The drought plaguing Georgia the past few months pushed farther south during the past seven days despite a rainy Christmas weekend.
The heaviest of the rain fell in north Georgia where drought coverage and intensity were little changed from a week ago. But the southward expansion means that nearly 50 percent of the state now registers drought to some degree, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). A week ago, it was around 40 percent.
The only part of Georgia that is still drought-free are the counties south of a line that runs roughly from Augusta/Richmond County-to-Macon/Bibb County-to-Randolph County between Columbus and Bainbridge.
As for north Georgia where the drought is most intense, the northwest corner remains the most affected with several counties still classified as “extremely dry” by the USDM. There are a few counties on the other side of the state where that is also the case – Banks and part of Jackson among them. But like Hall County, the rest of northeast Georgia is shown on the USDM map as being “moderately” dry.
Click here to view the latest from the USDM: Georgia | U.S. Drought Monitor (unl.edu) That’s where you’ll find not only details about Georgia’s drought status, but you can also check conditions in the rest of the country.