How bad is the Drought in N. Alabama (Huntsville, Somerville: job, house)

[boomer]

I currently live in another state and have not viewed my property in Somerville, AL in almost a year. I have been reading that N. Alabama is in a severe drought. How bad is it? My neighbor just called me this past weekend to ask if I could let their horses graze on my property. They said that the grass on their property was dried up. I guess since I have not bush hogged it in over a year, it fairing pretty good. At least I hope.

[harry chickpea]

There isn't a lot of hay, and some farmers are selling off cattle to avoid the expense of feeding them. If we hadn't had a small rain last week and an inch of rain last night, we would be hurting. The area has a general drought, but some small areas within that are fairing better than others.

[Southlander]

Crops are gone this year. Total disaster. The day of rain last week wasn't enough. Little hay for animals. It's really bad here, not so bad in other parts of the state. But this year? No corn, cotton, soybeans, anything. I checked on my parents' graves the other day in the cemetery...the grass crackled under my feet, it's so dry.

[nalabama]

Fescue pastures have lost most of their food value due to drying of seed stems and the leafy parts of the plant going dormant. Bermuda was hurt by the late freeze we had and is down also. A burn ban is in effect, but it would be criminal to even consider burning, as dry as it is. We need 4-5 inches of rain over a few days time span just to move down to a lesser degree of severe drought, 14-16 inches by August to be out of a drought status altogether. Ain't gonna happen.

[jetjockey75]

Originally Posted by boomer

I currently live in another state and have not viewed my property in Somerville, AL in almost a year. I have been reading that N. Alabama is in a severe drought. How bad is it? My neighbor just called me this past weekend to ask if I could let their horses graze on my property. They said that the grass on their property was dried up. I guess since I have not bush hogged it in over a year, it fairing pretty good. At least I hope.

Most people call this a drought of historic proportions. Especially coupled with the fact that there was a drought last year too. I read somewhere that the rainfall deficit over the last two years in Huntsville is something like 45" below normal.

[caution]

I was just in NE Alabama for a job interview, and one of the smaller towns had gotten to the point where the well was going dry. They'll buy water, but when a deep well like that can't keep up, it should provide a good reference. I also noticed the area lakes and rivers I drove by / over were at low levels. You can spot it from the road.

I think the "fix" would be for a big tropical depression to get stuck over AL and GA. They'd need it to sit and spin like the low is doing over in N. Central TX.

My heart goes out to those who have farms in trouble.

[Southlander]

Rain! It just rained! At least right here at the house. Only for about 15 minutes, though, and the power went out for about that long. We'll take anything we can get and thank you, Lord!

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Rain! It just rained! At least right here at the house. Only for about 15 minutes, though, and the power went out for about that long. We'll take anything we can get and thank you, Lord!

Problem with these summertime "popcorn" thunderstorms is that they are small in coverage area. Sometimes they will deposit an inch or more in an hour's time, but when only 1 percent of a region gets the rain, it does little good. I drove all over NW Alabama today, and in 5 hours on the road, ran into 2 of these storms. Neither one was more than a couple of miles wide. (So much for the 60% chance of rain we were supposed to get)

[boomer]

Has the recent rains helped the drought situation in N. Alabama? We are hoping to come up to our property this fall and wondering if the fall colors will be short due to the recent drought.

[HSVmom]

Unfortunately, the rain hasn't been more than a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the severe drought. Lawns may look a little less stressed than before the scattered thunderstorms, but for the most part it's been too little too late.