Tag Archives: drought

A tale of 3 reservoirs

If August’s precipitation – the best of 2016 thus far – raised anyone’s hopes, September officially dashed them.

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On watermelons and water levels

Summer in the Southeast means many things. Heat and humidity come to mind first, of course, but so do things like lazy Sunday afternoons, fishing trips, water skiing, firefly chasing and eating watermelon under a shade tree. In the upper … Continue reading

Posted in Declaration/Projection, Drought in the News, Drought Response, From the Commander, Studies, Water Quality/Water Supply | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

Commander: Persistent, below normal rainfall expected to impact lake levels

Since I took command of the Savannah District in June 2015 we’ve been fortunate to have adequate, and sometimes abundant, rainfall and inflows to maintain full reservoir levels. Beginning in January we observed below-average rainfall throughout the basin, yet were … Continue reading

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Living on borrowed rain

Now that it’s officially summer, the heat is on in more ways than one. Namely, if the trend of sub-par precipitation doesn’t improve, the basin could enter drought level 1 before August. That same trajectory would bring us to drought … Continue reading

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Listening to the pulse of the Savannah River

A soft breeze rustled the marsh grasses as James “Jim” Rothnie carefully placed a fresh canvas on his easel. Morning light sparkled on the waters of the ACE Basin nearby. Quietly, he crept closer to the dozen lounging birds, their … Continue reading

Posted in Drought Response, Fish and Wildlife, Flood Risk Management, Guest Author, Savannah Harbor, Studies, Water Management, Water Quality/Water Supply | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Dry conditions begin to emerge as inflows decrease

The last three months of 2015 brought with it a surge of precipitation that exceeded normal rainfall by more than 200 percent across the upper Savannah River Basin. At Thurmond in particular December rainfall approached 300 percent of normal, soaking … Continue reading

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Community feedback helps keep us on track

We started Balancing the Basin nearly four years ago to establish communication with you, our readers and stakeholders, and to relay relevant information on projects and operations along the Savannah River Basin. In that span we’ve covered topics ranging from … Continue reading

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And so it begins … hopefully

If you harbored even remote doubts about NOAA climatologists’ wet winter predictions, October’s rain most likely washed them away.

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Evidence continues to point to wet winter for the basin

Last week, climatologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued their winter outlook for 2015-2016. Based on their predictions, the southern U.S. can expect a cooler, wetter winter, whereas the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes regions should experience … Continue reading

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November rainfall near average for Corps reservoirs

During November, Thurmond sub-basin exceeded average rainfall, the Russell sub-basin got near-perfect average rainfall, and the Hartwell sub-basin received below-average rainfall.

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