Dry September leaves Northeast Tennessee parched

The Tri-Cities of Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport have gotten less than an inch of rain this month, which is 2.41 inches below normal. There’s no significant chance of rain in the short-term forecast, and late September and October traditionally are some of the driest months of the year.

“I wouldn’t call it a drought yet,” National Weather Service hydrologist Brian Boyd said Tuesday from his office in Morristown. “Extreme Southwest Virginia and most of Northeast Tennessee are designated as in an ‘abnormally dry condition.’ It’s been dry all year. The large (lake) basins are down anywhere from 2 to 8 inches and that’s almost impossible to make up.”

Leaves are already starting to fall and autumn, which begins Thursday, won’t be as colorful as usual, Boyd said.

“We started seeing stress in the trees in August,” Boyd said. “That’s early because usually the leaves aren’t at their peak color until around Halloween.”

Farmers also are being affected, especially those who are grazing livestock and growing tobacco.

“The grass is dying out, but we’ve had an abundance of good hay over the past seasons,” Washington County Agricultural Extension Agent Mark Porter said.

“I just talked to a fellow who has late corn and tobacco in the field,” Porter said. “He said blight has hit his crops because of the dry conditions and the crops are burning up. Whatever is still out there isn’t going to make much.”

Jake Story of Story Lawn and Landscaping has been doing lawn care professionally for three years and says this is the driest he’s seen it.

“We’ve pretty much gone five or six weeks without any rain to speak of,” Story said. “I’ve seen some places where the ground is starting to crack. With the grass drying up and dying, most people want you to skip mowing their yards and gas prices are up, so that doesn’t help much either.”