NASHVILLE – Governor Bill Haslam today requested a secretarial designation of natural disaster for agriculture for 34 counties, including Wilson County, as a result of drought and excessive heat during last year’s growing season.
The counties include Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Crockett, Cumberland, Dickson, Fentress, Franklin, Gibson, Giles, Grundy, Haywood, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Johnson, Lake, Lawrence, Lincoln, Macon, Maury, Montgomery, Morgan, Obion, Robertson, Scott, Shelby, Smith, Stewart, Trousdale, Van Buren, White, Wilson and Wayne.
The counties are in addition to 42 other counties requested by former Governor Phil Bredesen and approved by the USDA last year for the same disaster.
“These represent strong agricultural counties that weren’t able to demonstrate qualifying losses until after harvesting was complete,” said Haslam. “Farming is a tough and often unpredictable business, and this assistance will help our farmers recover from a difficult year.”
Haslam made the request in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. A secretarial disaster designation would make farmers in these and adjoining counties eligible to apply for low-interest loans, supplemental farm payments and other assistance through their local USDA Farm Service Agency.
Farmers in the affected counties have reported crop losses generally ranging from 30 to 50 percent, and higher in some cases, for corn, soybeans, cotton, hay as well as some specialty crops such as fruits, vegetables and nursery stock. Livestock producers also reported feeding winter stocks of hay earlier than normal last fall due to very poor pasture conditions.
“Overall, crop production was below average last season and yields varied from county to county and from farm to farm,” said Agriculture Commissioner Julius Johnson. “Federal assistance will be important for farmers who are already preparing for planting season.”
Counties that have already received a secretarial designation of natural disaster due to drought include Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Carroll, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Dyer, Fayette, Greene, Hamilton, Henry, Hickman, Jefferson, Knox, Lauderdale, Lewis, Loudon, Marion, Marshall, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Moore, Perry, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Rutherford, Sequatchie, Sevier, Sullivan, Sumner, Tipton, Unicoi, Union, Warren, Washington, Weakley and Williamson.
For the latest information on last year’s crop harvest, visit the USDA-NASS Tennessee Field Office website at www.nass.usda.gov/tn.
By Bobby Boyd, Meteorologist
National Weather Service, Nashville, TN
Nashville was colder and drier than normal with the temperature averaging 2.4 degrees below normal. It was the 29th coldest January in the last 140 years of record keeping.
Precipitation totaled 2.31 inches which was 1.66 inches below normal. This was the driest January since 2003.
Snowfall totaled 5.9 inches which was the most snow in the month of January since 2003. The most snow ever in January is 18.8 inches back in 1948.
There were five days in which the temperature did not reach 32 degrees. In contrast, January 2010 had 11 days in which the temperature did not climb to the 32 degree mark. The record is 18 days set back in January 1978.
How does this winter's cold and snow compare to normal?
The first two months of the meteorological winter of 2010 and 2011 have been colder than normal.
December 2010 and January 2011 are the 11th coldest December and January on record.
There have been five snow events this winter season.
Snowfall for December 2010 totaled 4.5 inches making it the snowiest December since 1967 when 8.4 inches fell. The most snow ever in the month of December is 13.2 inches back in 1963.
Combined snowfall for December 2010 and January 2011 is 10.4 inches. That's the most snow for the combined months of December and January since December 1984 and January 1985 when 10.6 inches fell.
The 10.4 inches of snow this winter is the most since the winter of 2002 and 2003 when 15.1 inches fell. Normal snowfall for a winter season is 9 inches.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority and Regional Transportation Authority have suspended all bus and train services for Monday (May 3) due to sever flooding on a large number of roads in Davidson County and other nearby counties, including Wilson.
AccessRide customers who have booked reservations for Monday will need to have the trips rescheduled until the buses and vans can resume their regular schedules. The Nashville MTA facilities on Nestor Street have been the victim of flooding. The facilities are located on the banks of the Cumberland River.
The RTA's regional bus services from outlying areas will not operate on Monday. The routes include service from Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne, Franklin, Brentwood, Thompson's Station, Spring Hill, Gallatin and Hendersonville.
