Farmers in Butler County are seeing a slower crop yield after a hot, dry season that some experts say may continue for weeks, despite higher chances of rain.

“It was almost like August-type weather … happening this early in June,” said Ken Metrick, farmer and owner of the family-run Metrick’s Harvest View Farm and Market.

The market in Mount Chestnut has been in business for 32 years, when Metrick and his wife, Cathy, married and bought the 28-acre farm. Corn and strawberries are among the produce “not growing as it should” at Harvest View, Metrick said, in light of a statewide drought watch declared last week by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

“Some of the things are getting held back,” he said. “Not all crops can be irrigated effectively.”

Crops that require the most moisture are the hardest hit, said agronomist John Mark Miller, who works as a field and forage crop educator with Penn State Extension. These include corn and cereal crops, which likely have lost a little yield potential, while wheat might not recover, since it's already on its way to harvesting season.

Meanwhile, at Har-Lo Farms Inc., 505 W. Jefferson Road, corn and soybeans are struggling to get out of the ground, farmer Zach Speer said.

Miller added that the cooler nights have been a “saving grace” that will help ease the dry spell and hopefully bring a little moisture.

Not so much for strawberries, Metrick said, for which cooler nights are not ideal growing conditions.

The impact of just a little rain last week has made a big difference for the berries, said Metrick.

“We put it in the good Lord’s hands,” he said.

Dry conditions in Pennsylvania have continued for several months.

According to Deborah Klenotic, DEP deputy director of communications, there was little snowfall in many areas last winter, and this was followed by a dry spring.

The DEP monitors precipitation levels, the flow of surface waters, such as streams, groundwater levels, soil moisture and reports from public water suppliers.

“When these indicators start to show significant departures from their normal ranges over periods of three months to a year, we issue drought watch, drought warning or potentially drought emergency declarations. For a drought watch to be over, we need to see all these indicators back in their normal ranges,” she said.

Miller advises farmers and farm producers to store grain they already have and wait for higher prices if dry conditions persist and a drought does happen.

In terms of planting and fieldwork, Miller said that the best thing is for farmers to save themselves money in areas that may be affected by low rain. Skipping herbicide at this time may be one answer, he said.

At Harvest View, succession planting is helping the farm ride out the drought watch, Metrick said. Vegetables like green beans were planted in May, he said, and will be planted in succession in July. Earlier plantings may suffer from the drought watch, but “we’re still planting,” he said.

“All we can do as producers is help and pray we get more rain,” Miller said.

The DEP will continue to monitor conditions and reassess the drought watch at the next Commonwealth Drought Task Force meeting July 6, Klenotic said.

Pennsylvania’s drought watch can be traced to El Nino, said hydrologist Alicia Miller of National Weather Service Pittsburgh. The large-scale, cyclical weather event “tends to lean us a bit drier,” she said.

El Nino is driven in the wintertime, when the area of water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than usual, said Fred McMullen, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh office. Its effects become more pronounced in the summer, he said.

According to data collected by the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, monthly precipitation in Butler County has been lower than average beginning in February. Some weather stations in Butler have also recorded precipitation levels that are just below the average for this month, said John Darnley Jr., National Weather Service Pittsburgh observation program leader.

“Looking out in the long range, with guidance from the Climate Prediction Center, we are projected to run near or slightly above normal for precipitation through the remainder of the month into July,” Alicia Miller said.

But higher rates of rainfall in the next few weeks don’t necessarily indicate that dry conditions will dissipate.

“The actual amount of rainfall is not expected to be significant,” Darnley said.

“We need to continue to have some good rain events, and the two- to three-week predictions look favorable for rain, but this may still not be enough,” Alicia Miller said. Approximately 3 to 6 inches of rainfall would be needed in the region, she said.