Drought poll

[User00]

1 how common is drought in your area

2 what was longest period without rain  in your area 

recently we experienced 3 month drought  here, the worst drought i ever experienced, just 2 rains between beginning of January to end of march. nearly 45 days without any rain 

 

[Ed in Houston]

Back in 2011, Texas had a severe drought that killed 300 million trees in the state. The rainfall was about half of normal, probably about 25-30 inches but the local flora is not adapted to that low of rainfall. Roads and home foundations were damaged in East Texas as the clay soil shrinks when it drys.

Here is an image of Memorial park in Houston showing the dying trees.

 

Last July and August we had a mini drought where we only got about 1/3 of an inch over a six week period. Temps averaged in the upper 90s during this period. Amazingly, we still managed to record 84 inches for the year.

Ed in Houston

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

ed pretty much summed it up except we go 60-90days during the summer without any rainfall regularly with temps 95-105 and only average 36"per year. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

A place many people don't expect drought is the PNW. Seems like we're known world wide for being a year round rainy location. Typically from mid June to mid October there's very little rain. During the driest seasons, local native trees, especially trees under 15' tall, have succumbed to drought. I don't have any stats but this trend is more prevalent than say 30 of 40 years ago.

Cheers, Barrie.

 

[User00]

23 hours ago, Ed in Houston said:

Back in 2011, Texas had a severe drought that killed 300 million trees in the state. The rainfall was about half of normal, probably about 25-30 inches but the local flora is not adapted to that low of rainfall. Roads and home foundations were damaged in East Texas as the clay soil shrinks when it drys.

Here is an image of Memorial park in Houston showing the dying trees.

 

Last July and August we had a mini drought where we only got about 1/3 of an inch over a six week period. Temps averaged in the upper 90s during this period. Amazingly, we still managed to record 84 inches for the year.

Ed in Houston

 

300 million trees , big lost. 

 

[palmsOrl]

We have severe droughts here in Central FL every now and then, but nothing too bad recently.  Our summer rain season, which typically extends from the end of May through much of September, seems to have become more prone to dry spells in between drenching rain events.  Maybe this is just my perception.

It is getting pretty dry right now, but that is not uncommon for April and most of May as the real heat sets in and before the beginning of the rainy season.

[DoomsDave]

For the entire rainy seasons of 2013 - 2014 and 2014 - 2015, my place got about 6 inches of rain for the entire time.

2015 - 2016 wasn't a lot better maybe six inches (14 cm) for the rainy season.

Here's some pictures taken from the Los Angeles Green Line, a train that runs down the middle of the I-105 freeway. Those are freeway medians, that used to be watered periodically, but the ground cover is disappearing.

 

[palmsOrl]

Southern California is an amazingly beautiful (and exciting) area.  I just couldn't bring myself to get into gardening somewhere where annual rainfall is that of a desert.  I feel like I have to water way too much as it is here!

My location missed out on most of the rain (just to the east yesterday and to the west today) the past couple days.  Still, I think we are going to get just enough to avoid true drought conditions before the start of the rainy season this year (this is just a guess based on the weather lately and on living here for many years).

[NorCalKing]

Unless you live in California I don't think people quite realize just how dry it can be at the best of times. For example, I'm in the "wetter" northern part of the state and our normal annual rainfall is 14" Then throw in the drought of the last 4 years and we can routinely go 5+ months without any rain at all. There are parts of the state that have lost 12' of elevation due to the underground water depletion that happens when the central valley farmers pump too much. It's really insane.

[Yunder Wækraus]

10 hours ago, NorCalKing said:

Unless you live in California I don't think people quite realize just how dry it can be at the best of times. For example, I'm in the "wetter" northern part of the state and our normal annual rainfall is 14" Then throw in the drought of the last 4 years and we can routinely go 5+ months without any rain at all. There are parts of the state that have lost 12' of elevation due to the underground water depletion that happens when the central valley farmers pump too much. It's really insane.

Yep. My SoCal friends are surprised to learn that the NorCal town where I grew up gets about the same amount of rain each year as Los Angeles (approx 13", I believe). The thing I've always hated the most about CA is the monotonously dry summers. I love summer rain, and it just doesn't exit--AT ALL!--in CA :-(

Even a token amount of summer rain makes a huge difference for flora and fauna. That's why AZ, with its tiny number of monsoon days, has comparatively lush desert plants and cool animals like the Gila monster (which cannot successfully hatch eggs in areas with zero summer rain). In the San Joaquin Valley of California, only riparian habitats had trees and various plants prior to irrigation. Empty land that has no irrigation and no river-/stream-front location grows nothing but weeds and thistles, all of which turn brown and stay dead and brown from late spring to early fall.

[palmsOrl]

Rainy season is starting this week.  Yay!!!

[Palm crazy]

Dry season has started two months early, hasn’t rain here in 6 weeks. They keep saying it’s going to rain but it doesn’t. 

Edited May 20, 2016 by Palm crazy

[Palm crazy]

20 hours ago, Palm crazy said:

Dry season has started two months early, hasn’t rain here in 6 weeks. They keep saying it’s going to rain but it doesn’t. 

I can’t believe it, Lightly raining today! Finally some relief.