Drought Information Statement for Southeast Alabama, Southwest Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend Valid December 4, 2025 Issued By: National Weather Service Tallahassee Contact Information: kelly.godsey@noaa.gov & cameron.young@noaa.gov This product will be updated December 11, 2025 Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/tae/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. Exceptional Drought remains in place across far South Georgia and North Florida Welcome rainfall arrives across the region, but overall it did not lead to drought improvement - yet. Expected rainfall could lead to some drought improvement across the region with rainfall Thursday through Sunday, but it will not be enough to end this long term drought. 1 U.S. Drought Monitor Link to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor for southeast AL, southwest GA, and the FL Panhandle & Big Bend Image Caption: U.S. Drought Monitor valid December 2, 2025 Exceptional drought remains along FL/GA border. Severe to extreme drought continues to expand now covering much of the remainder of the Tri-State area. Note, the drought monitor only includes precipitation that occurred by 7 am ET Dec 2nd. Drought intensity and Extent D4 (Exceptional Drought): Along the Florida/Georgia border from Eastern Jackson County, FL/Seminole County, GA eastward to near the Withlacoochee River. D3 (Extreme Drought): much of southwest and south central Georgia; the inland Florida Panhandle and Big Bend and portions of SE Alabama. D2 (Severe Drought): Parts of SE Alabama, coastal areas of Walton County and the coastal SE Florida Big Bend and portions of South Central GA. D1 (Moderate Drought): A small part of Ben Hill and Irwin County GA. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Geography Availability: United States WFO: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/current/current_wfoabq_text.png Where it says “wfoabq” change the last 3 letters to the desired CWA in terms of “wfoxxx” (excluding SJU, PPG, or GUM, only regional data available) State: Replace where it says “wfoabq” change to the state’s abbreviation Regional: Replace where it says “wfoabq” change to either of the following… Caribbean → current_caribbean_text Pacific Islands→current_usapi_text Ex; southeast → current_southeast_text Ex; midwest → current_midwest_text Ex; high plains → current_high_planes_text Ex; south → current_south_text pdf National (including HI, AK, and PR): https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/20220823/20220823_usdm.png USAPI and Virgin Islands: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/20220823/20220823_usdm_pg2.png Recent Change in Drought Intensity Link to the latest 4-week change map for southeast AL, southwest GA, and the FL Panhandle & Big Bend Welcome rainfall arrived across the region this past week. The heaviest rainfall was across SE Alabama. These areas received enough rainfall to result in some drought improvement. The remainder of the region received some rainfall, but it was not sufficient to improve current drought conditions significantly to result in a category change. One-Week Drought Monitor Class Change: 1 category degradation: Far southeastern Dixie County. No change: Most of the region. 1 category improvement: Across Southeast Alabama in Coffee, Dale, and Henry Counties. Image Caption: U.S. Drought Monitor 1-week change map valid December 2, 2025 Note: some OCONUS offices (i.e. Guam and Pago Pago) may not have access to change maps. You can hide this slide, and discuss recent drought changes on slide 1 if you wish. Feel free to use other timescales if they tell a better story, or hide this slide if there’s no notable changes in your region. 4 weeks is a good default if you’re producing this product ~once per month as required by the directive. 1-Week Monitor Class Change (replace CHS with your WFO ID): https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_1W.png Comparison of current drought monitor with drought monitor from 4 weeks ago for a desired WFO station: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/chng/png/current/current_wfoCHS_chng_4W.png Changing date: Replace where it says “current” twice with the date in terms of “YYYYMMDD” Ex; July 5th, 2022 → 20220705 Precipitation Image Captions: Left - 30-Day Percent of Normal Precipitation for the Southeast US Right - 90-Day Percent of Normal Precipitation for the Southeast US Data Courtesy NWS Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor System. Data over the past 30 and 90 days ending December 4, 2025 Last 30 Days Last 60 Days Rainfall Percent Rainfall Percent DeFuniak Springs* 1.54” 35.5% 3.37” 42.7% Panama City-ECP 3.36” 77.9% 6.35” 82.0% Dothan 1.58” 31.6% 2.55” 37.6% Marianna 2.57” 67.8% 4.40” 64.2% Apalachicola 0.80” 21.5% 3.07” 42.3% Georgetown** 2.18” 54.6% 3.33” 47.8% Dawson** 2.39” 66.3% 3.75” 58.6% Arlington** 1.63” 44.7% 2.31” 35.7% Albany 2.10” 67.7% 2.84” 52.4% Cairo** 1.54” 45.8% 2.70” 43.8% Tallahassee 1.03” 32.0% 1.99” 31.2% Moultrie** 1.31” 44.7% 2.82” 48.5% Monticello* 1.44” 45.3% 3.07” 48.8% Ty Ty** 1.77” 58.0% 2.63” 44.9% Alapaha** 2.14” 77.0% 3.89” 71.4% Valdosta 1.72” 67.8% 2.32” 38.7% Perry*** 0.84” 34.7% 1.80” 34.6% Mayo* 0.86” 38.7% 1.39” 28.1% Note: Precipitation after 7 AM EST/6 AM CST Tuesday is incorporated in next week’s Drought Monitor Rainfall totals through December 4, 2025. Non-NWS Data Courtesy: *University of Florida - Florida Automated Weather Network **University of Georgia Weather Network ***Suwannee River Water Management District Climatology for non-NWS stations is estimated using PRISM data. