Drought: How is it where you're located?

[DownriverGardener]

It's definitely abnormally dry here. Just heard the other day on NPR that Apple farmers all across the nation are going to be hurting big time, and they expect a massive loss of crop this fall. Same sort of situation with corn, too.

[img]https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9813/drought.jpg[/img]

[luvthesnapper]

I'm more worried about my plants getting blown off the planet at this point. We had a "super derecho" pass through last night. Parts of South Jersey had 85 mph winds. It was basically like a mini land hurricane, from what I understand.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/deadly-super-derecho-strikes-m/67383

[sheeshshe]

we are probably one of the few states being hit by a lot of RAIN!! we barely had any moisture this winter, so it is like we're making up for it now. We've had rain of some sort 3-4 days out of the week nearly every week.

we're supposed to have a dry week at least through wednesday now. mayeb some evenign rain they say. we'll see!

I knwo some states need some major rain

[digitS']

[img]https://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/12_week.gif[/img]

The above image may continue updating on this thread as we move on through the year.

Steve

[sheeshshe]

that is neat... it is very accurate for where I live anyways! We were in drought and now aren't any longer. cool slide!

[barrelslime]

Awful here. I cant remember the last rain we had, but I do remember it was a 1/4 in and it had been 4 weeks before that , that we got rain. the forcast for the next 7 days is everyday of 100 degree temps and NO rain in the 7 day forcast.

[ReptileAddiction]

I feel sorry for you guys We are technically always in a drought we don't get much rain here. EVERYTHING is irrigated. My relatives in Chicago have already started watering their gardens when they usually never do or only in late august. We had an abnormally wet winter so HOPEFULLY we wont burn as bad this year. It has also not been as hot this year. This is weird weather. This past winter we couldnt even get in our normal christmas crop of tomaters it was to cold

[3 Pound Tomato]

It is horrible here in southern Maryland. Drought is common here in the summer, but this early it is scary.

[ReptileAddiction]

I really do feel for all you.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup... I'm in Ohio which shows drought on your map. We are having wildfire warnings. Usually it is way too wet in summer for fire.

I have discovered previous drought years, that rainbarrels don't really help much for drought. Mine have been standing empty for awhile now. In historically typical years (which may never come back) they would never get empty, because we have over three inches of rain a month every month of the the year.

[gixxerific]

It's ugly here, there is an "exceptional risk of fire", the farmers are freaking some have already lost crops. So expect your corn, bean, wheat products to go up at the store.

Some municipalities have canceled fireworks for the fourth.

Haven't had anything you could call rain in, I can't remember how long. The forecast doesn't show any in the near to moderate future either.

I do all my watering with the 6 new soaker hoses I just got, to conserve water.

[mscratch]

I guess the one word to describe it here would be CRISPY..farmers are selling entire herds of cattle, feeding them straw and cutting their corn crops for feed..hay prices are up to $60 a bale..triple digit degrees here and 99 would actually be welcome! I have cut down on my watering and expect to begin pulling up veggies rather than look at dying ones..

[lorax]

Exceptionally cold and wet this winter down here. With three volcanoes in full eruption, it's quite rare that we see the sunshine. In the highlands, this means that growth of everything is stunted and delayed; in the lowlands they're reporting massive flooding. Between that and the snail population boom, we may lose up to 80% of the rice crop this year.

[jnunez918]

I am in the severe drought area which is pretty obvious. It rained last nite thank god but don't see it happening,again. My solution was sun shade fabric over my beds, so far it's working.
Good luck every one.

[farmerlon]

Terrible drought combined with extreme heat... a real one-two punch!
Trees starting to drop their leaves here!

[Compactat]

Here in Texas, it seems that our drought it typical. However, we usually have had water conservation restrictions by now. We haven't gotten to that point. So maybe it's not as bad in our neck of the woods.

