SILVER SPRING, Md. – Green lawns are tough to find in the South this spring, as a lack of rain and water restrictions have left homeowners helpless against a drought that also has forest officials fearing a summer of wildfires.
"My grass is already turning dry and crunching under your feet," said Kathy Holloway, who lives about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. "And it's only May. That's scary."
A drought forecast released May 16 by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) predicts extreme drought conditions this summer in parts of the Southeast and Midwest. The good news is that La Niña, the weather phenomenon responsible for bringing drought conditions to some parts of the nation for the past two years, is expected to continue diminishing for the next several months. The bad news is that above-normal temperatures, which speed up the evaporation of precipitation and soil moisture, are forecast to affect drought-weary states for the rest of the spring into summer, causing potential problems for lawns, gardens and forests.
NEEDED: A MIDNIGHT RAIN IN GEORGIA. Across the Southeast, 432,297 acres of forest have burned so far this year. By contrast, the high-profile fires in the Southwest have scorched 130,000 fewer acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Through May 15, forest fires had consumed 42,347 acres in Georgia – nearly as much as in all of 1999, when 47,370 acres burned. And the hottest, driest part of the year is just beginning.
Garden center managers say people are buying fewer trees and shrubs this summer, apparently fearing that they will wither in the unrelenting sun. "It's really off from last year, and last year we had a drought too," said Brad Balsis, manager of Habersham Gardens in Atlanta.
Newly planted trees and shrubs are particularly sensitive to dry conditions. The only solution during a drought is constant watering, which can get expensive. Many local governments already have started restricting outdoor water use to certain days or times, and things will only get tougher for gardeners as the summer heats up. "If people aren't allowed to water their sod, they don't buy it because it's going to die," said Kevin Stroner, sales manager at Southeastern Sod in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Climatologist David Stooksbury of the University of Georgia said rainfall in the state has been below average for more than two years, and most of Georgia is from 5 to 15 inches below normal precipitation levels for this time of year.
NWS DROUGHT FORECAST. The NWS forecast is part of the National Drought Policy Commission’s report on the impact of the drought in America. In its first-ever drought forecast released in March, NWS predicted the hardest hit areas would be: southern Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia in the south, and Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana in the central U.S.
With its latest forecast, meteorologists still expect severe to extreme drought conditions to persist in Florida, Georgia, central west Texas, north Arkansas, southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern and eastern Alabama, and western South Carolina.
Severe drought conditions will also persist in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois. The summer forecast favors below normal precipitation and warmer than normal temperatures, leading to a worsening drought. The drought on the leeward areas of Hawaii will also persist, and in New Mexico, where 250,000 acres have been scorched from Jan. 1 to May 10, only predicted monsoon rains in July may bring relief to the parched landscape.
In drought-impacted states, even when substantial rains appear, hot weather dashes any benefits. For example, in early May when areas near St. Louis were drenched by 8-14 inches of rain, high temperatures evaporated much of the precipitation not lost by runoff and any chance of relief for Missouri, which is still 11 inches below normal precipitation.
"Rains like these can't erase overnight what two years of La Niña and long-term drought helped to produce. These are major precipitation deficits," said Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack Kelly, who is director of the NWS.
And for states such as Louisiana, which has been its driest on record since May 1998, and Georgia the second driest on record, last week's surging temperatures worsened drought conditions. The forecast calls for more of the same.
For more information please check the following links:
Lawn & Landscape Online exclusive article about drought conditions: Drought Worries Continue For Nation, Southwest
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Drought Information Center web site: www.drought.noaa.gov
Information above compiled from NOAA’s Drought Forecast and an Associated Press story written by Chad Roedemeier.