Officials: Full Weiss won't mean end of drought

By Scott Wright

CENTRE – Alabama Power Co. officials are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to try and prevent the recurrence of last year's record low summertime water level in Weiss Lake.

But no one can make any promises.

“We're received a temporary variance from the Corps of Engineers that will allow us to keep the water level around 561 ft. above sea level until we get to the time of year when that should be the level,” said Alabama Power spokesman Buddy Eiland. “Hopefully, that will give us a head start on getting the lake to summer pool (564 ft.) on time.”

But Eiland warned that the latest information from the National Weather Service indicates the state will continue to experience drought conditions throughout 2008.

“All of their predictions indicate a continued drought,” Eiland said. “We're already behind on rainfall for 2008, although the rain the area got over the weekend helped.”

The National Weather Service estimated that Cherokee County received an average of .85 inches of rain Thursday evening. More rain, including some thunderstorms, is forecast for the first half of this week.

NWS Service Hydrologist Roger McNeil told The Post it's difficult to predict how much rainfall the area around Weiss Lake will see this summer.

“Weiss is on the edge of an El Nino zone,” McNeil explained. “There is a 30-40 percent chance that the area of Alabama that lies below that zone will have below-average rainfall, and Weiss is right above that edge.”

However, McNeil said he and his coworkers are at least hopeful the area won't see the 20-25 inch rainfall deficiency it saw in 2007.

“We're hoping for near-normal rainfall for that area right now,” said McNeil, who is based in Birmingham. “But it will take more than that to get us out of these drought conditions. We have a lot of rainfall left to make that up.”

McNeil said even though the rainfall that fell in Cherokee County last week amounted to less than an inch in most places, the timing was fortunate, at least.

“Rainfall can have more of a positive effect in the winter months, because there are fewer leaves on the trees that require water and less evaporation,” McNeil said. “In the summer, the trees take a lot of the rainfall before it has a chance to return to the rivers and streams.”

Eiland said residents shouldn't automatically assume that Weiss has returned to normal, even if it gives off that appearance at some point this summer.

“Even if we were able to fill the lake by the time we're supposed to, it would not mean the drought was over,” Eiland said.