By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County is parched after getting half its normal summer rainfall this year – leaving yards brown, corn stalks scrawny, and some farmers short on patience.
Every once in awhile, the dark clouds build and rain starts hitting the thirsty earth, but most hints of precipitation have turned into a tease. Rainfall for May, June and July in Bowling Green added up to 5.64 inches, according to records kept at the Bowling Green Wastewater Treatment Plant. That is about half of the average 10.7 inches seen here during those three months.
The stunted crops and crunchy lawns are the most obvious victims, affecting local farmers and grass mowing businesses.
But the hot dry summer has been good for others, like ODOT’s road construction schedule, local swimming pool attendance, and ball seasons that haven’t been disrupted by rain.
Bowling Green’s water supply has not been adversely affected since the Maumee River watershed covers a huge area, according to Brian O’Connell, director of utilities for the city.
“Even under severe drought conditions, there’s a lot of water that drains into the Maumee River,” O’Connell said.
However, the rainfall on individual farm fields has left corn and soybean crops hurting, according to Jonanthan Haines, of the Farm Service Agency. The spring started out strong, he said. “We had the rainfall in April and May. We were actually a little too wet.”
Farmers were itching to get their crops in the fields as summer got near. “They had a window to plant at the end of May,” Haines said. There were a handful of dry days, followed by forecasts for spring showers. “Everybody raced to plant.”
But the forecast was wrong.
“The rain never came,” Haines said. “The spigot was turned off after that.”
Some spots in the county have fared a bit better than others, with the driest fields in the southwest corner, he said.
The corn may have finally shot upward and started tasseling – but that is somewhat deceptive. It doesn’t mean a healthy crop. “The corn is chest high and tasseling out,” but it should be much higher by this time of the summer, Haines said.
Haines is predicting “substantial less” bushels of corn at harvest time this year. Soybeans may be a little more drought resistant since they have more time to make up for the stunted growth and can benefit from August rains.
The verdict is already in for the corn. “The corn already decided the number of kernels and how big around the ears are going to be,” he said.
One ray of sunshine in this summer of few rain clouds was the wheat production, Haines said. “On the good side, the wheat yields were phenomenal this year.”
Dry weather has been good for ODOT construction.
Meanwhile, the long dry spell has been good news to the Ohio Department of Transportation which is undertaking a very ambitious construction season.
“It’s been great,” said Theresa Pollick, spokesperson for ODOT District 2 in Bowling Green. “Anytime we can have weather like this, it works in everyone’s favor” – the construction workers and the motorists anxious for construction to end.
“This weather is great at keeping things on time,” Pollick said.
The dry season has been tough on area golf courses trying to keep their greens some shade of green. Tom Garcia, at Bowling Green Country Club, said the golf course in the center of the city benefits from having a constant water source.
“We’re fortunate. We have a quarry full of water,” Garcia said. “We irrigate every day. We cool down the greens in the afternoon.” While other golf courses have to focus their water just on the greens, the country club course can also quench the fairways.
The heat accompanying the dryness, however, has discouraged some golfers from venturing out on the course on particularly hot days, Garcia said.
The dry weather may not have convinced a lot of homeowners to add lawn sprinklers, but it has kept Jeff Archer of Evergreen busy troubleshooting problems with existing sprinklers. The lack of rainfall makes it quite obvious where sprinklers are malfunctioning, he said.
The city parks are seeing less need for mowing and more need for watering in areas like Simpson Garden Park, according to Kristin Otley, director of the city parks and recreation department. The t-ball and softball seasons are already completed, since there were no rain outs – which is “very rare,” she said.
BG city pool has seen attendance grow this season
The heat may be cutting down on some park program participation, but it’s creating quite a draw at the city pool.
“As of right now, we’re at least 25 percent up” in daily attendance from last year, Otley said on Monday. “I’m not even sure we had a day when we lost a whole day” due to rainy weather this summer.
And Otley reminded that those people bothered by the heat can always take their recreation inside at the community center – where it is air conditioned.
