U.S. Drought Monitor

[Ashful]

I had somewhere over 3 inches in a single shower, yesterday evening. That's atop 2.5 inches the night before. After complaining about a drought through most of the prior 4 weeks, we've made up for it spades the last week. Thunder showers predicted every day for a solid week. I could've done without the hail, though.

 

[thewoodlands]

I had somewhere over 3 inches in a single shower, yesterday evening. That's atop 2.5 inches the night before. After complaining about a drought through most of the prior 4 weeks, we've made up for it spades the last week. Thunder showers predicted every day for a solid week. I could've done without the hail, though.

Not long after I posted we were hit with some pounding rain on the roof, it lasted for five minutes. It looks like we'll get more overnight from what I saw on the radar.

 

[thewoodlands]

We received half an inch of rain overnight for a total of an inch, NOAA forecast before it all started was 1 to 2.

 

[tlc1976]

I remember it. We went to Dixon Springs SP. Yep, it was a normal hot day for around here--temp in the 90s (I don't recall exactly) and over 50% humid. Quite a few of the un-acclimated sat in their cars running the AC. How sad. 😆
We haven't really had any of those days yet this year, thankfully.
There was a good amount of trees/shade in the park. Shade got really good when the moon moved in. 😉

No sitting in the vehicle for me. It was blistering for me but I came to be outside. I was thankful when the moon moved in.

I stayed at the Randolph recreation area north of Chester. I watched it from an old abandoned farm on a dirt road not far from there.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We had another 7/10ths of an inch of rain last night. If my math is correct, that is just 1/10th under 5 inches in about 15-16 days. It has been most welcomed after the historic dry Spring we had.

 

[Woody Stover]

At long last, blessed relief!🤗 Over the last hour, we've exceeded what we've gotten over the last two months or so. We're at 1.1", and another decent sized cell has popped up to the west, and looks like it might make it here. ⛈️😃👍

 

[begreen]

Our 10-day forecast. This is after a very dry May/June. This could go on through August, though I sure hope not. The wildfire danger is real.

 

[Woody Stover]

Our 10-day forecast.

Not sure what has been blocking you, but I hope something changes out there.
Grand total here today is 1.5". 💧🤗 We really needed a good soaking like this to make a dent in the deficit. No heavy weather to deal with, thankfully.

 

[woodgeek]

Our 10-day forecast. This is after a very dry May/June. This could go on through August, though I sure hope not. The wildfire danger is real.

View attachment 313581

Consistent with El Nino pattern.

 

[Ashful]

Consistent with El Nino pattern.

Real foggy out your way today, woodgeek? If looking at anything more than 100 feet away, you can literally "see" the air, here. Will create some interesting effects at the fireworks display, this year.

 

[woodgeek]

Real foggy out your way today, woodgeek? If looking at anything more than 100 feet away, you can literally "see" the air, here. Will create some interesting effects at the fireworks display, this year.

A lot foggier a few weeks back.

 

[tlc1976]

Looks like that here this week but it’s not fog, it’s wildfire smoke from Canada. Driving home today it would be hard to tell if something local was on fire, the Canadian smoke was just billowing everywhere.

 

[thewoodlands]

Our 10-day forecast. This is after a very dry May/June. This could go on through August, though I sure hope not. The wildfire danger is real.

View attachment 313581

Can't like that, usually the month of August is really dry here. We have another four days of rain coming in after tomorrow, it hasn't been a good summer so far between the rain and the smoke lately.

 

[Ashful]

Looks like that here this week but it’s not fog, it’s wildfire smoke from Canada.

Yeah, that's what we were talking about. It was so thick here a few weeks back, I actually thought we had a fire in the neighborhood. This week, it looks more like a hazy fog than dark smoke, but it's still smoke.

 

[kborndale]

Just took the dog out for her morning business and my eyes are stinging. Smoke has definitely returned here just outside of NYC. Not the orange apocalypse of a few weeks ago, but definitely can see, smell and feel it in the eyes.

 

[woodgeek]

A month ago, I was taking a work trip with a buddy who loves cigars, so he and I went out to a cigar bar a few times. In Raleigh NC.

I normally dont' smoke, and couldn't stand the smell of stale cigar smoke on my clothes.

When we drove back to Philly, everywhere after Richmond VA smelled just the same... stale smoke, and I couldn't shake the feeling that is was ME... that I hadn't changed my shirt. Yuck.

 

[thewoodlands]

We don't have much wind coming from the south so the smoke is hanging in the trees again today. Since the weather isn't looking good for our area the next 4 or 5 days, I did make a trip to the cemeteries and took care of the flowers along with cutting the sod back around the veterans marker that I also cleaned.