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED. The time frame used and precipitation source can be different, but you must include this slide. If longer-term drought is dominating in your region, you can use longer-timescale imagery to support that message. All data can be found at https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?maps=ACISClimateMaps If you prefer a higher resolution precip source such as AHPS (https://water.weather.gov/precip/), that’s also okay but will have to be added manually each time. If little to no imagery is available for your area (i.e. USAPI) you may consider a data table. Some USAPI precipitation imagery available here:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/drought/202303#regional-usapi and here: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update Pacific Island Climate Update for ENSO: Monthly Reports, find the link to the latest PDF on this site: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update and consider linking to it here if it’s not too out of date MSWEP: https://www.gloh2o.org/mswep/ may be another option. Other options: Precipitation Station Data from USGS: Stations in each State: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/current/?type=precip&group_key=NONE To change state, alter link where it says “/al/” and change to desired state’s abbreviation. Homepage: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Precipitation Reports for Basins from WCC Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BPrecip_8_2022.pdf Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Temperature Temperatures over the last month have been above normal, especially a stretch in mid November where afternoon high temperatures reached the mid 80s. Warm conditions worsened the drought, however recent cooler temperatures and rainfall will lead to some drought relief. Image Captions: Left - 7-Day Departure from Normal High Temperatures for the Southeast US Right - 30-Day Departure from Normal High Temperature for the Southeast US Data ending December 4, 2025 Last 30 Days Average High (Departure) Average Low (Departure) Tallahassee 75.4° (+3.9°) 46.3° (-0.9°) Apalachicola 73.1° (+1.5°) 50.7° (-0.3°) Albany 74.8° (+4.5°) 45.7° (+0.3°) Valdosta 75.3° (+4.8°) 45.4° (-0.3°) Marianna 74.1° (+3.4°) 46.9° (+0.2°) Dothan 73.4° (+3.3°) 47.1° (+1.1°) Abnormal warmth or coolness can play a role in the rate of evaporation and thus accelerate or slow drought development and spread. If you feel this is currently playing a role, you can include this slide, otherwise leave it skipped. Summary of Impacts - Alabama Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Streamflows across Southeast Alabama have increased in the headwaters of the mainstem rivers, but overall remain below normal for this time of year. Flows on the Chattahoochee are regulated from upstream releases. Agricultural Impacts Winter Planting - Recent rain has improved soil conditions where some planting is in progress. Supplementary feeding - This is widespread with hay being provided to livestock due to the lack of grazing or cover crop for feed being harvested. Several holding ponds remain especially low. This has forced some farmers to relocate herds to areas with at least some water. Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch-Byram Drought Index values are 400-550 within the five county region. While no burn bans are in effect, the Alabama Forestry Commission has issued a statewide Fire Danger Advisory. Houston County encourages against burning. Mitigation Actions Please refer to your municipality for mitigation information. Other Impacts The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Office of Water Resources (ADECA OWR) has declared a Drought Warning for Drought Region 8, which includes Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, and Houston Counties. ADECA’s latest Drought Declaration can be found here. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Briefly summarize known impacts and mitigation actions here for each of the categories. If there are no known impacts, you may state that. If you’d like to include more information and images by sector, feel free to utilize any of the following four slides you wish, but they are NOT required. You may also link in the slide to your state’s USDM State Impact page: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/StateImpacts.aspx Also can optionally include any mitigation actions being taken, i.e. local water use restrictions. If none known, perhaps refer users to their local municipalities for more info. Summary of Impacts - Georgia Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Streamflows across Southwest and South Central Georgia remain generally below normal, with a several areas of much below normal flow. The mainstem Flint River is below normal south of Albany. The Ochlockonee River is below normal. Smaller creeks, like the Ichawaynochaway and Spring Creek showed some improved responses to the recent rains, though some portions are still below normal for this time of year. Agricultural Impacts Winter Planting - Recent rains have helped facilitate some winter planting, though this is more widespread further to the north of US-84. Supplementary feeding - This is widespread with hay being provided to livestock due to the lack of grazing or cover crop for feed. Holding ponds have dropped considerably with a few dry near the Florida border. Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch-Byram Drought Index values range 450 near the Chattahoochee River to 600 near I-75. Most counties are reporting several brush fire calls a day. While no burn bans are in effect, exercise caution when conducting any outdoor burning or recreational activities. Mitigation Actions Please refer to your municipality for mitigation information. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Briefly summarize known impacts and mitigation actions here for each of the categories. If there are no known impacts, you may state that. If you’d like to include more information and images by sector, feel free to utilize any of the following four slides you wish, but they are NOT required. You may also link in the slide to your state’s USDM State Impact page: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/StateImpacts.aspx Also can optionally include any mitigation actions being taken, i.e. local water use restrictions. If none known, perhaps refer users to their local municipalities for more info. Summary of Impacts - Florida Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Streamflows across the Florida Panhandle and Florida Big Bend are below to much below normal. Much below normal flows are present on the Choctawhatchee and Ochlockonee Rivers. The Suwannee River is below normal throughout the reach with isolated spots of much below normal flow. Smaller rivers and streams are especially low, with the Sopchoppy and St Marks Rivers with flows in the 2nd percentile or less. Lake Talquin is especially low, comparable to levels from 2011/2012. Lake Jackson and Lake Iamonia are especially low, with boat launch access difficult in many areas. A recent report from Leon County at the San Luis Mission Park in Tallahassee showed considerable drying of the lake with the ground cracking. Normally, water extends under a wooden walkway, where the photo (upper right) was taken. The image at lower right is from Gaskin Park in Wewahitchka, Florida (Gulf County) near the lower portion of the Apalachicola River. Though flows on the Apalachicola River are regulated by releases from Jim Woodruff Dam, improved inflows have resulted in improved conditions downstream. Even so, streamflows are sufficiently low where docks are still out of the water and recreational activities have been impacted. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Briefly summarize known impacts and mitigation actions here for each of the categories. If there are no known impacts, you may state that. If you’d like to include more information and images by sector, feel free to utilize any of the following four slides you wish, but they are NOT required. You may also link in the slide to your state’s USDM State Impact page: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/StateImpacts.aspx Also can optionally include any mitigation actions being taken, i.e. local water use restrictions. If none known, perhaps refer users to their local municipalities for more info. Summary of Impacts - Florida, continued Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Agricultural Impacts Winter Planting - Farmers are able to proceed with some planting given recent rain for cover or grazing crops. Supplementary feeding - This is ongoing, especially for counties along the Georgia border where drought conditions have been at their worst. Holding ponds have dropped considerably or are dry. Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch-Byram Drought Index values range from 450 in Walton County to as high as 650 from Calhoun County eastward into Jefferson County. Burn bans across Florida have expanded and now include: Bay, Washington, Calhoun, Liberty, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and Lafayette Counties. Most counties are reporting several brush fire calls a day. Any outdoor burning outside of burn ban areas should be done with caution. Mitigation Actions Please refer to your municipality for mitigation information. THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Briefly summarize known impacts and mitigation actions here for each of the categories. If there are no known impacts, you may state that. If you’d like to include more information and images by sector, feel free to utilize any of the following four slides you wish, but they are NOT required. You may also link in the slide to your state’s USDM State Impact page: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/StateImpacts.aspx Also can optionally include any mitigation actions being taken, i.e. local water use restrictions. If none known, perhaps refer users to their local municipalities for more info. Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts Streamflows along many of our area rivers are running below to much below normal over the last two weeks, with some approaching top 3 lowest flows on record. Even our larger mainstem rivers are suffering from the low flows. As the winter wet season approaches, it will take significant rainfall to result in an improvement in current streamflow conditions. Recreational activities are limited on many area rivers. While paddle boats are not having significant issues, some recreational boats with motors are encountering low water areas that are not navigable on the Chipola and Apalachicola Rivers. Similar hazards are occurring on recreational lakes. Water levels on Lake Talquin are especially low, resulting in navigational hazards and poor access to boat ramps. Image Caption: USGS 14 day average streamflow map valid December 4, 2025 You may consider the following (scroll down for options): For western states, snow water information A table with current reservoir & lake levels/storage Groundwater info Soil moisture (can also be included in agricultural impacts section) Streamflow data from USGS https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/ - USE THE HUC MAPS PLEASE! This can be set to auto-update for a single timescale (7 day avg streamflow is often a good option, all you’d need to do is change the ‘tx’ at the end of the link in the app to your state ID in lower case) HYDROLOGICAL STATUS (Be sure to mention the source of the impact that’s being cited) Streamflow USGS: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=nj Geography Availability: United States State: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=nj Use drop down menu to change state on website (excluding Pacific Islands) Pacific Islands: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/gu/nwis/rt Water-Resources Region Date Real-Time (To access any of the time series below, hover cursor over “Current Streamflow” on the left side of the website. Other time scales not available for Pacific Islands) Yesterday 7-Day 14-Day 28-Day Month Homepage: https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php?id=ww Soil Moisture Drought.gov: https://www.drought.gov/topics/soil-moisture Geography Availability: CONUS National Date Daily Homepage: https://www.drought.gov/ Groundwater USGS: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/current/?type=gw&group_key=state_cd Geography: Availability: United States Use drop-down menu called “Geographic Area” to access area desired. Date Real-Time Homepage: https://www.usgs.gov/ Reservoir and Lake Levels USGS: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/current/?type=lake&group_key=state_cd Geography Availability: United States Stations separated by state Date Real-Time Homepage: https://www.usgs.gov/ WCC Reservoir Storage: Geography Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BRes_8_2022.pdf? Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Date: Monthly Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ SnowPack WCC Geography Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BSnow_6_2022.pdf? Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Date Monthly Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted Homepage https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Agricultural Impacts - Soil Moisture Near surface soils improved with recent rains on Tuesday, especially across the northwest portion of the area. Where rain was lighter further to the east from Tallahassee to Valdosta, soil improvement was modest. Deep layer soil moisture has not improved. In fact, some areas are actually showing worsening deep layer soil moisture conditions compared to last week. Image Captions: Left: 0-200 cm Relative Soil Moisture from NASA SPoRT valid December 4, 2025 Right: 0-200 cm Relative Soil Moisture 2-week Change from NASA SPoRT valid through December 4, 2025 2025 Crop Reports Alabama | Florida | Georgia If you have notable images of agricultural impacts and permission to share them, they can be included on this slide. Consider linking to crop and weather reports or other resources. National resources: NASS crop progress reports: https://agindrought.unl.edu/Other.aspx Percentage of various crops affected by drought: https://agindrought.unl.edu/Home.aspx table: https://agindrought.unl.edu/Table.aspx?2 Regional resource for the midwest: https://mrcc.purdue.edu/U2U/ Fire Hazard Impacts Keetch-Byram Drought Index values remain at or above 600 in the Exceptional Drought area. Multiple counties have burn bans in effect. The Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for January calls for near normal wildfire activity across much of the area Image Captions: Left - Keetch-Byram Drought Index valid December 3, 2025 (Florida Forest Service) Right - Significant Wildland Fire Potential for January 2026 (National Interagency Coordination Center) Link to Wildfire Potential Outlooks from the National Interagency Coordination Center. 