Year closes with lots of rain
No one needs to start building any arks just yet in Polk County, but as 2018 came to an end it sure felt like it might be time to start sizing up the trees in the backyard for a makeshift raft.
Wet weather once again moved into the area for another round of washing out the gullies and sending millions of gallons downstream as the county was on track for maybe not a record-breaking year, but surely one of the wettest in recent memory.
At least that’s the case for local weather observer Van McKelvey, who checks his rain gauge for the National Weather Service each morning to record a tally.
“I’ve been doing this for about 25 years, and I can’t remember a year with this much rain,” he said.
After all, based on his measurements as of Dec. 27 before press time, the county was on track to break 80 inches of rain. McKelvey recorded 74.07 inches over the 12 month period, without a single month this year that didn’t have some sort of wet weather. Even during some of the drier months of the year, Polk County got at least an inch.
August and November ended up breaking the 10-inch mark in rainfall, with the former getting most of that in just the first two days with nearly 8 inches of rain falling on Polk County as July came to a close and the latter spread out over the month.
The impact of wet weather on Polk
County over the year past meant cancellation or rescheduling of outdoor events, damage of all kinds to property, and of course one big problem: trees falling all over. When Polk County previously went through droughts, it did irreparable damage to the root systems of many of the trees provide foliage and shade around the area. Now those trees are beginning to tumble down due to wet soil, gusting winds during storms and causing all kinds of problems. Just last week, a large tree that fell in the middle of Cave Spring Road blocked traffic in both directions near Friendship Road during early morning commutes, forcing drivers to find an alternative path toward work. It’s just one of many that were lost to the shift in the weather this year.
Flood waters also cause major headaches for local officials, who saw several inches of rain dumped over a few days at the end of July and early August, prompting swift action to close off flooded roadways and clear drainage as fast as possible.
Don’t think we’re out of the woods just yet when it comes to wet weather either. Forecasts from the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City at press time put good chances for more rainfall to start off 2019, with showers set for New Year’s Day and through until t he end of this week.
Of course like all things in Polk County, it’s just a matter of waiting around a while since the weather will be something different by the time this edition comes out.
Predictions for the rest of the winter are based on the impacts of El Nino, winter is probably going to continue to be rainy and seasonably cool.
Peachtree City forecasters expect north and central Georgia to have near normal temperatures and above average rainfall through February, but do expect cold temperatures at times as the day-to-day forecast remains variable.