MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – The latest update from the US Drought Monitor shows some improvements from last week’s rainfall. However, it still shows ‘Severe’ drought continuing across Horry and Georgetown Counties.
Heavy rains (1.5 to locally 4 inches) were common in a band across the southern Appalachians, northern Georgia, and a broad portion of Alabama. Dryness and drought in these areas – mostly in northern Georgia – improved. Scattered moderate rains with isolated heavy amounts were observed in southeastern Georgia and much of South Carolina. In contrast, little or no rain fell across southeastern Alabama, the southern tier of Georgia, and most of Florida. Dryness and drought has been expanding and deteriorating quickly in these areas, especially across Florida. A majority of the Florida Peninsula is now entrenched in severe drought or worse, with extreme drought conditions identified in parts of the southern and northeastern Peninsula. Most areas from the central Carolinas northward through Virginia reported subnormal rainfall, leading to some areas of deterioration, mostly into moderate drought there. Over the last 60 days, most of the central and southern Florida Peninsula received less than half of normal rainfall, with a few areas recording less than one-quarter of normal.
BY THE NUMBERS…