Lake Lanier, the primary water source for metropolitan Atlanta, is about 10 feet below normal for this time of year. Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb., says the forecasts for May through July are looking for normal precipitation. At best, that means maintaining the status quo, he said. If an area of high pressure should build up over the region in the coming months, things could deteriorate rapidly, Svoboda said. It's like it never ends.
Opinions vary wildly on where things are headed in the immediate future.
Jim O'Brien, a professor of oceanography and meteorology at Florida State University, has declared the drought over in north Florida. But Stooksbury, whose state has asked Svoboda's agency to draft Georgia's first-ever drought plan, said the recent rains don't tell him much. And unfortunately, very much like a recession, it's not until we look back that we actually know when things began and ended. Back in Concord, where restaurants are using paper plates and people are being asked to limit showers to four minutes and sprinkle lawns only with watering cans, people are looking for help from above. Arne Fennel, chairman of the Cabarrus County Commission, presented a proclamation asking every resident of the county to pray for rain throughout April.