Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama are getting visits from a familiar foe this month.
A climate monitoring group designated parts of all three states under dry or drought classifications this week.
Thursday's U.S. Drought Monitor report, produced weekly by the National Drought Mitigation Center, classifies strips of West Georgia and East Alabama as well as a ribbon in East Tennessee as "abnormally dry."
Drought conditions officially returned to the state on July 6 when the report classified parts of Blount and Sevier counties as experiencing "moderate drought." The classification is the first time since April 28, 2009, that any portion of Tennessee was listed in drought conditions.
Meteorologist Terry Getz with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn., said expected rain in the next week could wash the drought status away.
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"It wouldn't surprise me," he said. "We're looking at getting an inch to an inch and a half over the weekend."
Neal Paschall, a meteorologist with WRCB-Channel 3, is less optimistic than Mr. Getz.
"Summer forecasts for rain are very unpredictable," he said. "Things could get worse before they get better."
Weather service statistics show Chattanooga is 5.8 inches below its year-to-date average. Abnormally dry conditions span one or two counties deep from Polk County up the length of the North Carolina state line.
Dry conditions crept into Alabama officially on the week of July 4 and spread east into Chattooga and Floyd counties on this week's Georgia report. The July 6 report also listed dry conditions in Franklin and Lincoln counties in Tennessee, but the classification was removed on this week's map.
Mike Leary, a meteorological technician with the weather service's Peachtree City, Ga., office, was perplexed by the classification in Northwest Georgia since Atlanta is actually an inch and a half ahead of its average year-to-date totals.
"We're not in a drought," he said. "We're getting plenty of rain."