From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 27, 1989:

Young trees in Lawrence were beginning to show signs of stress from recent drought conditions. So far in July, the area had received barely over an inch of rain, and the lack of deep moisture was beginning to take its toll. “Right now it’s mainly the small ones, and if it continues and the temperatures go up again, you’ll notice it in the bigger ones too,” said city forester George Osborne. Among the trees most affected by dry weather were birch and sycamore. Osborne explained that first signs of stress in those trees included yellowing of some interior leaves which would eventually drop off. “From the farm fields we know there is nothing down there for three feet or more,’ said Dennis Bejot, Douglas County Extension director. “We’ve been in a drought for a year and a half. We just haven’t had hardly any rain here in the Lawrence area.”