Drought Conditions Diminishing across Portions of Central Alabama

Drought Information For Central Alabama
Issued November 14th, 2019

Drought Conditions Diminishing across Central Alabama

Synopsis...

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that drought
conditions have improved significantly across Central Alabama. A small area of Severe Drought is still found over portions of Chilton County. Surrounding this area, a diminishing area of Moderate Drought is still found from southern Shelby, western Chilton and Autauga counties east to near the Auburn area. Elsewhere, Abnormally Dry conditions are found in the remainder of southeast Central Alabama. Over remaining areas, conditions are generally near normal.

The Drought Monitor classifies drought within one of these five categories:

D0...Abnormally Dry
D1...Moderate Drought
D2...Severe Drought
D3...Extreme Drought
D4...Exceptional Drought

Climate Summary...

Additional rainfall of one to two inches occurred over Central Alabama during the past two weeks. This, combined with noticeably cooler temperatures than earlier this fall, has helped to relieve the dry conditions across the area.

Some precipitation amounts for Central Alabama from January 1st through November 13th: (For up to the most recent climate report...click on the city.):

Birmingham	45.62
Montgomery	40.77
Anniston	47.12
Tuscaloosa	54.34
Calera	40.50
Troy	37.52

Average precipitation expected from January 1st through November 13th:

Birmingham	46.26	-0.64
Montgomery	45.37	-4.60
Anniston	42.79	+4.33
Tuscaloosa	44.69	+9.65
Calera	46.97	-6.47
Troy	46.78	-9.26

Hydrologic Impacts...

Soil moisture values are running below normal across most of eastern Central Alabama for this time of year but have improved to near normal in the western third of the area. Additional rainfall will be needed to improve the dry soil moisture values.

Agricultural Impacts...

Information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other sources indicates that impacts from the drought are gradually easing. Pastures have benefited from the recent rainfall. Some livestock are still being fed hay to supplement the lack of grazing. Crop harvests have ranged from poor to good. Some planting of winter forages has continued with cool season pastures reported to be growing nicely. Despite the dry conditions experienced earlier, a majority of crops are still reported to be in fair to good condition, with even a majority of pastures and ranges now reported to be in fair to good condition.

Fire Danger Impacts...

The Fire Danger Risk has lessened across Central Alabama with Keetch-Byram Drought Indices (KBDI) currently below 400 across most of the area. Values above 500 indicate a Severe Fire Danger.

The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) has lifted the Fire Alert across Central Alabama. The AFC has resumed issuing Fire Permits for burning as usual. However, the Forestry Commission still urges everyone to take the necessary safety precautions and use care when doing outdoor burning.

Hydrologic Summary and Outlook...

The latest USGS Stream Gauge Data indicates that stream flows across Central Alabama have currently returned to near to above normal over much of the area due to recent rainfall, although a few locations are still indicated to have below normal streamflows. Periodic rainfall will be needed to maintain stream flows at near-normal or above normal levels as we proceed into early fall.

Many of the major reservoir pool levels are slowly falling as operators begin to lower them toward their winter levels. Listed below are current levels for some of the major reservoirs across Central Alabama and those from October 31st.

Reservoir	Level for 11/14/19	Level for 10/31/19
Weiss Neely Henry Logan Martin Lay Mitchell Jordan R.L. Harris Martin Smith Bankhead Holt	560.4 507.2 461.6 395.8 311.8 251.5 787.2 484.1 497.2 254.8 186.7	561.4 507.3 462.0 395.7 311.6 251.7 788.9 485.6 499.9 254.6 186.7

Social Impacts...

Reservoir levels are beginning to fall as operators lower them toward their winter levels. While there are no known mandatory water restrictions currently in effect, normal water conservation techniques are encouraged to be followed in the event that the drought conditions persist or worsen through this fall.

Precipitation & Temperature Outlook...

An upper level weather system will move across the area during the next thirty six hours and will bring some rain to mainly the southeast half of the area. By late Friday into the first half of next week dry weather is expected to overspread Central Alabama as a ridge of high pressure takes control. Rainfall through next Wednesday is forecast to average less than an inch, and should occur primarily over the southeast half of Central Alabama.

The Two Week Outlook...from November 19th through November 27th...calls for below normal temperatures and below normal rainfall transitioning to near normal temperatures and near normal rainfall.

The Longer-Ranger Outlook for December through February calls for above normal temperatures and equal chances of below normal, normal or above normal precipitation across Central Alabama.

The latest Seasonal Drought Outlook through January indicates that continued improvement to drought conditions is expected.

Update Statement...

This will be the last statement issued for these drought conditions unless the drought re-intensifies.