Georgia weather and crops, 2004 September 12

Georgia Crop Weather
Week Ending Date September 12, 2004
HEAVY RAINS CONTINUED Tropical storm Frances drenched much of the State last week, according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. Six to seven inches of rain were common, with parts of the State receiving over ten inches. Heavy rains coupled with strong winds damaged crops and delayed fieldwork. Soil saturation and power outages were reported.Moderate to severe damage was reported for nearly all crops. Hardest hit in most areas were cotton, soybeans, peanuts and corn. Many peanuts couldn't be dug. Some fields were too wet to apply fungicides and insecticides. Production and yields were hurt by Frances. Cantaloupe and tomatoes, along with other fruit and vegetables were damaged by the storm. Nuts were blown off pecan trees, and in some cases trees were uprooted and blown over. Grape harvest was delayed causing decreased grape quality. Cotton, peanut, corn and hay harvests were delayed. Producers are cautiously watching Hurricane Ivan.
County Extension Agents reported an average of 2.4 days suitable or fieldwork. In other activities, producers surveyed storm damage and continued the routine care of livestock and poultry.

Crop Progress Table

Sep 12,

2004

Corn, Harvested for Grain

76

Cotton, Bolls Open

64

Cotton, Harvested

2

Peanuts, Dug

8

Peanuts, Combined

5

Rye, Planted

4

Sorghum, Harvested for Grain 32

Soybeans, Dropping Leaves

26

Other Small Grains, Planted 1

Apples, Harvested

33

Prev Week
66 51
0 5 2 1 27 17 0 28

Prev Year
72 51
1 8 4 3 36 16 2 31

5 Year Avg 78 60 5 12 6 2 31 21 1 32

Crop Condition Table

September 12, 2004

Crop

Very Poor

Cotton

8

Hay

2

Peanuts

3

Sorghum

1

Soybeans

2

Apples

0

Pecans

19

Pasture

1

Poor Fair Good

--Percentage--

17

37

33

9

37

46

9

32

47

9

45

41

10

41

41

9

17

60

28

33

19

6

36

48

Excellent
5 6 9 4 6 14 1 9

Pasture Condition Table - District* Level

September 12, 2004

Very Poor Poor Fair Good

--Percentage--

Dist 1(NW)

0

8

37

51

Dist 2(NC)

0

2

31

44

Dist 3(NE)

1

7

19

61

Dist 4(WC)

0

2

33

54

Dist 5(C)

1

11

35

39

Dist 6(EC)

3

7

44

45

Dist 7(SW)

0

5

32

52

Dist 8(SC)

1

7

35

53

Excellent
4 23 12 10 14
1 11
4

Dist 9(SE)

0

2

64

33

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

Sep 12, 2004 Prev Year

--Percentages--

Very Short

0

2

Short

1

28

Adequate

37

61

Surplus

62

9

5 Year Avg
16 30 47
7

Soil Moisture Table - District Level

September 12, 2004

Very Short Short Adequate

--Percentages--

Dist 1(NW)

0

6

56

Dist 2(NC)

0

3

59

Dist 3(NE)

0

1

51

Dist 4(WC)

0

0

62

Dist 5(C)

0

2

22

Dist 6(EC)

0

0

34

Dist 7(SW)

0

0

44

Dist 8(SC)

0

0

23

Dist 9(SE)

