KINGSPORT, Tenn. — You may not see landscaping crews in your neighborhood for some time.
"We're not getting any rain and there's really hot weather. It really is causing the grass not to grow," says landscaper Scott Maxwell.
Local landscaping businesses like "Maxwell's Grass Gurus" are struggling for customers after weeks of abnormally dry conditions.
"They're starting to get horrible. It wasn't so bad until this past week. But I think this week is going to take a beating on us," said landscaper Tony Sweeney.
According to the National Weather Service, if September ended today it would be the 2nd driest on record.
"So far this month we've only had two hours of rainfall at the Tri-Cities Airport," said WCYB Meteorologist David Boyd.
This week alone, Maxwell lost five customers. That's about $200 in revenue.
"That's about the only thing we can do. Unless you're watering your grass and taking care of it, we're just waiting," says Maxwell.
Instead of getting calls to cut the grass, Maxwell is getting calls to rake up the leaves. He says it's going to hurt business when the fall and cooler temperatures come because the job will already be done.
"It's all leaves and weeds. You can see how the weeds grow and that's all you're mowing more or less. You just hope the customer doesn't cancel because that's money out of our pocket," says Sweeney.
Due to the current weather conditions, Greeneville, Buchanan and Washington County Virginia issued a burn ban. Maryville, Morristown, Greeneville, Sevierville, New Market, and Big South Fork have also all issued the bans.
They said the lack of significant rainfall and high temperatures along with low humidity has produced dangerous conditions for open burning.
The ban will be in effect until adequate rainfall improves conditions.
Officials also advised people to watch out for weather conditions when burning outdoor debris. If you have to burn some brush from your latest landscaping venture, do it during the day when the relative humidity is greater than 40% and when winds are less than 10 miles per hour.
"There's a possibility of wildfires as well, especially on days that are a little bit breezy. We need good, substantial rain especially some steady rain is really what we need," Boyd said.
The National Weather Service said these drought-like conditions are expected to worsen at least into early October.
According to the National Weather Service, the current conditions are different from the ones East Tennessee experienced in 2016 before the Sevier County wildfires. In 2016, dry conditions started in March. This year, they didn't start until August.