The Golden Triangle is set to experience the summer’s first significant heat wave this weekend, and while most people might be scrambling to find sunscreen, bottled water and shade, area farmers are left waiting to see how their crop preparation has paid off.
According to forecasts, the area will be swept by temperatures exceeding 100 degrees starting today and lasting through Sunday, including a high of 105 today.
Pat Fitzpatrick, Associate Research Professor for Meteorology at Mississippi State University, said 100-degree temperatures are common in the late days of June, but mostly in the more northern sections of the states.
“I think a few days in the hundreds is normal,” he said. “This kind of thing happens in the summer, you usually have a couple hot periods. If we have persistent 100’s for weeks, that’s when we need to start worrying.”
Fitzpatrick said the heat wave was set up by a tropical storm system that was in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Because we were on the west side of it, and all the air that was rising was on the east side,” he said. “And it all sank on us.”
Fitzpatrick said when the air sinks, it compresses and stops any cloud formation, which can have its own effects, letting 100 percent of the sunlight through the atmosphere.
“These two components can really warm things up,” he said.
Associate Research Professor Erick Larson, who specialized in grain crop physiology and production, said the high temperatures will undoubtedly have an impact on crops in the area. Specifically corn, which is Larson’s focus research organism.
“It’s hard to put a magnitude on it. It is definitely going to stress all the crops in the area,” he said. “About 95 percent of the grown crops in the eastern part of the state are dependent on rainfall to supply them enough moisture so those crops can be productive during the season.”
Up until this point, Larson said, corn has had a very good growing season, with a lot of farmers planting their crops relatively early. The warm conditions in the earlier part of the season, and the lack of significant drought conditions so far have promoted earlier maturity, he added.
“It’s going to hurt our crop definitely. Although the crop is earlier, it is still building weight in the kernels, and there is still a lot of yield still to be determined,” Larson said. “This is going to zap moisture out of the soil and a lot of the productivity out of the crop if we continue to have the same high temperatures.”
According to Larson, there probably won’t be a total loss on any of the crop, but it could cut the productivity by 50 percent if it continues to stay dry for a few more weeks.
Fitzpatrick said he doesn’t really see any indications that the heat wave will last long past the weekend.
“I don’t think that will happen, but, of course, we don’t know that for sure,” he said.
Forecasts for next week show low chances of rain through the week, but spike to 60 percent by next Friday.
Plant and Soil Science Assistant Extension Professor Darrin Dodds, who specializes in cotton, said cotton is very adapted to high temperatures and can withstand these temperatures for longer than most crops, but the problem comes with the extreme dryness.
“A lot of times what you’ll see if it stays dry for a long period of time are short plants and plants with not as many nodes, not as much growth and as a result will yield less,” he said.
Dodds said with only about 25 percent of the state’s cotton grown in the area and the rest of the eastern hills, local farmers won’t likely have much trouble with the heat resistant crop.
Both Dodds and Larson both said if a farmer hasn’t prepared for this heat wave already, there is very little someone can do, from a management stand point, to begin preparing now.
“There have been a lot of growers in the last year or two that have actually installed irrigation systems in this part of the state … but the only other thing they can really do during the middle part of the season is to try and minimize pest damage, disease and control weeds.”
Fitzpatrick said, even though this heat wave will probably a short one, waves like this can turn dangerous quickly, and to not take them lightly.
“Not just because of the heat, but because of how everything gets dried out, and that’s when you get drought conditions: fires form easier, hard on crops and agriculture, hard on health, and, of course, hard on your electricity bill.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.