0

0

18

Surplus
38 38 48 38 76 66 56 77 82

Weather Information Table

GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 12, 2004 1/

2004

Air Temperature

Precipitation Totals

Extreme Weekly Rain

30

60

Soil

Location

Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day

Day Season Temp

ALMA

90 69 76

6.99 4

9.77 14.38 34.68 78

ALPHARETTA

86 63 72

4.43 4

9.34 15.06 39.80 76

ARLINGTON

89 66 75

4.79 5

7.97 13.33 37.05 79

BLAIRSVILLE

81 58 69

3.37 3

7.74 11.28 37.33 75

BRUNSWICK

92 71 79

5.14 5 12.42 18.99 41.70 80

BYRON

87 67 74

3.95 4

5.53 8.82 27.90 77

CALHOUN

87 60 73

2.35 2

6.62 11.35 38.12 76

CAMILLA

92 69 76

5.40 2

7.47 11.90 32.13 81

CORDELE

89 68 75

6.88 5

9.05 16.00 36.37 78

COVINGTON

86 65 73

5.83 3

8.97 14.53 35.47 78

DAHLONEGA

85 60 71

4.78 3

8.78 11.67 37.09 73

DALLAS

85 61 72

3.40 3

4.56 9.21 35.84 76

DAWSON

90 68 75

4.06 5

5.87 8.65 30.86 79

DEARING

88 65 75

4.07 3

6.41 8.03 34.56 78

DEMPSEY

85 63 73

4.84 4

6.31 11.55 36.97 76

DIXIE

93 68 77

4.31 6

6.88 13.24 40.94 80

DUBLIN

88 67 75

7.06 5 12.79 14.16 35.22 78

DULUTH

84 64 73

3.60 5

5.68 7.09 28.52 77

DUNWOODY

85 64 72

3.81 3

6.86 14.64 38.81 75

EATONTON

85 63 73

5.51 3

9.20 10.58 32.09 77

ELLIJAY

83 59 70

2.45 2

5.42 7.45 34.94 74

FORT VALLEY

87 67 74

4.45 2

5.92 7.70 23.52 77

GAINESVILLE

88 64 73

4.11 2

7.83 11.32 31.55 76

GRIFFIN

85 64 73

4.91 3

6.25 11.79 35.72 75

HOMERVILLE

92 70 77

7.07 5 12.81 17.58 40.51 79

JACKSONVILLE 86 66 74

6.79 3

8.81 11.14 33.42 77

JONESBORO

86 65 74

3.99 3

6.70 10.25 28.64 76

LAFAYETTE

86 57 71

1.22 2

3.39 6.57 30.67 75

MIDVILLE

87 66 75

5.65 3 13.22 16.04 39.90 78

NAHUNTA

93 70 77 10.63 5 15.44 23.32 53.00 80

NEWTON

90 68 76

3.29 3

5.19 9.89 32.54 80

PINE MOUNTAIN 86 61 73

4.31 3

7.84 13.02 41.41 76

PLAINS

88 68 74

7.48 5

8.26 14.16 37.92 77

ROME

87 60 73

1.38 2

1.98 5.34 35.40 77

ROOPVILLE

88 61 72

4.45 3

7.39 12.95 34.44 76

SAVANNAH

90 66 76

5.37 5

8.45 13.83 41.61 79

SNEADS

99 71 77

1.33 7

1.94 5.20 30.63 80

STATESBORO

88 64 74

6.37 6

8.56 11.50 28.19 80

TIFTON

90 71 77

7.65 5

8.87 10.93 41.40 76

VALDOSTA

92 71 78

5.34 7

7.99 14.78 34.48 79

VIDALIA

88 67 75

8.87 4 15.33 18.28 41.26 78

WATKINSVILLE 87 63 73

3.37 3

5.09 9.95 31.53 76

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 September 12, 2004
DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available.
DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Rain, rain, rain. Some parts of the county received 5+ inches of rain earlier this week. The rain has slowed hay harvest as well as peach & apple picking. Some damage to fruits and vegetables, cantaloupe and tomatoes in particular.
Heavy rains fell this week as Hurricane Frances moved across the State crop damage is minimal but rainy weather has delayed grape harvest and lowered grape quality.
DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Hurricane Frances dumped 7.5 inches of rain on the county. Excess rain damaged late summer hay crop.
DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Hurricane Frances brought us minimal winds (30-40 mph),no significant damage and four to six inches of rain.
Pecans have taken a beating this week. A lot of trees and nuts on the ground. Early cotton on the ground. Producers are going to start defoliating next week. Peanut harvest really starts next week.
DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Rain, rain and more rain! Had 6+ inches in most areas of the county. Rains helped improve pasture conditions (except for the mud) but hampered corn, grain sorghum, and hay harvests. Many people had wind damage and lost power for days due to Hurricane Frances.
We have gotten a tremendous amount of rainfall from Hurricane Frances. We are monitoring Hurricane Ivan's progress.