Due to damage to a bridge in downtown Lebanon, the Music City Star will not operate on Monday. The bridge is located at the intersection of Highway 231 near Short Street. Construction personnel have been working on the repairs but could not complete them prior to Monday due to the severe weather.
As a precautionary measure, MTA personnel relocated its fleet of buses from the Nestor Street garage to the Nashville Public Schools bus lot near the fairgrounds on Sunday.
MTA Customer Care personnel are on duty at Music City Central to answer calls and will remain on duty as long as possible. The telephone number is 615-862-5950. However, due to problems with the phone lines, not all calls are getting through. Customers are asked to check the nashvillemta.org website for updates.
New Leash On Life volunteers and staff, along with the Wilson County DART team, evacuated the Almost Home Adoption Center in Lebanon late Saturday (May 1, 2010) night. The flooding grounds and water entering the building prompted safety concerns. All 51 of the dogs and cats housed in the adoption center were safely transported to the Wilson County Fairgrounds.
New Leash On Life is asking those who want to help to please make a donation online at www.newleashonline.org/donate to help the organization's recovery efforts. There is damage to the facility. The extent of the damage is currently unknown, but staff ventured inside on Sunday in an effort to clean up and assess the damage. Donations will be needed in order to repair the damage caused by the storm.
Concerned citizens are encouraged to stay home and stay and to check the New Leash On Life Facebook page for updates.
I wish we could have all spent the recent snow storm bundled up in our homes, drinking hot chocolate and watching our children and grandchildren enjoy their snow sleds. Ahhhh, to be young again. But with age comes responsibility and, unfortunately, we have to get out of our driveways and face the real world.
This winter storm event has resulted in several calls to City Hall asking what the city was doing to clear the streets. Our Street Department started spreading salt and a calcium chloride/sand mix on the primary routes Friday morning. These primary routes put most citizens within three to four blocks of a treated street. Later on Friday afternoon, we were able to cover the secondary routes, which got several neighborhoods even closer to a treated street. The streets were in good enough condition to get people home safely Friday afternoon.
Friday night brought the additional sleet and snow along with the single-digit temperatures. Saturday morning came with no sunshine. Salt doesn't work in temperatures below 20 degrees, and the calcium chloride/sand mix did what it could. The Street Department continued to add additional salt and sand mix to the roads after attempts to plow were made. Plowing the streets was not very successful due to the frozen compaction of the snow and sleet.
Sunday, the sun came out, temperatures began to rise, the chemical went to work and roads began to slush up. Crews were able to be successful by partially plowing the major routes. On Monday, crews were out early working on major and secondary routes with more success.
This winter storm far exceeded our capabilities and resources. Over 200 hours of overtime was used just to make the progress we made. I would like to commend their efforts. Your city employees were on-duty and doing their best to ensure your safety.
We have four salt spreaders (years ago, I'm told we had six). We have three snow plows and a limited amount of salt. Our manpower and equipment can easily handle the 1-to-2-inch snows, but not the perfect storm events. (First time in 10 years).
Over the years, we have added more roads to be maintained, using less equipment and manpower. This time, it bit us in the butt. If we were to have a snow storm tonight, we would have only one plow and two spreaders to fight the battle. The others are broken down for now. Hopefully, they will be road-ready before the next storm.
If we want to raise the bar of service, we will have to consider equipment needs, manpower and salt supplies. All this will come with a high cost during hard times. Storms of this caliber are not typical for our area.
This was a significant winter storm. We will continue to evaluate our actions, our priorities and are open to any suggestions anyone might have.
Amidst all the inconvenience, I hope you were able to enjoy the wonderment we once felt as those snowflakes began to fall.
(ARA) - Jack Frost is nipping at your pet's nose. Winter is here again, and cold weather can be uncomfortable and dangerous to your pet.
"In colder regions of the country, pet owners should already know that they need to make accommodations for their pets, but winter can be hard on a pet even in warmer states, like Georgia, where I work," says Dr. Larry R. Corry, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). "While we don't get a lot of snow, it does get cold in the winter, and when it gets below freezing, our recommendation is that pet owners get their pets inside."
