Rains Still Can't Drive Away the Drought

We continue to have periodic rain storms, but they have done nothing to alleviate the drought.  A drought is not considered to be over until the rain water percolates through the soil and regains contact with the ground water aquifer.  The quantity of water delivered with each storm has been far less than that needed to saturate the entire soil profile.  What has developed is a shallow layer of moist soil overlaying dry.  Each storm on the horizon brings the promise of a long, soaking rain.

There has been enough rain to revive many of the plants.  Although this makes things look more pleasant, the plants may suffer from this action.  Blue Jay Barrens offers a dry environment for plant growth.  The soil typically dries out in early August and stays that way until November.  Perennial plants push new roots deep into the soil to take advantage of moisture found there.  In situations where there is no detectable deep level moisture, some plants will confine new root development to the moist zone near the surface.  Since plant roots are continually dieing and being replaced by new growth, much of this year’s deep root mass will not be available later on.  If harsh conditions return next year, these plants may suffer greatly when the surface area turns dry and there are not enough deep roots left to support growth.

I keep thinking that the next storm will be the one to put us back into a more normal pattern.  I’ve been constantly proven wrong.  We get the rain, but it’s usually in the amount of about half an inch.  We also get lightning, hail and wind.  Each storm takes down a few trees and drops debris everywhere.  We were lucky not to lose our electricity with this storm.  When I went out to assess damage, I could hear generators running on the ridge west of us, so I assumed their electric lines were down.  That night I could see no security lights and the early morning air carried the sound of chain saws working on the ridge.  I guess they got the brunt of it this time.

It has to have been a rough year for tree nesters.  So far this year I’ve found 11 downed bird nests with broken eggs and a half dozen fallen squirrel nests.  With the way the trees have been whipped around, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some nests were flung into the next county.

The violence is short lived and daytime storms end with a farewell rainbow.  I’ve seen more rainbows this year than I’ve seen over the past 10 years and there’s plenty of time left for more storms.  The wild weather makes it difficult to assign a cause to some of the atypical growth patterns showing up at Blue Jay Barrens this year.  It could be flood or drought or heat or any combination of weather events.  I guess I’ll just have to watch things unfold and learn what I can along the way.

Wind Storm

This is how the sky appeared in the wake of the storm that plowed over us on the evening of June 29. The colors are appropriate for the aftermath of a battle and the intensity of the storm certainly made you feel you had survived an attack. We spent a couple of days without electricity and a third day repairing our internet satellite link, but the lines have been repaired and we’re beginning to get back to normal. 

I’d been keeping an eye on the weather radar and it was not clear until the final hour that the storm was going to come our way.  I was trying to see if we might actually pick up some rain when the NWS reported a line of 80+ mph winds running about ten miles ahead of the rain band.  That meant the winds were almost upon us, so I went out to make sure things were as secure as possible.  There were no winds at the ground, but a long cloud suddenly arrowed over the hill from the north and shot over the barn.  I stopped to take two quick shots of the cloud and then put my camera back in its holster.  That’s when the surface wind clawed its way over the hill.  The trees 1,000 feet away looked like they were being torn to pieces.  I just made it to the back door as the wind slammed the house.

The trees in the yard looked like they’d been put into one of those machines that shakes the dead needles out of Christmas trees.  Dead branches were slung in all directions until caught by the wind and driven south.  Leaves left the trees like huge flocks of birds swirling together and shooting off into the sky.  The most curious thing was a Turkey Vulture gliding north into the wind as though nothing unusual was occurring.

The worst of the wind was through in about a minute.  Electricity was gone about 15 seconds after the wind hit, so my link to the weather radar was severed.  The following rain came through so fast that we got less than a tenth of an inch.

Following the rain, a gentle breeze brought air that was 25 degrees cooler than before.  After a quick check to make sure there wasn’t any immediate damage needing attention, I sat on the porch and enjoyed the sunset.  We’re only half way through the year and Blue Jay Barrens has already experienced floods, drought, hail, abnormally high temperatures and now a super wind storm.  I see a massive snow storm building for December.