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Weather at a glance

In July 1940, the driest July on record, just 1.02 inches of rain fell.

So far this month, only 0.46 inch has fallen.

Several predicted rain and thunderstorms have missed the area this month.

Today's National Weather Service forecast offers the best opportunity for rain, with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. There is a 30 percent chance Wednesday through Friday.

Source: Marietta weather watcher Charlie Worsham and the National Weather Service.

Carl Hensler was in his fields Monday on a large irrigation machine called "Big Gun," which was spewing hundreds of gallons of Ohio River water over precious sweet corn, peppers and soybeans at Valley View Farm north of Reno.

Irrigation of this extent isn't typical in July.

"It's been awful dry up here this month," Hensler said. "It pretty much dried up after the middle of June. Some places got rain. We didn't get it."

It was this "hit-and-miss" pattern of rain in the region that has left Washington County and the Parkersburg area 2 inches shy of normal, according to Eric Barrett, educator in agriculture with the Ohio State University Extension office in Washington County.

Don't call it a drought - because it isn't. According to the National Weather Service, a drought is a prolonged period of unusually dry weather that goes on long enough "to cause serious problems such as crop damage and/or water supply shortages."

That has not happened here. "Dry" is the term that applies, Barrett said.

"Farmers will tell you there are averages, but no year is truly normal," Barrett said. "This year just happens to be a challenge. We are all waiting for rain."

The wait may not be much longer, said Charlie Worsham, local weather watcher and careful keeper of weather statistics.

"They'll likely get rain this week," he said. "There's a slow-moving system south of us, raining like mad, and once it gets here, it's likely to park itself. In addition, there's a cold front coming, and if this one misses us, the front won't."

The normal July pattern is lots of daytime thunderstorms, heat, humidity and plenty of rain.

"It's actually likely to be the driest July since 1940," Worsham said. "It's also the coolest since 1947. The big difference is because the temperature has been cool with low humidity. That's an unusual combination.

"The all-time driest July was 1940 with 1.02 inches for the month. We aren't even close to that yet," he said.

Hensler, an owner of Valley View Farm north of Reno, said his soybeans are holding their own and doing well today, but without rain very soon, the crop will face problems.

"The only area really in trouble now is about 20 acres we planted after we took sweet corn off," Hensler said. "It hasn't even got a good start yet."

He's watched the water gauge and only two days of July showed any appreciable amount of rainfall, July 9 and 17.

The good news is that the cool, dry weather in July has been outstanding for his nephew's tomatoes, which are currently being harvested.

"We planted early, in April, and that gave us a great sweet corn and tomato crop, but without rain, we may be in trouble with the rest of it," Hensler said.

Too much spring rain across Washington County, even into June, caused a lot of late planting of corn and soybeans, Barrett said. Lack of rain in July has "stressed" corn, especially, and soybeans.

It's time for field corn that was planted earlier in spring to pollinate and that isn't going to happen in the right way without water, according to Barrett. Later plantings of corn also now need water to continue normal growth to harvest in October and early November.

Little has been "normal" or average about this summer growing season, Barrett said.

"In July, we saw cool temperatures at night, warm and humid days - that was pretty strange," he said. "It was jacket weather over the weekend and when do you see that in late July?"

There are years when one area of the county gets more rain, but not this year, Barrett said.

"We're all pretty much in the same boat," he said.

Worsham said it could also be one of the coolest - maybe the coolest - July on record.

"There were only three other years with this cool of temperatures - July 1947, 1950, and 2000," he said. "There were only three without a 90-degree day. We haven't seen one this year yet."

July 2009 has had 10 to 15 days with lows in the 50s, Worsham said.

"I am pretty certain it isn't going to hit 90 degrees this week," he added. "I love the weather we are having. I run my fan and hardly have had to use the air conditioner."

Dave Marsalek, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., said Monday that chances for rain exist every day this week in the region.

"It's been hit or miss," he said. "For whatever reason, the thunderstorms predicted during July haven't gotten to your region. It's been an interesting phenomenon. We've seen a cooler and wetter pattern in many areas, but it has been 'luck of the draw.'"

Rain in July has mostly passed Marietta and Washington County by, he said.

"You are 1.86 inches below normal for the month and 4 inches since Jan. 1," Marsalek said.