Georgia Drought Continues; Little Improvement

Many areas in Georgia and Alabama were lucky enough to see some rain the past couple of days. Many did not. The storm complex on June 28 should have, as many hinted including myself, moved through Georgia bringing much needed precipitation. Most of Alabama saw some rain in the form of showers and storms. The west side of Alabama saw more than the east side. Here in Georgia, the southern and east half of the state were the winners.
While the showers and storms fired up just north of my location where a decent amount of rain was reported, my exact location in Harris county saw only a few sprinkles while those south in Muscogee county saw more. Here is a map of the precipitation that fell across the area on June 28. The hand cursor in the expanded view points to my location.

Covering the southeast, little drought improvement can be seen from last week to this week. The areas that did see some drought relief, north Georgia and north Alabama.

In this map below we can see that the northeast corner of Georgia is now out of drought. The coverage of 'Abnormally Dry' conditions has shrank, down to 97.42 percent of the state from 100 percent a week ago. Areas experiencing 'Moderate Drought' has shrank as well, down to 85.51 percent of the state, from 87.48 percent last week. Areas of the state experiencing 'Severe, Extreme and Exceptional Drought' are unchanged from a week ago. Severe Drought still covers 74.91 percent of the state. Extreme drought covers 68.91 percent, while Exceptional drought covers 41.18 percent of the state of Georgia.

As mentioned, little has changed in drought conditions from last week to this week. We still need anywhere from 9 to 12 inches of rain to bring conditions back to normal or, no drought. The map below has not changed for our area during this past week.

What we need is a tropical system to move up from the Gulf of Mexico and sit over the southeast for a few days. This will not end drought conditions completely, but should reduce the coverage of extreme and exceptional conditions. While we did see Tropical Storm Arlene form in the gulf, she did not move north. Arlene is affecting areas well to our south in Mexico and the southern most point of Texas. Brownsville is getting some good and much needed rain.

All is not lost as Hurricane season has only just begun. While the temperature is on the rise and we may see another heatwave, some models are hinting at some relief in the form of rain in the first half of July. We'll see how that pans out as we get closer to the end of the first week of July.

Side note: With the Fourth of July coming be extra careful shooting off fireworks. It wont take much of a spark to start a fire with current conditions. Some have said they will opt for only shooting off high flying rockets, instead of the type of fireworks that stay on the ground. They say the reason is because the high flying type are out by the time the reach the ground. This is FALSE. I have personal experience of this. They DO NOT always go completely out before reaching the ground. While the type of fireworks that are ground huggers may cause a fire, it is usually within your general area and can be put out, while the fire caused by rockets are not.

Storm Threat June 28 : Damaging Wind Biggest Threat Today

Looking at maps and radars this morning, the Mesoscale Convective System [MCS] that has already entered northeast Georgia and northwest Alabama should arrive in our area sometime mid afternoon, 2 PM at the latest. However, the system could build out in front of the main line due to outflow, which would bring showers and storms earlier. At the same time it could slow down which I do not expect to happen, or it could speed up, which is a probability. The biggest threat will be winds in excess of 50 MPH. There is also probability of large hail with the stronger storms. We can also expect frequent cloud to ground lightning.

Behind this first round of storms, yet another area of showers and storms have organized closer to the front in Missouri, which will follow the first MCS and bring the threat of damaging winds and hail through the evening. Already this area has formed a large bow on radar which is indicative of strong winds. This should clear our area before midnight tonight.

Below is what the Storm Prediction Center has out-looked for our area today. A slight chane of severe storms with a 15% chance of damaging winds and a 5% chance of hail. Remember when we speak of chances in percentage, this means greater than 100%.

Via the Storm Prediction Center:

A RELATIVELY MOIST AIRMASS CHARACTERIZED BY LOWER/MIDDLE 70S F SURFACE DEWPOINTS WILL REMAIN ALONG/SOUTH OF A SOUTH-SOUTHEASTWARD ADVANCING COLD FRONT. WHILE LARGE SCALE FORCING FOR ASCENT WILL BE MODEST...THE FRONT AND OTHER WEAK/RESIDUAL BOUNDARIES WILL CONTRIBUTE TO A DIURNAL UPSWING OF TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON WITHIN A WEAKLY CAPPED AND MODERATE TO STRONGLY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH MLCAPES OF 2500-4000 J/KG. WITH TIME...MODERATE NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT /15-30 KT 500 MB/ MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE ORGANIZATION/PROPAGATION OF SOUTH-SOUTHEASTWARD MOVING CLUSTERS WITH A SOMEWHAT FOCUSED DAMAGING WIND THREAT THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING.

