By Clint Thompson
The most recent release of the U.S. Drought Monitor indicates dry conditions worsening and expanding across the Southeast, especially in Alabama, Georgia and North Florida. It is also not a surprising development since this is the dry time of year, according to Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist.
“It is the driest time of the year. Usually, October is the driest month overall, but the whole fall is usually dry,” Knox said. “Even for fall it’s been drier than usual. There are many parts of (Georgia) that have had no rain at all. I’ve been missed by a couple of showers and maybe had a little bit in the rain gauge but really not much at all. I think I read some stories from the southwest part of the state of people who haven’t had rain in about six months.”
Almost all of Alabama is suffering through either abnormally dry or moderately dry conditions. It is the same scenario for Georgia. North Florida conditions are also mostly abnormally dry with some northern counties experiencing moderately dry conditions.
“It’s the driest time of the year, but we’re also just trapped in this pattern right now where there’s really not a lot of upward lift in the atmosphere. We haven’t had much moisture lately from the Gulf of America, although that’s starting to change. That’s the ingredients to having these daily pop-up storms,” Knox said. “Obviously, that’s not happening right now. We’ve got high pressure that’s dominating things, and also the tropics have been unusually quiet. This is usually the busiest time of the year in the tropics and there’s just really not much going on.”