The latest Drought Monitor, issued this morning, shows an area of severe drought has developed in east-central Georgia in Screven, Jenkins, and Bulloch Counties.  This area is an extension of the severe drought which has been present in the Carolinas for the last few weeks.  The drought expansion is due to the continuation of warm temperatures coupled with lack of rainfall in the southern half of the state in the last week.  Fortunately that area is getting some needed showers as I write this, although summertime thunderstorms are very hit-or-miss and so some locations within the drought area will be missed.

On the NOAA webinar this morning, Anthony Artuso noted that drought is expected to expand across the Southeast (with the exception of the Florida peninsula)  in the next few weeks, as relatively dry weather should dominate the weather pattern for the next month in the absence of any tropical activity.  Once the winter El Nino pattern kicks in, there could be a fairly abrupt change from dry to wet conditions.  This could occur as early as mid-October or as late as late November, so don’t delay field work during that time period if you have moisture-sensitive crops or fields that are hard to work in wet conditions.  And of course, keep an eye on local weather forecasts for impacts from tropical weather and to watch for the change-over to wet conditions later in the fall.

ga drought 8-20-2015  season_drought 8-20-2015