The hot, dry days of August have baked pastures and crops and have left area farmers begging for rain.

Rain has been a rare commodity this month. It's the 12th driest August in 78 years, said Dr. Al Robertson, a climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University.

"If we don't get rain in the next two weeks it will be a very critical situation," said Terry Birk, director of the Farm Service Agency office in Jackson. The federal agency used to be called the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service.

Cape Girardeau receives about 3.7 inches of rainfall on average in August. This August, the area has gotten only 1.29 inches.

Still, that is better than August 1936 when the area didn't receive any rain.

Last August, the area received 5.89 inches of rain.

Robertson said the dry weather is the result of a high pressure cell that has kept the jet stream up on the Canadian border.

In addition to being dry, it also has been hot. Cape Girardeau has had two 100-degree days this month and many more in the high 90s.

The average monthly temperature is 83.2 degrees, which makes this the second warmest August in 50 years.

The hottest August was in 1947, with an average temperature of 83.5 degrees. The average takes into account the highs and lows for each day of the month.

Birk said the area hasn't received any significant rainfall in weeks.

"Pastures are drying up real fast now," he said.

Without rain, some farmers will have to start feeding hay to their livestock.

The weather also has affected soybeans. "The beans are in the pods and they are real small and flat," he said.

Without rain, farmers will harvest fewer bushels.

The regular corn harvest has started, but the drought is affecting late-planted corn.

Birk himself has about 60 acres of late-planted corn in the Whitewater area that have been hurt by the dry weather.

For many farmers, it is a case both of too much and too little.

Birk said flooding and a rainy May prevented some farmers from planting corn until June.

"They were hurt by too much water early and now they are being hurt by not enough water for the corn crop," he said.

A HOT, DRY AUGUST

August 1995 was the 12th driest August in history, with just 1.29 inches of rain. Average precipitation for August is 3.7 inches. The driest August on record was in 1936 when no rain was recieved

August 1995 has been the second hottest August in 50 years, with an average temperature of 82.3 degrees. The hottest August was in 1947, with an average temperature of 83.5 degrees.