This report covers 16-23 Mar due to a trip out of town. US Drought Monitor shows us on the edge of D0 - Abnormally Dry and D1 - Moderate Drought. Over this period measured 0.72” rain on 17 Mar; all other days were 0.0”, not even a Trace. SC Forestry app shows 48 wildfires across the state. With more dry weather forecast by NWS in the near future, our Forestry and Fire Dept folks will be very busy. The Wateree and Congaree rivers are slightly down from full, but were running clean on 16 Mar. Trees, bushes and grasses are now budding, turning green and growing. So we have the usually yellow pollen over everything outside. The birds and squirrels are still visiting the feeders, but not as much as during the colder times. The bluebirds seem to prefer all the fresh insects over the dry mealworms. The Baltimore Orioles are still visiting, but a cup of grape jelly now lasts a couple days vs a few hours. But the woodpeckers still like snacking on the suet blocks. Local roadside swamps are holding some water. Roadside ditches are dry, but the grass, weeds and bushes in the ditches are greener than those outside the ditches, so there’s at least some moisture there. Thursday’s and Friday’s Poinsett State Park hikes (getting as many hikes as possible before the mosquitoes return and the temps heat up) showed a dry forest floor with the ground immediately underneath at least moist. Every step kicked up yellow pollen clouds. Mosquitoes still not plentiful, only a few buzzing around - very nice! The Park’s Resurrection Ferns (photo 1130) are still slightly green and only moderately curled. The main spillway (photo 1136) is flowing into a nice stream, but the dam’s overflow valve stream barely has standing water below the dam, seems to be barely flowing, if at all. Small tributaries (photo 1133) are generally flowing well. Even some seeps (photo 1142) are making small streams. Photo 1142 shows two seeps below the Coquina trail merging from upper left and right into one stream running towards the camera. Still very nice conditions to be out hiking. From Data Explorer: Last 7 Days: 0.72” (NOAA normal: 3.55”). For March: 1.11” (- 1.52”/42% of normal). For the year: 5.98” (- 3.62”/62% of normal). Last 30 days: 2.79” (NOAA normal: 6.91”). Last 90 days: 5.97” (NOAA normal: 14.16”). Enjoy our two weeks of spring before summer hits!