Mississippi is no stranger to extreme weather, including droughts.
But the current drought is something altogether different, and it is affecting the state in many different ways.
While droughts are not infrequent in the summer months, the current drought, which began with the arrival of fall, with no end in sight, is something few can recall.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chuck Younger, a state senator and cattle rancher from Lowndes County. “I’m only 53, but I’ve talked to some of the older ranchers, and they tell me they can’t ever remember a drier fall.”
According to National Weather Service data from Jackson, the Golden Triangle had one day of rainfall in the entire month of October, a rainless trend that has continued into November.
“Over the last 60 days, (rainfall) has been about 6 to 8 inches below normal,” said Daniel Lamb, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson. “Over the past 90 days, it’s 8 to 12 inches below normal.”
Even with the seasonal cold fronts that are beginning to arrive, there appears to be no relief in sight.
Relatively warm and bone dry conditions are expected to continue in the Southeast throughout the fall and winter, intensifying to an extreme drought in the region, according to the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
Lamb said that prediction is holding true.
“We’re starting to get into the time of year where we’d be expecting to have more fronts coming in and bringing rainfall,” Lamb said “It seems like we’re having that pattern start, but even those systems aren’t brining considerable rain. This is becoming a long-term issue.”
In fact, the cold fronts could potentially create more trouble than it alleviates.
“When those fronts come through, it causes the air to dry out and the wind to pick up, which enhances the fire threat,” Lamb said.
The potential for fire has not gone unnoticed. Of the state’s 82 counties, more than half have been under a burn ban since early October. As of now, 77 counties are under the burn ban as the state hopes to avoid the wildfires that has consumed more than 128,000 acres in the Southeast U.S.
Even if the state somehow avoids the wildfires that have plagued neighboring states, the effects of the unusual fall drought are felt in a number of ways.
Roads and homes
When Lowndes County calculated its budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year that began on Oct. 1, the county set aside $500,000 for road maintenance.
In six weeks, the road department has already spent 40 percent of that allocation, which can be directly attributed to the drought that has caused severe damage to the county’s roads.
“We’re doing a lot more (repairs) than normal,” said Lowndes County Assistant Road Manager Mike Aldridge. “We already have maintenance money to take care of the roads, but it’s not enough. The supervisors have decided to take road plan money to try to do some of the repairing because of the dry weather. It’s also affecting what we’re trying to with some of the other maintenance work we do.”
It’s much the same story in Oktibbeha County, according to Victor Collins, Oktibbeha County road manager.
“We’ve got problems all over the county with roads cracking from the ground being so dry,” Collins said. “Some of those cracks are opening up two, almost three inches. We have places that do crack from year to year, but it’s been a while since it’s been this widespread.”
In both counties, the time and money devoted to filling cracks and splits in roadways has meant other duties have been put on the back burner.
Home-owners in the Golden Triangle are also dealing with the effects of the drought.
“Over the past month, homeowners west of the Tombigbee River have reported cracks in masonry foundations, a side-effect of the drought,” said Jay McCrary of McCrary-West Construction Co. “The soil…shrinks really bad when it’s dry for long periods of time. That causes cracks in foundations sometimes.”
McCrary said his company has worked on two or three homes as a result of the drought.
Cattle and wildlife
The drought has had a severe impact on cattle ranching throughout the state, particularly in the northeast region, said Cobie Rutherford, a beef cattle instructor in the Animal and Dairy Sciences Department at Mississippi State University.
Rutherford said the biggest factor is food supply, noting that the winter grasses cattlemen plant each fall has failed to emerge because of the dry weather.
Rutherford said the drought has been especially severe locally.
“From Lee, Itawamba, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and as far South as Noxubee County, the drought has been really bad,” he said.
In the Golden Triangle, the drought affects an estimated 44,800 head of cattle, almost five percent of the state’s cattle inventory.
“I’ve never seen anything close to this bad,” said Younger, who had about 300 beef cows.
With ranchers selling off cattle, the prices are falling, said Sam Blakeney of Prairie Livestock in West Point.
“Buying and selling stock and feeder cattle is a big part of our business, and the drought has had a big effect,” Blakeney said. “The market prices were already down, so it’s a much more severe issue than it would be in years past. Your input costs are much higher because of the lack of those winter grasses, so it’s going to be tough for ranchers to make it worth their while.”
Similarly, the drought means resources wildlife count on for survival have been compromised.
“For all types of wildlife, the main effects are the reduction in food sources and water supply,” said Chad Dacus, wildlife expert for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks. “It’s a very odd situation because we had a wet summer followed by a really dry fall, which is just the opposite of what we generally have.”
He said that means deer populations are going to be moving more. That’s good for hunters but bad for healthy-growing fawns that are now dealing with a shortage of food supply, he said.
For birds, the drought has meant depleted access to water. Dacus said that’s good for duck hunters because ducks will congregate heavily in areas where there is a reliable water supply.
Dacus said that while most wildlife is resilient, adaptable and should recover from the effects of the drought, the greater concern is habitat.
Wild fires, he said, could have a serious long-term effect on a variety of wildlife.
“The situation we have now with potential wildfires is really serious,” Dacus said. “If you have a burn this time of year, it can really do real damage to habitat, killing off some species of plants that wildlife depend on. Fires are a real concern. Hopefully, we’ll dodge that bullet.”
A little rain is little help
While a good rain might provide a psychological lift, it isn’t likely to mean much in terms of ending the drought.
“The situation right now is…even if you get a quick half inch of rain, the soil is so dry that it just absorbs it,” Lamb said. “It helps things from getting worse, maybe, but it doesn’t get out of it. You start to need a steady rain that would last for most of the day. You would want a couple of inches rain and to receive it on a more regular basis.”
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