As should come as no surprise, drought conditions continue to worsen across the entire state as rain showers have remained few and far between.
Current Conditions
Despite a lucky few seeing some showers with a front over the weekend, the vast majority of the state has remained completely dry for the second week in a row. This has allowed the drought to continue expanding across Georgia. Currently, 71.04% of the state is considered under a level D3, or Extreme Drought. This is the highest number since January of 2012 when 74% fell into D3 or higher. Across South Georgia where numerous large wildfires are burning, 27%Â of the state falls into D4, Exception Drought: the highest category available. That is the highest number since the drought of 2016 that impacted mainly North Georgia and placed 56.6% of the state in exceptional conditions.
A growing majority of the state has at least an 5-6″ rainfall deficit year to date, with some spots now exceeding 10″ deficits for the year. Those deficits increase to well over a foot for some when you look at the past half year and full year.
The past month in particular has been extremely dry, with less than 20% of normal precipitation falling across almost the entire state.
This lack of rainfall is beginning to have significant impacts on outdoor recreation with a large burn ban across South Georgia and falling lake levels state-wide.
RELATED: https://nowgeorgia.com/worsening-drought-impacting-outdoor-recreation-across-georgia/
What’s to come
Fortunately, some drought relief is likely on the way, although it won’t be erasing our issues anytime soon. The latest from the Climate Prediction Center has dropped our chances of being above average on precipitation from some previous outlooks, but we are still poised to see some much-needed rainfall.
This is backed up by the weather models, which show an initial round of rain this Saturday and another round on next Tuesday/Wednesday as a pair of weak fronts move through. Still, the bulk of this rain is expected to be situated across Northwest Georgia with less falling the further southeast you live. Still, they are in remarkably good agreement that we will see 1-3″ fall across the northern 2/3 of the state in the next 10 days.
On Wednesday, Governor Kemp declared a State of Emergency for 91 south and central Georgia Counties currently being hit the hardest by the drought.
Overall, this is the worst drought the state has seen since late 2016. During that time, many wildfires ravaged the northern and central parts of the state, and a large area fell into the D4 exceptional category. That drought was the opposite of the current with North Georgia feeling the worst effects, and south Georgia being relatively in good shape.
Stay with Now Georgia for the latest on all state news and updates on any incoming rainfall.