You can view radars from the area here on the Local / Southeast / US Radar page. Or use your favorite source.

Disclaimer: I am not a Meteorologist. The above is for informational purposes and should not be used to make life saving decisions.

Clouds & Storms on June 25 - Pictures

These clouds were north of my location in Cataula, GA. [Harris County]. They were producing lightning and rain, none of which made it to my location. Earlier around 5:15 PM EDT, a lone thundershower to my west moved south through Columbus. As it moved through Columbus, it turned in to a thunderstorm with strong winds causing some to lose power.

The lake in these pictures is now down about 2 feet, due to the drought.

Weekend Weather / Next weeks tropical system

Columbus and surrounding area Weekend Weather :

Today and through the weekend we can expect much of the same weather, scattered to isolated showers and storms. Today highs will be in the upper 80's to low 90's depending on how fast the clouds burn off, and fog should there be any. Should the clouds burn off quickly this morning allowing the temps to rise more quickly, we may see a better chance of afternoon / evening showers and storms. Just like previous days not everyone will see rain. Chances of rain diminish Sat. and Sun. with temps in the 90's both days.

Next weeks tropical system :

Next week I'll be keeping an eye on the development of a tropical [wave] system previously mentioned in the Gulf of Mexico. Models still show this development over the Yucatan peninsula, moving in to the Bay of Campeche and heading Northwest then West making landfall around the Texas / Mexico border by Thursday June 30. This however is still undetermined as the system has yet to form, and models show a difference in timing, direction and strength. At this time, it doesn't look like we will see much if any rain from this system, save a few pop up showers / storms from day time heating as moisture increases.

Georgia Drought Update 6/23/2011

For the week ending June 21, Exceptional and Extreme drought has spread North and East encompassing more of the state. Areas in North Georgia have seen some relief from recent rains, which those of us in central and south Georgia area now experiencing. The affect of the rains this week will not be known until next week.

As you can see in this map below of Georgia, Columbus is fully engulfed in Exceptional Drought, which is the highest category of drought. I know for a fact areas across the Muscogee county line in Harris county are within this category of drought, however the map does not reflect this. Extreme drought persist just south of the county line northward in to Harris county.

In this next image you can see how far the different categories of drought have spread throughout the state of Georgia, form June 14 through June 21 2011. Hopefully next week we will see these areas move back south, but there is no guarantee.

In this image we see the extent of drought in the southeast. More of Alabama is now experiencing exceptional and extreme drought than at this time last week.

This image shows how much rain has 'not' fallen in the water year which begins in October of the year. In Muscogee and Harris counties we are falling short in rainfall anywhere from 8 to 12 inches. Again, the rain this week is not reflected here.

So how much rain do we currently need to bring conditions back to normal ? According to this map, anywhere from 9 to 12 inches.

As mentioned earlier, I know some areas are drier than shown here, while some are wetter. These maps are not that specific and generally are made from data gathered from National Weather Service reporting stations like the one at the Columbus Airport. That data is used for a wide area surrounding it. Case and point: While Columbus had 1.01 inches of rain yesterday, here at the house I had about 0.15 inches. A big difference from point to point which is about 12 miles the way the birds fly, at most.

Hopefully next week we can see some real relief from the drought. The Gulf of Mexico may become active in the next week or so. There were hints of this a week ago, but now more models are coming on board. Here's a graphic showing a 997 MB Low in the western Gulf on June 30. We shall see.

Tied, not Broken : Record High Temprature : 25 consecutive above 90

Columbus tied a high temperature on June 21 2011 the first official day of Summer. Of course if you live around Columbus or in the south you may be saying like most, summer started a month ago. On May 22 2011, Columbus set a record high of 96 degrees breaking the old record of 95 set in 1996.

Yesterday June 21 2011 Columbus reached 100 degrees tying the previous record set in 2006. So far for the month of June 2011 everyday has been above 90 degrees, with the hottest so far being 102 degrees on June 1. Going back to May 2011 Columbus has seen 25 consecutive days above 90 degrees.

