Depending on where you were, you may have been disappointed with the Thanksgiving Day rainfall totals. Here in Lawrenceville, I recorded .15 inches for the storm, which is less than many other areas did. Looking at the radar as the storm passed over the Atlanta metro area, most of the rainfall seemed to be to the north of Georgia 316, and that’s borne out by some of the precipitation reports:

Athens: 1.17 inches (they really needed it)
Gainesville: .46 inches
Johns Creek: .93 inches
Alpharetta: 1.09 inches
Rome: .87 inches
Atlanta: .16 inches

The good news is that we’re due for some more rain before the month ends, and then at the beginning of December. Cooler air is beginning to filter into the state from northwest to southeast, and Friday should be a sunny, if cool, day for shopping or golf. (Someone told me that the day after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest days for golf - the ladies go shopping and the men to golfing.)

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Some of North Georgia got some welcome rain on Tuesday, as the front ahead of the low pressure system moved across the state yesterday afternoon. Here in Lawrenceville, I recorded .97 inches of precipitation yesterday, with most of the rain coming between 6 and 7 PM. That’s the most rain recorded here in a single day since back on August 24th, two months ago. As of now, a total of 1.3 inches of rain has fallen here from this system. By the way, the runoff from my roof was enough to fill a 250 gallon storage tank I installed and attached to two downspouts.

Other parts of the state have seen varying amounts. Here are some rainfall numbers from yesterday:

Atlanta Hartsfield: .56 inches
Alpharetta: .84 inches
Allatoona Dam: .66 inches
Athens: .27 inches
Cleveland: .38 inches
Cumming: .30 inches
Gainesville: .16 inches
Helen: .55 inches
Rome: .62 inches

Overall, it looks like there might have been less rain in the northeast part of the state containing the Lanier basin than here, but it’s probably going to be more useful to look at the storm total precipitation - rainfall today is likely to occur in the Georgia mountains. That being said, it looks like the bulk of the precipitation is over with from this system.

Water Restrictions Update

Ever since the state started level 4 water restrictions late last month, state EPD Director Carol Couch has been researching recommendations to further reduce water usage, with a report expected to be given to Governor Perdue this week. That report has been issued, and the result is that the Governor has ordered all water suppliers to reduce consumption in their systems by 10% from their average usage last winter, beginning November 1st. Systems out of compliance will face as of yet unspecified fines.

While some of the usual suspects have decried the move by the Governor as showing a lack of leadership, in the long run, it moves the responsibility for deciding how to allocate water usage to the local level, where specific needs can be evaluated within the city or county, and decisions can be made that will ultimately affect the economic well being of that county. Did you really want some minion in the state EPD to decide on further water restrictions that might be appropriate for, let’s say Atlanta, but don’t fit the needs of a county like Gwinnett or Hall?

Meanwhile, state climatologist David Stooksbury is holding a press conference in Athens tomorrow morning to discuss the current drought situation, and the long range outlook for winter and spring. I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

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North Georgia will get some relief from the drought Friday and Friday night as the remains of Hurricane Humberto move northeast, however by the time the Georgia Bulldogs try to get their honor back Saturday afternoon in Athens, we should be in the middle of some fine Autumn weather.

Humberto’s remains are driving low pressure up the eastern seaboard, and the forecast is for rain from Alabama to Virginia to Maine, with the strongest rainfall in the next 24 hours up the Appalachian spine between Huntsville and Asheville, NC. Atlanta could see an inch of rainfall, however like yesterday, the amount of rain you get will depend on exactly where you are. At least the storm’s remnants are helping some of the most drought stricken areas.

On Thursday, I recorded .37 inches of rain, while Atlanta Hartsfield reported 1.64 inches. Gainesville and Athens reported only trace rainfall. The rainy conditions were enough to stop play for three hours at the Tour Championship at East Lake Country Club, an I’m afraid that even the small field of golfers in that event will have difficulty completing both the first and second rounds during today’s rain.

By Saturday morning, a cold front approaching from the northwest will move into North Georgia, bringing dry air and some cooler temperatures, including overnight lows in the 50s for the first time since late spring. Expect the pleasant weather to last at least through midweek, when there may be another round of showers and thundershowers.

Out in the Atlantic, Tropical Depression Eight has become Tropical Storm Ingrid. Ingrid is running into some wind shear, and at this point is expected to weaken back into a depression by the start of next week, still well east of the United States.

