MACON, Ga. — Currently, at the Ocmulgee river, you can clearly see the water level is much lower than it normally is.
The river is running about five feet deep in Macon. That’s only slightly higher than the river’s record low at three feet.
The lack of rainfall is playing a big role in the drought conditions we are experiencing here in central Georgia, with no rain officially recorded during the month of Oct. in Macon. We are running a rainfall deficit of 9 inches for the year so far.
As levels continue to drop, sand bars are beginning to pop up in the middle of the river.
Since the start of the year Macon has picked up about 27 inches of rain, but there is still a rainfall deficit of about 9 inches.
Because of the lack of rain and the heat, drought conditions are continuing to expand.
Now we have severe drought over almost all of central Georgia, and extreme drought developing in Twiggs, Wilkinson, and Laurens counties and also to the north and west of Macon.
The intense heat also plays a large role in the drought. We’ve seen 130 days of 90-degree temperatures in Macon so far. That number surpasses the old record of 116 days.
Hot temperatures cause the soils to dry out, which leads to a cyclical pattern of less storms and more heat.
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