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How Dry Has it Been?

moneypitmike

By moneypitmike,
in New England

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moneypitmike

moneypitmike

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BOS since 8/1: 4.72

 

That's averaging about 1.5" a month--that's not completely horrible by that measure. 

 

I think the trend highlights the dry spell a little more than the total.  Just glancing at one of the PWS sites out there, I see the following (South End):

 

Aug. 1.93

Sept: 2.13

Octo: .57

Nov .  .10

 

4.73" for that spot. 

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moneypitmike

moneypitmike

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KTAN

Aug - 2.02"

Sep - 1.69"

Oct - 0.73"

Nov - 0.24"

4.68"

 

Did you get in on the early showers today?  Or is the Nov. amount through yesterday?  Either way, not too bad a start for the month relatively speaking.

 

Looks like the leading edge of the rain is about 20 miles away from me at this point.

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Baroclinic Zone

Baroclinic Zone

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Did you get in on the early showers today?  Or is the Nov. amount through yesterday?  Either way, not too bad a start for the month relatively speaking.

 

Looks like the leading edge of the rain is about 20 miles away from me at this point.

Yeah I did, about 1/2 of it.  The rain fringed me.  Looks wet later though.

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ApacheTrout

ApacheTrout

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For Orwell, VT (Addison County)

August: 2.33" (3.91")

September: 1.74" (3.64")

October: 2.87" (3.60")

 

BTV normal monthly precipitation (via NWS BTV website) values are in parenthesis.  BTV isn't quite the best comparison site, as Chittenden County receives more precipitation than Addison County.  Rutland is the nearest city to Orwell, but the NWS preliminary monthly reports didn't contain the normal monthly values for Rutland.  So, you make do with the best data available.

 

It's been a strange year.  It was very dry in March, April, and the first half of May.  This dry spell (4.42" in 10 weeks) followed a pretty lousy snow year (less than 50 inches), which was preceded the year before by another lousy snow year (less than 40 inches).  So the ground water table in Orwell was very low this spring.  I own a nursery with ponds for wetland plants, and I was having to fill them with well water in April.  That was the first time in the 6 years of operating the nursery that I needed to fill the ponds during any spring month.

 

Then the torrents of the second half of May, June, and July arrived and produced 17.54" of rain here in Orwell.   Record monthly totals in May and June for BTV.  Streams were high.  Damaging floods occurred in parts of Chittenden County.  Seemingly, water was everywhere.  But most of it seemed to run off instead of soak in, as Lake Champlain reached a high water mark for that time of year.

 

So now with the heavy rain behind us, and another three month dry spell, I was back to filling the ponds again.  Soil pits dug a foot or two deep revealed bone dry clay.  After farmers harvested their corn, deep tilling turned over dense blocks of clay, with not a hint of moisture in them.  Several farmers around town had their ponds run dry.

 

Looking at the monthly departures from normal, you really don't see anything special about the dry spell.  If I did the stats, the monthly values would probably run within one standard deviation of normal.  So really nothing to hang your hat on, or warrant a D0 on the USDA drought map.  But to hang out with farmers at the general store and talk with other nursery owners, you'd hear a much different story.  A story that I think is driven by a very low water table driven by two consecutive winters of piss-poor snowfall.

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moneypitmike

moneypitmike

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For Orwell, VT (Addison County)

August: 2.33" (3.91")

September: 1.74" (3.64")

October: 2.87" (3.60")

 

BTV normal monthly precipitation (via NWS BTV website) values are in parenthesis.  BTV isn't quite the best comparison site, as Chittenden County receives more precipitation than Addison County.  Rutland is the nearest city to Orwell, but the NWS preliminary monthly reports didn't contain the normal monthly values for Rutland.  So, you make do with the best data available.

 

It's been a strange year.  It was very dry in March, April, and the first half of May.  This dry spell (4.42" in 10 weeks) followed a pretty lousy snow year (less than 50 inches), which was preceded the year before by another lousy snow year (less than 40 inches).  So the ground water table in Orwell was very low this spring.  I own a nursery with ponds for wetland plants, and I was having to fill them with well water in April.  That was the first time in the 6 years of operating the nursery that I needed to fill the ponds during any spring month.

