Georgia's state climatologist, David Stooksbury, warned yesterday that if Georgia doesn't receive adequate rainfall over the next three to four months, drought conditions in summer and fall next year will likely be worse than those in 2007. We need to thank the La Niña ("The Little Girl" in Spanish) weather pattern. In a La Niña, the water temperatures in the eastern Pacific near the equator are unusually cold.
Some of his other statements:
- Half of the state is in extreme drought conditions now. The worst conditions are across the mountains and piedmont regions of the state.
- While winter rains will lead to short-term improvement in soil moisture, stream flows, groundwater levels and reservoir levels, it is imperative that Georgians do not assume that the drought is breaking. Currently, there is no relief in sight.
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center predicts a moderate to strong La Niña pattern to persist through spring. With this pattern, a warm, dry winter and spring are highly probable across middle and south Georgia. There is a high likelihood that north and west Georgia won't be able to recover from the drought this winter.
- The Southeast Climate Consortium is calling for a high probability that most of the Southeast will continue to experience a dry winter and spring.
- Georgia Drought
- University of Georgia Weather Network
- Southeast Climate Consortium
- A Good Article about David Stooksbury
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1 comments:
Is there any reason to believe there will be a change for the better anytime in the next several years?
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