Georgia Drought Update September 1 2011

Drought conditions have worsened for much of Georgia, in the way of coverage. Here at the homestead I have had no appreciable rain since early August. I did have a quick rain shower yesterday Aug. 31 in the form of 0.11 inches, which wasn’t enough to do a thing for the drought. Before this my last rain was on Aug. 11 and amounted to 0.29 inches. I finished the month of August below the average of 3.79 inches for my area with 3.52 inches. Columbus Ga to my south finished with over 5 inches. I missed reporting last week as all eyes were glued to Hurricane Irene. This graph below shows how bad things have gotten for Georgia since August 16 through August 30 2011. The area of extreme drought now covers most of the state.

I wont bore you with further details except to say, we need rain. We are watching an area in the Gulf of Mexico which is expected to become a tropical depression or tropical storm this weekend that may, may, bring some much needed rain to Georgia. It is to early still to tell if this will happen. Needless to say, some areas of the south and southeast are expected to receive a lot of rain from this system should it develop the way models are predicting. While we watch all of this unfold, we are still keeping an eye on Hurricane Katia which is still in open waters of the Atlantic. Models are thinking she will not make landfall in the U.S., but as before, it’s early and things can and will change.

Tropical Storm Jose forms, Irene weakens, AL92 Tropical Wave off Africa

Computer Models / Graphics

Tropical Systems August 28 2011

Irene : Irene continues to weaken, now a Tropical Storm so we wont talk about her other than to mention that.

AL92 is the one we need to watch in the coming days, week ….

AL92 : via National Hurricane Center

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED A FEW HUNDRED MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS ARE
GRADUALLY BECOMING BETTER ORGANIZED. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS APPEAR CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THIS WAVE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS IT MOVES WESTWARD AT 10 MPH. THIS SYSTEM HAS A
MEDIUM CHANCE…40 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

AL92 836amedt August 28 2011

Tropical Storm Jose : At this time Tropical Storm Jose posses no threat to the east coast of the U.S. Jose is expected to track north in the coming days. via NHC –

AT 800 AM AST 1200 UTC THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM JOSE WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 30.8 NORTH…LONGITUDE 65.7 WEST. JOSE IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 16 MPH…26 KM/H…AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TODAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH…65 KM/H…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS FORECAST TODAY AND JOSE SHOULD WEAKEN ON MONDAY.

Jose 836amedt august 28 2011

Hurricane Irene Update – Position at 5 AM EDT August 27 2011

As hurricane Irene continues to push northward, the biggest threat will be sporadic high wind and copious amounts of rain which will cause flooding. At the time of this writing, estimates of 1-2 to 3 million are without electrical power depending on which source you query. I’m sure this will increase as the day and hurricane Irene progress. Latest reports on deaths from Irene that I saw stand at 10, with 2 of those being children.

At this time Hurricane Irene made landfall ‘again’ at 5:35 a.m. EDT along the coast of New Jersey near Little Egg Inlet. The estimated intensity at landfall was 75 mph. Irene will make another landfall later this morning likely on Long Island NY around West Islip, however the Weather Channel [ Stephanie Abrams ] live at 6AM EDT stated landfall will be in Manhattan NY. Here is the current information on Irene as of 5 AM EDT —

HURRICANE IRENE ADVISORY NUMBER  32

NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL       AL092011

500 AM EDT SUN AUG 28 2011



...IRENE MOVING ALONG THE JERSEY SHORE...EXPECTED TO MOVE NEAR NEW

YORK CITY AND INLAND OVER SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND TODAY...



SUMMARY OF 500 AM EDT...0900 UTC...INFORMATION

----------------------------------------------

LOCATION...39.2N 74.5W

ABOUT 15 MI...25 KM SSE OF ATLANTIC CITY NEW JERSEY

ABOUT 115 MI...190 KM SSW OF NEW YORK CITY

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...75 MPH...120 KM/H

PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNE OR 20 DEGREES AT 18 MPH...30 KM/H

MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...958 MB...28.29 INCHES

Here is the current position on the map as of 5AM EDT –

This will likely be my last post on the position of Irene. I may compile some images and videos at a later date, no promises. I will look for final totals on damage and death and may post them for the record at a later date.