 

Then the torrents of the second half of May, June, and July arrived and produced 17.54" of rain here in Orwell.   Record monthly totals in May and June for BTV.  Streams were high.  Damaging floods occurred in parts of Chittenden County.  Seemingly, water was everywhere.  But most of it seemed to run off instead of soak in, as Lake Champlain reached a high water mark for that time of year.

 

So now with the heavy rain behind us, and another three month dry spell, I was back to filling the ponds again.  Soil pits dug a foot or two deep revealed bone dry clay.  After farmers harvested their corn, deep tilling turned over dense blocks of clay, with not a hint of moisture in them.  Several farmers around town had their ponds run dry.

 

Looking at the monthly departures from normal, you really don't see anything special about the dry spell.  If I did the stats, the monthly values would probably run within one standard deviation of normal.  So really nothing to hang your hat on, or warrant a D0 on the USDA drought map.  But to hang out with farmers at the general store and talk with other nursery owners, you'd hear a much different story.  A story that I think is driven by a very low water table driven by two consecutive winters of piss-poor snowfall.

 

Yeah--it's been pretty clear that you folks have fared better than folks in SNE, though I thought the different between me and you would have been a bit greater.  Suffice it to say the eastern areas of SNE are having a tougher time of it than others.

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N. OF PIKE

N. OF PIKE

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For Orwell, VT (Addison County)

August: 2.33" (3.91")

September: 1.74" (3.64")

October: 2.87" (3.60")

BTV normal monthly precipitation (via NWS BTV website) values are in parenthesis. BTV isn't quite the best comparison site, as Chittenden County receives more precipitation than Addison County. Rutland is the nearest city to Orwell, but the NWS preliminary monthly reports didn't contain the normal monthly values for Rutland. So, you make do with the best data available.

It's been a strange year. It was very dry in March, April, and the first half of May. This dry spell (4.42" in 10 weeks) followed a pretty lousy snow year (less than 50 inches), which was preceded the year before by another lousy snow year (less than 40 inches). So the ground water table in Orwell was very low this spring. I own a nursery with ponds for wetland plants, and I was having to fill them with well water in April. That was the first time in the 6 years of operating the nursery that I needed to fill the ponds during any spring month.

Then the torrents of the second half of May, June, and July arrived and produced 17.54" of rain here in Orwell. Record monthly totals in May and June for BTV. Streams were high. Damaging floods occurred in parts of Chittenden County. Seemingly, water was everywhere. But most of it seemed to run off instead of soak in, as Lake Champlain reached a high water mark for that time of year.

So now with the heavy rain behind us, and another three month dry spell, I was back to filling the ponds again. Soil pits dug a foot or two deep revealed bone dry clay. After farmers harvested their corn, deep tilling turned over dense blocks of clay, with not a hint of moisture in them. Several farmers around town had their ponds run dry.

Looking at the monthly departures from normal, you really don't see anything special about the dry spell. If I did the stats, the monthly values would probably run within one standard deviation of normal. So really nothing to hang your hat on, or warrant a D0 on the USDA drought map. But to hang out with farmers at the general store and talk with other nursery owners, you'd hear a much different story. A story that I think is driven by a very low water table driven by two consecutive winters of piss-poor snowfall.

Interesting account. Sounds awful for farmers unfortunately, i wonder if your area is more prone to poor ground water tables and you happen to have a good run prior 5 or so years.

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powderfreak

powderfreak

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Stowe, VT

 

AUG: 3.39"

SEP: 4.23"

OCT: 2.30"

NOV: 2.13" (1.57" at beginning of month, then 0.56" so far today)

 

Total: 12.05"

 

We missed out on those eastern New England rains in September... wow didn't realize you guys in Maine had 7"+ that month.

 

Anyway, been raining pretty good today with a half inch of QPF down here on the east side of the Spine.

 

Nov_7.gif

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