Unfortunately the drought has continued to expand across the state with almost no rain falling in the past 5-7 days, and no significant rainfall expected in the next 5-7.
The latest from the US Drought Monitor shows a much larger area of at least D1, or moderate, drought now covering nearly the entire state. This category is up to 89% from 81% last week, with all but a small area stretching from Northeast Georgia to Northwest Georgia included.
Further south across Central and South Georgia the D2, or Severe Drought, areas have stayed roughly the same over the past week with no change in the Extreme Drought area of far South Georgia.
Total rainfall for the past week has been very minimal, with only slightly better numbers in the past 7 days. Only a very small area of West Georgia has seen any rainfall in the past 5 days, as seen on the left below. Going back a week does include a bit more rain from our last front, but even still nearly the entire state is below 1/2″.
This week of no rain has increased total deficits across the entire state as well. Far North Georgia currently has the largest 30 day departures from average with some spots exceeding 3″, but for the most part the northern 2/3 of the state are around 1.5-2.5″ below average since November 25th.
Unfortunately, no significant rainfall is expected anytime soon. The Euro weather model is the most optimistic over the next 7 days, but even it shows very little rainfall with the entire state below 1/2″ and the majority even under 2/10″. Our only real chance of rain will come with the cold front on Sunday/Monday that will bring much colder air, but it won’t have much moisture attached.
The good news is that fire danger conditions will likely remain low to moderate through the weekend. Despite the dry conditions, relative humidity will remain fairly high thanks to the warm airmass. A period of increased fire risk is expected behind the front next week, and if drought conditions continue to worsen over the next 2-3 weeks some initial water conservation rules could go into effect for some municipalities.
