Watkinsville, GA |

Some of Georgia’s biggest crops like peanuts, cotton and corn are now in the ground. And so far, Mother Nature has been less than kind, with temperatures being well above average despite the highs never reaching triple digits, due mainly to the increased heat at night.

“We’re seeing temperatures not get down that low. So, we’re seeing a lot of this moisture. The moisture causes problems for fungal diseases, causes problems for some crops like corn that need cooler temperatures to do well, causes problems for livestock because livestock are mammals just like us and they need cooler temperatures, really to do well too,” says Pam Knox, Agricultural Climatologist.

However, the biggest concern is the complete absence of rain in some areas of the state as 158 different counties are reporting drought conditions, including 16 of those in severe drought. And while an increase in precipitation is forecasted over the next month, it is likely to be pretty spotty.

“It may not be in the same part of the state every time. One, they’re not going to move very fast because we’re not in really much in the way of jet streams right now, but they’re going to move a little bit. And so, they develop in one place, drop rain there, wet up the soil so that the next day, that can start to produce thunderstorms. Over time, you would hope that it would kind of distribute over the area, but thunderstorm rain is really spotty and even within a county, you could get no rain on one part of the county and several inches on the other part,” says Knox.

This increased heat might also cause problems later in the summer, as the warm ocean waters indicate tropical storms are likely to be in the rise this year.

“The tropics will really start to pick up, probably around mid-August. It’s supposed to be a really busy year. The ocean is hot. There’s not much wind shear because we’re in neutral conditions right now, headed for La Nina. And so, once the storms start popping, we could see a lot of storms coming in, almost like a freight train,” says Knox.

That means farmers will need to be prepared to harvest their crop on a moment’s notice if the situation arises to maximize their yields.

“People that are worried about timing of harvesting are really going to have to watch carefully because you’re going to want to know when those storms are coming in and you’re going to want to be able to prepare for that. So, this year, the real watch word is get ready now. Make sure you got your paperwork in order. Make sure you know what to do. Make sure you got plans for your workers and your families and so on just in case,” says Knox.

The big question is whether these unprecedented conditions are a trend or just an anomaly. While predicting the future is anything but certain, Knox says the former is definitely a possibility.

“I don’t know that there’s been any studies say that there’s a trend towards this in the future, but it’s something we have to keep in mind because the tropics are kind of expanding as the earth gets warmer. That means we’re going to be in in the area of the tropics where the air is descending as it does over the Sahara Desert and the US Southwest and so on. So, we could see more frequent patterns of these high pressures that just dominate the area,” says Knox.

By: Damon Jones