Despite rain, region still in drought

Rockingham County farmers are seeing some much-needed relief from the drought just in time for planting season.
“In growing crops, we are very dependent upon rain during the growing season,” said Scott Shoulars, Rockingham County extension agent. “We are very pleased to have the ponds full, so we have an adequate supply of water for irrigation.”
The Dan River Region saw extremely dry conditions at the start of the year, but the conditions have improved over the past few months. The Dan River is at near-normal levels, the grass is green and more rain is in the forecast for the weekend.
“The rain that just fell made up a lot of ground,” said Peter Corrigan, a hydrologist for the Na-tional Weather Service. “The river rose substantially from this last rainfall,” he said. In Danville, Va., the Dan rose from 5 1/2 to 11 feet.
But the Danville and Rockingham County area is still in a long-term drought, Corrigan said. The Dan River Basin region is in a D2, or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Corrigan predicts that the Dan River Basin will be categorized as a D1, or moderate drought area, once the U.S. Drought Monitor is updated to reflect the recent rainfall.
Corrigan said 2.21 inches of rain has fallen in Danville so far in April, which is 1.3 inches above normal. In Reidsville, 2.14 inches of rain has fallen this month, also above normal. In March, 3.11 inches of rain fell in Danville, Va., and 4.11 inches fell in Reidsville.
“Since the beginning of March, we’ve had normal rainfall amounts,” Corrigan said. January and February were unusually dry months, with Danville getting just under an inch of rain and Reids-ville receiving just more than an inch in January.
Shoulars said just enough rain has fallen since December to keep the small grain crops -- wheat, oats and barley -- in good shape. He said the recent weather has been good for strawber-ries.
“We should have very good strawberries coming in the last week of April,” Shoulars said.
“With the rain that we’ve had, it’s brought the strawberries out a little more. They’re looking really good,” said Thomas Hall, owner of Hall’s Strawberry & Vegetable Farm near the Rocking-ham, Caswell line. Hall plans to start picking in the next couple of weeks.
Shoulars said he hasn’t heard any complaints, but the recent rain has kept farmers from pre-paring their land for planting summer crops, such as corn and tobacco.
“We still are concerned about having rain when we have summer crop planting,” said Shoulars. “It’s been too damp to get the work done, and farmers are a little bit concerned about the squeeze.”
Ed Haight, who owns an apple and peach orchard in the Reidsville area, is glad to see the rain after last summer’s drought.
“We always like to see some rain come,” he said. “We didn’t even have a crop last year. We had to irrigate all summer just to keep the trees growing.” Haight’s apple trees are just starting to bloom.
Last summer, Shoulars recalls, Rockingham County went weeks at a time without receiving rain. He said a shower about once a week is all it takes to keep summer crops such as tobacco in good condition.
“As long as we’ve got adequate soil moisture, it will grow well,” he said.
“In the summertime, you need a lot of rain because of the evaporation. Conditions can deterio-rate much faster that time of year than they can in the wintertime.”

Staff Writer Miranda Baines can be reached at mbaines@reidsvillereview.com or 349-4331, ext. 35.