DECATUR, Ala. (AP) – Abnormally dry weather in north Alabama may have ruined corn plantings and is damaging other crops.
“The hot, dry weather has just hit the corn at the absolute worst time,” said Brady Peek, who farms approximately 1,800 acres in western Limestone County. “We’ll be lucky if we even have a corn crop. Yields are going to be significantly below average.”
Ashley Ravenscraft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Huntsville, said portions of Lawrence and Morgan counties have been characterized as “abnormally dry” since June 21. In Limestone County, 60% of the county has been in a moderate drought since June 28.
From June 21 through Monday, Decatur received only 0.24 of an inch of rainfall and Moulton had 0.53 of an inch, Ravenscraft said. Athens, she said, had 1.78 inches of rain in that span but she attributes the higher number to pop-up showers the last several days. Ravenscraft said the average rainfall in July is 4.49 inches.
“Typically, around this time of year you’re getting some kind of rainfall from either tropical systems or your summertime storms or a weaker disturbance that will come through and produce some rain. This is typically one of our wettest months out of the year,” she said.