Maybe this will help cool you down. From March 1 2009 -

 

TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY STORMS JUST BELOW SUPERCELL CRITERIA

I thought I would mention this to bring awareness of the developing situation over the next couple of days. This does not mean anything will happen, just making you aware, the potential is there.

The National Weather Service Peachtree City, GA has some interesting wording in their forecast for today through Thursday, as the title of this post alludes to. They have kept this wording in their forecast since 2 AM this morning. Tornadoes are not expected, but with the possibility of 75 MPH winds, who needs a tornado. 75 MPH winds are 1 mph over what is considered a category 1 Hurricane at 74 MPH.

Though these storms will be scattered much like we've had in the past, if you happen to be caught in one be aware of what is happening. Locally in past days 40 and 50+ MPH winds have caused damage. With the ground being as dry as it is and stress on trees from previous winds, it wont take much for more to be uprooted and dry limbs snapped.

Here is what the NWS from PEACHTREE CITY GA has stated thus far today. BOLD text below added by cataulagawx

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
200 AM EDT TUE JUN 21 2011

SEVERE STORMS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION WED AND THURS AS VERTICAL WIND SHEAR INCREASES. 0-6KM BULK SHEAR MAGS AROUND 25KTS BOTH DAYS...BELOW BORDERLINE FOR SUPERCELLS BUT NOT BY MUCH. INSTABILITY SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT. IF ENOUGH LOCAL FORCING EXISTS EXPECT GOOD ROUND OF SCT SVR STORMS OVER NORTH GA ON WED AND THURS AFTERNOON/EVENING. LARGE HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES...DAMAGING WINDS TO 75 MPH AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL BE PRIMARY THREATS.

////////////

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
406 AM EDT TUE JUN 21 2011

CAN EXPECT TO SEE SCT STRONG STORMS AND ISOLATED SEVERE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY WITH DECENT CAPE AND 20 TO 25 KT 0-6KM BULK SHEAR. PARAMETERS LOOK TO BE JUST BELOW SUPERCELL CRITERIA...BUT DAMAGING WINDS...NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING CAN STILL BE EXPECTED IN THE STRONGER STORMS.

////////////

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
1046 AM EDT TUE JUN 21 2011

PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 740 AM EDT TUE JUN 21 2011/

CAN EXPECT TO SEE SCT STRONG STORMS AND ISOLATED SEVERE WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY WITH DECENT CAPE AND 20 TO 25 KT 0-6KM BULK SHEAR. PARAMETERS LOOK TO BE JUST BELOW SUPERCELL CRITERIA...BUT DAMAGING WINDS...NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING CAN STILL BE EXPECTED IN THE STRONGER STORMS.

Supercells are the type of storms that usually and frequently produce tornadoes. However at this time, I do not see that threat here locally.

Today for our area, the Storm Prediction Center mentions;

RICH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS IN PLACE ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST STATES...WHICH WILL LIKELY RESULT IN NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THIS AREA. MODERATE CAPE VALUES AND STRENGTH OF WINDS ALOFT SUGGEST A RISK OF SCATTERED ORGANIZED MULTICELL STORMS AND BOWING SEGMENTS CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL.

These are the types of storms we have seen in the past days and weeks, and what we can expect through Thursday of this week.

Here are a couple quick safety tips:

This first one comes from past frequent traveling experience. If you are driving and can barely see because of heavy rain, reduce your speed but continue driving, moving. Make your way to the nearest place you can safely get completely off the road. Do not pull off on the shoulder of the highway or road. I have seen many vehicles rear-ended because of others behind you that are experiencing the same thing, they cant see.

Keep a safety kit in your car. You can find many places on the internet that can tell you the kinds of things you need in one. During the summer one of the most important things you can have in your vehicle is water. For both drinking should you become stranded and for refilling your vehicles coolant should it over heat, allowing you to get somewhere for proper servicing.

As mentioned in the first tip, get off the road. If however you feel this is not something you are comfortable doing, do not park under any trees or road signs. These as you may have heard can be blown over on to your vehicle, causing damage,injury, even death.

Have a good day, be safe in anything you do, and watch the other guy.

Ed

Acknowledgment: To be a tornado or not to be

'To be a tornado or not to be' is the title of an article by one of our local metoroligist Bob Jeswald, Chief Meteorologist at WRBL News 3. Within the article that follwed, Bob was kind enough to give me a mention. What Bob refered to were the storms that rolled through the local area on Friday June 17 2011, and my post this past Sunday June 19 : Detecting Storm Rotation on Radar : an examination.