Here are the AVMA's top 10 winter tips for pet owners:
* Even if you own a sled dog, living outside during the depths of winter is very difficult. If you must keep your dog outside year round, remember that dogs must be allowed time to get acclimated to the cold with the change of the seasons. This builds up a winter coat they will need to survive. Corry recommends that dog owners with outside dogs double check to make sure their dog's housing is well insulated, including straw or padding to sleep on.
"If you want to heat a doghouse, be careful to ensure that the heat source is installed properly so that the animal cannot be hurt," he says. "If you can't or won't bring the animal into your home, consider bringing it inside a garage on bitter cold days."
* Corry also advises pet owners to refrain from taking their pets near frozen ponds. Many dogs and cats fall through or sometimes are cast adrift on an ice float.
* Keep your pet away from antifreeze with ethylene glycol. It's sweet and extremely lethal, even in small doses. The AVMA provides a brochure and video on this and other household hazards and poisons.
* Honk your horn or pound on the hood before starting your car on cold days. To a cat, a warm engine block can seem like a nice escape from cold winter winds.
* Carbon monoxide is just as lethal to pets as it is for people. Make sure your home has a carbon monoxide detector, and, if you bring your pet from the outdoors into a garage during the winter, make sure exhaust fumes from your car aren't allowed to build up inside.
* Cold air is dry air, so your pet can become dehydrated easily in the winter. Give him plenty of fresh water. If the bowl of water you put outside for your dog or cat freezes, it's of no use to the animal.
* Road salt and ice melting products are not only irritating to the pads on your pet's feet, but when your pet cleans itself by licking off these chemicals and ingesting them, they can cause gastrointestinal problems. Wash your pet's feet after she's been outdoors.
* Consider booties for your dog's feet. Booties help prevent ice balls between the toes that can be both painful and do damage to the toe pads.
* Be careful about candles, space heaters and fireplaces - pets can get burned and even set the house on fire.
* Pay close attention to your older pet in winter, especially if he suffers from arthritis. Arthritic pain is even worse in icy winds and cold temperatures. Seek the advice of your veterinarian to help your pet cope with arthritis.
For more information about animal health, visit www.avma.org.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
Middle Tennessee Electric officials want to remind its members that cold weather snaps can push electric bills upwards.
“With much below average temperatures in the forecast, it’s important to remember that we can’t control the weather, but we can curb our home’s energy usage,” MTEMC Communications Coordinator Todd Palmer said. “When temperatures plummet, electric bills typically go up.”
Palmer says that’s because the colder weather makes your heat-and-air units, your homes biggest strain on your electric bill, run a lot harder.
“Since your heat-and-air unit accounts for more than 50 percent of your electric bill, the more it runs, the higher your bill will be,” Palmer said. “Cutting it back even a degree can save you as much as three percent on your home’s electric bills.”
Middle Tennessee Electric serves power to its approximately 180,000 member customers in Cannon, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties.
10 Quick Ways to Save Today
1. Take a quick inventory of your home and see what you might be able to turn off or unplug – cell phone chargers, TVs, lights when you leave a room.
2. Set the thermostat to the lowest comfortable temperature. Moving the thermostat down one degree means as much as a three-percent reduction in your electric bill.
3. Keep heating system filters clean.
4. Keep air vents clear of obstructions.
5. Open blinds/drapes on the sunny side of the house during the day, but close them at night.
6. Compact fluorescent lamps can replace bulbs in most table lamps and will save up to 75 percent in lighting energy, produce more light and last up to 10 times longer.
7. Wash full loads of clothes in the coolest water possible. Rinse clothes in cold water.
8. Keep the temperature between 36 degrees and 40 degrees in the refrigerator and 0 degrees and 5 degrees in the freezer. Use a refrigerator/freezer thermometer to check the settings.
9. Stop the dryer as soon as clothes are dry, or use the moisture sensor control to automatically shut off the dryer. Overdrying wastes energy and sets in wrinkles.
10. Dry loads one right after another. You'll use less energy because the dryer is already heated.
More tips can be found on the cooperative’s website at www.mtemc.com.
