June 2, 2007
Albany - - Tropical Storm Barry, the second named storm of the 2007 hurricane season has been downgraded to a tropical depression. The storm weakened before it touched down in Florida. But although it packed less of a punch, it brought something very much needed to the south Georgia area...Rain!
While June first marked the start date of the 2007 Hurricane season, the second named storm of the year in the Atlantic formed over the Gulf Mexico. Warnings were issued early Saturday as Tropical Storm Barry neared the northwest coast of Florida. But just as the storm made landfall, it weakened, downgraded to a tropical depression.
Barry certainly didn't live up to the reputation of being a strong storm, but the rain that it brought here to South Georgia was welcomed for many reasons.
Crops that haven't seen rain in weeks got a long awaited gift. Local farmers like Mark Daniel, owner of Mark's Melon Patch are very happy to see the overdue precipitation.
"Just the cloudy weather and just the prospect of rain for the next few days is just such a big difference from what we've had, it's a big improvement. Hopefully, we'll get a lot of water to go with it," he says.
Firefighters battling the South Georgia wildfires also got some much needed assistance from Barry. Though it won't be enough to put the flames out, areas in Southeast Georgia have received nearly two inches of rain over the past two days, a blessing to the region which has been plagued by notorious wildfires.
And though the rainfall is not expected to have a huge impact on the dry conditions, the continued site of rain drenched umbrellas is something that many South Georgians could get used to.
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