Below-normal rain across most of Georgia during April
aggravated the two-year drought.
Most places had less than half of their normal rain during the
month. The major exceptions
were in the extreme northwest and along the Florida border.
Among major Geogia cities, Athens had 43 percent of normal,
Atlanta
62 percent, Augusta 34
percent, Columbus 31 percent and Macon 20 percent. Savannah was
the only major city with
near-normal rains in April. It received 94 percent of its normal
rainfall.
Some places along the Florida line had heavy rains and
flooding in the last week of
April. Locations with heavy rain last week include Alma (2.20
inches), Attapulgus (2.06),
Dixie (6.66) and Valdosta (4.02).
Rain Below Normal
Statewide
For the year, total rain is
below normal across the entire state. At the end of April,
below-normal amounts include Athens at 6.97 inches, Atlanta at
7.17, Augusta 4.94, Columbus 5.71, Macon 6.10 and Savannah
2.20.
Stream flows in the southern two-thirds of the state are near
record-low flows for the
date.
On May 1, daily record low flows were found on the
Chattahoochee River near Whitesburg,
the Flint River near Culloden and at Newton and the Ocmulgee
River at Jackson and Macon.
Extremely low flows were found on the Altamaha River at
Doctortown, the Oconee River at
Dublin and the Savannah River at Augusta.
Soil-moisture conditions are expected to worsen as Georgia
enters late spring. With
rigorous plant growth and high temperatures routinely in the
80s,
evaporation and plants’
water use (transpiration) will quickly exhaust any soil-moisture
reserve without timely
rains.
Conditions Expected to
Worsen
Even with normal weather, Georgia’s soils normally lose
moisture during May. The
Center forecasts an increased
probability of above-normal temperatures in May. So,
soil-moisture loss is expected to be
above normal.
The rain outlook from CPC is for equal chances of
below-normal, normal and above-normal
rain for May.
Unless there is a major change in the weather pattern, the
drought will probably
continue through the summer. Even with normal rain, the soils
normally dry out during the
summer, and plants must depend on soil-moisture reserves built
up
during the winter.
Across most of Georgia, there was minimal soil moisture
recharge during the past
winter. Thus, there is little soil-moisture reserve to support
plant growth.
