National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Drought Information Statement

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AXUS72 KFFC 042257
DGTFFC
GAC009-011-013-015-021-023-035-045-047-053-055-057-059-063-067-
077-079-081-083-085-089-091-093-097-107-111-113-115-117-121-123-
125-129-133-135-139-141-143-145-149-151-153-157-159-163-167-169-
171-175-187-193-195-197-199-207-209-211-213-215-217-219-221-223-
225-227-231-233-235-237-247-249-255-259-261-263-265-269-271-279-
281-283-285-289-291-293-295-297-301-303-307-309-311-313-315-317-
319-052300-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
657 PM EDT THU APR 4 2013

...LONG TERM DROUGHT IMPROVES FROM SEVERE TO MODERATE CATEGORY OVER
NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA...

THE SEVERE DROUGHT PREVIOUSLY OVER PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL
GEORGIA HAS IMPROVED TO MODERATE INTENSITY. SEVERAL LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED PRECIPITATION AFFECTED A LARGE PORTION OF THE
DROUGHT AREA AND HAVE BEEN IMPROVING LAKE AND POND LEVELS. MANY
STREAM AND RIVER LEVELS ARE NEAR NORMAL IN NORTH AND CENTRAL
GEORGIA...WITH SEVERAL LOCATIONS BELOW NORMAL IN PARTS OF NORTH
GEORGIA. THE DROUGHT IMPACTS ARE LIKELY TO EASE IN MOST AREAS
THROUGH JUNE.

SEVERAL PERIODS OF RAIN BROUGHT RELIEF TO THE DROUGHT STRICKEN AREAS
OF NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA. WIDESPREAD RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4
INCHES OCCURRED DURING THE PAST 14 DAYS ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL
GEORGIA.

IN GENERAL...THE RAINFALL DEFICITS AND SOIL MOISTURE HAVE IMPROVED
OVER NORTH AND CENTRAL GEORGIA IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS. THE AREAL
COVERAGE OF THE NOW DOWNGRADED MODERATE DROUGHT ZONE IS THE SAME AS
THE PREVIOUS SEVERE DROUGHT ZONE. THE DROUGHT AREA IS GENERALLY
WITHIN A ZONE FROM JONESBORO TO EATONTON TO WASHINGTON TO WARRENTON
TO DUBLIN TO GRAY.

SEE HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/FFC/HTML/RAINDEF.SHTML FOR THE LATEST
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR IMAGE AND OTHER DROUGHT RELATED INFORMATION.

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CLIMATE IMPACTS

GENERALLY 90 TO 200 PERCENT OF NORMAL RAINFALL PREVAILED OVER NORTH
AND CENTRAL GEORGIA DURING THE PAST 14 DAYS.

LOCATION   TOTAL RAINFALL    NORMAL    DEPARTURE     PERCENT
            LAST 365 DAYS    VALUE     FROM NORMAL   OF NORMAL

ATLANTA        43.86         49.71       -5.85         88%
ATHENS         44.76         46.33       -1.57         97%
COLUMBUS       41.39         46.75       -5.36         89%
MACON          44.16         45.68       -1.52         97%
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RESERVOIRS/STREAM LEVELS

CURRENT LAKE LEVELS AT THE USACE PROJECTS WERE MAINLY FROM 3 TO 7
FEET ABOVE SEASONAL POOL LEVELS AT ALLATOONA...CARTERS AND WEST
POINT LAKES...TO 2 TO 4 FEET BELOW AT LAKES HARTWELL AND
THURMOND...WITH NEAR SEASONAL LEVEL AT LAKE LANIER. THE LAKE LEVELS
ARE PROJECTED TO STAY NEARLY THE SAME WITH SOME LOCATIONS HAVING
MINOR RISES OR FALLS DURING THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS. THIS WILL BE DURING
THE HISTORICAL RECHARGE PERIOD EXPECTED THROUGH MID-APRIL.

LAKE        SEASONAL POOL  CURRENT LEVEL  DEPARTURE
                                           IN FEET

ALLATOONA       833          839.69         +6.69
CARTERS        1072         1075.79         +3.79
HARTWELL        658          656.33         -1.67
LANIER         1070         1070.05         +0.05
THURMOND        328          324.22         -3.78
WEST POINT      630          633.01         +3.01

AVERAGE STREAM LEVELS FOR THE PAST 7 DAYS RANGED FROM AS LOW AS 3
PERCENT ON THE CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER NEAR NORCROSS... TO AS HIGH AS 73
PERCENT ON THE CONASAUGA RIVER NEAR ETON DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL.

PLEASE NOTE THAT CREEKS AND SMALLER RIVERS CAN CHANGE QUICKLY DUE TO
RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAIN IF IT OCCURS.

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FIRE DANGER LEVELS

THE LATEST FIRE DANGER ASSESSMENT INDICATES A HIGH TO EXTREME RISK
IN FAR NORTHEAST GEORGIA AND A LOW TO MODERATE RISK ELSEWHERE ACROSS
GEORGIA DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL OR LACK THEREOF.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ASSESSMENT CAN CHANGE RAPIDLY DUE TO CHANGES
IN MOISTURE LEVELS AND RAINFALL RECEIVED.

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TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK

THE OUTLOOK FOR APRIL...
ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPECTED.
NORTH AND MOST OF CENTRAL GEORGIA...EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE OR BELOW
NORMAL PRECIPITATION EXPECTED.
FAR SOUTH PORTION OF CENTRAL GEORGIA...ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION
EXPECTED. NO TREND INDICATED.

90 DAY OUTLOOK...FOR APRIL THROUGH JUNE...
ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPECTED.
EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION EXPECTED.
NO TREND INDICATED.

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THIS DATA WAS FURNISHED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
COOPERATION WITH THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY...THE GEORGIA
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION...AND THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS. CURRENT FIRE DANGER ASSESSMENTS WERE PROVIDED BY THE
GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION.

THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED ON THURSDAY
APRIL 18 2013...UNLESS CONDITIONS CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY.

$$

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