After several rainy weeks, Georgia’s drought picture looks very different

In late April, as Georgia faced its most intense drought in almost 20 years, nearly every corner of the state was in desperate need of rain.

Water levels in many rivers and streams were at near record lows. Peach State farmers were fearing crop losses. And state environmental officials had just triggered the first phase of their drought response plan, inching the state toward new water use restrictions.

Fast forward two months and Georgia’s water picture looks different today — in a good way.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Thanks to a wetter weather pattern and recent tropical rains, stream flows across the much of the state have started to rebound, farmers are tending healthy crops and water managers are beginning to breathe a sigh of relief.

Still, state environmental officials and weather experts say the rainfall deficits dating back to last fall have not been completely erased.

Sara Lips, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said in a written statement that the agency is pleased to see conditions improving but said it’s not ready to relax the drought response yet. A stretch of days with highs well above 90 degrees with little rain is likely to start this weekend and could continue through at least the Fourth of July, forecasts show.

“As we move into the warmest and driest part of a year, prudent management of water resources is still needed,” Lips said.

How bad was Georgia’s drought?

By late spring, the drought that began last fall in Georgia and other parts of the Southeast had reached historic proportions.

In early May, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 80% of the Peach State was in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, the two most serious categories.

But it wasn’t just the drought’s severity that was alarming water experts — it was that almost nowhere in Georgia was spared from the dry conditions. By May, almost every corner of the state had accumulated a precipitation shortfall of at least a foot since the fall of 2025, when the drought began.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

The drought’s timing was also unusual and problematic, especially for farmers.

Spring is the start of the growing season for many of Georgia’s most important crops. With an almost complete lack of rain and above normal temperatures combining to sap moisture from soil, some farmers were delaying planting or using what little water they had left to keep their struggling crops alive.

Scientists have said the drought wasn’t caused by climate change, but that it undoubtedly made the situation worse. On top of increasing average temperatures, climate change also tends to push weather patterns toward the extremes, raising the odds of both severe drought and heavy rain events.

What changed?

In short, rains typical of this time of year finally showed up — and then some.

May in Georgia saw a return to a more active rainy pattern that has continued into June, said Ryan Willis, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Peachtree City.

Over the past 30 days, rainfall in most of North and central Georgia has been anywhere from 100% to 250% of normal, he said.

Then last week, the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur drenched huge swaths of the state. Almost all of Georgia received at least some moisture, but Willis said the heaviest rains fell on areas south of the I-85 corridor, which received anywhere from 2 to 4 inches.

The effects of the rain have begun to show up in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s map. The latest map, released last week, shows the “exceptional” drought conditions that covered a third of the state’s land area as in mid-May have been eliminated.

The area in “extreme” drought has also shrunk from about half the state on May 19 to just under 3% today.

The improved conditions don’t yet account for last week’s tropical rains — that will be reflected in the new Drought Monitor map set to be released Thursday.

Willis said there’s “still work to be done” for Georgia to fully emerge from the drought, but things are “on a positive trajectory” compared to just weeks ago.

For farmers, the moisture has been a huge relief, said Lucy Ray, a University of Georgia extension agent and county coordinator in Morgan County, about 60 miles east of Atlanta.

In the depths of the drought this spring, many cattle farmers Ray works with had to resort to feeding their livestock hay because they were unable to grow grass or other forage crops in the parched soils. With the help of recent rains, she said farmers are back to letting their animals graze in their fields.

Although parts of the county remain drier than normal, Ray said, “We’re a lot better than we were.”

Is Georgia’s drought over?

Not yet, at least according to the EPD.

Lips, the agency’s spokeswoman, said several stream gauges and groundwater wells they monitor around the state are still at levels well below normal. Lake Lanier, which provides drinking water to much of metro Atlanta, is also roughly 4 feet lower than normal for this time of year, she said.

As such, the agency does not plan to lift the “Level 1″ drought response they put into effect in April, at least for now, Lips said.

Willis, with the NWS, said that as the heat cranks up in the heart of summer, it’s possible drought conditions worsen again. Extreme heat increases evaporation from soils and water bodies, plus increases the water demands of plants.

But looking at the rest of this year and into 2027, the odds of a fuller recovery from the drought appear more promising.

Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that El Niño conditions have emerged in the Pacific Ocean. The climate pattern influences weather across the globe, but in the Southeastern U.S., it tends to produce wetter weather and strong storms, especially in winter.

If that trend holds, it could bring Georgia and other states needed rain, perhaps enough to put the drought behind them.

A note of disclosure

This coverage is supported by a partnership with Green South Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners. You can learn more and support our climate reporting by donating at AJC.com/donate/climate.