It’s been stormy here in Atlanta. We’ve had a wet winter and rainy early spring. In a drought-stricken region like this, you tend to hear variations on the same joke every time it rains: “Well, I guess that pesky drought is over!”

With all the rain this week, some folks have once again been saying we’re out of the drought. Only this time, it was no joke.

Georgia’s state climatologist, David Stooksbury, declared the drought over this week. All of the good rain we’ve had lately has apparently pulled North Georgia out of its water shortage with the exception of Lake Lanier and Lake Hartwell basins. So as long as you don’t count the two lakes where we get a large part of the region’s water, the drought is over!

Wait, what?



Putting it in Perspective

Atlanta has been in drought for over a decade, and Stooksbury is saying that a few months of heavy rain have fixed the problem? It seems a little fishy, so I thought I’d see what other folks were saying about our water situation.

According to March 24th data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, the North Georgia region was in moderate to severe drought with a small area classified as “abnormally dry,” and even an area that is, indeed, drought-free! Here’s the map:



Could we have gotten enough rain in the past week to put our water woes behind us? It seems believable that maybe the region is now on the border of “abnormally dry” and moderate drought, but it’s a little irresponsible to declare that we’re free from drought. Atlanta is coming to the end of its wettest month of the year, and April, May, and June average far less rainfall than March.

I’m more inclined to believe this more cautious take on Atlanta’s water situation. Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Director Carol Crouch says that, “It’s going to take four consecutive months of returning to normal rainfall for conditions to be such that we could declare that a drought was over.” While the EPD checks other drought indicators like soil moisture and stream levels, watering restrictions for the area are still on. As far as the region’s water situation, I’d have to agree with Crouch when she said:

Regardless of whether it’s a normal year or a dry year, the need for people to connect to how they use water every day and be more efficient is just something that’s the right thing to do.

Well said! For some some great tips on conserving water, check out this post over at Planet Save.

Image Credits:

Gloomy Atlanta. Creative Commons photo by Saud Khan

U.S. Drought Monitor chat via The National Drought Mitigation Center