Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

ALBANY, GA -- It doesn’t take much digging to see that the land and waterways here in southwest Georgia are dry and experts say the drought is the main culprit.

“Rainfall is a foot less than what it would normally be,” said the Georgia Water Planning and Policy Center’s Executive Director Doug Wilson, P.G.

Maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show that this area is facing a D4 level exceptional drought. That is the most severe intensity on the chart.

Meteorologist Mike Morrison says it’s caused by positive feedback.

“If you have dryer conditions, you will have hotter temperatures,” said Meteorologist Mike Morrison, “Hotter temperatures in return give you dryer conditions. So this creates a circular occurrence."

Muckalee creek along with other bodies of water in the southwest Georgia area are so low on water that experts say they are hitting uncharted territory.

“It’s the lowest water levels we’ve seen in streams. Not just for June but for all time,” said Doug Wilson.

Wilson says back in 2000, the record set for water discharge per cubic feet per second went down to 13 gallons. That was down from the normal range of about 100 gallons. This year we surpassed that record three times over by going down to four feet per second.

Wilson says recent rains have helped pull our water levels up, though not by much. But, there may be relief on the way.

“The long range forecast do show an above average possibility for some rainfall as we go through the summer into the fall,” said Mike Morrison.