Without the hurricanes, it could have been 14 consecutive months of below-normal rainfall. This past March was one of the driest - if not the driest - Marches on record for a large portion of South Louisiana, and this extremely dry spring weather has persisted through the first half of April, as well.

Jay Grymes

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Parts of the state have been suffering for quite some time. In the southern third of Louisiana, the dry spell goes back to the beginnings of 2005, and even sections of northern Louisiana have been dealing with dry weather over the past 12 to 15 months.

Normal rainfall is not what we need. We need a wet spell.

If you were to go in there and take out the three hurricanes - Cindy, Katrina and Rita - then you're talking about an exceptionally dry 15 to 16 months.

We need to recognize that while the most obvious part of the drought has been established over the last six to eight weeks, this dryness is a pattern that began in 2005.

Sunnyside has been the team to beat over the past five years, and we wanted to make sure we got this game on the schedule. This will be a good test for us.