dryest since 1882

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Jimslawncareservice

You know in the mid 90s when I was a teenager I dug lots of holes for cattle fence we always set the post in water. Our water table is 0-4 ft. Now its 6-10 ft. We dig holes now, even in the spring to 6ft and no water. It's just odd. I'm in mn and feel like I'm in Indiana.
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Same here with our Water tables. I am just hoping it is the Pacific Oscillator combined with a Sun cycle type influence. Not a much longer term Global type climate change. The southern PO can last 10, 20, 30 years in El Nino, La Nina, or Neutral. I think the PO has been in the La Nina stage which usually means drought for large areas of the US. The Sun usually changes cycles every 10 years and is supposed to go into a cooling phase beginning in 2013 ie little or no Sun Spots

[Jimslawncareservice]

Now I heard we are in our 2nd year of a 10 year cycle of the sun spot issue. In 2010 we had Dang good year with no skips and some staying on a every 5 day cut
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[Mark Oomkes]

Originally Posted by Charles

Same here with our Water tables. I am just hoping it is the Pacific Oscillator combined with a Sun cycle type influence. Not a much longer term Global type climate change. The southern PO can last 10, 20, 30 years in El Nino, La Nina, or Neutral. I think the PO has been in the La Nina stage which usually means drought for large areas of the US. The Sun usually changes cycles every 10 years and is supposed to go into a cooling phase beginning in 2013 ie little or no Sun Spots

Local meteorologist said that within 50 years southern Michigan will be in a climate like Kentucky has right now.

He also blew the whole La Nina "phenomena" and how it affects weather right out of the water. Out of the last 50 years when La Nina was in effect, we had between 51 and 104 inches of snow. Last year was the lowest at just over 50".

So while it affects weather, they really can't predict jack squat based on La Nina or El Nino.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Mark Oomkes

Local meteorologist said that within 50 years southern Michigan will be in a climate like Kentucky has right now.

He also blew the whole La Nina "phenomena" and how it affects weather right out of the water. Out of the last 50 years when La Nina was in effect, we had between 51 and 104 inches of snow. Last year was the lowest at just over 50".

So while it affects weather, they really can't predict jack squat based on La Nina or El Nino.

You do have degrees of El Nino and La Nina. Some weak and some strong. You also have the long term and short term versions of each one. The long term one is in the South Pacific. Then you have "Neutral". I think the short term version has been in Neutral all Summer. I have seen forecasters saying things are switching to El Nino for the winter. A La Nina winter usually means fronts stay to the North which would coincide with the 51 to 104 inches of snow you got. LN usually means drought for the southern half of the US. A strong El Nino winter usually means a warmer wetter winter for the Southern half of the US with strong storms from CA to SC. Of course there are exceptions to every rule

[CITY PARK CUTTER]

Originally Posted by grass disaster

here in mn my little area was doing ok on the rain.

id get a tiny shot just to keep me in business.

now its dryer than the dickens out there!

My absolute worst year of mowing ever, not even close. Probably down in the range of 75% off last year. End of June the grass was microwaved brown and stayed that way until mid Sept. Had all of my weekly cuts in July and August go to once a month maybes. Had some once in two months. Got so bad tat I took a vacation to Europe for 16 days and didn't even tell my customers, the grass was that burnt. Came back and finally we have some rain but too late to salvage a disastrous season of 2012. Feel for ya, guy, nobody's had it worse than we in Missouri. Take a full schedule 5/6 days a week, chop it down to maybe 2 if you're lucky from June 24th to about Sept 6th. Take 75% off your total gross amount for those months...you have my spreadsheet for 2012. I told my lead trimmer to get another job back in July and work for me whenever. Even had my city park contract cut for 2 straight months, nada, no mowing on a public park for two months!

[puppypaws]

Originally Posted by Charles

Seems to me that the Midwest, Southwest and South east(with the exception of Fla) climate has changed to warmer and drier. This change has been going on here in the SE since the late 90s. I am talking averages here over a long period of time. Spots have had a wetter than normal Summer but regionally it is still drought time for many. I think the weather used to be more predictable when it comes to rain forecast.

If you've looked at any drought maps over the summer, you will see NC was one of very few states with no drought to speak of, we really had too much rain for the most part. The corn yields were great, and my soybeans are loaded from top to bottom, and the grass has grown entirely too fast.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by puppypaws

If you've looked at any drought maps over the summer, you will see NC was one of very few states with no drought to speak of, we really had too much rain for the most part. The corn yields were great, and my soybeans are loaded from top to bottom, and the grass has grown entirely too fast.

Yea La Nina ended early in the year and we have been in ENSO Neutral which is neither La Nina or El Nino. N is usually better for the SE than LN but not nearly as good as EN. There is a 45% chance that N will continue through the first part of 2013. But EN chances increase to 44% by the end of the year. Very little % that LN will come back by the early part of 2013. N got SC out of the severe drought that we were in under LN. N is a anything goes winter and hard to forecast