sc-crop-weather South Carolina Weekly Weather and Crop Progress Report Released: October 15, 2012 Week Ending Date: October 14, 2012 Issue: SC-CW004212 GENERAL Drier weather helped farmers continue to harvest crops, and plant small grains. Conditions were down slightly for most crops, but still remained mostly good. South Carolina soil moisture was rated at 3% very short, 29% short, and 68% adequate. There was a State average of 6.4 days that were suitable for fieldwork. FIELD CROPS There is only a small amount of CORN that has yet to be harvested. COTTON bolls were 87% opened, five points behind last year, and six behind the five- year average. Twelve percent of the crop has been harvested compared with 31% last year, and 27% for the five-year average. Conditions improved minimally, and were at 2% poor, 20% fair, 65% good, and 13% excellent. OAT planting was ongoing with 14% of the crop seeded, moving ahead of 11% last year, and the five-year average of 13%. PEANUT harvest continued to be very active and was 60% complete by the end of the week, compared to 42% last year, and 53% for the five-year average. Conditions for the crop were dropped a little from the previous week and were 3% poor, 24% fair, 62% good and 11% excellent. SOYBEANS have bloomed with ninety-nine percent of the crop having set pods. Cooler temperatures have changed color for most of the crop. Harvest has begun. Conditions were down marginally to 4% poor, 24% fair, 63% good, and 9% excellent. The remaining TOBACCO stalks in fields have been disked. WINTER GRAZINGS plantings continued at 52% complete with 27% having emerged. WINTER WHEAT seeding also continued with 29% of the crop planted, and 6% emerged. OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST PASTURE conditions declined with the drier weather and were 4% poor, 28% fair, 64% good, and 4% excellent. LIVESTOCK conditions also declined, but only very slightly. They were reported at 2% poor, 17% fair, 77% good, and 4% excellent. Crop Progress for Week Ending October 14, 2012 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop and Stage : 2012 : 2011 :5-Yr Avg :: Crop and Stage : 2012 : 2011 :5-Yr Avg ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent :: : Percent : :: : Corn, Harvested : 99 100 100 :: Soybeans, Leaves Dropped : 20 20 31 Cotton, Bolls Opened : 87 92 93 :: Soybeans, Mature : 12 14 17 Cotton, Harvested : 12 31 27 :: Soybeans, Harvested : 3 6 5 Oats, Planted : 14 11 13 :: Tobacco, Stalks Destroyed : 100 89 96 Oats, Emerged : 5 2 3 :: Winter Grazings, Planted : 52 46 45 Peanuts, Harvested : 60 42 53 :: Winter Grazings, Emerged : 27 20 17 Soybeans, Pods Set : 99 100 100 :: Winter Wheat, Planted : 29 22 14 Soybeans, Turned Color : 58 60 67 :: Winter Wheat, Emerged : 6 4 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Condition for Week Ending October 14, 2012 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor: Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent :: Crop :Very Poor: Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent :: : Percent : :: : Cotton : 0 2 20 65 13 :: Peanuts : 0 3 24 62 11 Livestock : 0 2 17 77 4 :: Soybeans : 0 4 24 63 9 Pasture : 0 4 28 64 4 :: : --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Carolina Weekly Weather Summary for the Week Ending October 14, 2012 Rains fell from gray skies on Monday. At noon, light rain was falling at Columbia, Sumter and Florence. At 2:55 p.m., the Marion and Walterboro airports reported "heavy rain." Monday's high temperature at Hunts Bridge and Long Creek was a chilling 51 degrees. Tuesday morning, 24-hour rainfalls included 1.90 inches at Mullins, 1.86 inches at Givhans, 1.79 inches at Cades and 1.60 inches at Gallivants Ferry. Under overcast conditions, Florence, Orangeburg and Myrtle Beach reported 55 degrees at 12:00 p.m. Slow clearing from the southwest was observed during the afternoon hours. Much cooler air arrived by Wednesday morning. The Hartsville AP recorded a sunrise temperature of 43 degrees. At 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, the N Myrtle Beach AP noted northeast winds of 16 mph, gusting to 22 mph. The Thursday morning, 11:42 a.m., Springmaid Pier surf water temperature of 72.7 degrees represented a seven degree drop since Sunday. At 4:00 p.m., the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort noted clear skies and 74 degrees. Partly sunny conditions and light winds allowed Friday afternoon temperatures to warm back into the 80's. Orangeburg, McCormick and Pinopolis reached 82 degrees. A weak boundary influenced the state on Saturday with cooler northeast winds. Andrews recorded the warmest temperature on Saturday at 75 degrees. Much of South Carolina observed a mild and seasonal Sunday. Allendale and Dillon warmed to 83 degrees. The state average temperature for the period was five degrees below normal. The highest official temperature reported was 86 degrees at Edisto Beach on October 14. The lowest official temperature reported was 40 degrees at Caesars Head on October 9, Pelion and Saluda on October 10, Hunts Bridge, Ninety Nine Islands, Spartanburg, Walhalla and Hunts Bridge on October 11, and at Cedar Creek on October 12. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.96 inches at Edisto Island ending at 7:00 a.m. on October 8. The state average rainfall for the period was 0.4 inches. SOIL: 4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 71 degrees, Charleston 73 degrees. RIVERS AND SURF: South Carolina river stages were near to below normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 73 degrees. Precipitation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location : Total : Total : Deviation : for Week : for 2012 : from Average --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greer AP : 0.00 32.03 -5.5 Anderson AP : 0.00 33.50 -1.3 Columbia Metro AP : 0.45 37.34 0.4 Orangeburg AP : 0.61 36.29 -2.7 Charlotte, NC AP : 0.00 28.91 -4.6 Augusta, GA Bush AP : 0.06 30.21 -5.5 Florence AP : 0.23 34.92 -0.8 N Myrtle Beach AP : 0.36 32.23 -11.4 Charleston AP : 0.84 38.02 -5.7 Savannah, GA AP : 0.34 37.68 -3.3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly rainfall totals this period ending midnight Sunday.