Here’s the latest Drought Monitor update on the state of the drought here in Alabama:
DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 845 AM CDT FRI OCT 10 2008 ...DROUGHT CONDITIONS STEADY ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA... SYNOPSIS... WIDESPREAD RAINFALL OCCURRED OVER CENTRAL ALABAMA DURING THE PAST WEEK...BUT DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE THE DROUGHT CONDITIONS AFFECTING CENTRAL ALABAMA. THE LATEST U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR INDICATES SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE FOUND EAST OF A LINE FROM NEAR CENTRE TO HEFLIN TO ROCK MILLS TO LANETTE. MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM NEAR HAMILTON TO MOUNDVILLE TO MONTGOMERY TO EUFAULA. MOST REMAINING AREAS IN WEST ALABAMA ARE NOW ABNORMALLY DRY. THE DROUGHT MONITOR CLASSIFIES DROUGHT WITHIN ONE OF THESE FIVE CATEGORIES: 1) ABNORMALLY DRY 2) MODERATE 3) SEVERE 4) EXTREME 5) EXCEPTIONAL SUMMARY OF IMPACTS... SOCIAL IMPACTS... MANY AREA RESERVOIRS CONTINUE TO FALL SLOWLY DUE TO NORMAL LOWERING THAT OCCURS THIS TIME OF THE YEAR...AS WELL AS RECENT DRY WEATHER. HOWEVER...THE THREAT OF MUNICIPAL WATER SHORTAGES IS DIMINISHING AS WE CONTINUE INTO FALL AND COOLER WEATHER. HYDROLOGIC IMPACTS... TOP SOIL MOISTURE PROFILES HAVE MOISTENED FOLLOWING THE RAINFALL THIS WEEK. HOWEVER...SUB SOIL MOISTURES CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE DEFICITS AS THEY STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM THE SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS OF THE PAST YEAR. AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS... THE USDA STATES THAT THE OVERALL CONDITION OF ROW CROPS REMAINS FAIRLY GOOD. LIVESTOCK ALSO REMAIN IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE...AND FORAGE IN MOST PASTURES WERE ADEQUATE. THE LATEST REPORTS FROM THE USDA: CROP % POOR OR WORSE % FAIR OR BETTER COTTON 16% 84% PEANUT 2% 98% SOYBEAN 25% 75% LIVESTOCK 11% 89% PASTURE 19% 81% FIRE DANGER IMPACTS... GENERALLY SPEAKING...THE FIRE DANGER RISK ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA IS HIGH DUE TO THE RECENT DRY CONDITIONS. KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDICES (KBDI) GENERALLY RANGE FROM 475 TO 690...WITH VERY LOCALIZED LOWER VALUES. VALUES ABOVE 500 INDICATE A SEVERE FIRE DANGER. THE ALABAMA FORESTRY COMMISSION REPORTS THAT NO COUNTIES ARE CURRENTLY UNDER A FIRE ALERT...BUT THE STATE FORESTER IS URGING ANYONE DOING OUTSIDE BURNING TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS DUE TO THE RECENT DRY WEATHER. CLIMATE SUMMARY... RAINFALL AVERAGED ONE TO TWO INCHES...WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS TO AROUND THREE INCHES...ACROSS THE AREA THIS WEEK. FOR THE YEAR...RAINFALL IS AVERAGING FROM THIRTY FIVE TO FIFTY INCHES...WITH THE LOWEST AMOUNTS GENERALLY FOUND IN WEST CENTRAL SECTIONS. NORMAL RAINFALL FOR OCTOBER AVERAGES BETWEEN TWO AND ONE HALF TO THREE AND ONE HALF INCHES. HIGH TEMPERATURES THE PAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN AVERAGING IN THE UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S...WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE 50S AND 60S. SOME PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS FOR CENTRAL ALABAMA JANUARY 1ST THROUGH OCTOBER 9TH: BIRMINGHAM 45.48 MONTGOMERY 41.58 ANNISTON 39.68 TUSCALOOSA 34.44 CALERA 50.00 TROY 37.96 AVERAGE PRECIPITATION EXPECTED AND DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL FROM JANUARY 1ST THROUGH OCTOBER 9TH: BIRMINGHAM 42.62 