The September Equinox is behind us, we’ve officially stepped into Autumn but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.
Unseasonably (whatever that means) dry and hot weather is persisting around the state. At times like these, resources like the Drought Monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/) can be helpful to stay abreast of our water needs/usage.
Drought maps are updated on a weekly basis (data pulled on Tuesday, map made on Wednesday and data made public on Thursday) and cover the roughly 3,000 counties across the US. In GA there’s a team of authors that rotate each week in preparing the monitor’s report. Though much of the maps are drawn by the State Climatologist, Dr. Bill Murphy.
With that level of detail its not surprising that sometimes the data might not reflect reality. The director of UGA’s Weather Network, Pam Knox, mentions that: “If you feel that the Drought Monitor is not accurately capturing your conditions, it is likely because no one is telling the authors what is happening right at your location.”
Pam has two places online where we can report about precipitation and weather conditions.
One is the: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), though here you’ll have to create an account and have a professional rain gauge to participate.
Second is the: Drought Condition & Impact Reporting (linked here), which anyone can participate in and is a survey asking you how the weather is affecting the environment around you.
Pam Knox also has a great blog that she updates regularly here. Thanks to Pam for providing much of the info listed above.
Reach out to me with any questions, comments and/or concerns (229-417-7062).
Thanks.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Grant