DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1045 AM CDT THU JUNE 26 2008 ...RAINFALL DURING THE PAST WEEK HAS LITTLE IMPACT ON DROUGHT... SYNOPSIS... SCATTERED RAINFALL OCCURRED ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA THE PAST WEEKEND. MOSTLY DRY WEATHER FOLLOWED THE FRONT DURING THE FIRST OF THIS WEEK...BUT RETURNING MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY ON WEDNESDAY ONCE AGAIN RESULTED IN SCATTERED RAINFALL ACROSS THE AREA. DESPITE THE RAIN THAT OCCURRED DURING THE PAST WEEK...NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ONGOING DROUGHT CONDITIONS OCCURRED. THE LATEST U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR INDICATES MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS PERSIST EAST OF A LINE FROM NEAR WARRIOR TO CENTREVILLE TO LINDEN TO DIXONS MILL. AREAS TO THE WEST OF THIS LINE ARE EXPERIENCING NEAR NORMAL TO ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS. 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... SOME OF THE WATER RESTRICTIONS ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA HAVE BEEN LIFTED OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS. RAINFALL THIS YEAR HAS ALLOWED FOR MANY OF THE MAJOR CITY RESERVOIRS TO FILL TO CAPACITY. HOWEVER...THE THREAT OF WATER SHORTAGES FOR MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEMS WILL INCREASE THIS SUMMER...ESPECIALLY IF BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL OCCURS OVER THE AREA. LOCAL WATER BOARDS CONTINUE TO REPORT THAT WATER CONSERVATION EFFORTS ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA ARE STILL ENCOURAGED. THE AMOUNT OF BENEFICIAL RAINFALL THAT OCCURS THIS SUMMER WILL BE CRITICAL IN DETERMINING IF ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLIES ARE AVAILABLE IN AREA RESERVOIRS. HYDROLOGIC IMPACTS... TOP SOIL MOISTURE PROFILES DECLINED SLIGHTLY DURING THE PAST WEEK DUE TO THE LACK OF SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL. SUBSOIL MOISTURES AND GROUNDWATER HAVE STILL HAVE NOT FULLY RECOVERED FROM THE EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT OF LAST FALL AND SUMMER...AND COULD QUICKLY DECLINE ONCE AGAIN IS PERIODIC RAINFALL DOES NOT OCCUR. AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS... THE USDA STATES THAT THE WHEAT AND GRAIN HARVEST IS MOSTLY COMPLETED. MOST OF THE COTTON AND SOYBEAN CROP IS ALSO REPORTED TO BE IN GOOD CONDITION. HOWEVER...SOME OF THE STATE'S CORN CROP CONTINUES TO BE STRESSED BY A LACK OF RAINFALL. PASTURES CONDITIONS VARIED DEPENDING ON THE LOCATION AND AMOUNT OF RAINFALL RECEIVED DURING THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS. LIVESTOCK IN THE AREA WERE REPORTED TO BE MOSTLY IN GOOD TO EXCELLENT CONDITION. FIRE DANGER IMPACTS... GENERALLY SPEAKING...THE FIRE DANGER RISK ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA HAS CONTINUED TO SLOWLY INCREASE...WITH THE DRIEST CONDITIONS CONTINUING TO BE IN THE SOUTHEAST SECTIONS. KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDICES (KBDI) ARE CURRENTLY BETWEEN 375 AND 650 ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL ALABAMA...BUT INCREASE TO OVER 650 FROM AROUND MONTGOMERY SOUTHEASTWARD. VALUES ABOVE 500 INDICATE A SEVERE FIRE DANGER. THE ALABAMA FORESTRY COMMISSION REPORTS THAT NO COUNTIES ARE CURRENTLY UNDER A FIRE ALERT. CLIMATE SUMMARY... MANY AREAS RECEIVED SOME RAINFALL DURING THE PAST WEEK...BUT AMOUNTS WERE VARIABLE. MOST AREAS RECEIVED LESS THAN HALF AN INCH FOR THE WEEK...ALTHOUGH LOCALIZED TOTALS OVER AN INCH OCCURRED. SO FAR IN JUNE...RAINFALL HAS AVERAGED FROM VIRTUALLY NONE ...MAINLY IN THE EAST CENTRAL SECTIONS AROUND ANNISTON...TO