MOUNT VERNON — Statistics don’t tell the story for this year’s crop weather. On paper, Knox County has seen rain totaling up to a figure approaching normal levels for the preceding 12 months. But the reality is that it has been a roller-coaster ride, starting with a drenched spring, which delayed planting and stunted growth, followed by a bone-dry summer, which has only intermittently relieved plants with rain.
For many farms, the remnants of tropical storm Fay, which are drifting into the area today, are the best hope for a good soaker. The storm dumped torrential rains in Florida and parts of the southeast United States, but may have enough moisture left to help area farmers. Current National Weather Service forecasts are calling for a 90 percent chance of rain today, and 60 percent tonight.
Sunday night saw scattered thunderstorms that dropped as much as 2 1/2 inches of rain to the west in Marengo, 1 inch to the south in Licking County, a 1/3 of an inch in Fredericktown and slightly more than that in northern Knox County.
“We had a half an inch,” said Ken Ruprecht on Mishey Road, between North Liberty and Nunda roads. Ruprecht said it wasn’t as much as he needed, but that it was better than nothing.
And nothing was exactly what parts of the county got. The central swath of Knox County, from Mount Liberty through Mount Vernon to Gambier and beyond, saw Sunday’s storms part, leaving the ground completely dry.
The USDA is reporting that 80 percent of Ohio land is dry now, compared to a five-year mean of 37 percent dryness. The U.S. Geological Service is still showing mostly normal stream flow levels throughout the area, which implies reasonable subsoil moisture. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has described the last 30 days as having less than half of the normal precipitation levels, and has classified the state as “abnormally dry.”
The long-term precipitation levels are near normal. The current NOAA three-month forecast is for above-normal temperatures and near normal precipitation.
