And even though it seems like every day's weather report promises some rain, it doesn't seem to actually... drop.
Earl F. "Buddy" Hance, a fifth-generation Calvert County farmer, says he hasn't seen a drought like this in almost a quarter-century.
"My corn crop, I figure I've lost 80 to 90 percent," he said yesterday. "And soy, I have very limited potential for making a crop. We haven't had significant rainfall where I live for two months."
Hance, who is also Maryland's deputy secretary of agriculture, says the grim news is echoing across Maryland. Scant rainfall during the prime growing season has damaged as much as 60 percent of the corn crop and 50 percent of the soybeans, hay and pasture grass in Southern Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore.
Yesterday's thunderstorms, which briefly dumped rain in scattered pockets across the region, were nothing resembling drought relief. The National Weather Service said more teasing from isolated thunderstorms is expected today.
Around the region, suburban lawns have turned to straw, and officials have asked residents of Mount Airy, Westminster and Frederick to cut back on their water consumption as the dry weather enters its fourth month.
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has received barely half its average rainfall since May 1 - just 6 inches. Without an isolated thunderstorm at the airport July 10, that would be closer to 4 inches.
Nearly 85 percent of the state is in "moderate" to "severe" drought, up from 37 percent a week ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's the third drought in Maryland since 2002.
