Heavy rainfall in southern Georgia hinders farmers
Temperatures in Georgia during April were near normal for the entire state, but rainfall amounts were significantly above normal across most of Georgia in April. Severe weather rocked the state early and late in the month with more quiet conditions in the middle weeks.
In Atlanta, the monthly average temperature was 62.7 degrees F (0.7 degrees above normal), in Athens 62.3 degrees (0.6 degrees above normal), Columbus 64.4 (0.2 degrees below normal), Macon 63.0 (0.4 below normal), Savannah 68.1 (2.5 above normal), Brunswick 67.3 (0.8 above normal), Alma 65.8 (0.4 below normal) and Augusta 63.2 (0.5 above normal).
Brunswick reported a record low maximum temperature of 62 F on April 20, breaking the old record of 64 F set in 2013.
The highest monthly total precipitation from National Weather Service reporting stations was 9.30 inches in Columbus (5.75 inches above normal) and the lowest was in Athens at 4.17 inches (1.02 inches above normal). Atlanta received 5.90 inches (2.54 above normal), Macon received 7.46 inches (4.50 above normal), Alma 7.66 inches (4.85 above normal), Augusta 4.59 inches (1.75 above normal), Brunswick 7.92 inches (5.43 above normal) and Savannah 5.55 inches (2.48 above normal).
Several daily precipitation records were set in April. Atlanta received 2.46 inches on April 7, beating the old record of 2.38 inches set in 1973. Alma received 2.52 inches, also on April 7, to surpass 1.59 inches from 1992, and 2.00 inches on April 18, surpassing the old record of 1.04 inches set in 1969. Brunswick received 3.11 inches on April 18, much more than the old record amount of 0.72 inches set in 1953.
This was the fourth wettest April in Columbus in 67 years; the last time it was this wet was 1979 with 10.69 inches. It was the fifth wettest April for Macon in 122 years; the last time it was this wet was 1938 with 10.25 inches. It was also the 9th wettest year in Savannah in 78 years of record.
The highest single-day rainfall from CoCoRaHS stations was 5.14 inches near Manor in Ware County on April 8, with two other Ware County observers in Waycross reporting 4.90 and 4.62 inches on the same day, respectively. The highest monthly total rainfall was 14.65 inches, observed 13 miles ENE of Fort Gaines in Clay County, followed by 12.13 inches measured northwest of Albany in Lee County.
The Georgia Weather Network station in Donalsonville (Seminole County) reported 23.54 inches for the month, including 5.93 inches on April 7 alone.
After a quiet start to the year, severe weather returned to Georgia and the Southeast with a bang. The first round of severe weather occurred on April 7. Two tornadoes and damaging winds were reported with the passage of a strong cold front. The two EF1 tornadoes were observed in Ocilla in Irwin County and Lowry, 8 miles northwest of Griffin in Spaulding county, where three people were injured . A report on this flood and severe weather event can be found at https://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=20140407_flooding_tornado. A woman also died after driving into a rain-swollen Gwinnett County creek.
The second round of severe weather occurred April 28 with another strong front. Two tornadoes also occurred during this event, including an EF2 storm which moved from Troup to Heard County and an EF1 storm in Whitfield County which collapsed a chicken coop, killing 16,000 chickens before crossing into Tennessee.
In addition, a severe wind event associated with a “wake low” on April 30 caused strong wind gusts across central Georgia following a squall line. One man was killed in Athens when a tree limb fell on his van and several others were injured. Many trees and power lines were blown down, causing scattered power outages and a few school closings due to the lack of power. A description of the storm can be found at https://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=wakelow20140430.
These monthly climate summaries, along with other information on climate and agriculture in Georgia and the southeast, will now be posted on the “Climate and Agriculture” blog at https://site.extension.uga.edu/climate/ as well as other sites. Please feel free to email your weather and climate impacts on agriculture to share on the blog to pknox@uga.edu.