Sitting here in this so far cold and dry spring. I’m extremely frustrated that we have neither any real prospect for significant precipitation, or significant warm weather. At least here in Maryland. A couple nicer days here and there but running below average in both categories.
Anyone else concerned? Our last significant precipitation event was the March 20/21 winter storm.
In your climate ppt shouldn’t be a big issue right now. Your soil should be fully wet. All it could affect is the water table and lake levels. Your trees won’t be short water if it didn’t rain for the next two months.
No but my veggies will be. I have a 45 X 50 vegetable garden to worry about.
Ground is moist but not as saturated as it should be, and the surface of exposed soil is dry.
Plus, the longer we go without rain the harder it is to get as we go from synoptic rain season to convective rain season. I’m in central Maryland.
Plus, we are down about 8” since September. It’s been dry since then. October was near normal and February above (which is why the topsoil moisture isn’t bad at this point) but all other months have had significant deficits.
I’m on a well, too…
Typical lately. One or two decently warm days, otherwise chilly. Average high right now should be around 63. Those “rainy” days end up being 0.03”.
I can understand about the garden. But hey it’s always driest just before it rains. We haven’t had rain since fall. Maybe 0.2 inch total since September. That’s what my well is for. The current drought map shows the Southwest, the driest part of the country, is much more below normal than anywhere out east.
Well, I envy you…our ground is waterlogged, we have a dusting of snow currently, and low 20’s tonight…and I started planning spring chores for March 12…and have only been able to “mud” my way to a bit of working the soil since that time. Way behind personally and doing work for others I’ve promised. Too wet. (Kentucky).
Whatever Weather phenomenon is causing you to get continual rains, is also diverting it away from us.
Amarillo was 20F this morning and they are in severe drought. Apricots bloomed a month ago. Lots of places getting their fruit frozen out right now. A dry spell in early April seems minor in comparison.
A very fair point.
Part of what is bothering me is that my wife doesn’t seem willing to sign on to the monetary investment into a better irrigation system than my current method of “walk around with a hose” or “use the oscillating sprinkler”. She doesn’t “get” gardening if that makes any sense. She appreciates the fresh food but that’s about it.
She appreciates it, but doesn’t like how much effort I put in - in her mind at some point I should just let it die/suffer rather than water, feed, etc. I know part of it is that we have jobs and young kids, and lots going on, and I get it, but the irrigation system (probably drip or soaker hose setup) would SAVE ME TIME.
Now you are talking. Make that well pay off. And I do hope your weather improves. It’s lousy in a lot of places right now. Too cold, wet, dry, and/or probably somewhere too hot.
As far as fruit, I’m just getting started. I just planted one peach and one apple, they were in cold storage and arrived completely dormant. There’s just a tiny bit of bud swell on the peach.
I am just south of you in northern VA and we are experiencing the same combination of cool weather and low precipitation. A fairly dry spring would be good for limiting fungus and fireblight… but with the cold my plants are way behind where they were this time last year.
Thankfully we only just hit 32 last night, so if tonight clouds over as expected, we may avoid the more damaging freezes that were forecast. Neighbors peach blooms look good at the moment.
I’m finding unopened fruit blooms dead and also azaleas in the yards of various folks…unopened blooms dead and drying up. Unusual.
Near record warm February, near record cold March. And April like an airplane without elevators.
We are supposed to get a nice solid rain tomorrow night into Monday, but otherwise it has been pretty darn dry still. As systems approach the predicted precipitation seems to drop each time and sometimes just disappear. Tomorrow’s rain was supposed to be 2 inches and now I see we’re down to 1.2 inches. I hope we get at least an inch, to get some water down into the soil. I’ve been putting off planting some kale, chard and lettuce starts waiting for the rain, since I don’t really feel like watering them every day.
We also seem to be in a cycle of very dry summers, with rain stopping in early to mid July and then not really coming back until Fall. I remember walking the dog through the neighborhood and seeing a lot of dead ends on oak trees and a few not coming back each year. I’ve heard some of the more knowledgeable tree people talk about a general oak decline in our area due to the regular water stress.
The storm that came through dropped a reasonable amount of rain, but it looks as if the extended forecast has little if any precipitation in our future. What I’m worried about is that we are going to have a dryer than normal spring coupled with the typical bone dry late summer in Virginia. There are going to be a lot of dead lawns this year or, at the very least, some serious water bills.
Unless we have an active tropical season plus the right path…
Spring normally has way too much rain, the soil gets 100% saturated. So I don’t think there can be a problem unless the rains are super light and they don’t seem that way so far. At least in this part of the mid-atlantic…
Things are better in Maryland. Much of Virginia (most of central Virginia) is currently “Abnormally Dry” or in a moderate drought. I know they have called a drought disaster for Shenandoah County, which isn’t that far from where I live.
