BERRYVILLE — A large portion of Clarke County officially is in a drought while much of the region remains abnormally dry due to a recent lack of rainfall.
The U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday showed most of eastern Clarke County, including the Bluemont and Millwood areas, is under a moderate drought. Basically, that means some damage to crops and pastures is occurring, and some streams, reservoirs and wells may be running low.
Portions of Warren, Fauquier, Loudoun, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Orange, Culpeper and Rappahannock counties, as well as the city of Fredericksburg, also are drought-stricken, the monitor shows.
It also shows that Berryville, Boyce and White Post, and areas west into central and southwestern Frederick County, including Winchester and Stephens City, are abnormally dry. That means short-term dryness is hindering farmers in planting crops and slowing the growth of ones already in the ground.
Ashley Hardesty of Harvue Farms, a dairy farm off Longmarsh Road in Clarke County, is becoming worried that corn growing there may not be able to produce enough silage to feed cattle throughout next year.
'Our corn is really suffering," Hardesty said, with stalks not growing as high as usual.
"It's really struggling to make ears of corn," she said, adding "it takes a lot of water make an ear."
The Mackintosh Fruit Farm on Russell Road has installed a drip-line irrigation system.
"I think we've got a handle on" the dryness now, said owner Lori Mackintosh. But for a while, the crops were withering significantly.
According to Mackintosh, apples were small and peaches were starting to fall off trees.
"Even leaves on some of the brambles were getting fried" in the heat, she said.
The Drought Monitor, which analyses surface and ground water conditions nationwide is a project of the National Drought Mitigation Center. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln are partners in the project.
Data collected by the National Weather Service (NWS) at its climatological reporting station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, shows that as of Friday evening, the region officially had received 19.41 inches of rain since Jan. 1. That was 3.75 inches below the normal amount of 23.16 inches through July 31. By this time last year, though, the region was extremely moist, having received 32.18 inches of rain.
Just since June, the region has received 5.31 inches of rain, which is 2.12 inches below the normal amount of 7.43 inches, the data shows.
Martinsburg, classified as abnormally dry, is the closest reporting station to Winchester.
The Berryville/Clarke County area is faring a little worse than Martinsburg. Austin Mansfield, a meteorologist at the NWS office in Sterling, said weather spotter reports indicate 15.81 inches of rain have fallen on the area so far this year, 7.56 inches below normal. In July alone, he said, 1.05 inches fell, and that was 2.24 inches below normal.
Daytime high temperatures in the 90s on most days since late June have worsened the dryness, the weather service reported.
"At this time, most of the impacts of this dry and hot spell are stresses to grasses, soils and some crops, especially corn," a drought report on an NWS website stated.
Conditions seem to be getting better.
Drought over parts of the region initially was indicated on July 23, according to the NWS, which reported that many areas have seen more than two inches of rain since then. More fell Thursday night through Friday.
Stream levels are recovering, and soil moisture now is near to above normal in many areas, the drought report stated.
Groundwater is starting to rebound but "it is always the last element to show improvement after a dry spell," the report stated, "and more rain is needed to start a true turnaround in groundwater levels."
Hardesty said Harvue's wells seem to have been affected little by the dryness.
The national Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-normal precipitation for the region in August, "so that should help us out," Mansfield said.
For much of the first full week of August, frontal boundaries will be near the region, resulting in enhanced chances for rain. There also is the potential for tropical cyclone Isaias to move close to the region and further enhance precipitation, according to the weather service.
The most likely scenario, the NWS reported, is 1½-4 inches of rain through Aug. 6, with heavier amounts of rain over areas with moderate drought. Cooler temperatures and cloudiness should help any rain that falls stick around in the soil.
Yet "drought relief is not guaranteed," the weather service advised, because there is uncertainty over the path Isaias eventually will take and exactly where frontal boundaries will stall. So rainfall amounts lower than predictions are possible.
Hardesty said she's glad "we're getting some rain at a critical time" in the growth of Harvue's corn.
The corn will be chopped into silage from late August through early September. Hardesty added that Harvue won't know if enough silage for next year can be produced until after the chopping occurs.
Whatever is produced, "it will be a struggle" to make it last all year, she predicted. "We'll have to make it stretch," and maybe even buy some extra.
The NWS plans to issue its next drought update on Aug. 13 but may do so sooner if conditions change significantly. The next Drought Monitor update will be on Aug. 6.
July 31, 2020 at 05:07AM
https://www.winchesterstar.com/winchester_star/recent-rains-help-alleviate-dry-conditions/article_79981ae1-ea75-5eba-8817-21b6ebde8fbc.html
Recent rains help alleviate dry conditions - The Winchester Star
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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