[jal_ut]

D1 drought conditions here. It is so dry trees are dying where they don't get irrigation.I am fortunate in that we have shares in the reservoir and canal system so we have irrigation water for our yard. The reservoir filled this past winter so we should be good for the season.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/porc.jpg[/img]

[hit or miss]

Extreme heat any where from 100 to 114 degrees here...along with drought. We had half an inch of rain last night, it'll help a little. The cracks in my yard are pushing 1 1/2 inches wide now.

I piled about 8 inches of straw mulch on the garden over the top of drip tape irrigation this year. I'm also watering every 3 days for 12-14 hours.

I'm hearing reports of entire fields of irrigated corn burning up faster than they can water it. I'm also seeing fields of dry land corn burning up, more and more every day.

[Midwestguy]

Last summer was the hottest and driest summer on record here in Kansas. It was worse than the Dust Bowl years. This summer isn't quite as bad, but we are still getting 100+ degree temps and continuous wind. But of course continuous wind and heat during the summer is pretty much the norm. here in South Central Kansas.

[nancygene]

It is hot and dry in NW Indiana. Garden is still doing well, but have to water plants every day to keep them going.

[Smallgardener]

We are better off here than last year. Last year the 100 degree days started May 15th. It waited till June 15 th this year. Still dry hot and windy.
Bout normal for here in Ford County

[Pineygirl]

I'm more worried about my plants getting blown off the planet at this point. We had a "super derecho" pass through last night. Parts of South Jersey had 85 mph winds. It was basically like a mini land hurricane, from what I understand.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/deadly-super-derecho-strikes-m/67383

Yeah, what a night that was. I went out the next morning expecting to see the utter destruction of my plants but to my surprise, everyone made it.

Where I am (southern NJ) we've had many t-storms lately & it seems that each one that blows through dumps at least an inch or more of rain. So no drought here. In fact, the swamp out behind my house has so much water it's very close to coming up in my backyard. Good for our local wildlife, terrible for mosquitos.

[rainbowgardener]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-monitoring/index.php#sotc

has lots of valuable climate data available on line, for the country and for different regions.

According to them, the past 12 months were the hottest 12 months in US history since record keeping began in 1895. In ALL 50 states!

[rkunsaw]

Extreme drought here. We had 3/4 inch of rain in early may and none since.
The lack of rain combined with temps above 100 every day is taking a toll.The weather report for the next week doesn't include rain.So it goes on.

[lily51]

Sounds like many of us are in the same situation.
Spring turned dry, but we were getting moderate rain when needed, certainly no excess. Then the rains stopped.
Luckily, We had 3" of rain 2 weeks ago, nothing to speak of since. Our crops are still okay, but corn is in tassel and rain would be welcome.
This is not everyone in our county and surrounding area, as the rain is spotty.
Funny how the temp is about the same everywhere, 90,s many days in a row.
Saw we have a 30% chance of rain wed. and a 32% chance thurs.
Really? A2% difference?

[PhillyGardener]

I am SO glad I put in a drip irrigation system for my little raised bed! It's made dealing with the heat much easier. My potted plants aren't as happy, though.

Here in southeast PA, we've gone from torrential downpours in May/early June to not nearly enough rain. And with temps hovering between 95-101 until Sunday, some of my plants are starting to suffer. In fact, we're looking at temps at or above 90 from 6/28 to 7/8. That's an 11 day heat-wave! Every summer I think it can't possibly be hotter or more extreme than the last and nature proves me wrong again.

[Midwestguy]

Here in Kansas we know we're in a drought when the Bermuda grass goes into dormancy due to a lack of water. So far, the Bermuda grass is still green, but I have begun to see a little browning here and there.

[RogueRose]

I am SO glad I put in a drip irrigation system for my little raised bed! It's made dealing with the heat much easier. My potted plants aren't as happy, though.

Here in southeast PA, we've gone from torrential downpours in May/early June to not nearly enough rain. And with temps hovering between 95-101 until Sunday, some of my plants are starting to suffer. In fact, we're looking at temps at or above 90 from 6/28 to 7/8. That's an 11 day heat-wave! Every summer I think it can't possibly be hotter or more extreme than the last and nature proves me wrong again.

