DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 300 PM EDT FRI JAN 16 2009
...DRASTIC IMPROVEMENT IN THE DROUGHT STATUS IN MOST AREAS FROM LAST WEEK`S RAIN...
SYNOPSIS...
WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINFALL AND EVEN FLOODING OCCURRED IN NEARLY EVERY COUNTY IN THE REGION. THIS HAS IMPROVED THE DROUGHT STATUS OF ALL AREAS. NO D2 AREAS EXIST IN THE REGION. HENCE THIS WILL BE THE LAST DROUGHT STATEMENT UNTIL A D2 CATEGORY ASSERTS ITSELF IN EITHER EAST TENNESSEE...EXTREME SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...OR CHEROKEE OR CLAY COUNTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA.
ALL GEOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS BELOW ARE APPROXIMATE:
D1 (MODERATE) DROUGHT COVERS CHEROKEE AND CLAY COUNTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA, ALL OF WISE, RUSSELL, AND SCOTT COUNTIES, AND HALF OF LEE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA. IT ALSO COVER EXTREME EAST AND NORTHEAST TENNESSEE EAST OF A LINE FROM AROUND CLEVELAND TO THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK TO NEAR GREENEVILLE TO AROUND KYLES FORD.
D0 (ABNORMALLY DRY) CONDITIONS COVER ALL OF EAST TENNESSEE, AND HALF OF LEE AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA. IN WESTERN MARION COUNTY, TENNESSEE CONDITIONS ARE NEAR NORMAL.
SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...
ISOLATED WELLS AND SPRINGS IN THE DRIEST AREAS STILL POSE A PROBLEM FOR SOME RESIDENTS BUT WIDESPREAD WATER SHORTAGES ARE NOT REPORTED. AGRICULTURE IS LESS ACTIVE BUT RECENT RAINS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO SOIL MOISTURE. EXTREMELY COLD TEMPERATURES HAVE KEPT SOILS FROM EVAPORATING.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...
SINCE DECEMBER 1, 2008 MOST AREAS HAVE RECEIVED COPIOUS RAINFALL, EVEN SETTING SOME RECORDS. SINCE JANUARY 1, 2009 RAINFALL HAS BEEN SUCH THAT WIDESPREAD FLOODING OCCURRED NEARLY EVERYWHERE. THIS HAS BEEN THE LARGEST CONTRIBUTION TO THE IMPROVEMENT IN THE DROUGHT STATUS.
PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...
THROUGH THE END OF JANUARY, TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE NEAR NORMAL AND PRECIPITATION TO ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE PERIOD.
THE PERIOD OF FEBRUARY THROUGH APRIL IS EXPECTED TO BE WARMER THAN NORMAL WITH ABOUT NORMAL PRECIPITATION WHICH, IF THIS VERIFIES, WOULD MEAN MORE RAIN THAN SNOW, IN GENERAL.
THE LATEST OUTLOOK (ISSUED JANUARY 15) IS FOR THE DROUGHT TO IMPROVE REGIONWIDE, ESPECIALLY IN VIRGINIA AND THE MOUNTAINS OF EAST TENNESSEE.
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
STREAMS IN THE AREA ARE NEAR NORMAL OR ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE PERIOD.
THE OUTLOOK FOR LARGE TRIBUTARIES OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER THROUGH EARLY SPRING OF 2009 IS FOR A NORMAL CHANCE OF FLOODING. THIS WILL DEPEND LARGELY ON THE AMOUNT OF RAIN OVER THE LONG TERM AND THE NUMBER OF HEAVY RAIN EVENTS IN THE PERIOD. IT WILL ALSO DEPEND ON THE HYDROGRAPHY OF THE INDIVIDUAL STREAM. THINGS LIKE LOCAL GEOGRAPHY, WHETHER SINKHOLES ACCOUNT FOR MUCH UNDERGROUND STORAGE, LOCAL LAND USE, FLORA, AND SO FORTH, WILL ALSO HAVE AN INFLUENCE.
NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...
NO FURTHER DROUGHT STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED UNLESS A D2 CATEGORY REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN. HOWEVER, FOR MORE INFORMATION SEE THE WEB PAGES BELOW OR CONTACT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STATEMENT.
RELATED WEB SITES...
FOR ONE-STOP SHOPPING ON THE DROUGHT IN THE REGION GO TO HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX/HYDRO/DROUGHT07/MAIN.PHP
OR YOU CAN GO TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV THEN CLICK ON THE EAST TENNESSEE REGION, AND THEN CLICK ON THE DROUGHT INFORMATION LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE HOME PAGE.
YOU MAY ALSO VISIT WWW.TVA.GOV FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LAKES LEVELS, STREAMFLOWS, AND RAINFALL IN THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY SYSTEM.
STREAMFLOW DATA CAN ALSO BE OBTAINED FROM THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AT HTTP://WATERDATA.USGS.GOV/NWIS/RT AND THEN CLICKING ON YOUR STATE OF INTEREST.
ADDITIONAL LONG TERM STREAMFLOW FORECASTS CAN BE OBTAINED AT THE NWS MORRISTOWN "ADVANCED HYDROLOGIC PREDICTION SERVICES" WEBSITE AT HTTP://AHPS.SRH.NOAA.GOV/INDEX.PHP?WFO=MRX
THE TENNESSEE DIVISION OF FORESTRY HAS FIRE INFORMATION AT HTTP://BURNSAFETN.ORG
THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY HAS FIRE INFORMATION AT WWW.DOF.VIRGINIA.GOV
THE NORTH CAROLINA DIVISION OF FOREST RESOURCES IS LOCATED AT WWW.DFR.STATE.NC.US
FOR SPECIFIC DATA, DROUGHT INDICES, AND THE NATIONAL DROUGHT PICTURE WITH CLICKABLE ZOOMING, GO TO HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...
APPRECIATION FOR THE DATA IN THIS DOCUMENT GOES TO THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA), UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (USGS), THE STATES OF TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA, THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS (USACE), THE TENNESSEE DIVISION OF FORESTRY, THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY, THE NORTH CAROLINA DIVISION OF FOREST RESOURCES, THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS), THE NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE (NFS), THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT LINCOLN FOR HOSTING THE DROUGHT MONITOR WEBSITE, AND NUMEROUS COUNTY, CITY, AND UTILITY OFFICIALS. ALSO, THANKS TO VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS INCLUDING TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS AND NEWSPAPERS, FOR ASKING THE QUESTIONS THE DRIVE THE GATHERING OF DATA AND INFORMATION ON DROUGHT IMPACTS.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR FOR MEDIA INTERVIEWS PLEASE CONTACT:
BRIAN BOYD SENIOR SERVICE HYDROLOGIST/METEOROLOGIST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 5974 COMMERCE BLVD. MORRISTOWN, TN 37814 423-586-1964 (MEDIA ONLY; FOR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE) 423-586-2296 (ALL OTHER CALLS; MAY GET VOICE MAIL) 423-586-6429 (FOR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE, NON-MEDIA CALLS) EMAIL: BRIAN.BOYD@NOAA.GOV WEBSITE: WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX
NOTE: IN THE EVENT THE ABOVE PERSON IS NOT AVAILABLE, OTHER STAFF MEMBERS WILL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU.