sc-crop-weather South Carolina Weekly Weather and Crop Progress Report Released: August 27, 2012 Week Ending Date: August 26, 2012 Issue: SC-CW003512 GENERAL Most of the State received rainfall once again this past week, however, there were several areas in the Upstate receiving little or no moisture. Precipitation was particularly heavy along the coast, slowing fieldwork in those areas. For an August in South Carolina, temperatures were tolerable again this week. South Carolina soil moisture conditions were 2% very short, 13% short, 79% adequate, and 6% surplus. There was a State average of 5.9 days that were suitable for fieldwork. FIELD CROPS CORN maturation was nearly complete. Harvest slowed in several coastal counties due to wet fields, but over all still progressed well, and is now over half complete. Yields are still looking very good. COTTON bolls were 91% set, and 10% of bolls had opened. Conditions were 1% very poor, 2% poor, 21% fair, 67% good, and 9% excellent. PEANUTS were 99% pegged, with conditions at 1% very poor, 2% poor, 22% fair, 65% good and 10% excellent. Eighty-one percent of SOYBEANS had bloomed, 13 points behind the five-year average. Fifty-one percent of the crop had set pods, 19 points behind the five year mark. Conditions were at 1% very poor, 4% poor, 26% fair, 63% good, and 6% excellent. TOBACCO harvest was 82% complete by Sunday with 45% of stalks destroyed. Ninety-eight percent of HAY had been harvested. OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST WATERMELON harvest has been completed for this season. The PEACH harvest has been well ahead of normal and was nearly finished for this year. PASTURE conditions were continuing to improve with all of the rain and were at 3% poor, 24% fair, 69% good, and 4% excellent. LIVESTOCK conditions also improved again, and were 1% poor, 21% fair, 71% good, and 7% excellent. Crop Progress for Week Ending August 26, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop and Stage : 2012 : 2011 :5-Yr Avg :: Crop and Stage : 2012 : 2011 :5-Yr Avg ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent :: : Percent : :: : Corn, Matured : 99 98 96 :: Soybeans, Bloomed : 81 93 94 Corn, Harvested : 56 51 38 :: Soybeans, Pods Set : 51 63 70 Cotton, Bolls Set : 91 93 93 :: Soybeans, Turned Color : 1 1 2 Cotton, Bolls Opened : 10 24 12 :: Tobacco, Harvested : 82 84 78 Hay, Other Hay, Harvested : 98 100 98 :: Tobacco, Stalks Destroyed : 45 39 32 Peaches, Harvested : 99 91 90 :: Watermelons, Harvested : 100 100 98 Peanuts, Pegged : 99 100 100 :: : ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Condition for Week Ending August 26, 2012 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor: Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent :: Crop :Very Poor: Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent :: : Percent : :: : Cotton : 1 2 21 67 9 :: Peanuts : 1 2 22 65 10 Livestock : 0 1 21 71 7 :: Soybeans : 1 4 26 63 6 Pasture : 0 3 24 69 4 :: : --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Carolina Weekly Weather Summary for the Week Ending August 26, 2012 Rain showers moved northeastward through central South Carolina on Monday. An already wet Sardis received another 1.55 inches. Shaw AFB in Sumter measured a 24-hour total of 0.83 inches. Jamestown reported the state's highest temperature at 89 degrees. The wet weather pattern continued on Tuesday over much of the same area. Blackville received 2.21 inches; Adams Run, 1.88 inches; and Sandy Run, 1.43 inches. A mostly sunny Clemson and Kings Mountain warmed to 87 degrees. A slow- moving boundary made for cloudy, rainy conditions on Wednesday for the eastern half of the state. Heavy rains fell along the central coast. The Georgetown AP reported 1.90 inches. Wednesday's thunderstorms brought Chapin 3.01 inches of rain as measured by two separate CoCoRaHS volunteer network observers. Orangeburg and Winnsboro recorded a Wednesday high temperature of 85 degrees. Lingering showers on Thursday produced pockets of heavy rain at Socastee with 2.52 inches and at the Columbia Metro AP with 1.96 inches. Cloudy skies and northeast winds kept the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station high temperature to just 81 degrees. At 4:12 p.m., a pair of waterspouts was observed just offshore the beach of Edisto Island State Park. More stable daytime weather and noticeably cooler mornings arrived for the weekend. On Saturday morning, both Cedar Creek and Pelion cooled to 58 degrees. Darlington, Bishopville and the McEntire ANG AP reported 61 degrees. Afternoon high temperatures in the middle to upper 80's were common. Sunday started at a low temperature of 61 degrees for Walterboro. The mercury moved to 88 degrees at Greenville, Calhoun Falls, Darlington, Conway and Charleston on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was two degrees below normal. The highest official temperature reported was 91 degrees at Saluda and Columbia Metro AP on August 26. The lowest official temperature reported was 52 degrees at Jocassee on August 22. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 2.53 inches at N Inlet, Georgetown County ending at 7:00 a.m. on August 23. The state average rainfall for the period was 0.9 inches. SOIL: 4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 80 degrees, Charleston 82 degrees. RIVERS AND SURF: South Carolina river stages were near normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 81 degrees. Precipitation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location : Total : Total : Deviation : for Week : for 2012 : from Average --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greer AP : 0.30 26.70 -5.2 Anderson AP : 0.16 28.90 -0.3 Columbia Metro AP : 2.43 33.94 2.7 Orangeburg AP : 0.17 30.62 -1.9 Charlotte, NC AP : 0.03 23.17 -4.8 Augusta, GA Bush AP : 1.53 24.58 -5.7 Florence AP : 0.99 30.13 0.4 N Myrtle Beach AP : 3.44 29.66 -4.5 Charleston AP : 0.33 31.52 -2.9 Savannah, GA AP : 0.82 31.27 -2.1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly rainfall totals this period ending midnight Sunday.