The Sunday night update from the National Weather Service:
Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 36. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.Rain fell in the city for a fourth consecutive day Sunday and meteorologists decided it probably would be enough to save 2007 from going down as the drought-stricken Atlanta area's driest year on record.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.
New Year's Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 48. Windy, with a west wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.
The most arid year ever recorded for Atlanta was 1954, when only 31.80 inches of rain fell.
Meteorologists had said it appeared that this year would have even less rain than that, saying rain falling Sunday morning would taper off and quit. However, showers continued and by 2:50 p.m. Sunday the 2007 cumulative rainfall was up to 31.56 inches — with a band of moderate rain moving in from Alabama.
"It's likely" the 1954 record will stay intact, said Mike Leary, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.Dry weather was forecast for Monday.
There had been hope that Atlanta would escape a record book entry this year, as a parade of rainstorms began the week before Christmas. Atlanta got rain on 10 out of the last 12 days.
On Saturday morning, the 2007 cumulative rainfall total hit about 30.5 inches, and an overnight soaking was on the way, fed by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
On Sunday morning, the weather service said it didn't look like enough would fall during the day to match the 1954 level, seeming to guarantee a new record. But by 3 p.m. Sunday, more than an inch had accumulated for the day.
"It's just a wait and see," said Stephen Konarik, another weather service meteorologist.
Rain has also been unusually sparse in other Georgia cities this year, including Athens, Columbia and Macon. However, each of those cities has seen worse years than 2007, Konarik said.
Athens got 0.92 of an inch by mid-afternoon Sunday, Columbus got 1.12 inches, Augusta got 2 inches and Macon more than 2.5 inches, Leary said.
The latest rain had only a small effect on the metropolitan area's main source of drinking water,
Lake Lanier, where the receding water is exposing roads and the foundations of buildings submerged since the reservoir was created in the 1950s.
The water level in the reservoir stood at an all-time low of 1,050.79 inches on Wednesday, and by 6 a.m. Sunday it had risen to only 1,051.05 inches.
"What's falling now won't show up until tomorrow or the next day," said Rob Holland, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the reservoir.Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.
"Anything that stops the level from falling is a good thing," he added. "But we'd like to get a whole lot more."
(The Associated Press)
