Severe drought No. 5 story of 2007

Years from now when people talk about the weather of 2007, it will likely be a dry conversation.

Without a lengthy deluge by the end of this month, this year will be the third driest in the Shoals since record keeping began in 1893.

The lack of rain resulted in a severe drought and catapulted the issue to No. 5 among the Top 10 local stories for 2007.

The Shoals has received 37.20 inches of rainfall this year, which is 17.58 inches below normal. Only 1943, with 30.92 inches of rain, and 1941, with 31.15 inches of rain, were drier.

"Whenever anyone talks about the weather this year, they always wind up talking about how dry it's been," said Randall Armstrong, Lauderdale County coordinator for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. "They all have a hard time remembering the last time we had a year that was this dry."

The only other year since 1963 that is among the 10 driest in the Muscle Shoals was 1987 when 39.18 inches of rain fell, according to National Weather Service records.

The lack of rain was not the only record-setting weather in the Shoals.

On Aug. 15, the temperature reached 107 degrees at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, the second hottest ever recorded in the Shoals. Only a 108-degree reading Aug. 8, 1930, was hotter.

This August was the first time since record keeping began that the temperature topped 90 degrees every day of the month.

The record-setting weather continued in December with high temperature records for the date being broken Dec. 8-10.

While a cold front finally brought winter-like temperatures to the Shoals, Steve Shumway, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Huntsville, does not hold out much hope that there will be enough rain between now and year's end to ease the deficit.

"We might get a shower or two in the next few days, but we're not going to get enough to make much of a dent in the drought," Shumway said. "In the short term, it looks like it's going to remain relatively dry."

Armstrong said a combination of the dry weather and record-setting warm temperatures took a toll on area farms this year. The yield from local cotton, corn and soybean harvests was reduced as was hay yields that were counted on to feed animals during the winter.

Many cattle farmers were forced to sell part of their herd after the scorching weather dried up their water supply and parched pastures.

Armstrong said the unseasonably warm weather in the fall was a blessing for cattle farmers who planted rye grass and other winter forages in their pastures to help make up for a lack of hay.

"Most farmers now feel if we have normal winter, they will be OK with their feed," Armstrong said. "But if it's a real hard winter, we could be in big trouble. Cattle must have more food to produce energy when it's really cold and our hay supply may not last if it's a bad winter."

Farm fields and pastures were not alone in suffering ill-effects from the drought. Lawns and landscapes throughout the Tennessee Valley withered during the hot, dry weather. As residents attempted to save their lawns and shrubs by irrigating them, several utility systems around the Shoals asked residents to conserve water to prevent overtaxing treatment plants.

The drought also hampered the Tennessee Valley Authority's efforts to produce electricity at its dams on the Tennessee River. TVA reduced releases of water from the dams in February to preserve lake levels.

Gil Francis, a spokesman for the federal utility, said its hydroelectric power generation was 52 percent of normal this year. He said average rainfall across the seven-state Tennessee Valley was 28.9 inches this year, which is 19.7 inches below normal.

Francis said the water conservation efforts allowed TVA to keep lake levels on the Tennessee River near normal this year. Its tributary lakes in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina suffered and some were more than 20 feet below normal this summer.

Francis said TVA officials are hoping for a rainy winter so it can refill the reservoirs.

"If we can get normal rainfall this winter, we should be OK next spring and summer," he said.

TVA is not alone in hoping for plenty of rainy days this winter.

Area foresters fear if the winter is dry, the spring wildfire season will be busy. Numerous wildfires were reported around the Shoals this year, including a 600-acre blaze in Franklin County and a series of arson-caused fires in Colbert County that scorched more than 300 acres in October.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.