Anderson remains in severe drought status.
After receiving 2 full inches of rainfall Wednesday, downtown Anderson’s 2017 total is nearly 2 inches below normal for the first 95 days of the year.
"There has been some conspicuous improvement in the upper levels of the soil and the near term looks good for the beginning of the planting season, but at the deeper levels the soil is still very dry."
"These upper Savannah reservoirs look like what you would see during a long hot, dry summer," said Chastain, a Pickens County resident and the West Area representative on the drought committee.
According to the South Carolina Forestry Commission, wildfire activity in March was 70 percent higher than usual for this time of the year.
The Upstate counties will remain in their current drought statuses due to low stream flow levels and notable declines in water levels for reservoirs in the Savannah and Saluda Basins.
The recent rains improved stream flow conditions, but those improved conditions are expected to only be temporary.
The committee will meet again before the end of May to discuss drought conditions and change county drought statuses if necessary.
“Rains over the last two weeks have accelerated field preparation and corn planting,” S.C. Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Aaron Wood stated.
“Winter wheat, cool-season pasture, spring forage, and early-season vegetable yields look to be down because of poor growing conditions.”