BETWEEN THREE AND FOUR INCHES WITH ISOLATED GREATER AMOUNTS. FOR THE YEAR... RAINFALL HAS GENERALLY RANGED FROM TWENTY TO THIRTY ONE INCHES...WITH THE LOWEST AMOUNTS IN SOUTHEAST SECTIONS AROUND MONTGOMERY. FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE...NORMAL RAINFALL IN CENTRAL ALABAMA IS FROM THREE AND ONE QUARTER TO FOUR AND ONE QUARTER INCHES. SOME PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS FOR CENTRAL ALABAMA JANUARY 1ST THROUGH JUNE 25TH: BIRMINGHAM 30.91 MONTGOMERY 19.81 ANNISTON 22.80 TUSCALOOSA 24.36 CALERA 30.77 TROY 21.60 AVERAGE PRECIPITATION EXPECTED AND DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL FROM JANUARY 1ST THROUGH JUNE 25TH: BIRMINGHAM 28.34 UP 2.57 MONTGOMERY 28.75 DOWN 8.94 ANNISTON 28.55 DOWN 6.05 TUSCALOOSA 30.19 DOWN 5.83 PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY HAS INCREASED ONCE AGAIN OVER THE AREA...AND THIS IN COMBINATION WITH WEAK UPPER LEVEL WEATHER DISTURBANCES AND DAYTIME HEATING WILL RESULT IN SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. A COLD FRONT MOVING INTO THE AREA ON SUNDAY SHOULD HELP TO INCREASE THE COVERAGE OF RAIN ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA. ALTHOUGH MOST AREAS ARE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE CUMULATIVE RAINFALL LESS THAN AN INCH THROUGH THE WEEKEND...LOCALLY GREATER AMOUNTS WILL BE POSSIBLE. THIS WILL LIKELY RESULT IN AT LEAST SOME SHORT TERM IMPROVEMENT TO THE DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA. THE OUTLOOK FOR WEEK TWO...FOR JULY 3RD THROUGH JULY 9TH...CALLS FOR NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION CHANCES. THE LONGER-RANGE OUTLOOK FOR JULY THROUGH SEPTEMBER INDICATES NEAR OR ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION CHANCES AND NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES. THE LATEST SEASONAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK INDICATES SOME CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF DROUGHT CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT CENTRAL ALABAMA. HOWEVER...IF DRY WEATHER PERSISTS CONDITIONS COULD BEGIN TO DETERIORATE AGAIN. HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK... STREAM FLOWS REPORTED BY USGS GAGES HAVE DECLINED DURING THE PAST WEEK...AND MOST ARE BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. PERIODIC RAINFALL WILL HAVE TO OCCUR IF STREAM FLOWS ARE TO RETURN TO OR REMAIN NEAR NORMAL THIS SUMMER. RESERVOIR LEVELS HAVE REMAINED FAIRLY STEADY OR CONTINUED TO FALL SLOWLY DURING THE PAST WEEK. PERIODIC SUBSTANTIAL RAINFALL WILL NEED TO OCCUR IN ORDER FOR THE MAJOR RESERVOIRS TO MAINTAIN NEAR NORMAL LEVELS THROUGH THE SUMMER. LISTED BELOW ARE TODAY'S LEVELS FOR SOME OF THE MAJOR RESERVOIRS ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA AND LAST WEEK'S LEVELS: RESERVOIR LEVEL FOR 06/25/2008 LEVEL FOR 06/12/2008 WEISS 563.0 563.2 NEELY HENRY 506.9 507.4 LOGAN MARTIN 464.0 464.1 LAY 395.9 395.9 MITCHELL 311.9 311.7 JORDAN 251.5 251.5 R.L. HARRIS 791.9 792.2 MARTIN 488.2 489.9 SMITH 507.6 508.1 BANKHEAD 254.3 254.9 HOLT 186.4 186.7 ...UPDATE STATEMENT... THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AROUND JULY 7TH...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:
OUR LOCAL WEB PAGE...
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...
http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
NOAA DROUGHT PAGE...
http://www.drought.noaa.gov/
U.S.G.S. WEB PAGE...
http://water.usgs.gov/
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER /CPC/...
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... 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