Drought

[Hey Adrien!]

What's that I hear? Is it rain? It still rains in Connecticut?

The streams have dried up and the lawns of southwestern Connecticut have turned a shade of ochre due to our current drought: we haven't had measurable rain since June 27th. Combining this along with our incoming week-long heat wave has bummed me out, both in the short team of hating the heat/humidity (we don't have HVAC in our 1890s house), but also worried for our planet.

How has the recent drought affected your area?

 

[District-Husky]

When we sold our prior house we upgraded the appliances on the advice of our realtor, and also had some interior painting done. We regretted not doing it sooner because we would have liked to have enjoyed them ourselves while we lived there.

Our current house (which we've been in almost 20 years now) only had central A/C upstairs, as well as an attic fan; it worked well enough except for around 15-20 days a year, as you note. Then we converted a three-season room to a great room addition almost ten years ago and wanted something better, especially when that summer had an historic heatwave. Spent more than we expected on the Mitsubishi mini-split (primarily due to the cost of the wiring) but it came out nicer and works much better than expected, and has been a total game-changer. That room is now the most desirable room in the house.

This is basically my experience. We enclosed a screened in porch off the back of my rowhouse (it was the original sleeping porch that had been expanded by prior owners) and installed a Mitsubishi mini-split in that room. It's great and not only does it cool that room but it cools our kitchen and dining room too. We had enough "ports" that we also installed a mini-split in the upstairs master bedroom. I run the upstairs mini-split all summer and it freezes the master and can cool the remainder of the upstairs fairly well. With both mini-splits running we leave our central AC set on 77 degrees.

 

[Rumrunner]

Orange County tried to put in a desalination plant. 10 years of review. It was denied because...climate change.

If only California can figure out a way to store excess rainfall in the winter in the Sierras to then be used to satiate demand in the dry season. Of course a bond proposition was passed that was supposed to have done that, but so far, nada.

Those people in the 1920's and 30's with their steam shovels seemed to have managed the impossible.

 

[businesslawyer]

Am I the only one who saw the headline and thought "Great, another discussion on when we'll finally win an NCAA tournament game again?"

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Got absolutely throttled at work in Cromwell around 1:45…and the ground is already bone dry

 

[Chin Diesel]

Am I the only one who saw the headline and thought "Great, another discussion on when we'll finally win an NCAA tournament game again?"

It's mid-July. We are officially in the old men talking about rain time of year on this board.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Got absolutely throttled at work in Cromwell around 1:45…and the ground is already bone dry

Bone dry because the soil was really dry and it absorbed it? Or, bone dry because the ground was so dry the stuff ran off?

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I put down some Milorganite last week and got a decent soaking over the weekend in PA but could use some more. Looks like we may get some tonight.

 

[August_West]

How has the recent drought affected your area?

It doesn’t. We divert water from the poors. The American dream.

 

[Palatine]

Orange County tried to put in a desalination plant. 10 years of review. It was denied because...climate change.

If only California can figure out a way to store excess rainfall in the winter in the Sierras to then be used to satiate demand in the dry season. Of course a bond proposition was passed that was supposed to have done that, but so far, nada.

Those people in the 1920's and 30's with their steam shovels seemed to have managed the impossible.

I thought it was denied because it was bad for local fish. No really, that what I heard on the radio.

 

[Shamon30]

Brown lawn here in Rockfall

 

[uconnfan68]

Have you guys checked out the Mitsubishi ductless mini-splits? They're not cheap, but they work great and are far preferable to window units imo.

Do you have ductless? How many splits? I just can’t get a solid quote on it without having someone here to spend time. Not ready for that.

 

[8893]

Do you have ductless? How many splits? I just can’t get a solid quote on it without having someone here to spend time. Not ready for that.

I have one unit; only needed it in the downstairs addition, which has a cathedral ceiling. Got a quote from the company we were getting it from (same people who service our furnace and deliver our oil). They gave an estimate for what they thought the electrician might cost, and they were way under on that, to the tune of around $1,500 iirc. I was told that was because of the distance to our electrical box, which meant they had to pay more for better quality wiring, and more of it.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Bone dry because the soil was really dry and it absorbed it? Or, bone dry because the ground was so dry the stuff ran off?

