By Clint Thompson
A springtime drought is abnormal. But considering the circumstances surrounding the drought’s buildup, dating back to last August, it should not be surprising for specialty crop growers in the middle of it.
Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist, discussed the two main factors that contributed to a drought that has spanned over eight months.
“We’ve had droughts that have been this bad before but not usually in the spring. Usually, our droughts happen later in the year. This year it’s been more of a spring drought and it really started in August and then went through the fall,” Knox said.
“I think you could probably attribute it to a couple of things. One is the lack of tropical storms over Georgia this past tropical season, and the other is probably the La Niña that we were in over the winter. Usually when we have a La Niña, we’re warmer and drier than usual. We’re definitely drier than usual this year. We were warmer overall, but there were some really cold outbreaks that contributed to freeze events. If you look at the season as a whole, it was definitely warmer in most places.”
Statistically Speaking
According to the UGA Weather Network, Tifton, Georgia, received 13.67 inches of rainfall from Sept. 1, 2025, to April 25, 2026. That’s compared to 31.47 inches the prior year, and 31.27 inches two years ago. Moultrie, Georgia, received 10.55 inches during that same timeframe, compared to 32.7 inches the prior year and 31.05 inches two years ago.
“The last time we had a drought this bad in any season was probably the 2007 and 2009 drought. If you look back at a longer time period, there were very bad droughts in Georgia in 1954 and in 1925 to 1927. We didn’t have nearly as many weather instruments taking observations then, so it’s a little hard to characterize,” Knox said.
“This one is right up there with some of the past droughts we’ve had in the past 25 years. We don’t know about the length yet because it’s not over, but in terms of the amount of the state that’s covered by drought, it’s very similar to some of the other droughts we’ve had over the past 25 years; some of the big ones.”