By Clint Thompson
The winter-spring drought that impacted the Southeast spanned for nine months will not disappear overnight. Even as much of the region is experiencing increased rainfall in recent weeks, it will require time to completely wipe out exceptional drought conditions that were present in areas like South Georgia and North Florida.
Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist, explains more in an interview with AgNet Media.
“In some places, their deficits are somewhere between 15 and 18 inches down in the southwest. You don’t want to get 15 inches in a day because all of it just runs off. It doesn’t do any good anyway,” Knox said. “What you need is a long period of above normal rainfall.
“When you break a drought, it’s usually one of two reasons. Either you have a tropical storm that goes over it. We’re a long way from the tropical season, and they’re not expecting to have that many storms because of El Niño. Even if that happens, that’s going to be a few months down the road.
“The other option is to have some sort of stationary front that goes over it. We couldn’t do that for the last month or so because we had this big high pressure over us. Now that’s finally pulled off to the east. It’s letting more moisture come in from the gulf. We’re getting these fronts to come through.”