NOAA

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Binghamton, NY

• Home
• Site Map
• News
• Organization
• Search for: NWS All NOAA 

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Atlanta, GA

000
AXUS72 KFFC 181713
DGTFFC
GAC009-011-013-015-021-023-035-045-047-053-055-057-059-063-067-
077-079-081-083-085-089-091-093-097-107-111-113-115-117-121-123-
125-129-133-135-139-141-143-145-149-151-153-157-159-163-167-169-
171-175-187-193-195-197-199-207-209-211-213-215-217-219-221-223-
225-227-231-233-235-237-247-249-255-259-261-263-265-269-271-279-
281-283-285-289-291-293-295-297-301-303-307-309-311-313-315-317-
319-192300-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
110 PM EDT THU APR 18 2013

...LONG TERM DROUGHT DIMINISHES OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA...

A WET WEATHER PATTERN DURING THE RECENT WINTER SEASON COMBINED WITH
ADEQUATE RAIN SO FAR THIS SPRING HAS IMPROVED LAKE AND POND LEVELS
TO NEAR FULL POOL. MANY STREAM AND RIVER LEVELS ARE NEAR NORMAL IN
NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA.

SEVERAL PERIODS OF RAIN CONTINUED TO IMPROVE THE DECREASING DROUGHT
CONDITIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. WIDESPREAD RAINFALL AMOUNTS
OF 1 TO 3 INCHES OCCURRED DURING THE PAST 14 DAYS ACROSS NORTH AND
CENTRAL GEORGIA. HEAVIER RAIN OF 3 TO 5 INCHES OCCURRED OVER EXTREME
NORTH GEORGIA FROM TRENTON THROUGH BLUE RIDGE AND BLAIRSVILLE TO
HIAWASSEE.

IN GENERAL...THE RAINFALL DEFICITS DECREASED AND SOIL MOISTURE
IMPROVED OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS. THE
AREAL COVERAGE OF THE MODERATE DROUGHT ONLY EXISTS AROUND AUGUSTA.

AS A REMINDER...STATE OFFICIALS ARE THE ONLY AUTHORITY FOR BEGINNING
AND ENDING DROUGHTS IN GEORGIA.

SEE HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/FFC/HTML/RAINDEF.SHTML FOR THE LATEST
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR IMAGE AND OTHER DROUGHT RELATED INFORMATION.

------------------------------------------------------------------
CLIMATE IMPACTS

GENERALLY 50 TO 125 PERCENT OF NORMAL RAINFALL PREVAILED OVER NORTH
AND CENTRAL GEORGIA DURING THE PAST 14 DAYS. THE EXCEPTION WAS OVER
EXTREME NORTH GEORGIA WITH 130 TO 200 PERCENT OF NORMAL.

LOCATION   TOTAL RAINFALL    NORMAL    DEPARTURE     PERCENT
            LAST 365 DAYS    VALUE     FROM NORMAL   OF NORMAL

ATLANTA        46.45         49.71       -3.26         93%
ATHENS         46.02         46.33       -0.31         99%
COLUMBUS       43.18         46.75       -3.57         92%
MACON          47.70         45.68       +2.02        104%
-------------------------------------------------------------------
RESERVOIRS/STREAM LEVELS

CURRENT LAKE LEVELS AT THE USACE PROJECTS WERE MAINLY FROM NEAR
SUMMER POOL LEVELS AT ALLATOONA...CARTERS...LANIER AND WEST POINT
LAKES...TO 3 TO 5 FEET BELOW AT LAKES HARTWELL AND THURMOND. THE
LAKE LEVELS ARE PROJECTED TO REMAIN NEARLY STEADY OR SLOWLY RISE
DURING THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS.

LAKE        SUMMER POOL  CURRENT LEVEL    DEPARTURE
                                           IN FEET

ALLATOONA       840          839.56         -0.44
CARTERS        1074         1073.98         -0.02
HARTWELL        660          656.95         -3.05
LANIER         1071         1071.30         +0.30
THURMOND        330          324.83         -5.17
WEST POINT      635          634.41         -0.59

AVERAGE STREAM LEVELS FOR THE PAST 7 DAYS RANGED FROM AS LOW AS 12
PERCENT ON THE LITTLE RIVER NEAR WASHINGTON...TO AS HIGH AS 93
PERCENT ON THE CONASAUGA RIVER NEAR ETON DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL.

PLEASE NOTE THAT CREEKS AND SMALLER RIVERS CAN CHANGE QUICKLY DUE TO
RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAIN IF IT OCCURS.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRE DANGER LEVELS

THE LATEST FIRE DANGER ASSESSMENT INDICATES A MODERATE TO HIGH RISK
IN NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL OR LACK THEREOF.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ASSESSMENT CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY DUE TO CHANGES
IN MOISTURE LEVELS AND RAINFALL RECEIVED.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK

THE OUTLOOK FOR MAY...
EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND
PRECIPITATION EXPECTED. NO TREND INDICATED.

90 DAY OUTLOOK...FOR MAY THROUGH JULY...
ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPECTED.
EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION EXPECTED.
NO TREND INDICATED.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS DATA WAS FURNISHED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
COOPERATION WITH THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY...THE GEORGIA
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION...AND THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS. CURRENT FIRE DANGER ASSESSMENTS WERE PROVIDED BY THE
GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT ISSUED FROM THIS
OFFICE UNTIL SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS RETURN TO NORTH OR CENTRAL
GEORGIA.

$$

16