Extreme Heat Likely to Worsen Drought
Today’s high temperature of 99 degrees marked the hottest of the summer so far here in Lawrenceville — Atlanta reached 99 on Tuesday, and 100 degrees today. So far, we haven’t broken any record temperatures for the second week of August. That honor goes to the summer of 1980, back when everyone was worried about global cooling, when temperatures stayed above 100 in Atlanta for four days in a row.
Meanwhile, the northern boundaries for heat advisories and excessive heat warnings keep moving further north. The heat advisory for Wednesday stretches from Stephens county in the east, across Hall to Cherokee County, and then, for the western part of the state, north to Chattanooga. While metro Atlanta isn’t in an excessive heat warning, indicating dangerous temperatures, most of middle Georgia is.
On Monday and Tuesday, I recorded a high temperature of 97 degrees, with a heat index of 106. Today’s high heat index was 110, also a record for 2007.
The heat and lack of rainfall isn’t doing much to help Georgia’s drought. A new report by state climatologist David Stooksbury says that while much of the northwest and southwest portions of Georgia are in an exceptional drought—one that occurs only every 100 years. The affected counties include some in metro Atlanta, including Fulton, Cobb, Cherokee, and Douglas. The good news is that now 12 counties in southeast Georgia are no longer considered to be in a drought at all. The rest of the metro area remains in extreme drought, with the situation elsewhere in the state ranging from mild to severe.
The extreme heat and lack of rainfall are causing soil moisture loss of 1/4 to 1/3 inch per day, and if the current weather pattern continues, even the counties that have emerged from serious drought conditions could quickly find themselves in bad shape.
So when are we going to see some relief from the hot and dry conditions? To quote Stooksbury,
Sphere: Related Content“No widespread relief is foreseeable. In August and September, the best hope for widespread drought relief is from tropical weather systems. Without these, we can expect the drought to worsen over the next two months.
“If dry conditions continue, high temperatures during August can be expected to remain in the middle 90s to low 100s across the piedmont and coastal plain. The Georgia mountains can expect temperatures in the upper 80s to middle 90s.”