Hamilton, which has only recorded one-tenth of an inch of rain in September, is “well below normal,” she said. Typically, it would have received about 2.5 inches of rain by this time in September, Cassady said.
An extremely wet string of months from February through August means most of the area has already received the entire year’s worth of rain, about 40 inches, she said.
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“But now it’s turning a bit dryer and so, especially this time of year, if you can string together a couple of dry weeks, which is what we have, the ground can dry out pretty quickly even if you had a wet couple of months,” Cassady said.
Gary Magie, a manager for Butler County grounds maintenance business Grounds Elite, said the lack of rain has “slowed things down”, but the precipitation that accumulated last month was a “fortunate” precursor.
“We kind of had a surplus coming out of August into the first of September, but what propels that dry weather pattern to affect us worse is having these high temperatures even though we’re in the fall now,” Magie said. “It’s abnormally warm right now.”
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Although the business “coasted” in early September on a two-week cushion of precipitation, that evaporated in the warmer-than-usual temperatures and the business started skipping more yards than it was mowing, he said. Instead, Grounds Elite worked on other landscaping tasks.
“We do a fall bush trimming for most of our customers. It (the lack of rain) just allows you to have more manpower available to catch up in some other areas that maybe you wouldn’t have that luxury otherwise,” Magie said. “As long as we get some rain here in the next week, we’ll get through it without being harmed too much.”
Businesses that rely solely on lawn-cutting to sustain their profits are “hurting pretty bad,” he said.
The forecast for the coming days shows that rain relief is not looking likely and that dryer conditions will prevail, Cassady said.
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“We’re looking at some very warm temperatures to close out the month and, as we head into October, we’re looking at high temperatures potentially being well above normal through the next week to, say, two weeks,” Cassady said. “There’s really no chance of fall-like temperatures in the forecast as of right now. It’ll eventually come but it’s not looking like it’s going to come too quickly for us.”
Today will see temperatures reach the mid- to upper-70s, about five degrees above normal for this time of year, then drop to a low in the mid-50s.
Wednesday will see a high in the upper 70s with a chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms overnight into Thursday as temperatures dip to about 60 degrees.
“Most locations may pick up some light rain, but certainly nothing that’s going to be enough to make up for the recent dry spell,” Cassady said.
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Thursday will return to the upper 70s, but by Friday and into the weekend, temperatures could reach the the mid to upper 80s, 15 degrees more than what is to be expected this time of year, Cassady said.
With only six to seven days of rain in the Miami Valley over the last two months, area farmers are taking another blow to yields already expected to drop an average of 14 to 17.2 percent from last year. Recent rain won’t be enough to help along many of the crops this late in the growing season as harvest begins.
“At this point, a lot of the crops are too far along that even if we get some rain between now and the next month it’s not going to do much for the crops. They’re pretty much done to a major part of their growth and development stages,” said Ohio Farm Bureau spokesman Ty Higgins. “And unfortunately, what we’re going to have is a less-than-ideal crop year in 2019.”
A majority of the soybeans and corn across Ohio are in the very poor to fair categories following the dry conditions. Only 32 percent rank good quality, and 2 to 3 percent are excellent, according to the most recent USDA Ohio progress report.
The quality concerns pair with a drop in yields along with an expected 710,000 fewer acres of planted corn and 810,000 fewer acres of planted soybeans.
Staff Writer Holly Shively contributed to this report.
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FACTS AND FIGURES
20: consecutive days without measurable precipitation before morning showers arrived Monday at CVG.
21: consecutive days without measurable precipitation back (June 5, 1994)
33: consecutive days without measurable precipitation (Sept. 27, 1908)
0.01: least amount of precipitation, in inches, it takes to be labeled “measurable precipation”
0.10: amount of precipation recorded in Hamilton so far this month
0.12: amount of precipitation recorded at Dayton International Airport this month
2.5: amount of inches of precipitation typically received in those areas by this time in September
SOURCE: National Weather Service’s Wilmington office
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