Climate scientists say recent burst of rain not out of the ordinary for the area

Rainy weather that hit some areas hard over the weekend is expected to continue into mid-week, but climate scientists say such spurts of rain are not out of the ordinary.

“The last three days we’ve seen 1 to 3 inches of rain,” said Brad Carlberg, forecaster, with the National Weather Service. “As you get a little bit north we start getting into the 4-inch range. South Carolina had (4.25) inches over the past three days. As you get closer to Columbia, South Carolina we’re seeing 4 to 6 inches, with some locally higher amounts.”

Mid week forecast

Tuesday: High 80, Low, 63: A chance of showers before 1 p.m. and again between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The possibility of thunderstorms after 3 p.m.

Wednesday: High 82, Low 65: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms possible after 11 a.m.

Thursday: High 88, Low 70

Sunshine is on the horizon

“We do get systems frequently, maybe not every year,” said Carlberg. “But we do get systems where we can get this type of rain in the spring and summer timeframe. So I wouldn’t necessarily say this is abnormal. We are expecting some scattered showers and storms to continue through Wednesday.”

Carlberg expected the rain to start moving out soon and more summer-like weather to return ahead of the weekend.

“We’re expecting it to be pretty warm,” he said. “We’re looking at maybe mid 90s by Friday.”

Pam Knox, agricultural climatologist with UGA Extension, said up until this point most of the state has been dry.

“The rain is welcomed by a lot of farmers, especially the farmers that don’t have any irrigation,” she said. “(They) were really kind of struggling. So in their respect, the rain has been good.

“The problem is with a cut of lull like this, it’s not unprecedented. It just means day after day we have this sort of pop-corny rain. So some areas get hit really hard and some areas kind of get missed.”

Knox said the recent rain has been more concentrated on the eastern part of Georgia.

“I read … that the rain is causing problems for strawberry growers,” said knox. “A lot of them are already near the end of the season. When it’s this much rain the chance of getting fungal diseases just grows like crazy. When you have this much moisture, no sun to dry out the berries they’re more likely to rot. And no one wants to go picking in the rain.”

Knox said that “there’s probably growers in eastern Georgia that are in the same boat.”

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with several funders and Journalism Funding Partners.

Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on X: @EricaVanBuren32.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: More rain on the horizon in Augusta, experts say