Drought — Allendale, South Carolina

2019-05-25 to 2019-05-31 · Allendale, South Carolina

Event narrative

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crop Progress and Condition reports show significant impacts from the drought on farms in Allendale County. Many dryland corn fields were reported to be beyond recovery. Concerns were also raised about poor polination occurring due to the high heat in irrigated fields. Crops that were not in the reproductive phase were struggling and growing very slowly.

Wider weather episode

Rainfall across southeast South Carolina was well below normal January-May 2019, with rainfall totals in most areas around 40 to 50 percent of normal. The Charleston International Airport (KCHS) measured just 7.71 inches of rain through the end of May, the driest January-May period on record. Similarly, Downtown Charleston (KCXM) measured only 5.10 inches of rain which ranked as the 2nd driest January-May period on record.

To make matters worse, a record setting heat wave occurred starting on May 25th. Daily record high temperatures were either tied or broken each day at KCHS from May 25-30. Also, the first 100 degree day in May on record occurred on May 26th and high temperatures reached or exceeded 100 degrees for 4 consecutive days (May 26-29), which ranks as tied for the second longest 100 degree streak on record for any time of year. Coincident with this heat wave was a period of low humidity. Relatively humidity values routinely dropped to less than 30 percent, causing rapid drying of soils and plants.

The effect of this period of little or no rainfall and record setting temperatures was a rapidly developing drought. The June 4th issuance of the US Drought Monitor (which highlights conditions during the last week of May) showed a large introduction of Severe Drought (D2) across nearly all of southeast South Carolina. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crop Progress and Condition reports showed significant impacts from the drought to area farms. Fortunately the first half of June was very wet, alleviating the drought and its impacts.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 824336. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.