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Rainy, cold weather messing with farmers and construction

Joe Barlow walks along the edge of planted cotton fields that are not as far along as they normally would be, because of all the rain and cool weather. He has other land that he has not planted yet, and is waiting to decide between cotton and soybeans.
Judith Lowery / Daily Press
Joe Barlow walks along the edge of planted cotton fields that are not as far along as they normally would be, because of all the rain and cool weather. He has other land that he has not planted yet, and is waiting to decide between cotton and soybeans.
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May’s unusually cold, wet weather has some Isle of Wight farmers fearing for the health of their crops and is creating hiccups with construction projects on the Peninsula.

Monday’s showers marked the 14th day it has rained in Williamsburg, the single Peninsula area where the National Weather Service recorded precipitation totals. A total 7.71 inches of rain was recorded this month so far, compared to the normal 2.8 inches. The average temperature has been 61.9 degrees, about three degrees cooler than usual.

About 4.3 inches of rain fell in Wakefield, the closest place to Isle of Wight where the National Weather Service takes measurements. The normal amount for May in that area is 2.83 inches. The average temperature has been 61.8 degrees in Wakefield, compared to a usual 64.6, according to the data.

“I don’t think I have ever seen anything this consistently cold and wet,” said Joe Barlow, who has been a farmer near Windsor for 30 years.

Barlow said he likes to have a majority of his cotton planted in the first week of May. Bad weather might push that back by three or four days, but never like what has happened this month. May’s conditions have delayed Barlow and his wife, Shelly, from planting 200 of the 500 acres of cotton they had planned, he said.

He said is also worried about the seeds already in the ground. On Monday, about an hour into a break in the rain, he pointed out where seeds had already been sewn.

“This is one of the first fields that should be growing good, and this cold weather has it sitting still,” Barlow said.

Plants thrive in soil that is warmer than 65 degrees – even warmer than that for cotton – and the weather this month has hardly allowed for that, said Janet Spencer, the agriculture extension agent for Isle of Wight County. She said this is the first time she’s seen a cool spring like this in the 11 years she has worked in the county.

That might be why cotton seeds that Lucas Braswell and his father planted over 650 acres on their farm don’t look healthy. They finished planting on Friday on their farm near Windsor, five days later than what they aimed for, Braswell said.

“This is my eighth year of farming myself, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Braswell said. “I was talking to old timers that have been farming for 50 years, and they have never seen weather like this. It’s unreal, really.”

Their cotton plants are usually “jumping out of the ground” by now, sometimes within three days, he said. This time, some of the earlier seeds that were sewn took 10 days to pop up.

Virginia is the northernmost state where cotton can be grown, where it’s more likely to get mild temperatures and pose problems for farmers, said Rex Alphin, a farmer and the chairman for the county’s Board of Supervisors. He said he has heard from many farmers about how this month’s weather has been a serious issue.

“You can’t have a crop in the ground late because it puts a lot of pressure on these crops to mature,” Alphin said.

Yield is important this year to make up for low cotton prices, said Barlow, who said he has four days left to plant the rest of his cotton. The average price for cotton dropped from 90 cents per pound in July 2014 to about 60 cents a month later, according to data from Cotton Inc. The price has stayed between 60 and 70 cents per pound since then.

Spencer said it’s too early to tell whether the conditions are going to effect yields. But if farmers don’t see consistent, healthy growth, they will have to replant, she said. And some might have to reduce their acreage and instead plant soybeans, which have a larger window of when they can be planted, she said.

Rain causing more hiccups

The rainy weather has posed some problems outside of the farm on the Peninsula.

Construction of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office shooting range, at the end of Cox Drive, has been delayed due to the rain, said Robert Krieger, the county’s operations chief.

Also in York, the rain delayed a project to overlay the Dare Elementary basketball courts with new asphalt, Krieger said. The courts still have not been painted.

Outdoor painting and staining operations have “ground to a halt” in Yorktown, he said.

The high amount of rain may also mean more pests. More mosquitoes have been found in the county’s traps early in the season, Krieger said. With city crews unable to spray herbicide on wet plants, weeds are becoming a problem at multiple locations, Krieger said. The rain has also slowed the basket and bed plantings at Riverwalk landing and caused a high amount of seaweed to wash up on Yorktown Beach.

In Newport News, the school division’s roofs have been leaking more than usual – 29 roof leaks across 14 buildings this month, said Keith Webb, the division’s executive director of plant services.

“I’d say it’s above normal, which trends with the amount of rain events we’ve had,” Webb said. “I think it’s rained 40 days and 40 nights in just 23 days.”

The World Arts Celebration, scheduled for May 21 at City Center, was postponed due to rain. The rescheduled date has not yet been announced.

Most Peninsula construction projects continued on pace, though.

Venture Apartments at Tech Center still plans to open its first building at the end of June.

“The weather slowed us down a little, but not too bad,” said Adam Ritt, vice president of Norfolk-based Hoy Construction. “We’re still on track depending on how much more of this weather we get.”

A few miles north, at the Jefferson Commons shopping center, construction continues on the Peninsula’s first Aldi grocery store.

The store, at 549 Bland Blvd., next to Kohl’s, is slated to open this summer – plans that were not affected by the rain, said Jeff Baehr, vice president of Aldi Frederick Division. The exact date of the opening has not yet been announced.

All Virginia Department of Transportation projects under way on the Peninsula remain on schedule, spokeswomen said. Those include the Route 58 bridge replacement in Isle of Wight, the Route 17 widening project in York County, the Interstate 64 widening in Newport News, and I-664 bulkhead rehabilitation in Hampton.

The good news is that the National Weather Service expects weather to improve over the next week. Rain is not in the forecast, and the high is expected to be in the 80s through Friday.

Amin can be reached by phone at 757-247-4890. Clift can be reached by phone at 757- 247-7870.