FORECAST SUMMARY: Wednesday, June 18:
***** Disease Update - 18 June ***** We have the first reports of blue mold from Tennessee. Our thanks to Buddy Bourne (field agronomist with the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company), Paul Hart (Robertson County Extension Director), and Steve Bost.... who inform us of two outbreaks of blue mold in Robertson County, TN. Both of these reports are in fields of burley tobacco near the town of Adams. One outbreak is in a small section of a larger field measuring 30ft X 30ft. Numerous lesions are present with heavy sporulation. The other outbreak involves a 5-acre field where most plants are showing symptoms, though not severely. Recent weather has been quite favorable. Other infections may exist but remain undiscovered, as the weather has been too wet for many growers to inspect their fields. This source is being added to the forecasts.
***** Rainy weather continues in the eastern U.S. *** A warm front and a low pressure area moving through the Southeast.... and a cold front approaching the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic from the northwest.... will combine to produce favorable conditions for disease development Wednesday and Thursday. Skies will be partly to mostly cloudy, with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms mainly during the afternoons and evenings. Heavy rains are possible in some areas. On Wednesday.... there is HIGH Risk for northern FL, southern GA, most of SC, the southern Appalachian Mountains, and near the source in central TN (northwest counties of central TN, southwest counties of central KY - parts of the Mammoth Cave and Pennyrile areas). Strongly Moderate Risk for central NC. Low Risk otherwise. On Thursday..... trajectories from FL, GA, and SC will be moving northeast. Trajectories from the mountains and central TN will be moving east. HIGH Risk Thursday for northern FL, southern GA, the southern Appalachian Mountains, north-central TN, and south-central KY. Strongly Moderate Risk for central and eastern SC and eastern NC. Moderate Risk for western NC and eastern TN (except the mountains). Low Risk otherwise. Drier weather is coming for most areas this weekend.
TK
Areas at Strongly Moderate or HIGH Risk during the past week: northern FL, southern GA, central and eastern SC, central and eastern NC, the southern Appalachian Mountains, north-central TN, south-central KY
Current Sources:
Previous Sources:
Pinar del Rio, Cuba
Santiago, Dominican Republic
Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico
Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico
Corpus Christi, Texas
Local Weather in North Carolina is available from the WRAL-TV5 Weather Center, which also has links to other weather sites.
***** NOTE: These forecasts/outlooks only apply to disease development from airborne transport of spores!!! We do not have the capability to ascertain blue mold development by other means, such as transplanting of infected seedlings, nor will we attempt to do so. Please consult the Extension Service personnel in your area if you have concerns about these matters! *****
This service is provided by the North Carolina State University departments of Plant Pathology and Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences.