Recent rain eliminates lingering drought effects from summer

After a nearly summerlong drought that destroyed pasture grasses and affected row crops on Southeast Missouri farms, heavy fall and winter rains drenched the area and eliminated any lingering drought.

The National Weather Service recorded 5.68 inches of precipitation in October at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, 1.57 inches in November and 7.5 inches in December. Totals downtown (observed and recorded by the Southeast Missourian) were 6.66 inches, 1.81 inches and 8.72 inches, respectively.

The National Weather Service keeps no records of "normal" rainfall amounts in Cape Girardeau. The Missouri State Climatologist's office keeps those figures, but state climatologist Pat Guinan was unavailable.

Normal December rainfall for Paducah, Ky., the nearest city for which normal readings are available from the National Weather Service, is 4.38 inches. Normal October precipitation is 3.45 inches and normal November precipitation is 4.53 inches.

Last summer Southeast Missouri saw one of its driest summers in recorded history. The March-through-September period was the sixth driest since record-keeping began in 1919, according to figures released previously by Guinan's office. The total rainfall for that period was 18.09 inches -- 9.8 inches below normal for that period. Of that 18.09 inches, 5.38 inches fell in September.

From October through December, 14.75 inches of precipitation was recorded.

All totals come from the airport.

The fall and winter precipitation has eliminated the drought that remained even through September's heavy rains. By late October the region's drought conditions were gone.

The summer drought affected livestock and row crop farming in the area, activating the Livestock Compensation Program and Crop Disaster Program for farmers who experienced drought-related crop of livestock losses. Sign-ups for those programs continue.

But Gerald Bryan, agronomist with the Cape Girardeau County University of Missouri Extension Service, said the late-year rains, combined with overall mild temperatures, have actually brought some relief to livestock farmers facing drought-related hay shortages.

"It has allowed the grass to grow, even though the growth is very slow," Bryan said. Summer drought wiped out virtually all the pasture grass in the area.

But now grasses are growing just enough to allow some grazing, Bryan said, and to strengthen their root systems for the coming year. If conditions had stayed dry through the winter, those grasses' growth would be stunted when warm weather returns, Bryan said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182