Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date August 8, 2004 RAIN BRINGS MINIMAL RELIEF Isolated thunderstorms occurred across the State late in the week, according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistic Services. The rain brought temporary relief to some fields and pastures. Pond and creek levels continued to drop due to increased irrigation. Farmers irrigated where possible. The tobacco harvest continue. Growers were active in harvesting corn and cutting silage. Hay and pasture condition continued to decline due to the lake of moisture. Armyworms were reported in some pastures and hay fields. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.3.days suitable for fieldwork. Cattlemen continued feeding hay and selling cattle. Other activities included weed control and applying fertilizer. Crop Progress Table Aug 8, 2004 Corn, Dough 99 Corn, Dent 94 Corn, Mature 69 Corn, Harvested for Grain 10 Cotton, Setting Bolls 98 Cotton, Bolls Open 1 Sorghum, Harvested for Grain 5 Soybeans, Blooming 89 Soybeans, Setting Pods 70 Tobacco, Harvested 67 Watermelons, Harvested 98 Apples, Harvested 9 Peaches, Harvested 97 Prev Week 97 86 42 2 91 0 0 82 55 52 96 6 89 Prev Year 96 86 58 7 90 1 4 74 48 59 99 13 97 5 Year Avg 98 90 69 17 92 5 1 75 49 59 97 10 98 Crop Condition Table August 8, 2004 Crop Very Poor Corn 2 Cotton 3 Hay 3 Peanuts 2 Sorghum 1 Soybeans 4 Apples 0 Pecans 10 Pasture 3 Poor Fair Good --Percentage-- 9 30 47 12 32 41 11 39 42 8 34 45 12 37 47 12 40 40 4 19 63 21 36 31 11 39 42 Excellent 12 12 5 11 3 4 14 2 5 Pasture Condition Table - District* Level August 8, 2004 Very Poor Poor Fair Good --Percentage-- Dist 1(NW) 2 8 53 32 Dist 2(NC) 0 3 33 61 Dist 3(NE) 2 10 15 64 Dist 4(WC) 1 7 39 46 Dist 5(C) 10 13 42 30 Dist 6(EC) 1 24 42 32 Dist 7(SW) 4 12 39 44 Dist 8(SC) 2 14 43 34 Dist 9(SE) 0 2 35 62 Excellent 5 3 9 7 5 1 1 7 1 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Soil Moisture Table Aug 8, 2004 Prev Year --Percentages-- Very Short 17 0 Short 43 3 Adequate 38 59 Surplus 2 38 5 Year Avg 15 32 43 10 Soil Moisture Table - District Level August 8, 2004 Very Short Short Adequate --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 0 44 51 Dist 2(NC) 3 32 64 Dist 3(NE) 2 16 72 Dist 4(WC) 11 51 38 Dist 5(C) 32 45 20 Dist 6(EC) 19 50 31 Dist 7(SW) 26 45 29 Dist 8(SC) 20 52 28 Dist 9(SE) 2 33 62 Surplus 5 1 10 0 3 0 0 0 3 Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY AUGUST 8, 2004 1/ 2004 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALMA 96 64 79 0.60 1 2.50 10.43 22.75 84 ALPHARETTA 92 58 76 0.87 4 6.50 13.31 28.97 82 ARLINGTON 93 62 80 0.01 1 4.50 10.83 28.04 88 ATTAPULGUS 96 68 81 0.00 0 2.07 7.76 24.87 91 BLAIRSVILLE 89 50 69 1.00 2 2.64 8.92 28.66 79 BYRON 97 57 79 0.55 2 1.13 7.76 20.14 83 CAIRO 97 69 82 0.00 0 1.06 7.82 22.93 84 CALHOUN 93 54 74 0.70 1 5.04 14.17 30.91 78 CAMILLA 95 68 82 0.00 0 1.86 6.37 22.09 92 CORDELE 97 59 81 0.00 0 3.12 11.05 23.47 85 COVINGTON 93 60 77 0.40 2 3.26 9.25 24.11 86 DAHLONEGA 90 52 72 0.56 2 2.13 10.57 27.54 78 DALLAS 91 55 76 0.17 2 3.58 9.09 29.55 82 DAWSON 97 62 81 0.06 1 0.67 9.00 22.87 86 DEARING 97 57 78 0.23 4 0.65 11.00 26.81 83 DEMPSEY 95 60 77 1.39 2 3.23 14.33 28.14 83 DIXIE 96 68 81 0.00 0 3.07 13.43 30.53 90 DUBLIN 99 55 81 0.00 0 0.89 8.62 21.63 90 DULUTH 94 58 77 0.16 1 1.41 7.04 22.84 82 DUNWOODY 91 59 76 1.41 1 6.70 15.07 30.62 82 EATONTON 96 52 76 0.06 1 0.17 7.70 21.66 90 ELLIJAY 89 53 71 0.17 1 2.62 11.43 29.05 77 FORT VALLEY 96 59 80 0.02 1 0.07 4.97 15.89 88 GAINESVILLE 92 59 77 1.22 2 2.40 6.88 22.55 82 GEORGETOWN 94 61 79 0.00 0 1.38 9.45 22.78 87 GRIFFIN 94 56 77 1.19 3 3.66 12.80 27.02 80 HOMERVILLE 97 65 80 0.00 0 2.84 11.03 25.06 84 JACKSONVILLE 98 57 80 0.00 0 0.54 8.16 22.81 87 JONESBORO 94 62 78 0.36 2 1.47 6.77 19.77 83 LAFAYETTE 92 51 73 0.00 0 2.84 9.70 26.74 77 MIDVILLE 99 56 79 0.08 1 2.70 9.73 26.20 90 NAHUNTA 97 64 79 1.11 4 5.19 20.50 34.45 85 NEWTON 95 68 81 0.00 0 2.73 8.16 25.26 86 PINE MOUNTAIN 94 60 77 0.00 0 3.49 15.49 31.88 81 PLAINS 95 59 80 0.00 0 1.53 10.58 25.28 89 ROME 93 55 75 0.16 1 2.98 10.09 32.06 79 ROOPVILLE 94 