WASHINGTON, DC (News First) – Farmers in the Southeast are bracing for another tropical storm. Gary Crawford and USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey have more.
Producers in the southeast are paying more close attention to weather forecasts this week trying to get an early answer to this question. What happens with what will soon become a tropical storm or hurricane Helene? USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says Helene is likely to be a full-fledged hurricane by the time it comes ashore somewhere along the eastern Gulf Coast. The crop most likely to suffer wind and rain damage, of course, would be cotton whose bowls are open. And Rippey told us… “Georgia, a significant cotton production state, has 68 percent of the bowls open on September 22nd. And again, we will carefully watch that in the days ahead as this tropical system barrels toward the southeastern U.S.” In Washington, this is Gary Crawford reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
