Georgia Drought Loosens its Grip as Snow Falls in Las Vegas
Last week’s rainfall greatly reduced the intensity of the drought in Georgia, according to the latest update to the drought monitor, shown at right. Before last week’s rain, exceptional drought was the rule north and east of Gwinnett County, some 11% of the state. This week, no part of Georgia is in exceptional drought, and almost 70% of the state is drought free.
Only a small area of the state between Savannah and Brunswick increased in its rain deficit, going from normal to exceptionally dry. The newest outlook through March, 2009 calls for continued improvement for drought conditions in the southeast, and for drought to develop in the Florida peninsula and extend in Texas.
The updated drought outlook doesn’t square well with the latest long range outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center, released this morning. The temperature outlook for January is for warmer than normal east of the Rocky Mountains, except for South Georgia and Florida, which could be colder or warmer than normal. Below normal precipitation will occur south and east of a line from southern Louisiana to eastern North Carolina, more or less south of I-85.
For the first three months of the new year, warmer than normal temperatures are predicted east and south of a line from New Mexico to Wisconsin. Colder than normal temps are in line for the Pacific Northwest, with the Northeast possibly going either way. The three month rainfall outlook calls for above normal precipitation in the Ohio Valley, and below normal rain in the southeast.
Snow in Las Vegas
This has certainly been a month where snow has turned up in places you wouldn’t expect it to, and in record amounts. In addition to snow in Houston and New Orleans earlier this month, yesterday brought record snow to Las Vegas, Nevada. “Las Vegas Hits the Jackpot,” trumpeted the Weather Service’s record event report for Wednesday. The Las Vegas Weather Service office reported 3.6 inches of snow, the most ever in December, and the 8th worst snowstorm since recordkeeping began in 1937. Up to 7 inches of snow was measured in suburban Henderson, Nevada. In California, 5 inches of snow was measured in Boulevard, which is in interior San Diego County, and up to 20 inches of snow fell in the mountains to the east of Los Angeles. A light dusting was even reported in Malibu.
While Atlanta basks in what could be near-record temperatures today and Friday, the snow will continue to move north and east, setting the stage for a possible white Christmas, but not here.
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