The latest Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows a significant reduction in drought across the Southeast due to the significant rains that many places have experienced. I returned today from a trip to Seattle for a conference to find 3.43 inches of rain in my CoCoRaHS gauge from last Friday to today. Rains like this have really helped to reduce the drought status in the area. However, long-term rainfall deficits are still causing low lake and reservoir levels in some places. When I flew over Lake Allatoona northwest of Atlanta last week, the dry brown edges of the reservoir were very much in evidence, and it will take months of above-normal rainfall to bring those levels back to full pool.
