FRANKFORT, Ky. — Weather patterns in the region have experienced shifts from dry to wet periods since the beginning of the year. For many farmers, the shift during this growing season has been to excessive moisture.

Matt Dixon, a meteorologist at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, said so far this season most areas in the state have received about 10 inches of extra moisture.

“If you go back 180 days, the state, on average, is at about 33 inches, which is 7 inches above normal and the Bluegrass area is about 10 inches above normal,” he said.

That’s doesn’t include some of the heavy rains last week. The Kentucky Mesonet Weather Data System recorded rainfall in some areas around 2 inches last Thursday.

Dixon pointed to flash floods the current string of heavy downpours has caused. Johnson County, located in eastern Kentucky, has received nearly 9 inches of rain, causing damage from floods and loss of lives.

Many other counties have suffered damage from the severe storms too.

Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency last week to allow local officials immediate access to state resources to assist in public safety and recovery efforts.

“The declaration is a part of the process to identify what assistance is needed in these counties because of the storms,” his office stated. “We will work with our local and federal partners to measure damage and make sure each community has access to appropriate resources.”

Dixon said the weather outlook for the remainder of the month is calling for below-normal precipitation. He also pointed out just a month ago, some areas in the state were creeping back into a moderate drought stage.

“Here in the Ohio Valley, patterns can shift quite dramatically,” he said. “We started the year with well below normal precipitation. Then we got into March and had major snowfall events and it stayed wet going into early April.”

That wet period caused some farmers to get behind in planting. But conditions dried out again until mid-June.

With this latest round of excessive moisture, some crops have suffered more than others. Hay producers have had difficulties getting their first and now second cuttings complete, while tobacco producers may be looking at reduced yields.

Bob Pearce, a UK extension tobacco specialist, said there have been a lot of challenges for producers thus far this season.

“With the amount of rain we’ve had and over the length of time that we’ve had the rain, we’ve got some areas where there’s a significant amount of drowning and some areas with wind damage,” he said. “The tobacco is yellower than it should be; there’s a lot of spotting on the bottom of it. Some of that is nutrient deficiency; some of that is probably target spot and those types of things, and it’s all related to the wet weather.”

While all these are concerns to producers, Pearce said blue mold has yet to make its way into Kentucky tobacco fields even though it has shown up in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

“I don’t fully understand why we don’t have it, but it’s a good thing we don’t, with the weather we’ve had,” said Pearce. “I certainly wouldn’t advocate that growers let their guard down on it yet. It very well could show up.”

One thing tobacco producers can likely expect are decreased yields once this crop is harvested, which Pearce said is the hallmark of a wet weather crop. But, he said this crop has a lot of growing to do and time to compensate yet.

For corn growers, Kentucky’s crop looks good at the moment. Chad Lee, UK grain crops specialist, said overall corn is in really good shape, with some pockets of water and hail damage.

“We probably need to start looking for diseases in the field. We’ve got really good climate for that at the moment and I hope we get some favorable weather to help us finish out,” he added.