Drought — Barrow, Georgia

2017-03-01 to 2017-03-31 · Barrow, Georgia

Wider weather episode

Through March there was little in the way of changes to the long term drought that persists across north and central Georgia. Northwest Georgia saw a one category improvement from D3 Extreme to D2 Severe Drought by the end of the month, and low rainfall amounts over central Georgia reintroduced D0 Abnormally Dry conditions across the previously-improved middle Georgia region.

The improvement across north Georgia was attributed to a more active weather pattern through the month, producing 4 to 8 inches of rainfall over the area. These rainfall amounts were generally 100 to 150 percent of normal. Across middle Georgia, paltry rainfall amounts of only 0.5 to 2 inches, or 10 to 50 percent of normal, kept the area so dry that short term drought conditions began after the long term drought conditions were considered over in February.

By the end of March, reservoirs in north and central Georgia were beginning to recover. Lake Allatoona and West Point were nearly 12 feet and 5 feet, respectively, above winter pool levels, and on track to fill to summer pool without issue. The headwaters of the Chattahoochee River upstream of Lake Lanier still suffered from extremely low stream flows, keeping Lake Lanier nearly 9 feet below the winter pool level. Although many climate sites observed an improvement in the 365-day rainfall totals, several locations, including Northeast Atlanta (KPDK), West Atlanta (KFTY), and Gainesville (KGVL) continued to have a rainfall deficit exceeding 19 inches. These sites have only received approximately 60 percent of the normal rainfall over the last 365-days.

The winter and early spring months continued to have generally slow, positive improvement in the drought conditions over the state. The drought conditions peaked in November, with a third of the state in D4 Exceptional Drought, and more than two-thirds of the state in D2 Severe Drought or worse.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 690365. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.