Athens,
Ga. — A hot, dry early July has intensified the
impacts
from Georgia’s
27-month-old drought.
Low soil-moisture levels, low stream flows and high wildfire
potential continue to be
of concern. The state’s economy continues to be affected. Crop
and animal production,
forestry and the green industry continue to be severely
impacted.
Drought conditions
aren’t expected to improve soon.
Locally heavy rains in late June brought some short-term
relief to some of the state’s
parched soils. However, the helpful moisture quickly evaporated,
with temperatures in the
90s during early July.
Drought Conditions
Statewide
Drought conditions are present statewide. The worst
conditions
are in the southwest,
northern coastal plain and piedmont regions of the state.
Unfortunately, the six largest
cities in the state are in these regions.
Soil moisture is very low across the state. The Climate
Prediction Center‘s soil-moisture-model output for July 10
ranks soil-moisture levels
at the 1st percentile across southwest and central Georgia. At
the 1st percentile level,
soils would have more moisture in 99 years out of 100.
Soil-moisture rankings in the remaining northern two-thirds
of
the state are between
the 1st and 5th percentiles. At the 5th percentile, soils would
have more moisture in 95
years out of 100. Soil moisture levels in south central and
southeast Georgia are between
the 5th and 10th percentiles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
> 90th
Percentile |
 |
10th – 24th
Percentile |
 |
< 10th Percentile |
 |
Record Low
for Day |
 |
Not Recorded |
Stream Flows at or Near Record
Lows
Stream
flows are at or near
daily record lows for the date. Some streams are setting
all-time
record lows. Daily
record low flows were observed on July 10 on the Flint River
near
Culloden and at
Montezuma, the Satilla near Waycross, the Oconee at Dublin, the
Little near Washington and
the Broad near Bell.
Near-daily-record-lows were reported on the Ohoopee River
near
Reidsville, the Ocmulgee
at Macon and Lumber City, the Tallulah near Clayton and the
Etowah at Canton.
Concern about wildfires continues. Foresters use the
Drought Index as a tool to
determine wildfire behavior. Except for extreme north Georgia,
the KBDI is in excess of
500. Most of the state has KBDI values greater than 600.
When KBDI reaches 500, wildfires are hard to control. KBDI
values above 600 mean that
putting out wildfires becomes a major problem.
No Major Relief in
Sight
No widespread, major relief from the drought is in sight.
With
temperatures in the 90s,
Georgia’s soils are losing close to 1.5 inches of moisture a
week
because of evaporation
and plant water use.
To keep soil moisture at current levels, we will need 1.5
inches of water a week added
to the soils. To make a significant dent into the drought, we
will need to add about 10
inches of water to the soils.
Even a tropical storm would not be able to add enough water
to
the soils. Much of the
water from a tropical storm would not enter the soils but would
run off, causing flooding.
It appears that Georgia’s best hope of pulling out of the
current
drought is a long, wet
winter.
The University of Georgia has two drought-related Web sites
that are updated daily. The
Drought 2000 Web site (www.georgiadrought.org)
has information about current drought conditions, impacts and
suggestions for reducing
impacts. The Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network
Web site (
e
/) has current
weather information and tools for data analysis.