UP 2.86 MONTGOMERY 43.51 DOWN 1.93 ANNISTON 41.57 DOWN 1.89 TUSCALOOSA 44.92 DOWN 10.48 PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... HIGH PRESSURE WILL PREVAIL ACROSS ALABAMA THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL CONTINUE THE PATTERN OF MOSTLY DRY WEATHER. HOWEVER...ENOUGH MOISTURE MAY RETURN BY SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY FOR SOME ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS TO OCCUR. ADDITIONALLY...ANOTHER FRONT APPROACHING THE AREA BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK COULD ALSO BRING SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA BY THAT TIME...BUT NO SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL IS EXPECTED. TEMPERATURES WILL AVERAGE NEAR NORMAL WITH DAYTIME HIGHS GENERALLY IN THE UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S AND OVERNIGHT LOWS MOSTLY IN THE UPPER 50S AND 60S. THE TWO WEEK OUTLOOK...FROM OCTOBER 17TH THROUGH OCTOBER 23RD...CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION CHANCES. THE LONGER-RANGE OUTLOOK FOR THE REMAINDER OF OCTOBER THROUGH DECEMBER IS FOR EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION CHANCES. THE LATEST SEASONAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK INDICATES SOME IMPROVEMENT OF DROUGHT CONDITIONS IN MOST OF CENTRAL ALABAMA...EXCLUDING THE EXTREME NORTHEAST SECTIONS. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... MOST STREAM FLOWS REPORTED BY USGS GAGES HAVE CURRENTLY IMPROVED TO NORMAL OR ABOVE NORMAL. HOWEVER...PERIODIC RAINFALL WILL BE NEEDED IF STREAM FLOWS ARE TO REMAIN NEAR NORMAL FLOWS. MOST RESERVOIR LEVELS HAVE REMAINED STEADY OR FALLEN SLOWLY...DUE TO LOWERING THAT NORMALLY OCCURS THIS TIME OF THE YEAR AS WELL AS THE LACK OF RAINFALL. LISTED BELOW ARE TODAY'S LEVELS FOR SOME OF THE MAJOR RESERVOIRS ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA AND LEVELS FROM OCTOBER 2ND: RESERVOIR LEVEL FOR 10/10/2008 LEVEL FOR 10/02/2008 WEISS 561.5 561.8 NEELY HENRY 507.5 507.0 LOGAN MARTIN 462.9 463.3 LAY 395.9 395.8 MITCHELL 311.5 311.5 JORDAN 251.9 251.5 R.L. HARRIS 788.2 788.6 MARTIN 486.7 487.0 SMITH 497.7 497.6 BANKHEAD 254.7 254.6 HOLT 186.7 186.2 ...UPDATE STATEMENT... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AROUND OCTOBER 16TH...OR EARLIER IF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE CURRENT DROUGHT SITUATION OCCUR. && RELATED WEB SITES... ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES / USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: OUR LOCAL WEB PAGE... HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BMX U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR... HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UL.EDI/DEM/MONITOR.HTML NOAA DROUGHT PAGE... HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.NOAA.GOV/ U.S.G.S. WEB PAGE... HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV/ CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER /PC/... HTTP://WWW.PC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... SOME OF THE INFORMATION USED IN THIS STATEMENT WAS PROVIDED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE...THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY...THE ALABAMA STATE FORESTRY COMMISSION...AND ALABAMA POWER COMPANY. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS... IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 465 WEATHERVANE ROAD CALERA AL 35040-5427 PHONE: 205-664-3010 E-MAIL: SR-BMX.WEBMASTER@NOAA.GOV
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