The latest Drought Monitor is out, and it is not good news for the Southeast. Extreme drought has been reintroduced to Georgia for the first time since February 2013. A small area of northeast Alabama is also in extreme drought.
The good news is that rainier weather returned to parts of the Southeast this week; at my house in southeast Athens I’ve received over 4 inches in the past few days, one of the higher amounts in the state. The rain may keep the drought from expanding on next week’s map. But with a long-range temperature forecast of above normal conditions this summer, we could see drought expand in areas that are missed by the spotty summer storms. I’ve heard from people in southern Georgia who complain about the dry conditions there too, even though they are not officially in drought or even abnormally dry conditions.
