Posted on 12/30/2007 5:32:09 PM PST by ricks_place
ATLANTA (AP) - Rain fell in the city for a fourth consecutive day Sunday, assuring that 2007 would not go down as the driest year on record for the drought-stricken Atlanta area.
The most arid year ever recorded for Atlanta was 1954, when only 31.80 inches of rain fell.
Meteorologists had feared this year would have even less rain, predicting that showers on Sunday morning would taper off. But the rain continued long enough to raise the 2007 cumulative rainfall to 31.85 inches.
Dry weather was forecast for Monday.
More than one-third of the Southeast is in a severe drought. The Atlanta area, with a population of 5 million, is in the middle of the affected region, which includes most of Tennessee, Alabama, North and South Carolina, as well as parts of Kentucky and Virginia.
Hopes that Atlanta would escape a record-book entry this year rose as a parade of rainstorms began the week before Christmas. Atlanta got rain on 10 out of the last 12 days.
On Saturday morning, the 2007 cumulative rainfall total hit 30.5 inches, and an overnight soaking was on the way, fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
On Sunday morning, the weather service said it didn't look like enough would fall during the day to match the 1954 level, seeming to guarantee a new record. But by 6:45 p.m. Sunday, more than 1.25 inches had accumulated for the day.
Rainfall is measured at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, just south of the city.
Rain has also been unusually sparse in other Georgia cities this year, including Athens, Columbia and Macon. However, each of those cities has seen worse years than 2007, Konarik said.
The latest rain had only a small effect on the metropolitan area's main source of drinking water, Lake Lanier, where the receding water is exposing roads and the foundations of buildings submerged since the reservoir was created in the 1950s.
The water level in the reservoir stood at an all-time low of 87.56 feet on Wednesday, and by 6 a.m. Sunday it had risen less than an inch, to 87.58 feet.
"What's falling now won't show up until tomorrow or the next day," said Rob Holland, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the reservoir.
"Anything that stops the level from falling is a good thing," he added. "But we'd like to get a whole lot more."
The lack of rainfall across the region has set off intense fighting between Georgia, Florida and Alabama over the federal government's management of water in the region.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has asked the federal government to release less water from its reservoirs, such as Lanier, but Alabama and Florida are concerned about how that would affect their supplies. Last month, Perdue held a public prayer vigil for rain on the steps of the Capitol.
wow! the weather changed.
who wouda thunk it?
...and the Falcons beat the Seahawks by scoring over 40 points.
God smiles on Atlanta....
Does he now get credit for his efforts?
Remember when some atheist (who knows that there is no God that knows all and sees all, but he/she does know all and sees all) caustically commented that it didn’t rain the day after the prayers? Of course, no proof of prayers is offered or intended, but I still love the fact that it did rain.
SALT WATER DESALINIZATION - using cheap nuclear power.
And yet they can guarantee me that the oceans will rise 20 feet in the next 50 years.
We got 2 3/4 inches of rain in Western NC the last few days by my rain gauge and rains have been more frequent. Here’s hoping it’s a trend that keeps up.
31 inches of rain is pretty good for most places. Many get by on much less.
No hurricanes for the last two years creates water shortage in GA.
Yes, that is twice what we get. Last year we only got a tad bit over 8 inches the whole year, rain, snow and all....Let Hotlanta live on that for a while.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) should require that anyone they certify should disclose 3-12 month past prediction accuracy ratings.
Or at least how many times ManBearPig has been over for dinner.
The power of prayer....
We need to desalinate the oceans and use that bounty so that they will only rise 15 feet instead of 20 feet. /sarc
Are you going to put the plant right on the beach in Atlanta?
bump
I live in an area where we might only get 15” of rain in a good year......over 30” sounds like a lot..
So they sneak this in at the end of the article. Good grief, how sissified can we get? Just say it boldly.
Hopes that Atlanta would escape a record-book entry this year rose as a parade of rainstorms began the week before Christmas. Atlanta got rain on 10 out of the last 12 days.
That's right!
I was thinking just Southwest of Atlanta.
LaGrange? Newnan?
~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ ping~~
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