Q: The Chattahoochee River is ice cold on the hottest days of August in Atlanta. At what point, on the river’s path, does it warm up?
—Bill Russo, Peachtree Corners
A: I thought about asking Newnan's Alan Jackson, who sang about growing up "way down yonder on the Chattahoochee," but instead decided to talk to the folks who keep track of these things. Since the Chattahoochee River gets its start in the mountains of North Georgia, the water is "cold year-round" before it reaches Lake Lanier, a spokesman with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, told me. The EPD said temperatures taken in the dog days of last August showed the water was 52.1 degrees at Buford Dam, but had warmed to 67.2 degrees at Morgan Falls Dam and was 69.2 degrees at Peachtree Creek. Folks tolerate the temps to "Shoot the Hooch," but the river warms up once past Atlanta. In May, it was 67.8 degrees in Fairburn, 72.9 in Franklin and 75.9 in Columbus, according to figures provided by the U.S. Geological Service. It already had reached 80 degrees earlier this month in Fort Gaines, which is on Georgia's border with Alabama at the southern end of Lake Eufaula (also known as Lake Walter F. George). There are several factors that affect that warmth of the Chattahoochee, and other rivers, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Those include air temperature, solar radiation, reservoir storage (and the lake level from which the water is released), tributary stream water temperatures and other significant water uses with return flows to the main stream. And if all else fails, dip a toe in it.
Q: I know that The Home Depot was founded and is based in Georgia, but what’s the story behind it? What prompted its start?
A: Hang onto your orange aprons. The huge home improvement chain was built from the ground up by two guys who had been fired from their previous jobs. Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus were executives with Handy Dan Improvement Centers when they were let go in 1978. They soon constructed the idea to form their own company. So they came up with The Home Depot, got the financing in order, and opened the first two stores in metro Atlanta on June 22, 1979. The stores were about 60,000 square feet, gigantic compared to other hardware stores at the time, and employees stacked empty cardboard boxes high to fool customers into thinking there was even more inventory, according to the company's website. The Home Depot has grown to more than 2,200 stores and built up enough cash for Blank to buy the Atlanta Falcons in 2002 and Marcus to be the benefactor for the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in 2005.
What do you want to know about Georgia?
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Andy Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
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