Atlanta Sees Fifth-Wettest Year On Record In 2013
I took this shot from our room at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia. At that period of season it is common that there is a shower nearly every afternoon. The temperatures and the humidity are climbing all day until there is a clearing rainshower.
Kay Gaensler via flickr.com / http://flic.kr/p/9iCPTz
With no rain in the forecast for New Year’s Eve, 2013 will likely be the fifth-wettest year on record in Atlanta.
Since the beginning of the year, the city has seen 66.02 inches of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service. That’s more than 16 inches above the yearly average of 49.71 inches.
Keith Stellman, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, says the heavy rainfall helped balance out two preceding years of heavy drought.
“One might think that with the fifth wettest year on record – Macon having its wettest year on record with over 70 inches of rain – that you would have experienced some very large-scale, big floods this year,” Stellman said. “And in fact we didn’t, and a lot of that can be contributed to the fact that we were dry the last two years.”
Stellman said the heavy rains could result in flooding the rainy season in spring.
“We’re actually more primed for a big flood because we’ve been so wet,” he said.
If it doesn’t rain Tuesday, this year will be the fifth wettest on record – just 13 hundredths of an inch shy of the fourth wettest year in 1936.
The record for most rainfall was set in 1948 with 71.45 inches, followed by 2009 and 1929, respectively.
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