Here is some of what Bob said:

We always welcome good debate and examination by Cataula GA WX. This was a good observation by Cataula GA WX but as a trained meteorologist, David Reese made the right call in my opinion.

I was out that day at Bradley Park as seen by the credited photos I took. I can see how it can be misinterpreted visually but on radar it does look more bow and a straight line event. You can sometimes get a small spin out rotating vortex cloud but this is not a classic definition of a tornado in this case and the extent of damage doesn't support a tornado.

David Reese is a meteorologist also on WRBL News 3 and was at work this past Friday covering the severe weather for us. He and Bob are fast becoming a trusted source for weather in the local area, as well as creating dialogue on social networks. I look forward to many more conversations with them as a learning amateur who has always had a passion for weather.

Thank you David and Bob for your interaction and understanding.

Ed aka cataulagawx

Detecting Storm Rotation on Radar : an examination

Disclaimer: This post is for educational purposes and in no way is meant to flame or discredit the fine local meteorologist. They do a great job!

First a little history for the reason of this post.

On June 17 2011 we had some storms move through the area. The Emergency Alert System [EAS] better known to many as Tornado warning siren went off in Columbus Georgia. Once again there was no official warning issued by the National Weather Service [NWS]. Many again wonder why it went off. At the time some rough weather causing damage to our west in Alabama was being reported in Phenix City.

This is the E-Z Car wash on hwy 80 next to Zebs in Phenix City. Image Credit Skye Cameron Brown

I was watching the radars for any sign of severe weather. I commented on the picture above on Facebook:

Thats crazy. Maybe this is why the sirens went off in Columbus. Also, I took a couple screen shots of radar and may see what appears to be a hook echo on composite, and rotation on velocity. I'll get them loaded tomorrow.

Others also commented, even the original poster which is one of our local meteorologist, so I loaded them the same night. Here is the conversation that followed. Names left out to protect the innocent. The local met will be denoted with WEATHER.

WEATHER: Cataula... What radar site were you using?
Yesterday at 6:36pm

Cataula Ga Weather: NWS - FFC Composite and MXX Storm Relative
Yesterday at 6:47pm

WEATHER: Interesting... because I don't see a hook echo at all within the past three hours. I see areas of extended rain where the downdrafts were pulling the rain further ahead though.

Cataula Ga Weather: give me a minute and I post them on my wall
Yesterday at 7:03pm

Cataula Ga Weather: radar shots are up
Yesterday at 7:42pm

WEATHER: Cataula, I don't see a hook echo in the radar or relative velocity. The inbound winds (green) along the county line there was the inflow jet that got the line to basically bow out. This wasn't a classic case, but it was just the southern edge of the line trying to catch up to the northern half.

Kevin is correct in his remarks about the atmosphere not primed to produce a mesocylone. We generally see those with discreet supercell thunderstorms (like the April 27th event). Also, the shear wasn't nearly conducive to allow the formation of a tornado.

Many people experienced the winds rushing from the top of the thunderstorms and this brought the clouds closer to the ground, giving the illusion of a tornado.
Yesterday at 7:56pm

Cataula Ga Weather: Thats why you're the pro. Sure looked like rotation to the untrained eye. That being mine.
Yesterday at 8:01pm

WEATHER: No problem Cataula! That's why we are here.

Not being one for argument as I'm only a weather hobbyist, I left it at that. But now I want to examine the images I posted further.

As stated in the conversation, I was viewing the radars 'FFC Composite Reflectivity and MXX Storm Relative Motion'. FFC is radar from NWS Peachtree City Georgia, and MXX is from Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Here are the images, unedited as they are on Facebook. FFC Composite Reflectivity on left and MXX Storm Relative Motion [velocity] on right.

As you can see in the image on the left, I circled an area where I see a possible hook echo. I circled a large area so as not to obstruct the surrounding storm. The hook I am speaking of can be seen at the bottom in the county that Auburn is in. Here it is in this edited image, yellow arrow pointing to it.

In the image on the left [from above]taken a moment after the first you can see the 'red' just below Aurburn. Here it is edited, yellow arrow pointing to it.

Again from the above conversation the meteorologist said:

WEATHER: Cataula, I don't see a hook echo in the radar or relative velocity. The inbound winds (green) along the county line there was the inflow jet that got the line to basically bow out. This wasn't a classic case, but it was just the southern edge of the line trying to catch up to the northern half.

