By Clint Thompson
Current dry conditions in the Southeast are not expected to improve in the short term, which is challenging news for producers who are prepare to plant or currently planting their crops.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently released its spring outlook for climate conditions. Southeast growers must be aware that the prolonged drought may not get better over the next month, says Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist.
She highlighted NOAA’s forecast in the UGA Climate Blog.
“There’s a difference in what they expect in the next month and what they expect in the next three months. In the next month, I don’t think we’re going to see a whole lot of improvement which is bad for people who are out trying to plant stuff,” Knox said. “They really need that soil moisture. But the longer-range outlook for May and June is for us to have a better chance of getting enough wet conditions that they think the drought for a lot of the state is going to go away or at least get better.
“If you look at the monthly outlook for drought, it says drought persists and in the new seasonal outlook that was just released, it says drought remains but improves. They indicate that for May and June, they do expect to see wetter conditions. I’m not sure what that’s based on, but it’s pretty consistent across several different climate models.”
Exceptional drought conditions have emerged in recent weeks across South Georgia and North Florida, the driest area in the Southeast region. Extreme drought conditions persist across a much wider area in the Florida Panhandle and most of South Georgia.