Some areas received almost eight inches of rain when Hurricane Frances came through Monday eve--much of the county was without power for almost three days!
Received 7 inches of rainfall from Hurricane Frances. Some pecan and other trees blown over. Saturated soil conditions from excess rainfall. Wide spread power outages Tuesday through mid-day on Thursday in the county from Hurricane Frances.
Lots of rain, 5 to 9 inches occurred in the county. Cotton and pecans took the brunt of the damage. Over 100 pecan trees lost in storm. Cotton that was open is on the ground or hanging out of boll. Fields very wet!
Hurricane Frances hit us pretty hard. Too early to tell just how much damage. The above estimates should be close.
Hurricane Frances has throughly re-hydrated our area.
Rains from the hurricane have wreaked havoc on crops, pastures, and timber here. Cotton plants are a tangled mess. Corn has been blown down. Soybeans have lodged in the field. Peanut fields are too wet for normal fungicide and insecticide spraying. The peanut harvest will be delayed in a lot of fields, which will lead to yield losses. There has been a significant amount of field washing (erosion), downed trees, and other types of damage. A lot of trees down on fences, buildings and grain storage bins.
DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Fields saturated. Unable to defoliate cotton or harvest other crops that are ready. Will lose yield and quality due to Hurricane Frances. We received 9-13" of rain throughout the county last week.
Rain from Hurricane Frances hurt some cotton, but the rain was good for dryland peanuts and soybeans. Pecans suffered breakage.
Very wet.
Had 20 - 25% loss of pecans due to remnants of Hurricane Frances.
Very little damage from Hurricane Frances.
DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Rain hindering field operations.
Hurricane Frances caused a loss of approximately 15-20% of the county pecan crop. Cotton was also affected to a lesser degree by cotton blown from the bolls and twisted stalks.
Most parts of the county received 4 to 5 inches of rain over the weekend and early part of the week. Some damage was sustained to cotton and pecan trees due to high winds.
We received 7.86" of rainfall. Hurricane Frances crop damage: Peanuts 5%, Cotton 15%, Soybeans 5%, Corn 15%, Vegetables 10%. Wind damage caused some leaning of cotton.
We suffered losses in our pecan and cotton crops from Hurricane Frances.
DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL We got 6-9 inches of rain and high winds. Corn that had not been harvested is blown down. Peanuts that needed to be dug this week are losing yield due

to sprouting and rotting. Early cotton that needed defoliating last week or this week has lost about 30-40% of lint on the ground. Variety 555 is strung out of boll more than other varieties and may not hold to be harvested. Some regrowth showing up due to drought then excess rain. Will make defoliation decisions harder. Pecan orchards have lost a lot of limbs and some nut loss. Late planted soybeans may be okay. Some loss to early planted, but we don't have many acres in our county. Will have to use airplanes to spray cotton defoliants and apply peanut fungicides. What looked like a good to average crop now looks questionable.
Hurricane Frances hit - 7 inches of rain came. Cotton plants were blown and open cotton is strung out and on the ground. Corn that had not been harvested is lodged.
Heavy rains and winds severely damaged most row crop, vegetable crops and pecans.
Too wet to dig peanuts. Harvest should begin in earnest this week, but will be delayed by wet weather.
Severe damage from Hurricane Frances. Cotton on the ground, bolls on the plant deteriorating, opening bolls impacted by 7 inches of rain. Many peanut fields were ready to be dug, now on hold due to wet conditions and starting to lose the tap root crop from peanuts sprouting. Unharvested corn severely impacted. Pecan crop hurt by winds. A tough week.
Between 10 and 14 inches of rain fell between Sunday and Tuesday. Considerable cotton damage.
Still getting showers and rain this week. This is further damaging cotton and peanuts. Pecan crop was severely damaged by Hurricane Frances.
Hurricane Frances caused damage to many of our agricultural crops. Harvest delays and timing of maturity are a challenge for growers.
Cotton yield losses from the storm.
Hurricane Frances almost ruined the pecan crop.
DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST County had rainfall from 9 to 13 inches from Hurricane Frances. Fields are soggy and insects are on the increase in peanuts.
Twelve+ inches of rain throughout the county due to Hurricane Frances.
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