfortunately, there is NO model support for any significant rain for most of the rest of the month, so drought conditions will likely worsen heading through the next two weeks. I’ll update as things change and as always stay with Now Habersham for the latest weather updates.
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Original article: Drought Monitor 2016.