| December showers improve drought conditions |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
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Posted: Monday, December 29, 2008 12:46 pm
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Even though it seems like it’s rained almost every day this month, Rutherford County is still behind in rainfall for the year.
The rain we have received has gone a long way to alleviate the midstate’s persistent drought, which began with the heat wave of summer 2007 and has continued through 2008.
Rutherford County received 7.01 inches of rain from September through November and another 2.95 in December alone. But this is only 74 percent of average, meaning the county is still more than 7 inches below average in rainfall for the past four months.
The 9 inches of rain has lessened the impact of the drought, but not pulled us out of the woods completely yet as the county is still more than 10 inches below normal for the year.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Rutherford County is still classified as abnormally dry, which means plant growth will be affected by the dry conditions and fire risks are elevated. This is still is a great improvement from the moderate to severe drought that has plagued much of Middle Tennessee for some time.
And a great improvement over the exceptional drought, the midstate experienced from August 2007 through the spring of 2008.
The drought conditions were recently downgraded by the U.S. Drought Monitor because, Middle Tennessee’s recent abundant rainfall and decreased evaporation has caused above normal soil moisture and improved deeper soil moisture.
The rain has also increases river levels across the midstate to above normal. River levels are expected to stay high as rain continues to move through the area over the coming weeks.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.
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