Where are we on rain amounts? (Atlanta, Hartwell: vs, agricultural, yard)

[meadgrad]

Seems like we've had a lot of rain this winter, but I drove by Lanier on 400 yesterday and it was still really low...

anyone know? are we still technically in a drought?

[BobKovacs]

I saw a map of the state on the news last week, and the amount of the state that's in an extreme or exceptional drought has shrunk from last year, but we're still not doing that great. Lanier is still down around 15' from full pool, but it's higher than it was last year.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by meadgrad

Seems like we've had a lot of rain this winter, but I drove by Lanier on 400 yesterday and it was still really low...

anyone know? are we still technically in a drought?

The weather folks usually refer to the 'agricultural' drought...that has been mostly relieved by the rains during the fall and winter(for the SE part of the country--minus the upstate of S.C. and mountains of N.C.--last I saw).

We brought the drought with us to Texas where the last 18 months are the THIRD driest on record(dating to the mid-1800s). Please take a look at this thread if you are interested:
Is it ever going to rain again?

Fortunately, we have rivers out here that actually have water in them!

Lanier and Hartwell, I believe, will need numerous tropical storms to bring them up to anywhere near normal. Areas of the N.C. mountains are FEET behind on rainfall for the past 18 months(Highlands, N.C. for example, averages over 90" per year!).

Good luck with the spring rains...the beauty of Atlanta in springtime is one of the things we will really miss!

[gt6974a]

Until Lanier fills back up, we're in a drought, Allatoona doesn't have the problem b/c it's smaller and has a larger basin that feeds it. You can see what a difference the heavy rain does for allatoona vs lanier if you look at the maps below.

lanier: (bad) Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin

allatoona: (good) http://water.sam.usace.army.mil/allafc.htm (broken link)

[netdragon]

We had a nice multi-day bout of rain a couple weeks back. I wish it started up again. I swear I saw plants in my yard smiling. :-)

[matt8325]

Fortunately, most of Georgia is no longer in a drought. The only area of the state that's still in a drought is the northeast part of the state, including the Lake Lanier area. The rest of us are doing great !!!

[gt6974a]

Rather than draining Allatoona every year, they should put a pipe in that runs from Allatoona along Highway 20 (not I-20) to Lanier to pump it up. Allatoona only needs 2 good rains to fill up.

[martarider]

This is all you need:

http://water.sam.usace.army.mil/lanfc.htm (broken link)

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by matt8325

Fortunately, most of Georgia is no longer in a drought. The only area of the state that's still in a drought is the northeast part of the state, including the Lake Lanier area. The rest of us are doing great !!!

Actually, the northern third of Georgia as a whole is still in a drought. The NE part of the state is where the conditions are the worst, but that doesn't negate the drought conditions in the rest of North Georgia.

[chiefs fan]

You can view a map at this link:

US Drought Monitor

You can click on a region and then click on the state to see the county lines.