57 77 0.11 1 2.72 8.52 24.00 83 SAVANNAH 97 57 78 0.36 3 3.31 17.97 30.69 83 SNEADS 94 74 82 0.16 1 2.13 8.70 26.51 87 STATESBORO 98 58 79 0.05 1 1.52 6.41 17.80 89 TIFTON 95 66 81 0.00 0 1.07 9.08 31.54 82 VALDOSTA 96 70 82 0.34 7 2.25 7.54 21.95 86 VIDALIA 96 60 79 0.31 1 3.00 11.11 24.39 86 WATKINSVILLE 95 54 76 0.02 1 2.14 7.42 23.58 82 WILLIAMSON 94 61 77 0.03 1 3.55 12.85 25.77 83 1/ Weather data supplied by Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia. For detailed Georgia weather data visit the AEMN homepage, www.georgiaweather.net. NA - not available. District Highlights These comments are written by the Georgia County Extension Agents, and have been complied and edited by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT COMMENTS August 8, 2004 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Unusually cool weather. Hay crops are doing fairly well. Mowing pastures. Routine care of livestock this week. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Hit and miss showers last week. Some dryland cotton started to wilt. Very hot this week! Dry! No rainfall! Crops stressed from heat and lack of rainfall! Putting in hay. Spraying weeds in forages. Selling cows, whole herds in a few cases due to good pricing. Need rain as soil moisture declined. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL No rain, hot and dry! Pasture and hayfield conditions continue to decline. Some cattlemen having to start the supplemental feeding of hay again. We need rain really bad! Corn and grain sorghum conditions declining also. Pond and stream levels continue to drop due to the drought conditions we have been in for almost a month now. Scattered showers have helped keep some hayfields and pastures in good shape. The majority are declining rapidly due to lack of rain. It has been very hot and dry over the past week. We still haven't received that much needed dose of rainfall and cooling temperatures. Hopefully, the forecasted fronts will bring about a change. Dry weather conditions return. Need rainfall. Hay cut and baled this past week. Scattered showers mostly missed our county. Very little rainfall received. Chinch bugs have been a problem in some fields of millet and also in lawns in our area. Need rain! Corn harvesting should begin soon. Dry weather is upon us again. Several farmers are reporting fall armyworms attacking their pastures and hayfields. Twenty-eight days without notable rainfall. We need rain! Drought conditions hurt crop yields here in the county. Hay harvests have been poor. Pasture and grazing conditions worsened the last three to four weeks. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Getting very dry. Cotton cutting out. Armyworms in hayfields. Corn not yielding as well as hoped. Hot temperatures have moved soil moisture out and we are dry. Cotton and peanuts starting to wilt some. Forage production has come to halt need rain! DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Hot and dry! Good rain needed for dryland crops, hay fields and pastures. We received 0.66" of rainfall. Dry, dry, dry! Dry! Heat and lack of rainfall have stressed all crops except corn which had already made. Corn drying down quickly in the field. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Picking tobacco, spraying peanuts for disease prevention, spraying cotton for stink bugs. Irrigation of crops. Cutting and baling hay. Lack of rain and hot. Crops suffering. Need a good rain to wet the entire county good and help promote afternoon showers. We have set a good crop so far, but need rainfall to finish them out to harvest. Weather has been hot, dry, and windy. This has really hurt cotton and peanuts. Cotton is shedding blooms and bolls. It is wilting during the day. Peanuts are also wilting. Tobacco is not going to stay in the field to wait on harvest. Tobacco leaves are thin and burning up due to the heat. We need cooler temperatures and rainfall. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available. Contact Information David S. Abbe, Director Georgia Agricultural Statistics Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga