The Big Dry

[gsytch]

It has been a long, long dry spell here in West Florida. Once Hurricane Matthew left the state - and left me without a drop - there has been precious little rainfall. It rained once in March, a good rain, but since then it has been low humidity and wind. February did see some rainfall, but January was exceedingly dry. The forecast does not look good with lower 80's and sunshine for the next week. I am sure more wildfires will break out with this wind. We desperately need an early season Tropical Low! My hose is getting very tired. We need our dancing prayers going because April is our driest month, and we are already in a drought.  I am beginning to water my mature palms for fear they take  a beating.

[kinzyjr]

Over here inland, I've had some rain recently.  Hope that you get some over there.  Depending on what types of palms you are growing, they may have deep enough roots to reach ground water, and not be affected too much.

[Palmaceae]

Been very dry here, lots of brush fires in the area. There was rain in the Cape a couple days ago but I only recieved .05", but othere parts of the Cape received a lot more. You can really see some of the palms in the area stressing, royals and queens that have no irrigation are really hurting. The city is saying our canals are extremely low and may cut the watering schedule from twice a week to only once. 

[Alan_Tampa]

I've run my make shift watering system almost everyday since warm temps returned.  Glad I'm on a well.

[RedRabbit]

It's the dry season so I don't expect much... 

[Palmaceae]

1 hour ago, Alan_Tampa said:

I've run my make shift watering system almost everyday since warm temps returned.  Glad I'm on a well.

I am on a well also but we still have to follow the watering schedule, which I do not agree with.

[PalmatierMeg]

Incredibly dry here. Our pastor opened morning services with a prayer for rain. I may lose several trees & palms, maybe more. Even irrigation 2x per week can't keep up. I finally got new hoses set up for the garden lot and have hand watered every evening starting Fri. My husband hates handwatering & I've been recovering from back surgery so the garden lot was on its own. I hope I don't lose my recently planted Tahina. I've been flooding it each day.

[NorCalKing]

1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Incredibly dry here. Our pastor opened morning services with a prayer for rain. I may lose several trees & palms, maybe more. Even irrigation 2x per week can't keep up. I finally got new hoses set up for the garden lot and have hand watered every evening starting Fri. My husband hates handwatering & I've been recovering from back surgery so the garden lot was on its own. I hope I don't lose my recently planted Tahina. I've been flooding it each day.

Oh I'm sure you'll keep your palms alive with proper irrigation. After all, we had 4 years of exceptional drought and few people lost palms due to dryness. And remember, we average 10-15% humidity with many days over 100f here in the summer. Way drier than anyplace in Fl.

[Palmaceae]

1 hour ago, NorCalKing said:

Oh I'm sure you'll keep your palms alive with proper irrigation. After all, we had 4 years of exceptional drought and few people lost palms due to dryness. And remember, we average 10-15% humidity with many days over 100f here in the summer. Way drier than anyplace in Fl.

True, but we have very sandy soil here that drains extremely quickly, so when we do not get rain, even for a short time, you can see how dry everything gets.

[gsytch]

Also, because of our annual heavier rainfall, we are simply use to, and plant accordingly, for moisture. It has rained once in March. The winds have not helped much. I see a 40% chance Friday. I missed the last chance so I pray this one comes over MY YARD! 

[NorCalKing]

43 minutes ago, gsytch said:

Also, because of our annual heavier rainfall, we are simply use to, and plant accordingly, for moisture. It has rained once in March. The winds have not helped much. I see a 40% chance Friday. I missed the last chance so I pray this one comes over MY YARD! 

True. We are use to 8-9 months straight without ANY rain, so I guess when we see people talk about how dry it is, it's a much different conversation then West Coast.

[SubTropicRay]

This morning's cold front brought nothing but a brief spritzing.  The drought lives on.......

[kinzyjr]

Barely enough to put a few spots on the windshield.

[PalmatierMeg]

Hand watering the garden lot 1-2 hours per day.

[gsytch]

A whopping 4/100"...and then winds kick up yet again to further dry out everything. Forecast is 7 days of sun! 

[Palmaceae]

Received .10" of rain this morning, certianly not a drought buster!

[gsytch]

Well, today is 16 days since I began this post, and other than a few sprinkles, zippo nada zero. They do not foresee anything in the form of rain for another week, and low humidity is not helping. We need a drought-buster but bad. 

[Palmaceae]

Here is a link to the Florida drought monitor, it shows us that are in SW Florida are the worst off drought wise. I drove to the Palm Beach palm sale yesterday and that side of the coast is much "greener".

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?FL

[Matthew92]

Grrrrrrrr...... 

[gsytch]

Still not a drop in April, and hardly a cloud. Just sunshine, wind, and more sunshine. Florida is burning with fires. Its going to be a long spring. 

[kinzyjr]

I've had some over here, but it hasn't been much.  Turned my sprinklers on for the first time in 3 years last weekend.

[Palmaceae]

Cape Coral just put in a 1 day a week watering restriction. Praying for rain!

[Tampa Scott]

 Just shy of 3" in my rain gauge since Jan 1, with 1 1/2" of the total coming in Jan. Thank goodness I am on reclaimed water for irrigating.  

[gsytch]

It has not rained yet in April, and the last decent rain was somewhere mid-March. We have had about 4" total this year. It is becoming obvious there is a drought as the landscapes are suffering. I water constantly and dread my water bill but luckily, it is fairly cheap. There is a front expected for Sunday night...PRAY this time i get something. Anything!

[RedRabbit]

I don't know about you all but I picked up a decent amount of rain tonight.  

[kinzyjr]

Got nothing....  :(

[Palmaceae]

20 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

I don't know about you all but I picked up a decent amount of rain tonight.  

Rain, what is rain 

[gsytch]

It rained! Three minutes worth last night. Yippee! 

[nitsua0895]

We had the benefit of some winter rain(with freezing temps right after of course) but the rain has stopped entirely for the past few weeks. Now that it's warmer we're back where we were for three months last fall. Just hoping we can get a little from this front passing through Saturday.

[Palmaceae]

I received 0.86 inches rain this weekend, what a Godsend! 

[dmc]

Topped out at 3" today. 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Got 4" since yesterday!

[Palmaceae]

13 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Got 4" since yesterday!

Wow, I only got .86", and I only a few miles from you!

[PalmatierMeg]

16 hours ago, Palmaceae said:

Wow, I only got .86", and I only a few miles from you!

Central Cape Coral got the bulk of the rain. What a blessing. Even my large palms were experiencing premature leaf die-back from lack of rain. We finished spreading mulch throughout the yard just before the rain front. I hope that will help conserve soil moisture.

[gsytch]

Still on a grand total of 6 minutes of rain in 2 months. One rain in March. Zero in April. This is getting as bad as it can get here in West Pasco. Brown and crispy is the order of plants around here. Lawns - just brown. Missed it all this past go around yet again. 

[Palmaceae]

7 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Central Cape Coral got the bulk of the rain. What a blessing. Even my large palms were experiencing premature leaf die-back from lack of rain. We finished spreading mulch throughout the yard just before the rain front. I hope that will help conserve soil moisture.

I am glad you got all that rain!  That will certainly help to start filling up the canals.