ATHENS, Ga. — We could see up to 3/4 of an inch of rain today in Northeast Georgia, which would begin to alleviate our “extraordinary” drought conditions, although not enough to end the drought completely.

You’ll likely see rain and thunderstorms, some possibly severe, throughout the afternoon today, probably clearing up by 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow and Friday, though, will be beautiful sunny days with a high of 60 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The rain is great news for Athens’ water supply. While we’re not in any danger of running out of water, the graph at the left shows how low one of our main water supplies has gotten in the past 100 days.

(The blue line shows the volume of water in the Middle Oconee River, the orange triangles show the average.)

As of this morning, the Middle Oconee River surpassed its average volume of water, something it hasn’t done since mid-September.

The rain is also good news for fire conditions in the area. Just

last week, Athens had a “high” fire danger rating from the U.S. Forest Service.

That rating is now down to “low.”

By: Dillon Richards @thedillonjames