What
a difference a month can make. The
drought situation was becoming serious at the end of January as I wrote here. Yet, February saw an abundance of rainfall
creating a substantial surplus for the month.
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| Monthly rainfall for February in Columbia, SC. Image Credit: WLTX-TV. |
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| Monthly observed rainfall for February, 2013, covering South Carolina as well as parts of Georgia and North Carolina. Click on the image for a larger view. Image Credit: NOAA/AHPS. |
In
South Carolina the heaviest rainfall occurred over the southern half of the
state. Some parts of the low country saw
over ten inches of rain for the month.
The least rainfall occurred over the north central section where
rainfall was in the three to four inch range.
However, this area saw more rain in January so that the two-month total
is substantial.
A
series of storm systems moved through the Southeast pumping moisture from the
Gulf of Mexico northward. The heaviest
rainfall occurred across southern Alabama, southern Georgia, and parts of
northern Florida. The drought was center
in central Georgia which had experienced extreme to exceptional drought
conditions for over a year and a half.
The
rainfall greatly weakened the drought during February. Central Georgia is out of the worst two
stages of drought since the end of May, 2011.
All areas of the Southeast saw improvement in drought conditions during
the month.
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| Latest drought information for the Southeast as of February 28, 2013. Click on the image for a larger view. Image Credit: USDA. |
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| A comparison of the drought as of January 29 and February 28, 2013 in South Carolina. Click on the image for a larger view. Image Credit: USDA. |
This
comes at the best time for agriculture.
Soil moisture has improved significantly ahead of the planting
season. In addition, it appears that
additional rains over the next few weeks will keep soil moisture adequate. Temperatures will remain below normal through
mid-March which will help prevent soils from drying out.
Now
is a great time to work in the garden as planting season will be here in the
next three to four weeks. Take advantage
of the cooler weather to do any landscaping or soil preparation before the
warmer weather and pollen arrives in full force. The revised rainfall outlook for spring is
for a slightly higher chance for below normal, but this is an improvement over
previous forecasts by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC).
