The Oglethorpe Echo
Oglethorpe County and the rest of the state remain in a drought, despite heavy rains throughout the area the past week.
The storms have decreased Oglethorpe County’s drought status from D3 (extreme drought) to D2 (severe drought), according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (drought.gov).
The Athens area received about 9 inches of rain in May, a surplus for the month, according to the National Weather Service, but the area is still at a deficit for the year, Emergency Management Administrator Douglas Spencer said at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday.
He recommended that the commissioners lift the county-wide burn ban that had been in effect since April 4. The commissioners voted 5-0 to lift the ban.
Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist at the University of Georgia, said Georgia experienced a La Niña during the winter.
“When we're in a La Niña winter, we tend to be warmer and drier than usual because the jet stream that pushes storms around moves up to the north,” Knox said. “In a year when we're in an El Niño, the ocean is warmer than usual then the jet stream, and the storms that carry rain move along the south coast of the United States, so we tend to be rainier in El Niño winter.”
Knox also noted that there were no tropical storms that came through Georgia this year, which contributed to the dry conditions.
Much of Georgia remains in a D3 (extreme drought) or D4 (exceptional drought) status, as of May 28. More rain is forecast Sunday and through the first of next week, according to the National Weather Service.