For yet another week the drought has continued to expand across North Georgia.
The current dry streak in Cornelia stands at 13 days with the last measurable rainfall of 0.11″ coming on October 21st. We ended the month of October with only 1.41″ of rainfall which put us 3.35″ below normal. Parts of the region did see some light rain with the front on Monday and Tuesday but it was minimal at best.
Due to this the drought has continued to worsen. In the latest update from the Drought Monitor the D3 severe drought has expanded to include much of Rabun and Towns Counties and the northern half of White County and the extreme northern part of Habersham. The rest of Habersham is in a D2 moderate drought with only the extreme southern parts in a D1 abnormally dry region.
The local drought is widespread across much of the southeast as storm systems have been few and far between. It is currently worst across Alabama where a significant portion of the state is under a severe drought with the entire state under at least a moderate drought.
Unfortunately the dry pattern doesn’t look like it is going anywhere anytime soon. We should eventually get into a wetter pattern as the El Nino in the Pacific takes hold of the larger scale pattern.
Until then, use extreme caution when doing any outdoor burning and keep an eye on any local burn ordinances.
