The South Carolina Drought Response Committee reconvened on July 24 and updated drought statuses for all 46 S.C. counties.
Lexington County has been at a “moderate” drought status since the committee last met in early July.
There are five levels of drought designation the S.C. Department of Natural Resources reports to the public: normal, incipient, moderate, severe and extreme.
At the committee meeting on July 24, 13 counties were downgraded, one was upgraded and the rest, including Lexington County, remained the same as they were determined to be in early July.
“Significant rainfall across the Northeast Drought Management Area over the past two weeks have led to an improvement of many of the drought indicators,” Athena Strickland, technical services manager with Domtar Paper and a committee member representing the northeast/Pee Dee drought management area, said in a release from SCDNR. “In the past two weeks most areas have seen between 2-6 inches of rainfall with more indicated in the immediate forecast. While the Little Pee Dee and the Black Rivers have shown some recent increase in flow, they both remain extremely low, indicating the remaining effects from the extended dry period. The improvement of the Northeast Drought Management Area to moderate drought recognizes improvement with the increased rainfall, while still acknowledging the drought’s lingering effects.”
Lower temperatures and rain throughout the state over the past few weeks have improved conditions.
“Sam Quinney, Agricultural Outreach Director for the SC Department of Agriculture explained that though recent rainfalls have been recorded in most areas across the state, Ag producers will still see a long impact from reduced yields. Row crop producers have been greatly affected in the production of one of SC’s major commodities, corn, due to drought and adverse heat effects. The combination of heat and drought came in during a crucial pollination period of corn production,” according to the release. “Cattle producers are experiencing reduced production of warm season and perennial forages, causing them to seek alternative feed sources and reduce herd sizes to keep overall feed costs down. Other crop production such as soybean, cotton, and peanuts will possibly see reduced production leading to some below average yields. However recent rains give hope to certain producers to still make a crop on those commodities.”
The committee is closely monitoring conditions statewide and will reconvene on Aug. 13 to reevaluate the drought status.