With the heat of summer, it’s easy for the ground to dry out quickly if we don’t get a steady supply of rain. So drought can quickly become an issue during the summer more than any other time of the year.

And last year at this time, we were in a serious drought. The last half of 1998 had been very dry. Then, when barely two inches of rain TOTAL fell last June and July, we went over the edge. The reds on this map of drought severity show where drought prevailed a year ago, with the deeper reds over us indicating severe drought.

A wet September, starring Floyd of course, got us out of the drought, and since then, precipitation has been close to average. Here’s the nationwide drought situation right now. There’s still plenty of severe drought, but it’s confined to the southeast and the far West. We’re pretty much in between too dry and too wet – certainly in much better shape than 12 months ago.