It’s dry here.
On average, July is our third wettest month of the year, with nearly five inches. August is not far behind with about four and a half. The National Weather Service shows 6.42 inches since June 1. We have measured 2.24 inches since May 10. Rome’s official weather is measured at the Richard Russell Airport, which is located north of town and about 10 miles due east of our house. Given that rain in the summer here is usually the result of isolated storms and showers, it’s not particularly remarkable that the official record should differ from ours. We have watched the weather radar track what looks like heavy rain heading towards us from Alabama, only to have it fade away to nothing when it reaches us. We have seen flash flood warnings for Rome from heavy rain south of us. But the top of the mountain is dry.
Is it fall already?
It’s so dry that some of the plants are considering calling it a season and dropping their leaves. The leaves on all the dogwoods are shriveled and drooping. The powdery mildew started the process and now the heat and lack of rain are finishing it. The vinca plants are all bowing their heads. A few leaves here and there are turning on a few maples, the muscadine vines and even the poison ivy. It’s not a trend yet; it’s only a few, but unless we get some rain, I’m afraid it may spread.
About the same around here (though we look as though we may have a few rainy days coming up), and I imagine it’s about the same at Roundrock, but I haven’t been there in so long I can’t know.
Somehow the dryness has crept up, and now that it’s here I’m surprised. Oddly, I also noticed the top leaves of poison ivy turning red yesterday. It’s usually our tulip poplars that show signs of stress first, dropping their leaves starting about now if conditions are dry.
Last year was incredibly humid. Even though it was cool, it was miserable. This summer has been a bit cooler than usual here, but fortunately without as much of the humidity.
(I’ve been plotting the minimum daily relative humidity for the last few years. Last year really was amazing. Apparently it was due to an odd flow of moist air from the south and east – the Gulf and the Atlantic.)
Pablo — I hope you get those rainy days. We sure need a few around here.
Wayne — Yes, things seemed pretty good for a while, and it has just begun to sink in how dry we have been for weeks. Those few cooler and drier days were so nice it almost made me forget how dry it has really been.
The average rainfall totals there are quite impressive for summer. I hope your dry weather pattern changes, so you get some of that much-needed moisture to sustain the forests. I’m so used to California where it NEVER rains in the summer. We’re in southern California at the moment, drove 700 miles to get here. The state is parched. We drove through one smoke-filled corridor for ten long miles in the mountains where a 4000+ acre fire is burning. Summer here is called fire season.
Robin — The weather forecast here gives a 60 percent chance for Friday and Saturday, so maybe we’ll get something. I have seen some documentaries and news reports about the fire season in the West, and some are saying that before long it will be fire season year-round.