Thursday, August 12, 2010

ATHENS, Ga. -- After more than a year of drought-free conditions, parts of the state have slipped back into drought.

State climatologist David Stooksbury says that "mild drought" has gripped parts of north-central, west-central and southwest Georgia. That means that those counties have received between 50 percent and 75 percent of normal rainfall for the past three months.

Much of the rest of the state is classified as "abnormally dry."

Stooksbury says that it's partly because temperatures across the state have been above normal. When that happens, the amount of water lost from soil by evaporation or plant water use increases.

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