sc-crop-weather State South Carolina Crop Weather Release Date, Week Ending Date Week Ending July 10, 2005 Issue SC-CW1420 Agricultural Summary Last week brought heavy rains to many parts of South Carolina. Tropical Depression Cindy moved through on Wednesday and Thursday and some outer rain bands were felt from Hurricane Dennis over the weekend. Widespread crop damage was reported for those commodities in low lying fields across the state. Tropical conditions last week provided ideal developmental conditions for cotton and helped to speed up the progress of other field crops. Soil moisture was 1 % very short, 9 % short, 66 % adequate and 24 % surplus. There were 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork. Field Crops Report CORN condition continued to improve due to continued heavy rains with silking almost complete. SOYBEAN planting should wrap up this week as developmental stages catch up to normal. COTTON squaring and boll setting continued well behind normal but overall condition was mostly good. SORGHUM planting should wrap up this week and was 99 percent completed with the crop in good condition. PEANUT pegging was ahead of normal and the crop was in mostly good condition. Plants are entering the early pod formation stage and producers are hoping soil moisture levels can hold up. TOBACCO topping was 70 percent completed. Some producers were busy removing bottom leaves for contract purposes. The crop was in fair to good condition. SWEET POTATO planting was completed. Fruits, Vegetables, and Specialty Crops Report WATERMELON and CANTALOUPE harvest were behind normal but started to move rapidly and the crops remained in fair to good condition. Vegetable harvest continued to make progress and catch up to normal. SNAP BEAN harvest was 89 percent completed, CUCUMBER harvest was 92 percent completed and TOMATO harvest was 82 percent complete. Thirty-nine percent of the PEACH crop had been harvested by week's end and the crop was in mostly good condition. APPLE condition was fair to mostly good. Small Grains, Pastures and Livestock Report LIVESTOCK and PASTURES remained in mostly good condition. SMALL GRAIN harvest neared completion. Heavy rains and wet fields have kept producers from normal harvesting activities. Crops Progress Table ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Yr : 5 Yr Crop Phase 2005 2004 Avg :Crop Phase 2005 2004 Avg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --Percent-- --Percent-- Barley Ripe 100 99 100 :Rye Harvested 93 98 98 Barley Harvested 93 95 98 :Snap Beans Harvested 89 94 90 Cantaloups Harvested 61 82 80 :Sorghum Planted 99 100 99 Corn Silked 98 98 96 :Sorghum Headed 60 73 61 Corn Dough Stage 55 57 58 :Sorghum Turned Color 20 28 23 Corn Matured 1 3 14 :Soybeans Planted 99 100 99 Cotton Squared 60 77 69 :Soybeans Emerged 95 99 97 Cotton Bolls Set 8 17 16 :Soybeans Bloomed 13 19 17 Cucumbers Harvested 92 100 99 :Soybeans Pods Set 2 3 5 Grain Hay Harvested 100 100 100 :Sweetpotato Planted 100 100 99 Other Hay Harvested 36 52 52 :Tobacco Topped 70 82 80 Oats Ripe 100 100 100 :Tobacco Harvested 8 9 8 Oats Harvested 93 99 99 :Tomatoes Harvested 82 83 83 Peaches Harvested 39 40 47 :Watermelons Harvested 50 75 73 Peanuts Pegged 59 58 51 :Winter Wht. Harvested 96 99 99 Rye Ripe 100 100 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crop Condition Report ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very Excel- Very Excel- Crop Poor Poor Fair Good lent :Crop Poor Poor Fair Good lent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Percent -- -- Percent-- Apples 0 0 40 60 0 :Peanuts 0 1 15 76 8 Cantaloups 0 7 62 31 0 :Sorghum 0 0 2 97 1 Corn 0 3 15 67 15 :Soybeans 0 3 19 70 8 Cotton 0 1 20 75 4 :Sweetpotato 0 0 70 25 5 Hay 0 4 22 65 9 :Tobacco 0 6 28 60 6 Livestock 0 0 16 78 6 :Tomatoes 0 0 31 69 0 Pastures 0 2 15 75 8 :Watermelons 0 4 62 34 0 Peaches 1 1 3 85 10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Carolina Weekly Weather Summary for the Week Ending July 10, 2005 Hot and humid conditions were observed early in the week. At 1:00 pm on Tuesday, Myrtle Beach reported a heat index value of 111 degrees. Decaying Tropical Depression Cindy affected the state late Wednesday night and Thursday morning with flooding rains. Berea, in Greenville County, measured an event total of 5.20 inches. Pickens, Greenville and Spartanburg Counties all experienced flash flooding. Roads were closed, bridges were damaged, and several evacuations and rescues were necessary. A mostly sunny day was observed on Friday before the outermost rain bands from Florida’s Hurricane Dennis began lifting north into coastal South Carolina. Tropical rains on Saturday produced flooding across Berkeley and Charleston Counties. For the period, the State average temperature was one degree below normal. The highest official temperature reported was 96 degrees at Ft. Moultrie on July 5. The lowest official temperature reported was 55 degrees at Caesars Head on the morning of July 8. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall reported was 4.68 inches at Greer NWS on July 7. The average Statewide rainfall for the period was 0.8 inches. SOIL: 4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 82 degrees. RIVERS AND SURF: South Carolina river stages were above normal. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 84 degrees. Precipitation Weekly Jan 1 Deviation Total Total From Avg Greer 4.69 33.5 6.0 Columbia 0.43 22.2 -3.9 Orangeburg 0.14 22.6 -2.9 Charlotte, NC 0.52 24.1 0.9 Augusta, GA 0.50 30.7 5.9 Florence 0.45 22.6 -0.5 Myrtle Beach 0.50 16.0 -5.2 Charleston 1.23 22.5 -3.3 Savannah, GA 0.81 24.7 -0.1 Weekly rainfall totals this period ending midnight Sunday. Contact Information Robert A. Graham, Director Stephen Pavlasek, Jr, Deputy Director Phone: 803-765-5333 E-mail: nass-sc@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/sc