Dry Weather Reaches Critical Stage
UNIVERSITY PARK - Dry
weather has been plaguing the
southern states and the
southeastern portion of the state
for the past three months. Unless
relief from the current moisture
stress is imminent, within the
week, serious crop loss is
inevitable.
“Up to this point most areas
have had adequate moisture to
keep the com growing. From here
on out, as the com enters the tassel
and silk stage, we need a half inch
per week to get a near normal
crop,” Dr. Joseph McGahen,
associate professor of agronomy
extension explained.
Although precipitation is
forecasted for the weekend, it may
be too late for some portions of the
area.
Franklin County Extension
Agent John Shearer reported in
some portions of his county 15 to 20
percent of the crop will not develop
any ears. However, some portions
of Franklin County, mainly the
southeast comer, still have the
potential to produce 100 bushel
yields.
Reports of wet portions of a
drought stressed county are not
uncommon. The question, How dry
is it, is often answered, “It depends
on soil type and topography.”
In Pennsylvania, the northern
tier counties are the wettest with
up to nine inches above normal
rainfall, according to the National
Weather Service in Harrisburg.
This is not a blessing as excessive
rainfall in Erie has caused serious
vegetable crop losses.
From the northern, northwest
and west counties, the dry weather
increased in severity to a line
which can be drawn from Allen
town to Harrisburg to east of
Pittsburgh.
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Paul Knight, Penn State
meteorologist, reports that the
driest spot in the state has been
Blairsville, in lower Indiana
County, where they have a
moisture deficit of 5.5 inches since
April 1, or 35 percent below normal
rainfall. Harrisburg has a deficit of
2.5 inches, while northern Lan
caster County is near normal for
the same period.
“The state has a mottled look,”
Knight noted in explaining where
the dry areas are.
“Fulton, Adams, Franklin, York
and Southern Lancaster Counties
have large moisture deficits,” he
added. In classifying the dry
conditions, Knight suggested these
counties are in a moderate drought
severity with the southern portion
receiving an extreme drought
severity classification.
Below the Mason-Dixon Line the
dry weather intensifies and is in an
extreme drought severity. The
severity of the drought increases in
the deep south.
Portions of Georgia and
Alabama are experiencing a
precipitation deficit of 20 inches for
the first half of the year. The
normal rainfall in those states is
only 60 inches per year, Knight
said.
These states had a dry winter, an
exceptionally dry spring, and a dry
start to the summer. There is
serious crop loss in the south and it
is unlikely that rainfall now will
help the crops much, he added.
“What they need...is a tropical
disturbance that is rich in moisture
to come in and sit over top of them
for awhile,” Knight commented.
Carroll County, Maryland, is
critical, according to David Green,
extension agent. Some farmers in
that area are terming this drought
the worst they have experienced.
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Com in the Carroll County area
is tasseling at waist height, some
com and soybeans have failed to
germinate. Corn yields are
predicted at 75 bushels per acre,
down from the normal 110 bushels.
Green said.
He added that there is no pasture
to speak of, forcing beef producers
to feeding winter hay now. Also,
areas north and south of 1-70 are
“desolate.”
An encouraging note was a
“bumper barley crop and a good
wheat crop,” he noted. However,
the alfalfa and clover hay crops
were diminished by % to % for first
cutting, second cutting was termed
a semi-disaster, and without rain
third cutting will be a total loss,
Green said.
Franklin County also ex
perienced a significant loss in
alfalfa crops as well as wheat and
barley yields, Shearer reported.
“Some areas of the county had as
high as a 50 percent crop in both
first and second cuttings.”
While the county has experience
everything from ideal to poor
cuttings, some producers need a
good third cutting to meet their
winter forage needs, Shearer said.
He noted that this dry weather is
more severe at this point that the
most recent drought was at the
same point. The drought actually
started in March, “however, we
didn’t recognize it at the time,”
Shearer said.
“Everyone thought it was great
that they could get in the fields in
March. They forgot the moisture
level was not where it should be.
This permitted the soil to warm
early and early planting,” he
added.
John Yocum of the Penn State
Research Farm in Landisville,
reported a rainfall in March that
QB
Corn and late soybeans have failed
areas of Pennsylvania. The drought
Maryland, Virginia and Georgia where
as high as 20 inches.
was 1.3 inches below normal. April
was .41 inches above normal, but
May was 2.13 inches below normal
and June was .25 inches below
normal.
In spite of the rainfall for the
main growing months being 69
percent of normal, Yocum notes
that only the surface water has
been effected. “The water table is
okay since it received a good
recharging in November of last
year,” he continued. Presently the
situation is not as severe as it was
three years ago, he explained, but
if the dry weather continues it
could be.
Contributing to the depletion of
surface moisture has been the
recent above normal temperatures
and sunny skies, Knight said.
The windflow pattern at the mid
level height of 10,000 feet has in
fluenced the weather, Knight said.
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For the past few months, the wind
has been out of the west and nor
thwest regions which is a dry flow.
In the northwest area there is no
great moisture source other than
the great lakes. While this has kept
Erie wet, by the time the wind
reaches the south central portion
of the state it is dry, he explained.
Southeastern states are being
kept dry by a Bermuda High. The
effect of the dry weather is taking
its toll on agriculture in these
states.
USA Today reports that 10
percent of Georgia’s flocks may
die; half of Virginia’s com crop
may be lost; 90 percent of
Alabama’s $5O million wheat crop
has been lost; 20 of Maryland’s 23
farm counties may be declared
disaster areas; and the peanut,
cotton, peach and apple crops of
Alabama and West Virginia are
threatened.
Although it is little, Penn
sylvania can take comfort in the
knowledge that crops losses here
are still mostly speculative. The
next two weeks will fill in the
question marks of how extensive
the losses will be.
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to germinate in some
severity increases in
the moisture deficit is