Daily Journal of Johnson County and wire reports
Indiana's second-driest May on record has left fields dusty, lawns brown and gardeners worried about plants just starting to sprout.
Fears are rising that a drought could ruin farmers' hopes of capitalizing on high corn prices driven by the booming ethanol industry.
Central Indiana has gotten about two inches less rain than is typical for May, according to WISH-TV forecasters.
Average rainfall for the region in May so far should be 3.24 inches, but just over an inch of has fallen so far.
It's early in the season, and forecasts call for above-normal precipitation during the next two weeks, but that hasn't calmed farmers' worries, said Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue University.
At home, Johnson County residents see the effects of the lack of rain in their front yards as grass turns brown, said Kimberly Moore, Purdue Extension educator for Johnson County.
The grass is not dying, though. Instead, lawns will go dormant as a defense mechanism. Lawns will come out of the dormant period on their own without watering, she said.
Some plants, especially new seedlings, have started to wilt, Moore said. During dry spells, she suggests giving perennials a good watering once a week.
Plants also are suffering because they aren't getting moisture from morning dew, she said.
Don't expect damage to trees yet. Their roots are deep enough they can tap into water further underground, Moore said.
Farmers and the markets are expected to remain skittish about the summer's shifting weather because demand remains high for corn to fuel ethanol plants, Hurt said. Strong demand for the grain is already pushing up food costs.
"Even a hiccup in the weather is going to have the (agriculture) markets and even the food sector really nervous. I think the word for it is 'hypersensitive,'" he said. "The Chicago Board of Trade is on top of the weather forecast minute by minute."
Based on records going back 112 years, this has been Indiana's driest May since 1934 - in the midst of the Dust Bowl days - when an average of 1.12 inches of rain fell across the state, said Dev Niyogi, the state's climatologist.
With a week remaining in May, an average of 1.18 inches of rain has fallen across Indiana based on measurements taken at several weather stations, he said. May's normal average precipitation in Indiana is 4.46 inches, said Niyogi, an assistant professor of agronomy and earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.