The water level in the Oostanaula is down more than 4 feet. (RN-T.com)
Nyasha Dunkley, Georgia’s Deputy State Climatologist, said Friday that the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center couldn’t determine if the new month will see above or below average precipitation.
She said that the western half of the county is under a moderate drought while the eastern half is under a severe drought. Both areas have seen each one’s drought level degrade since Oct. 30.
“It would be nice to say that North Georgia will be getting a lot of rain but the outlook is showing no real trend for December,” Dunkley said. “The drought forecast for Floyd County, along with the rest of the state, is still not looking very good.”
Dunkley said the amount of precipitation Floyd County has received so far this year is at about 35½ inches, nearly 11 inches below the normal level of 46.3 inches.
“The little rainfall North Georgia got recently didn’t help as much as it should have,” Dunkley said. “The level is at 80 percent of normal, so it’s not terribly bad but it’s still below normal.”
Local river levels dropped some on Friday as the Oostanuala was down from 4.35 feet near North Rome on Thursday to 4.19 feet Friday evening.
The Etowah River was down from 14.08 feet to 13.30 feet at the Rome Bypass, and the Coosa River near Rome was down from 11.03 feet to 10.91 feet.
Dunkley said there is an optimistic chance that North Georgia could get some above-normal precipitation according to a 90-day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center.
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