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August was a record-breaking month in Georgia. In Atlanta, the first 26 days of the month had high temperatures above 90 degrees, and there were nine days where the temperature went above 100, tying a record set in 1980 for the most days in a year with temperatures above 100 degrees. For the month, the average temperature was 85.6 degrees, 6.7 degrees above normal. The high temperature of 104, set on August 23rd, was not only the record-breaker for the day, but for the entire month. You would have to go back to 1980 to see temperatures this warm.

Here in Lawrenceville, the average temperature for August was only 81.3, and the warmest day was the 9th, when the temperature reached 101.5. That’s still warmer then normal. One reason the average temperature was cooler than in Atlanta is that on many days, the overnight low temperature stayed lower than in the city. I recorded six days with overnight lows less than 70, while Atlanta recorded none. In Gainesville, the average temperature was 84.6, 7.1 degrees above normal, and in Athens, the average was 85.2, 6.9 degrees above normal August temperatures in the Classic City.

Believe it or not, but the official precipitation records for August 2007 in Atlanta will show the city received 95% of its normal rainfall of 3.67 inches. 3.48 inches of rain was recorded at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport during the month, but over two inches of that occurred in the last four days of the month, and most of the rest during the last week. Because August rainfall is typically driven by thunderstorms, the amount of rain you got depended on where you were. I recorded a scant 1.52 inches during the month, while Athens recorded less than half its normal monthly total, with 1.72 inches. Gainesville had 3.17 inches of rain during August.

September is a month of rapid change climate-wise, as we begin to see shorter days and lower daytime and evening temperatures. This month, however, is likely to be warmer than normal, with the Climate Prediction Center calling for at least a 33% chance of a warm September, and an even greater likelihood of hot weather for the southeast corner of the state.

Things are busy in the tropics, by the way, with three active named storms. In the Eastern Pacific basin, Gil is beginning to lose strength, while Henriette is expected to gain strength, and eventually bring wet weather to the southwest US. In the Atlantic, Felix became a named storm this morning. He looks like he is going to follow roughly the same path as Dean did, but track slightly to the south.

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With the Dog Days of summer ready to begin tomorrow, it’s time to take a look at what we had in June, and what to look forward to as the hottest part of the summer begins.

June actually ended up having close to normal rainfall in Georgia, largely because of the effects of Tropical Storm Barry in the southeastern part of the state. Up here in North Georgia, Atlanta was just about at normal June rainfall with 3.66 inches of rain. With 4.7 inches, Columbus had more than an inch of above-normal rain. Macon saw 4.69 inches of rain, or 1.15 inches more than normal. Athens continued its deficit, with 2.17 inches, or 1.77 inches below normal. And finally here in South Gwinnett, my rain gauge recorded 5.03 inches, including over two inches from the thunderstorms that rolled through on June 28th.

The map above shows total estimated rainfall for Georgia in June. Areas in green and yellow, including most of the northwest part of the state, were short of rain.

The month ended up being warmer than normal for most of the state Mean temperatures include Atlanta at 79.5 degrees, 2.7 degrees above normal; Gainesville at 77.9 degrees, or 3.3 degrees above normal, and Athens at 78.5, 2.2 degrees above normal. Here in Lawrenceville, I was at the low end of the scale, at 76.5 degrees mean for the month. Part of the reason for that may be that I had more rain than normal, which tends to keep things a bit cooler.

July is likely to be warmer than normal as well, with the Weather Service estimating a 40% chance of above normal temperatures for all but the southernmost portions of Georgia. It may be that most of that heat will be towards the second half of the month, though, with the medium range outlook from the 8th to the 16th calling for normal to below normal temperatures.

On the rainfall side, the Weather Service doesn’t make a firm call one way or another, however it looks like we’re likely to see continued wet weather in the short term, or until the massive storm that is flooding much of Texas and Oklahoma finally goes away.

Today was the first time since July 10th, 2005 that a day in July didn’t go above 80 degrees (at least in my records). While the clouds kept the temperatures down, the main reason for the cooler weather is a phenomenon we normally see in the wintertime: cold air damming, otherwise known as the wedge. High pressure air in the mid-Atlantic states flows down the side of the Appalachian mountains, while low pressure air moves in from the southwest. Because high pressure air is heavier than low pressure, it becomes trapped underneath the low pressure system, and keeps the temperatures down (and the humidity up).

The good news is that the drier air will be moving in over the next few days, and we will, with any luck, have very nice, cooler than normal weather for Independence Day.

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