Barry Brings Little Relief to Rain-Starved Metro Atlanta
Tropical Storm Barry came through Georgia on Saturday, however the storm’s path was too far east to bring any benefit to most of the metro Atlanta area. The storm barely made it into Gwinnett County, bringing less than a tenth of an inch of rain. Further south, however, the area between Macon and Statesboro received two months worth of rain in a single day.
This map shows estimated precipitation amounts from the storm, as of 8 AM on Sunday:
Reported rainfall ranged from a trace in Atlanta to 6.48 inches in Kite, which is north of I-16 between Wrightsville and Swainsboro. Other Georgia amounts recorded include:
Alma - 3.60 inches
Athens - 0.49 inches
Augusta - 2.59 inches
Brunswick - 3.06 inches
Covington - 0.25 inches
Dublin - 5.70 inches
Gainesville - 0.09 inches
Macon - 2.31 inches
Savannah - 5.15 inches
Washington - 1.28 inches
So, what’s the good and the bad from the storm? The south Georgia wildfires were diminished, but not put out completely. Middle Georgia farmers may be able to put out long-delayed crops. The Georgia climatologist may delay putting the entire state into a level 3 drought, which would limit outdoor water use to one weekend day per week.
This morning’s Gwinnett Daily Post reports that Gwinnett will likely be put into the extreme drought category, meaning a drought so severe that it normally occurs once every 50 years. While that designation would make official what has become increasingly obvious, it probably won’t affect water restrictions in the county, unless a statewide restriction is issued.
(We’ll give a hat tip here to Wayne Hill, who had the foresight to build a strong water infrastructure during his term as county commission chairman).
Now that Barry has passed through, though, we are going to see some changes towards a more normal summer weather pattern. The tropical system managed to move the high pressure that has been keeping all rain away for most of May out of the way, and that will allow air from the Gulf Coast into the area, bringing Georgia’s normal summertime companions, heat and humidity, into the state, along with a chance of thundershowers. This week, we’ll probably break 90 degrees for the first time in 2007, and the outlook for the next two weeks is for warmer and drier than normal weather. It’s likely to stay hot for the entire month, as well.
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