7-Day Significant Fire Potential Outlook from the Southern Area Coordination Center If using this slide: Please limit to 2 total images per slide. NICC outlook maps are set to auto-update. New maps are produced on the first weekday of each month (see direct links below) Can also include Burn Ban info here If your area or state has other parameters available (i.e KBDI, ERC, etc) you can add these as well. 1-Month: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/month1_outlook.png 2-Month: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/month2_outlook.png 3-Month:https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/month3_outlook.png 4-Month: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/predictive/outlooks/month4_outlook.png Homepage: https://www.nifc.gov/nicc/predictive-services/outlooks Seven Day Precipitation Forecast An increasingly wet pattern is expected through the upcoming weekend. Some locations could see as much as 4 inches of rain. After Sunday, the pattern shifts to drier conditions for the next few days. Precipitation outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center: 6-10 day outlook (12/10-12/14): below normal 8-14 day outlook (12/12-12/18): slightly below normal. Image Caption: Weather Prediction Center 7-day precipitation forecast valid Thursday, December 4, 2025 through December 11, 2025 Use a polygon to highlight your region if using this WPC QPF map. Rapid Onset Drought Outlook Links to the latest Climate Prediction Center 8 to 14 day Temperature Outlook and Precipitation Outlook. Image Caption: Days 8 to 14 U.S. Hazards Outlook Valid September 12-18. Hide this slide if no Rapid Onset Drought is expected in your region. You can reference the CPC week 2 temperature and precipitation outlooks for your area to support the message but please keep this slide to just the one image. Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Precipitation Outlook. Valid December 2025 to February 2026 Long-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The next 3 months are predicted to favor above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. The Winter Outlook released by the Climate Prediction Center shows a classic La Nina pattern is most likely, with warmer than normal and drier than normal conditions likely. Image Captions: Left - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Temperature Outlook. Right - Climate Prediction Center Monthly Precipitation Outlook. Valid October 2023 December January February Average Temp Rain Temp Rain Temp Rain Tallahassee 54.4° 4.24” 52.2° 4.41” 55.6° 4.25” Apalachicola 56.5° 3.59” 54.0° 4.06” 56.8° 4.17” Albany 52.7° 4.35” 50.5° 4.19” 54.0° 4.01” Valdosta 53.2° 3.12” 50.7° 3.83” 54.6° 3.31” Marianna 53.9° 4.81” 51.8° 4.04” 55.4° 4.49” Dothan 53.1° 4.76” 50.8° 4.76” 54.6° 4.82” Optional Slide to set up/support outlook slide 14. Choose one timescale with the most relevant drought message (monthly or seasonal) and move the corresponding outlook images/captions onto the slide. Move the other images off slide, but do not delete! Make sure you edit the caption box to match the image. There are multiple versions of the Monthly outlooks here because it is issued once on the 3rd thursday of each month and then updated on the final day of each month. Monthly Discussion: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/fxus07.html Seasonal Discussion: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/fxus05.html USAPI: Can consider including imagery from NMME, C3S, BOM and NIWA if appropriate and useful, but can use this on slide 13 to support drought outlook message since there’s no official CPC outlook for your region. Image Caption: Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook Released MM DD, YYYY valid for MM-MM YYYY Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage With recent and expected rains into the weekend, some drought improvement is likely. Longer term drought improvement is possible should precipitation trend more above normal than expected. Image Caption: Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook Released November 20, 2025 valid for November 20, 2025 through February 28, 2026 Links to the latest: Climate Prediction Center Monthly Drought Outlook Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook THIS SLIDE IS REQUIRED Both the Monthly and the Seasonal Drought Outlook images will auto-populate, but please only include one on the slide, moving the other off to the right. Use whichever image tells the best story for your area of interest. Be sure to use the correct caption box and edit the released and valid dates as well. You can and should reference the temperature and precipitation outlooks to support the message, but please keep this slide to 1 image. Discussions: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/mdo_summary.php https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.php For USAPI, can consider using NMME imagery for temperature and/or precipitation to help message potential drought improvement/degradation/amelioration.