Could it be possible to literally “pray up a storm?“

You may or may not have heard, but the drought is reaching historic proportions in metro Atlanta as lake levels on the area's main water source Lake Lanier continue to plunge and water restrictions continue to get tighter and tighter. In fact, I was recently talking to my parents who live in nearby Austell and they are no longer allowed to wash their car or water their yard and are even being asked to limit shower times and only flush the toilet once a day, except for 'solid waste' if you 'get the drift' (pardon the pun). So, be thankful things have not gotten that bad in Eastern Carolina because similar stories could be told by our brothers and sisters to the north in western North Carolina.

So, fed up about driving dirty cars, taking fewer showers and never flushing their toilets, a group of Christians in Atlanta decided to take matters into their own hands when they held a prayer vigil on the steps of the Georgia capitol. Several hundred people showed up, along with Governor Sonny Purdue, and attempted to "pray up a storm" in hopes of ending the area's worst drought in modern times.

Well, depending on how you look at it, that giant prayer may have worked. It only rained 0.02" at the airport on the south end of town which is only enough to make already filthy cars just a little dirtier. Most areas surrounding Atlanta to the west, east, and south got little to no rain either, but before you jump to conclusions, let me just say that it did rain 0.30" at Lake Lanier yesterday, which is precisely where it needed to fall. In fact, every weather station I could find in north Georgia where the rivers are that feed Lake Lanier, reported at least 0.20" of rain, some quite a bit more. It's almost as if the rain was strategically placed. Hmmm...

As a meteorologist and scientist, I could easily explain this away or write it off as a mere coincidence. But as someone who practices prayer, believes in its power, and believes that a higher power is in control of the weather(wouldn't want that responsibility!), I have to wonder if those folks in Atlanta yesterday may have "prayed up a storm" for themselves. All I know is that I hope if a similar vigil is ever held in South Carolina, they tell me ahead of time so I can account for it in my forecast!

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