Rainfall late last week and early this week has brought some
temporary relief to
drought conditions across Georgia. But the state needs much
more rain to break the
drought.

Total rainfall between June 8 and June 14 in the state’s
peanut region ranged from 0.3
inches at Statesboro to 1.98 inches at Tifton. Most stations
reported between 0.75 and
1.75 inches.

Across the rest of the state, rainfall ranged from 0.1 at
Dearing and 0.27 at Eatonton.
Some stations had more than 1.5 inches, included Attapulgus and
Dixie in southwest; Tifton
in south central; Vidalia in southeast; Griffin, Pine Mountain
and Williamson in west
central; Blairsville in the north Georgia mountains; and Clark
Atlanta University in
downtown Atlanta.

Drought Still
On

(The rainfall figures are from the University of Georgia Automated
Environmental Monitoring Network.
Daily updates are available on the Web site.)

With last week’s rain, conditions in central Georgia
improved from extreme to severe
drought, while southwest Georgia improved from severe to
moderate drought. Except for the
northwest (moderate), the rest of the state is in severe
drought.

Rainfall needed to end the drought ranges from 4 inches in
the northwest to more than
11 inches in the southeast. The eastern two-thirds of the state
needs more than 9 inches
to end the drought.

Soil Still Dry

The Georgia
Agricultural Statistical Service
reports that soil moisture is very short to short in 70 percent
of the state. The topsoil
in the central, east central and all of south Georgia is
excessively dry, and yield
prospects are reduced. West-central Georgia soils are
abnormally dry, and prospects are
deteriorating. Across the rest of the state, the soil moisture
is rated as short.

Regional drought and soil moisture conditions are calculated
by the National Weather
Service Climate Prediction
Center and updated weekly.
Agriculture remains stressed across the state. GASS rates
almost half of the corn and
pastures very poor to poor. Almost a third of the cotton crop
is rated very poor to poor.

You can find daily updates on the drought at the UGA
drought Web site. Or contact
your county
extension agent.