Afternoon Showers not enough

Recent afternoon showers in the Golden Corner have not been enough to lift Oconee County out of drought status. On July 20, the S.C. Drought Response Committee upgraded the drought status of the entire state. The tri-county area of Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties in Upstate, South Carolina is now classified in the first level of drought. Official U.S. Weather Observer Barbara Wilson gives rainfall amounts recently recorded from her weather station in Walhalla, which is about one-mile from the county seat. “The most recent significant rain was reported on July 29, which it fell on July 28 in the afternoon and that was 70-hundredths. Now there might have been some more around the county because it just varies from part of the county to another and part of the Upstate to another. That gives us 3.12-inches for July.” Oconee County remains well below normal levels, continues Wilson. “We are below our average of 6-inches. I did a little research the other day and at the end of June was below about 8-inches, 28-inches as compared to 36-inches were we should be as an average.” In addition, drought impacts have been intensified across the state due to above normal temperatures this summer.