This may still be the case as he is the one with the proper education. I still see a hook in the Composite Reflectivity and Rotation in the Velocity image. I never said Tornado which was mentioned in the conversation.

In all velocity images, red colors indicate wind moving away from the radar with green colors representing wind moving toward the radar. It is very important to know where the radar is located as that is your reference point for proper interpolation of the wind's motion. As mentioned, I was viewing the velocity image from MXX from Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Here is it's location.

As you can see it is located around Montgomery Alabama, well west of the target rotation in the above velocity image. Regardless, where you see red and green come together, that is an area of wind rotation. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I didn't get to the Georgia storm reports from National Weather Service Peachtree City, GA [FFC] before they were removed. I wish FFC kept the information up longer like National Weather Service Birmingham, AL [BMX] does.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL


0325 PM     TSTM WND DMG     LADONIA                 32.46N 85.09W
06/17/2011                   RUSSELL            AL   BROADCAST MEDIA

            AWNING BLOWN OFF OF CAR WASH ALONG HIGHWAY 80. TIME
            ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.

---------

0322 PM     TSTM WND DMG     5 W PHENIX CITY         32.47N 85.10W
06/17/2011                   RUSSELL            AL   PUBLIC

            LARGE TREE DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 208 NEAR HIGHWAY 80
            COMPLETELY BLOCKING THE ROAD.

---------

0255 PM     HAIL             3 SE OPELIKA            32.62N 85.34W
06/17/2011  E1.00 INCH       LEE                AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

You may have caught the mention of 'mesocylone' and 'inflow jet' in the above conversation.
A mesocylone is a vortex within a convective storm and has air that rises and rotates around a vertical axis. Most of the time this is associated with a 'supercell' thunderstorm. Sometimes the winds become violent enough to produce what we call a tornado. Sometimes they don't, such as the case here. Still, there was rotation in the storm I'm talking about.
An inflow jet is cooler air at the surface and warmer air aloft created from convection. This can create what is known as a 'Bow Echo' and is usually associated with 'straight line winds', which is what caused the damage around the area on June 17.

Here are some more images of the storms as they pushed through.

Image Credit Mathew Cook

Image Credit Mathew Cook

Image credit Bob Jeswald WRBL

Image credit Bob Jeswald WRBL

Storms bring Rain to Cataula, surounding area

To much delight, the local area saw some rain last night and early this morning, some of which was accompanied by stronger thunderstorms. I did manage to get some video of the lightning along with some stills from the video seen below. Not the greatest; what do you expect from a cheap camera ?



Stills from above video





While severe storms crossed through and around the area, there wasn't much damage to report locally. The usual tree taking out power lines and power outages due to some other reason, not yet known for some in Harris county. I did hear the Hail at my location and even saw it when I went outside. It was light and pea sized lasting about 30 seconds. It was gone before I could grab some and get a picture. I mentioned this on Facebook and Twitter

As far as storm reports go, for the local area there were 2. As usual, there were likely more but unreported.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
139 AM EDT THU JUN 16 2011
 

1228 AM     HAIL             1 S COLUMBUS            32.45N 84.99W
06/16/2011  E0.50 INCH       MUSCOGEE           GA   PUBLIC

1242 AM     TSTM WND DMG     2 ESE COLUMBUS          32.45N 84.96W
06/16/2011                   MUSCOGEE           GA   911 CALL CENTER

            MUSCOGEE COUNTY 911 RELAYED REPORTS OF A DOWNED TREE AND
            A DOWNED POWERLINE IN COLUMBUS.

I haven't checked the rain gauge here at the house yet but, at the Columbus Airport they recorded 0.36 inches according to the National Weather Service.

I hope we can squeeze out some more rain today, but I doubt we will. I now return you to your sweltering heat.

No Rain Again,Storms around the area - June 11 2011

A video and a couple pictures documenting the lack of rain at my location in Cataula, Harris County Georgia.

With storms firing all around the Cataula Georgia area, I again was left high and dry. I have now begun to call this area 'The Bermuda Triangle of Harris County'. I have mentioned on the blog that many areas not yet considered to be experiencing 'exceptional drought conditions' according to the drought monitor, to be experiencing localized 'exceptional drought'. My area being one of them.

