Tennessee Drought w/pics

[topside1]

These three pictures ought to give you some perspective on how severe the drought is in Tennessee. The photos are of one of the lakes I fish on regularly, and it's also the lake that holds all of this areas purified city/county water. The water level is normally up to the mature tree line. Sure hope we get rain soon. Remember the old saying, “if it's yellow, let it mellow", “if it's brown, well you know the rest. Save water and Pray for rain!

[pasotami]

You look about like our area - Holston Lake and Watagua are about 15+ feet below normal level for this time of the year. Makes me wonder what this winter is going to be like.

[Shirley]

Wow, how awful and the only other thing green besides the trees are the weeds.

[Ravenlost]

It's looking like that here in NW MS too. Our pond is so low the dogs can walk across the middle of it. The ground is so dry and hard that when I try to water fruit trees the water just runs off instead of soaking in. And the weeds are wilted and dying!

[moonwolf]

last year in June was the start of an 11 month drought in my area. It looked worse than your pictures, I'm afraid. Though I know how you feel. It sucks to endure!
Our lake and river levels plummeted to where some places one could nearly wade across...unbelievably low and pitiful. At least your trees look much greener than they did around here. Many simply dropped their leaves way early and it looked like fall in July in many places. Grass quit growing all summer, and the forests we have so much of became so tinder dry it was a daily watch whether fires might start. I watched several forest fires stared and put out by helicopter or fire bomber within distant sight. Scarry, but what can you do. nothing, and hope for rain. It didn't come by winter and the snow cover was badly low. It drove frost so deep in the ground and what lakes had ice was several feet thicker than normal. Lots of rural water line damage from that. Life goes on, though. Things will look up. You'll see.

[off_da_grid]

It's just the same here on Norris Lake. I've never seen it this low around this time of year. All we can do is pray for rain to come soon.

[Ravenlost]

NOAA isn't predicting it to look much better in the next few months:

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...on_drought.gif

[MWG]

NC isn't much better. They have closed our swimming areas in the lake along with the boat ramps. Hay is almost impossible to find. Where we got a first cutting there won't be an second cuttings. I have given up on the garden because I can't water it enough.

[js2743]

same here in southwest virginia have been hauling water for the cattle and the grass is all dried up. im just lucky to have a timber cut for them to eat in, first cutting of hay was off 2/3 most of the time i have around 100 round bales first cutting this year i got 35 sure doesnt look good for the coming months.

[Outlaw9]

Originally Posted by pasotami

You look about like our area - Holston Lake and Watagua are about 15+ feet below normal level for this time of the year. Makes me wonder what this winter is going to be like.

Definatly hot here. I passed up free Bristol Ticks this weeked cause of the heat.

[BeeFree]

That looks about like our area around Doniphan, MO
It is so hot, dry and dusty, I expect to see some tumbleweeds, just like I see on TV.

[shana1]

Im in Western KY and we are going though it too, our water that comes out of our tap now has a funky taste of dirt and now clorine because the city water is at the bottom of the water table, its nasty.

Tommorrow they are talking about maybe some rain, we have a 30% chance. Sadly where my town is at that means we probably wont get any. It has only rained .25 of a inch in 2 months or more. All my poor plants have died and we have only mowed twice this year. Usually it is a weekly or twice a month type thing. Of course my dh is not complaining,lol, but i am i love green grass and well its more of a brown now and looks so sad.

[rkintn]

It looks like there in my little spot in NW TN as well. I noticed on my bus route yesterday that some of the corn just looks burnt up and there has been no fire. Just awful! It is very heartwrenching to the weather channel and see rain on the radar just part and go around our area! I certainly hope everyone where ever that needs rain gets rain soon.

[Ford8N]

That's what it looked like around here in July. Now we just had one of the wettest Augusts on record and many floods.

[springledge]

I am in Western KY too and yep...it's bad!

[Tricky Grama]

Shoot fire! If that was TX, you wouldn't have anything there except cracked dirt! Usually. Of course this summer we had a FOOT more rain than we should have had.

[Beeman]

That looks pretty good, You're a ways west of me. Here everyone's pond is dry, the trees are losing leaves and or dieing. The grass is burned to a crisp. I have rain barrles on gutters, they haven't collected an inch or two in over a month, that's an inch or two in the barrel off of a whole roof. Garden is a joke. Friends are hauling water for cattle and square bales of hay are over $7 and rising.
Kids put the canoe in the Holston river the other day, they had to get out and push it in a lot of places. Clinch river you can walk across, it's knee deep in places.

[AngieM2]

N. AL is in the super drought area also. I'm of the opinion that N. Panhandle of TX got our AL weather, and we got their dry aird, no rain high dessert weather this year.

Angie

[Silvercreek Farmer]

We have been blessed with a few thunderstorms over the past several days, and now the grass is starting to green up, my sheep are very pleased! Not enough to make up for the past 6 months but something is better than nothing!

[Jim S.]

John, we got nearly 3 inches of rain in Lincoln County Friday night, I am proud to report. But my ponds are still lower than I have ever seen them. I took some pix, but haven't uploaded them yet.

"The Tennessean" paper said the two big main springs at Red Boiling Springs, TN, both suddenly went from a torrent to a trickle last week. They are now using a third spring they haven't used in years for the town's water. Washing your car results in a $300 fine.