Drought
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We’ve been getting some questions about the differences between the USDA drought declaration, the State of Georgia drought response, and the Drought Monitor drought status. I thought I would take a minute to discuss the differences between them. If you are not in Georgia, check with your own state for their rules regarding categorizing drought action…
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WABE radio reported today that Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division has officially declared a Level 1 drought for Atlanta and northern Georgia, 53 counties in all. While the Drought Monitor has shown drought in this area for several months, conditions have lingered and impacts have become severe enough for the State to make an official drought declaration.…
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As expected, the passage of Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Hermine across northern Florida and southeastern Georgia and the coastal Carolinas eliminated many abnormally dry areas and reduced drought in those regions. However, in other parts of the Southeast, drought conditions generally remained the same as last week. Since precipitation amounts are expected to be…
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This week’s Drought Monitor shows an expansion of abnormally dry conditions in southeastern Georgia and parts of North and South Carolina in the last week. However, Hurricane Hermine is expected to move directly over those areas in the next two days, so those dry conditions should be completely wiped out by next week’s Drought Monitor.…
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August is almost over, and a look at the temperature departures for the Southeast help explain why drought has been expanding across central and southern Georgia. Most of northern Georgia has been fairly close to normal in precipitation, but the southern half of Georgia and particularly along the coast has been quite dry. Combined with the…
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Scattered rain showers across the Southeast improved the dry conditions in the worst-hit drought areas this week. The latest Drought Monitor shows that extreme drought was removed from northeast Georgia as well as reduced in northern Alabama and metro Atlanta. Overall, the area of dry conditions increased slightly, mostly along the east coast of Florida.…
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While we’ve been watching the drought in the Southeast, many other areas of the country are also experiencing drought. NOAA published a country-wide overview of the drought in these regions at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/drought-building-places-other-california earlier this month. NOAA also provided an update on the current neutral conditions and the likely transition into La Niña in their ENSO blog at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/august-2016-enso-update-wavy-gravy. The…