Absorbed

 

[uconn1999]

Rain? North of Dallas, our last rain was 47 days ago and none is forecasted in the next 14 days. It’s a lovely 105°, 108° tomorrow and next 14 days all at or above 100.
Lovely time of the year

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Please shut off your ac’s, walk or ride your bikes instead of driving your cars, don’t shower or brush your teeth this week. Together we can save the planet. You’re welcome

 

[Dove]

You know things are bad when you hear a gurgling noise from the far end of the inground pool. Lift the skimmer cover and you see the pool water is just making it into the chamber, this causing potential cavitation.

Had to crank up the garden hose to get 3" of water added. Thankfully we're tapped into a quality water table.

 

[Jimdish255]

I’ve given up on my lawn for the summer….had a beautiful lawn up until about 2 weeks ago when it started started to get yellow and crispy. Decided to put 0 effort in until September. Didn’t even set up the 4 hose sprinkler timer. I’m in the early to mid stages of a DIY full gutbathroom remodel anyway so that’s the priority.

You dont need to monitor the sprinkler you can just turn it on then off.

 

[alphasigko]

Same here. My in-laws are in Fountain Hills.

I experienced my first monsoon rain in the Phoenix area last summer when we were out to dinner at a golf course in Scottsdale. The restaurant was elevated and had a sweeping vista across the valley, so the color (almost olive green) and the lightning was one of the most exciting weather experiences of my life.

Of course, nothing compares to the monsoon rains I saw when I spent almost a month in the Philippines about ten years ago. We were driving from Quezon City to Batangas when the heavy rains basically turned the lightly maintained road into a stream. Seeing all the people near their shanty shacks as the rains damage their homes was one of the more acutely traumatic experiences in my life.

We had a really strong monsoon rain here in Phoenix last evening... Lots of lightning thunder, wind and rain... Flooding and power outages.... It is a double-edged sword in that while it cools down the temp, it also raises the humidity, so it is probably worse than just having the dry heat...I was in Desert Mtn for the weekend and we had a great show while looking down on the Valley!

 

[Chin Diesel]

I’ve given up on my lawn for the summer….had a beautiful lawn up until about 2 weeks ago when it started started to get yellow and crispy. Decided to put 0 effort in until September. Didn’t even set up the 4 hose sprinkler timer. I’m in the early to mid stages of a DIY full gutbathroom remodel anyway so that’s the priority.

Like others have said, my lawn was doing fantastic until probably July 4th. Right now it’s very crispy

I'm exact opposite. June, July, August is when grass grows the most. It's like a jungle. I went 8 days without cutting my grass and cut it tonight after dinner. Hadn't rained all weekend.

Three times I had to stop my lawnmower to clean out all the grass mulch which had built up underneath. I was practically choking out the engine. Grass was like a fine puree and sopping wet but I needed a putty knife to glscrape it all off.

I have a Toro with Briggs and Stratton front drive push and changed out blade this spring. It cuts and mulches just fine. It's the grass which is so thick and holds so much water which makes it a bear.

I miss having young teens at home to cut my grass.

I will probably cut grass again Friday or Saturday.

 

[alphasigko]

In the mid-60s I remember CT having a major drought, so much so, that the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co's reservoirs (Aspetuck and Hemlock) along Rte 58 north of the Merritt Pkwy into Easton were extremely low for probably 2 years. Everything was bone dry and orchards had minimal harvests. Everyone was very concerned. But then the rains eventually came in like '67, and the reservoirs became full again. The bottom line is that droughts come and go, and are cyclical.

 

[Palatine]

It's the BY curse. Complain about the drought and..... Nearly 1,000 still without power after storms pass through CT

 

[Hey Adrien!]

It's the BY curse. Complain about the drought and..... Nearly 1,000 still without power after storms pass through CT

Curses can be good too. We got over two inches in Norwalk.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Curses can be good too. We got over two inches in Norwalk.

So, when the new drought map comes out tomorrow (and I will put it up here), you most likely won't see any appreciable change in the map color because they close out the books on Tuesday morning. Next week's map on the 27th will show the improvements from the rain.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

All of a sudden I woke up to a much nicer yard in South Windsor

 

[HuskyHawk]

All of a sudden I woke up to a much nicer yard in South Windsor

Mine looked less brown this morning. But the afternoon heat seems to have undone that already.