Record annual rainfall

[ATLTJL]

I just drove over the Chattahoochee. It's really high.

[Born 2 Roll]

It appears that Atlanta recorded the second-highest annual rainfall that it ever recorded in 2018.

As for 2018, it finished as the second-wettest year ever for Atlanta, with 70.03 inches of rainfall, Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz said on Twitter. Still in first: 1948, with 71.45 inches.

TUESDAY’S WEATHER-TRAFFIC: More rain in New Year’s forecast (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Keep in mind that the average annual rainfall for Atlanta is 49.71 inches.

[Born 2 Roll]

metro Atlanta recorded a total of 70.03 inches of rainfall in 2018, securing its place as the second wettest year on record.

The No. 1 year for rainfall in Atlanta remains 1948, when 71.45 inches of rain soaked the city.

2018 Brings Rainiest Weather In Decades To Georgia, Flood Watches Continue (Georgia Public Broadcasting)

Also of note is that nearby Athens experienced its highest amount of rainfall in 22 years with 62.26 inches of rain in 2018.

Neighboring states also experienced an abundance of downpours. A federal utility serving parts of seven southeastern states (the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky) said that with 67.1 inches 2018 was the record wettest year in the Tennessee Valley, according to the Associated Press.

The National Weather Service reported the fifth wettest year to date on record for the entire United States through November 2018.

I know that it can be a lot of rain for many people to handle, particularly for those who might have personally experienced flooding (like I did back during the legendarily rainy month of September 2009 when I was flooded out of my apartment in Doraville), but I personally would much rather see bodies of water (like lakes Lanier and Allatoona) be full of water than to see them drying up and almost completely empty like was the case during the 2006-2008 drought when Lake Lanier almost ran completely out of water.

Neither flooding or drought is preferable, but if I were forced to choose, I would choose to have the challenge of having excess water rather than having the challenge of being on the verge of running completely out of water.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Neither flooding or drought is preferable, but if I were forced to choose, I would choose to have the challenge of having excess water rather than having the challenge of being on the verge of running completely out of water.

I would choose right along with you!

[LTCM]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

but I personally would much rather see bodies of water (like lakes Lanier and Allatoona) be full of water than to see them drying up and almost completely empty like was the case during the 2006-2008 drought when Lake Lanier almost ran completely out of water.

Even in the 2006-2008 drought, Lake Lanier didn't almost run out of water. Water levels were definitely extremely impacted but the ability for Lanier to supply drinking water to Atlanta was never in doubt. At some time levels approached the point where the existing pipes may have been ineffective but extending them is a trivial matter.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by LTCM

Even in the 2006-2008 drought, Lake Lanier didn't almost run out of water. Water levels were definitely extremely impacted but the ability for Lanier to supply drinking water to Atlanta was never in doubt. At some time levels approached the point where the existing pipes may have been ineffective but extending them is a trivial matter.

We can look back now and say that the ability for Lake Lanier to supply drinking water to metro Atlanta was never in doubt.

But at the time, it was a pretty desperate and very scary situation because we did know when that exceptionally severe drought was going to end as the water level in Lake Lanier kept getting lower and lower and lower.

And I recall that there actually was a place up in Tennessee (some small town on a hilltop or mountaintop that I cannot remember the name of) that ran out of water and had to have water trucked in to survive.

Looking back at some of the precipitation records, it looked like there a month somewhere in mid-late 2008 (July 2008, if I recall correctly) where over seven inches of rain fell and kept the drought from worsening. Though, the drought was not completely broken and reversed until we had that legendarily/infamously rainy month in September 2009.

At one point, the 2006-'08 drought got so bad and so dire that then-Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue resorted to praying for rain on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol just simply because of a lack of other options.

Even though I personally was flooded out of the place where I lived during that great flood in 2009, part of me was also happy that the great drought had been completely broken and that North Georgia would no longer have to seriously worry about severe water shortages and dwindling water supplies.

[DJDeadParrot]

Originally Posted by LTCM

Water levels were definitely extremely impacted but the ability for Lanier to supply drinking water to Atlanta was never in doubt.

That's not true, at all. The way I remember it, we were something like 3 months away from complete depletion of Lake Lanier, all outdoor watering had been banned, and it even brought the so-called water wars with Florida back to front page news.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by DJDeadParrot

That's not true, at all. The way I remember it, we were something like 3 months away from complete depletion of Lake Lanier, all outdoor watering had been banned, and it even brought the so-called water wars with Florida back to front page news.

This.

I also remember that they were asking people to take shorter showers.

I remember during my job coming across a motel in Suwanee that I guess called themselves sneaking to water their outdoor garden with sprinklers at night during the worst part of the drought when all outdoor watering had been banned.

I understandably grew very angry seeing this business sneaking to water their outdoor garden at night, yelled at the night clerk and threatened to call and report them for violating the water ban.

[Beretta]

Well, this went off topic. Good news, sunny weekend forecasted ahead.