Southeast River Forecast Center Provides
Critical Streamflow Information
October 2007
The National Weather Service Southeast River Forecast Center (SERFC) has
been providing incident support services across the southeast United States
in the midst of the current severe drought. Briefings were provided to constituents
along the Lower Pee Dee River Watershed in South Carolina and the Savannah
River along the Georgia/South Carolina Line.
 On September 28, 2007, in response to the severe drought gripping the southeast
United States , Department of National Resources Director Dr. Carol Couch
ordered the tightest watering restrictions available to her under the state's
drought plan, banning virtually all residential outdoor watering in metro
Atlanta and all of North Georgia . This is a "Stage 4" drought
action - the highest level.
“Todd Hamill, SERFC Senior Hydrologist and Water Resources Manager and
other staff members have been providing briefings via conference calls,
a multimedia Water Resources Outlook product, and on-site coordination
visits.” stated John Feldt, Hydrologist-in-Charge
at the SERFC.
Todd Hamill has been working closely with Dr. David Stooksbury (Georgia State Climatologist)
on several water issues. Athens Georgia is having a critical water shortage
and could run out of water by mid November. Mr. Hamill has been producing
custom ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP) runs for this river location. Based
in part on information from these ESP runs, Director Couch signed an executive
order in late September taking emergency actions to transfer water resources
to this county.
At a recent State of Georgia Drought Response Committee meeting, Dr. Stooksbury
showed another ESP run to the group. Director Couch specifically asked several
questions about it. It showed that there was only a 20% (or less) probability
of reaching normal levels along critical rivers (by mid November). The Level-4
ban enacted was based, in part, on this information.
“I was quite pleased to see some very major decisions that will impact a
large population were based in part on NWS AHPS information” stated Feldt. |