State upgrades drought status

A shower a day somewhere across Oconee has apparently allowed the county to escape incipient drought status—-the first level of drought. The South Carolina Drought Response Committee late last week upgraded 28 counties to the first level of drought, but Oconee was not included. Several locations in the state saw temperatures above 100 degrees which, according to State Climatologist Hope Mizzell, significantly increased evaporation rates and escalated the drying conditions. But conditions are not as hot and dry in the Upstate. In the last 30 days, a measuring location six miles southeast of Salem recorded 7.85”.
“We seem to be on the storm track here in the upper Savannah basin. We are getting rain about every other day, enough to keep us from showing any signs of drought at this point,” said committee member and Pickens County resident Dennis Chastain. “We’ll have to monitor the situation closely though, because this time of year things can turn around on a dime.”