This is a radar capture of the storms as the began to fire up at 4:54 PM EDT June 11 2011. During this time and afterwards, the radar filled in. If you only saw the radar, you would think it was raining.

A couple pictures showing I had no rain, yet again. Notice the time stamps.

And a condensed video spanning from about 5 PM until 8:30 PM. The only thing it shows is frequent lightning, storm outflow [wind] and you guessed it, 'NO Rain' other than a quick shower lasting about 1 minute.



Observed 24-Hour Precipitation, 1 PM EDT June 11 / 1 PM EDT June 12 2011

An enlargement of the area. See that 'white dot' just north of the Harris Muscogee county line ? Thats me.

At the Columbus Metropolitan Airport, they didn't fair much better June 11. They picked up 0.03 inches which puts the deficit at -8.22 inches for the year, so far. I'm much drier out here.

I followed and tweeted the movement of the storms. There are other tweets, but these are the ones concerning the local area. In order:

Showers and storms heading our way from the North, moving into Meriwether County. No warnings except for Heard CO. at this time.

Storms firing ahead of outflow boundary to our north almost to Harris county. No warnings

Storm to our north in Heard County looking impressive on Radar pushing 70 DBZ

By radar it looks like Harris county will miss the strongest storms at this time..stay tuned

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT:ADVISORY FOR DIME SIZED HAIL AND 40 MPH WINDS IN TROUP COUNTY UNTIL 500 PM EDT

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT:WESTERN LEE COUNTY ALABAMA UNTIL 345 PM CDT WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.

A little thunder to liven the afternoon. Showers and storms to our north and south,one popped up to my east heading my direction. need rain

Looked good on Radar. Stepped out,storm is between me and I-185 moving west. figures .. no rain yet.

Unconfirmed Reports of pea sized hail in Auburn

RT @jessica_hammack: Pea size hail at the Shops of Grand River in Leeds @spann http://yfrog.com/kex3isj

Radar as of 4:54 PM EDT http://twitpic.com/5a7y8g

Storm on Harris Muscogee county line still holding together moving west. Come on rain!

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Russell County in AL until 5:15pm CDT.

If it wasn't funny, I'd cry. Brief shower lasted a minute, now over. Video tomorrow on the blog.

Disappointing,storms all around the area and NO RAIN at the house other than the quick 1 minute shower mentioned earlier.

Dust Bowl of Harris County Georgia

Where might you find the 'Dust Bowl of Harris County Georgia' ? I would say where I live. There may be others in the local area, but I know my homestead in Cataula about a mile from the Harris / Muscogee county line is one of them.

Yesterday and through the night storms were all around us, and again not a drop of rain. I wont bore you with all the disappointing details as I watched the lightning flash and listened to the rumble of thunder in the distance, hoping the rain would come my way.

Heres a map showing rain estimates from radar from 11PM June 10 through 11AM today June 11 2011.
As you can see, southern Harris County was dry. Again ....

Heres the 24 hour rain accumulation 11AM June 10 through 11AM today June 11, 2011, verifying the above.

And an enlargement of the local area from the map above.

The last time I saw rain, other than a couple drops, was on May 26, 0.24 inches.. Before that on May 13 and before that on May 3.

What happened to the Rain on Thursday ?

I hope you got some. Because I didn't here at the homestead in Cataula Georgia.

WTVM's Doppler 9 radar just before 5:30 PM was showing the heaviest rain in the area moving in to Harris County, Georgia.

I posted on Facebook yesterday, "I hope the storms don't rain themselves out before reaching me." Guess what; they did as far as my exact location. I saw up the road on West Bon Acre today, some holes in the road still had water in them. By the way crows fly, this would be about a mile from my house.

Heres a short video of what took place on Thursday:



Here is a map of the 24 hour accumulated precipitation from 1 PM June 9 through 1 PM June 10, 2011, from the Southeast RFC River Forecast Center. I added a 'RED ARROW' showing my location which received a couple of rain drops.

Here is the area enlarged:

And here are a couple of pictures showing the tree that was blown over from the approaching gust front / outflow boundary that accompanied the storms, mentioned in the video above. I was without electricity for a little over 3 hours. This was 3 houses up the road from mine.

All of this enforces what I mentioned in my latest drought update posted on Thursday June 9 2011. "I contend some in the local area are already experiencing localized exceptional drought conditions, as we have been without rain for some time now and have experienced well above normal temperatures the past few weeks, drying the soil further."