 

[Ashful]

Spent 10 hours outside yesterday, huffing and puffing while shoveling dirt and crushed stone for a patio. I was wheezing pretty bad by the time I came in at sunset, and had a cough through the evening. This is not a great situation, really hoping Canada gets some relief from these wildfires, very soon.

Headed back out shortly for another 10 hours of work outdoors, more shoveling and then mowing. Might wear a respirator while mowing, but it's hard to do that when sweating and huffing with a shovel for hours at a time.

 

[tlc1976]

I’m headed out for more cutting, welding, and painting on my jeep. The smell of burnt steel outweighs any smoke in the air. It doesn’t bother me. I have to get it done this summer. And have a vehicle to haul pellets. The local TSC still doesn’t have any, last year they had them at the beginning of June.

What does bother me is mowing. Between the dust and pollen and whatever, sometimes I would be sneezing and nose running and eyes watering for over a week. One time it ended up turning into a nasty sinus infection. Well ever since Covid and masks started, I’ve been mowing with a mask and my problems have disappeared.

Now the biggest problem is collecting spiders and ticks in my hair and bringing them in the house. I really try to get everything out, and then jump right in the shower on hot and hopefully get them out. Never had near the problem in the past as this year.

We have had periodic rain over the last few weeks. Any brown spots in my grass are gone. And it’s no longer so risky lighting up the grass when welding.

 

[begreen]

Spent 10 hours outside yesterday, huffing and puffing while shoveling dirt and crushed stone for a patio. I was wheezing pretty bad by the time I came in at sunset, and had a cough through the evening. This is not a great situation, really hoping Canada gets some relief from these wildfires, very soon.

Headed back out shortly for another 10 hours of work outdoors, more shoveling and then mowing. Might wear a respirator while mowing, but it's hard to do that when sweating and huffing with a shovel for hours at a time.

Wear an N95 mask. It makes a big difference. You probably have some left over from the pandemic. I should have done that yesterday while mowing. It was super dusty at times. I think I need to wash the prefilter on the mower today.

 

[thewoodlands]

Spent 10 hours outside yesterday, huffing and puffing while shoveling dirt and crushed stone for a patio. I was wheezing pretty bad by the time I came in at sunset, and had a cough through the evening. This is not a great situation, really hoping Canada gets some relief from these wildfires, very soon.

Headed back out shortly for another 10 hours of work outdoors, more shoveling and then mowing. Might wear a respirator while mowing, but it's hard to do that when sweating and huffing with a shovel for hours at a time.

It was another day with smoke up here in the foothills of the Adirondacks but I did wash my truck outside today.

We've had some thunder along with rain after five tonight, so far July is starting out like most of June was, wet.

 

[Ashful]

Yeah, real wet here. Both of my recent mowings (today included) have concluded with a heavy rain shower. So unsettled that our weather forecast isn't even succeeding in predicting storms more than 30 minutes out. When I started today's mowing at 5pm, it said no rain until after midnight, then it rained at 7pm.

I probably do have some N95 masks around, from other projects. As much as I'm used to wearing masks or respirators when doing dusty tasks in the shop or home renovations, I find it really bothersome to wear them when really working up a sweat with a shovel in the July sun. I guess I might have to get used to that, though.

 

[begreen]

Well, the rain should knock down the dust. No such luck here. It's important to take high PM2.5 count from wildfires seriously. It takes time to get that crap out of lungs once it gets in there. When we lived in Delhi in November and December it felt like I had smoked a pack a day. That took several months to clear out.

I've got my 20x20 merv13 filters coming and a box fan ready to make a home filtration system to supplement our HVAC filtration. The wildfire predictions for the west this summer are not good.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I bought two of these two years ago, and while expensive, they do a great job of getting this Canadian smoke (and any smoke) out of the house air. I bought them because we burn with wood during the winter, but I run them all year.

https://alen.com/products/alen-breathesmart-75i-air-purifier?variant=13172054949955 with the "fresh" filter designed to filter wildfire smoke.

Each one does 1300 cubic feet per hour. My house is about 1700 square feet, so the air gets filtered about 1.5+ times per hour. These have been a game changer for our indoor air quality.

 

[begreen]

Our HVAC has a DC variable blower that I can put in continuous air circ mode. It has a large 4" merv 13 filter plus a 1" merv 13 pre-filter and does a pretty good job at keeping the house air breathable. The box fan filter is an experiment to see if that will cover the downstairs during the day.