Southern Indiana Drought Continues

It's been a long hot summer in Southern Indiana. The soaring heat and little rainfall have many residents concerned. Most of southern Indiana is now in the severe drought category. Rainfall levels are down several inches in most areas than what they should be for this time of year.

Signs of the drought are becoming more visible as the days go on. Trees are dying and losing their leaves, the grass in the neighborhood lawns is brown and crunchy. Local cities and towns struggle with trying to keep their trees and landscaping hydrated. Most areas just do not have the manpower to keep up with watering them.

Fire officials are urging caution as a discarded cigarette or small-attended fire could cause a large fire very quickly. Sheldon Kinser, a local volunteer fire department chief, says they consider themselves lucky they haven't had a large vegetation fire in their township recently. "I think that local residents are being smart and realizing that things are very dry and they are not even attempting to burn anything."

Local farmers are facing their own problems. A hay shortage has developed due to an under producing hay season. The dry weather has affected the first hay cutting and will make a second hay cutting almost impossible to achieve. It looks like the hay shortage will only get worse since most farmers are already feeding their livestock hay. Since the lack of rain has halted grass growth in the pastures farmers are starting on their winter hay reserves already. Some people may be faced with the reality of having to sell their beloved horses and cattle if they are unable to find or pay the soaring prices for hay and feed. Hay theft has also been reported in some areas.

The weather has also affected other crops such as corn and is expected to affect the pumpkin crops later this fall. Corn crops are drying up fast and that has led to farmers harvesting their crops early. A lot of the pumpkin plants are drying up and not producing pumpkins, which could lead to higher prices around October.