By Clint Thompson
The rain-starved region of the Southeast is quickly accumulating moisture during December. Every week this month has provided much-needed rain for a region that was impacted by drought much of the fall.
Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist, believes this is consistent with what is typically expected from an El Niño weather pattern.
“It really feels like we’ve switched the pattern and we’re now in a much more typical El Niño pattern, and the rain has finally gotten here,” Knox said. “It’s a little late I think for a lot of the farmers because it’s so late, but I guess it’s good for next year.”
According to the UGA Weather Network, Tifton, Georgia, received 6.74 inches from Dec. 1 to Dec. 17, compared to 4.43 inches recorded from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30. Moultrie, Georgia, has received 7.16 inches so far in December, compared to 3.7 from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30.
“It’s been frustrating for people who need the rain to not see it coming, but now we’ve seen this pattern show up, and I think we’re going to see a lot more rain over the next few weeks,” Knox said.
“I don’t think we’re going to be continually wet, but I think we’re going to see a series of storms go through and each one is going to drop rain. That’s pretty much what a typical Niño winter looks like. The long-range forecasts have been pointing to this, really for months, as soon as we knew we were going to have El Niño this winter.”