The rainy Memorial Day weekend surely benefitted dry lawns, flower beds, vegetable gardens and more even though the rains may not have been a “drought buster.” But there is already evidence that Lake Lanier has benefited from the showers.
The level of the lake, which has been steadily dropping of late, was at 1066.0 Tuesday morning, an increase of half-a-foot since the showers started. And there will undoubtedly be more increases over the next few days because of water flowing into the reservoir from upstream as far as Helen near the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River which feeds the lake. Waters from the Chestatee River will benefit, which also flows into the law, will help as well.
And just what has been the impact of the rains on the drought? We won’t know the answer to that until Thursday when the weekly report from the U.S. Drought Monitor is released.
Meanwhile, rainfall since Friday at the Gainesville airport as of early Tuesday afternoon stood at 2.32 inches.