At least 88 counties experienced unusually dry conditions in whole or in part.
More than half of Georgia’s counties experienced unusually dry weather, according to the US Drought Monitor’s June 18 report, more than three times the number of counties with such conditions listed in the June 11 report. (Photo by Aleksei / Алексей Simonenko / Unsplash.com)
MACON, Ga. — More than half of Georgia counties experienced unusually dry weather, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s June 18 report, more than triple the number of counties with such conditions listed in the June 11 report.
All or parts of at least 88 counties experienced at least an unusually dry climate, one intensity level below moderate drought on the Drought Monitor scale.
Seven counties – Cherokee, Cobb, Coweta, Douglass, Fayette, Fulton and Paulding – experienced moderate drought.
The main concentration areas were metropolitan regions such as Atlanta, Central Georgia and Southeast Georgia.
Click here to view the June 20 Georgia drought map. (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?GA) A new map will be released on the morning of June 27.
The previous week, 25 counties, most of them in the Atlanta metropolitan area, experienced unusually dry weather.
The Drought Monitor is a map created by meteorologists and climatologists at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the USDA. The maps are based on data on precipitation, streamflow, reservoir levels, temperature, evaporative demand, soil moisture, and vegetation health.
Pam Knox of UGA Extension’s Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast blog predicts warmer, wetter months from July through September.
Coastal areas likely to experience tropical rains are expected to receive above-average rainfall during what is likely to be an active season. Areas away from coastal rains, where temperatures are highest over the next few weeks, may experience sudden droughts (with sudden onset).
–Georgia Farm Bureau
