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Rain paucity to continue
By adamg on Tue, 08/30/2016 - 10:22am
Our local National Weather Service office isn't holding out much hope for much rain over the next ten days or so, so looks like none of the tropical storms brewing in the Atlantic will help.
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Comments
Man, do we need rain. When
Man, do we need rain. When will the state jump in and start with mandatory water restrictions? I am sort of surprised it hasn't happened yet.
Individual towns have
Wells and aquifers, oh my.
The Quabbin, though, is still in good shape, in part because we're now drawing about a third less water from it than in the 1980s (not arguing those of us in MWRA towns can just say screw it, but the issue's not quite as severe for us and won't be for several years).
Lawn
I'm doing my part and not watering my lawn anymore. Not that there's a ban or anything, but it's just that the ground is so dry that I'd have to let the water run for at least an hour each day to moisten it up so it would be beneficial. Waste of water (and money). Same with any lawn care I was going to do.. waste of money right now.
We're a month or so anyways away from end of season for grass so it's kind of futile. Just means I'll re-seed my lawn again...
Mine lawn crunches when I
Mine lawn crunches when I walk on it. I don't care much but man, I feel for the farmers this year.
I think that's great that you
I think that's great that you're not watering your lawn given the extreme drought in the area... but the fact that people are making a big deal about not watering their lawn is pretty much a first world suburban entitlement state of mind.
Act your age
Nobody made "a big deal" about it until you did, just now. You're being an infantile twat, and "first world suburban entitlement" has fuckall to do with this. Living in a water-rich part of the world and not being a farmer has everything to do with it. Are you a farmer, or just the pro-am scolder that you appear to be on Uhub? It's one thing to have awareness about water conservation, and another thing to be a nagging bore like you are. If you wanted to do something for water conservation, you'd provide constructive information about how people can do that in addition to not watering their lawns. You've not done that, so I can only conclude that you're in it for the gratification of the self-righteous buzz that comes with your sanctimonious takedown attempts.
tl;dr: grow up.
I agree, I've given up on my
I agree, I've given up on my lawn but now just water some trees and bushes that were just planted. (I'm still planting as there are some great deals out there for trees and perennials)
A good raking will be needed this fall to get up all the dead grass, reseed, fertilize and cross fingers for spring.
Gave up on my own lawn, and I
Gave up on my own lawn, and I'm just putting some water to keep bushes and trees alive.
And collecting the condensation from my air conditioner.
Dehumidifier
Posted twice. Sorry!
Dehumidifier
The water collected by my dehumidifier goes right on the shrub I planted this spring. Free water!
Great site for water nerds
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/wsupdate.htm
I remember MWRA folks coming out to install low-flow shower heads back around '92. The drop in use (and waste) of water was really dramatic. Very much of a happy success story.
USGS site for water nerds too
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ma/nwis/rt
We are LOW right now.
If there aren't more ways to
If there aren't more ways to easily improve efficiency, then there's just a lot more users now and restrictions.
Also, there could always be more towns that ask to get connected.
Quabbin was at 87% at the
Quabbin was at 87% at the start of the month.
Tomorrow, MWRA will post a water level, and I suspect it will be 83%.
Restrictions begin at 80%.
Hope the fall gets wet..
There is a reason for that
We are getting to the point where municipal water supplies are declaring emergencies and making arrangements to connect to the Quabbin. Some will get "raw water" piped to their treatment plants, others will require treated water.
In either case, the demand on the Quabbin picks up quickly when the local sources are running low.
You were pretty emphatic in
You were pretty emphatic in another thread that they wouldn't. Apparently they are wanting to.
Just to be a bit more fair
The NWS precipitation outlook can't take into account what it can't possibly know about. It covers prevailing fronts. It can't possibly include a hurricane that's still forming.
A tropical storm or hurricane could be forming in the Atlantic that could hit us in 8 days...but that precipitation forecast isn't going to know anything about it at this point.
For example, the tropical wave leaving Africa just now has a 40% chance of becoming cyclonic in 5 days and at its current speed could be here in 7 days. There's no way for the precipitation forecast to account for that since we don't know if it's going to develop into anything and if it does what path it'll take and if it ever comes this way.
Forecasting beyond 3 days
is akin to flipping a coin.
Okay, it's not that random, but there is definitely a lot of guesswork in the phrase "educated guess."
That said, I have been eyeballing the Labor Day forecast.
Depends on what you want to know and the situation
Rain odds are always a percentage chance for falling on your house. Then again, if it just has to fall within an aquifer, it's a lot easier to predict long term and get it right. But the situation obviously has a hand in that accuracy as well. Is the jet stream in an obvious pattern...are the current frontal boundaries behaving well or are there lots of disruptions...is there a giant storm coming up the coast...all these things can be disruptive to predictability. However, if there's nothing on the horizon and all the fronts aren't disrupted/conflicting and the jet stream is settled/calm...then you can be pretty accurate for quite a while out.
Time frame matters
Knowing what the weather will be on a given day is often limited to a 5 day forecast.
Knowing what the weather patterns are going to be (but not weather on a given day) gets you a lot further out.
When you see "equal probabilities", that means that the forecasts "lack skill" to make a prediction (in the words of the weather guys I have been working with lately).
I can't tell you what the weather will be on September 15. It is, however, a solid bet that we will not get much rain by then.
Ahhh....but the rivers
are really low, with fish and wildlife dying and the whole ecosystem and food chained being disrupted. The Neponset is one example And there's the high risk of fires, which we're seeing frequently. The Quabbin and our drinking water supplies may not be a problem, but there's a lot of other damage going on in the city, as well as in other parts of the state.
"fish and wildlife dying"
Cite, please.
There have been a number of
There have been a number of articles talking about the effects of the drought in the Globe and other local papers saying pretty much exactly that. In fact, the first paragraph in a recent article says that.
If you don't feel like searching for them, then don't claim there hasn't been any affect.
http://www.dotnews.com/2016
http://www.dotnews.com/2016/drought-imperils-wildlife-habitats-parts-nep...
I live near the Saugus river
I live near the Saugus river at the tip of the Rumney Marsh and am surrounded by brooks and streams. I have not noticed any change in the wildlife. There are days when the brook is low, but then again there are days when it is high and rushing.
The Globe ran an article
The Globe ran an article talking about it, even if you haven't seen a change.
Dew Point Comfort Chart?
Which Dew Point Comfort Chart is appropriate for Boston, Cambridge, Somerville or Brookline areas?
https://www.google.com/search?q=dew+point+comfort+chart&tbm=isch
Weather broadcasters often display the DewPoint number without an appropriate Dew Point Comfort Chart to interpret the number.
Rule of thumb
Dewpoints below 60 are great.
60-70 are muggy.
70 and above is oppressive.
source?...
source?...
Me
I said that.
Simple way to work this out
When it starts to get uncomfortable for you, check in to see what the dew point is. Ideally, one would have a wet bulb thermometer, but for the rest of us, a trip to the National Weather Service's webpage will give us a number. That is the point when it become uncomfortable. It is kind of subjective. Objectively, over 60 is sticky, over 65 is uncomfortable, and over 70 is oppressive, but personally, I get uncomfortable over 60.