That's what it's like here in NJ. We had crazy rains then now it's summer. I own horses and ride them out trail riding. A good way for me to gauge the rainfall (other than my garden) are the streams we have to cross. In a good rain year all the streams and creeks stay a decent level. In a bad year they're bone dry throughout the whole summer. One year it was like a dustbowl here. We had very bad hay and the creeks and streams were bone dry from May through til November or December. I don't know how the wild animals fared. Another year we could barely get any rides in because it was so rainy and all the streams and creeks were full the whole time.

THIS year the creeks and streams are just starting to go dry now. They river we rode to today was low but I've seen it much lower. A lot of the creeks are dry though which makes me sad. I hope we get some rain and steady rain soon.

I've been having to water the pots daily....they're wilty by 3/4pm. I stick my finger in and they're bone dry.

[ReptileAddiction]

It is normal here in Southern Cali today at our neighborhood fourth of july party it was cloudy Usually it is over 100 on the fourth but no rain sadly but it would be extremely abnormal if we did get rain. And no wildfires yet!!!!!!! but usually those come in october

[lily51]

Evidently there is a difference between 30 and 32% chance of rain
Woke up this morning to the sound of a summer thunderstorm rolling through and rain!
Thank you!
I surely hope others are getting this much needed moisture!

[GardenRN]

No too dry here...but so dang HOT I don't know if the moisture has a chance to stay in the ground for long. And it has definitely taken its toll on my veggies. I picked the wrong year to go to container gardening!

This may turn out to be one of my least successful years gardening. Ah well...it is still fun.

[bcallaha]

The last I saw, we had only .04" of rain the entire month of June according to the weather service. My rain guage didn't even register any at all.

July 4th afternoon, I heard some boombing, not unlike fireworks, but there is a ban on fireworks because of the drought conditions. I went outside to see the sky dark, and we got a good soft rain for about 5 minutes. Not much. About one hour later, same thing, but this time we got a good rain for about 20 minutes. Registered about 1/4" in my guage.

I hope there's more to come.

Brad

[rainbowgardener]

Remember the old song "God didn't make little green apples, it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time" These days it actually doesn't...

[cubs204]

I'm pretty sure we havent had more than 2.5" of rain in the last 3 months. The corn crop has been tassled for about 2 weeks now and it looks absolutely pathetic, I am sure its a total loss now and they said on the news some farmeers are starting to plow it under. a week of 98-105 temps is not doing us any favors either. They are giving us a 30% chance of rain Sunday and a temp drop to the middle to upper 80's next week. Other than that, no rain forecast in the next 10 days.

[rainbowgardener]

We got half our usual rain in June (2" instead of 4") and none so far in July.

[DownriverGardener]

We've had two MUCH NEEDED storms since Monday, so that helps A LOT. Soaked us pretty good. It's amazing how all of the flowers, veggies, and plants grow like CRAZY after rain. It'll be back up to almost 100 here again today, so things should start to dry out once again.

[soil]

Not a angle drop since early may here. Won't see any until October. This happens every year to us as it's our natural cycle. It's possible to adapt and even prosper in droughts given the right techniques. Dry cropped food or food with low irrigation tastes better with crops like say tomatoes anyways.

[bcallaha]

....oh, and I forgot to mention the record heat. We've had a record set for several of the past days. We've had two 106's, a 107, and two 104's. I don't know how anyone could survive with air conditioning!! We had one 99 degree day, and we thought it was cool!!

Brad

[DoubleDogFarm]

We all must learn to adapt.

https://www.fridayharbor.org/Utilities/rainfall.htm

If you look at this link, Friday Harbor had above average rainfall for the months of Feb and March for the years 2010-2011 and current.

April and May 2011 very wet, but looks to be on average again this year.

Even with the above average wet months, we seem to have about the same total rainfall for the year.

Our summer begins right about now, between July 5th and 12th. The next 3 months will be mostly dry. November we will get dumped on once again.

Eric

[dtlove129]

Well we got a heavy, quick .5" on Tuesday evening which helped some, but we need a week where rain just sits in. We are pushing 12 inches behind on the year.