Worsening drought conditions to plague southern US

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

October 23,2016; 8:49PM,EDT

 

 

Dry weather set to dominate the southern United States into November will only worsen the already extreme drought conditions.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that a severe to extreme drought is plaguing communities from northern Mississippi to northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee.
The drought has reached exceptional levels near the northern border of Georgia and Alabama.
Unfortunately, there are no signs of needed rain to replenish lawns and reservoirs through at least the end of this month.

"High pressure will hold over the Southeast and Deep South into early this week, promoting dry and largely sunny conditions" AccuWeather Meteorologist Maggie Samuhel said.
Temperatures into midweek will rise above normal with highs from Greenwood, Mississippi, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta averaging from the middle 70s to lower 80s.
A cold front will cross the area late in the week, but will struggle to deliver rain to the hardest-hit drought areas.
The theme of dry weather dominating to end October will spill over into November with the AccuWeather long-range forecasting team anticipating below normal rainfall in the drought-stricken areas.
"There can be some rain, the best rain they probably have seen in a while, during the middle to latter part of the first week of November," AccuWeather Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok, "but still not enough to break any drought."
Pastelok anticipates a pattern shift to commence the third week of November with stronger fronts reaching the eastern United States, but also large sweeps of drier air in their wake.
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"So even if there is a half-day of rain from a front, there will be 2-3 days of drying behind," Pastelok said, "so drought conditions will stick through the fall and into the start of winter."
The pattern for early winter "is not good news for precipitation," he said.
Residents are urged to follow any water conservation advisories and rules issued by officials. Caution should be used when dealing with sparks, campfires or bonfires.
The drought has worsened in recent weeks with Atlanta only receiving 0.22 of an inch of rain since Sept. 19 when 4.34 inches is more common.
Columbia, South Carolina, nearly 200 miles away, recorded nearly 5 inches of rain during the same period. That was largely due to the heavy rainfall from Hurricane Matthew.
The same dry spell worsening the drought will be beneficial to ongoing flood cleanup efforts in the eastern Carolinas and allow rivers to continue to recede.

The Chattahoochee River from Lake Lanier to northeast of Atlanta is running below normal, according to the USGS. Georgia River Network states that the river supplies 70 percent of metro Atlanta's drinking water.
The Coosa River at Gadsden in northwestern Alabama remains around 1.5 feet below its low water stage of 508 feet, the National Weather Service stated.
More than a month has passed since Gadsden last registered measurable rain on Sept. 18.
"The worst of the drought is outside of the major agricultural areas in the Southeast, including the cotton and peanut areas," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Agricultural Meteorologist Dale Mohler said.