Weather does an about-face in Sept.

GAINESVILLE - North Georgia, saturated most of the year by rainfall that was well above normal, got a respite during September which has been the driest month of the year so far.

In Gainesville, Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport recorded 1.86 inches of rain in September. Compare that with 8.92 inches in August and 11.80 in July. Weather experts had said in mid-summer that drier weather would be moving in the last three or four months of the year.

Through Sept. 30, Gainesville had recorded 61 inches of rain this year, 20.53 inches above the average for the period.

The benefits of all the rain to Lake Lanier are there every day - in plain sight. The level of the lake at the end of September was 1071.69. A year earlier it was nearly eleven feet lower.

As for the next 90 days, the National Weather Service (NWS) says all of Georgia and the Southeast have an even chance of seeing below-average, average or above-average rainfall. Right, now the predictions for October call for above-average rainfall. October is usually one of the driest months of the year in Georgia.