Storm Breaks High Heat,

But More To Come

By Kendra Bobowick

Thunder and lightning Tuesday finally interrupted several weeks of high heat and dry skies searing the ground.

“Some front lawns, even with irrigation, look like ‘who did it and ran?’” said Barbara Butler, who owns Valley View Landscaping with her husband Don. The two sat on the porch and watched with relief as the rain “fell in sheets,” Tuesday. Lawns have dried out and are “crunchy,” she said, but cautioned against the mistake of watering them too much, especially at night. Lawns should be watered in the morning, allowing the moisture a chance to evaporate and soak in.

A night watering allows moisture to remain on the leaves, Ms Butler said. “You can end up with water and insect damage,” she said. Fungus could develop, and the insects will not go after clover, for example, but rye grasses instead. Weed killers and fertilizers can burn a lawn during such high temperatures, she warned.

With the prolonged lack of rain, lawn cutting has been down, she said, regarding business. Lawns are stressed she said.

As lawns across town have lost their luster and eventually browned in past days with temperatures often above 90 degrees, Jim and Sue Shortt of Shortt’s Farm and Garden Center on Riverside Road were thankful for their irrigation system soaking fields and crops.

“We’re blessed,” Jim Shortt said Tuesday during the Organic Farmers’ Market in Fairfield Hills. With him beneath a tent meant for shade, but instead shielding both shoppers and growers alike from a sudden heavy rain, was Washington, Conn., organic farmer Patrick Horan of Waldingfield Farm. His crops, however, are at mother nature’s whim. As he opened a bag filled with greens and said, “Here, taste this!” or “smell this,” offering a taste of his farm’s arugula to residents ducking out of the rain.

Sue Shortt stood near a supply of vegetables and berries for sale Tuesday, and shared her thanks to a bountiful water supply at Shortt’s farm. Although they irrigate now, she said, “I recall when we didn’t.” Laughing, she said, “We would be doing a rain dance.” Until then, the rain on overhead tarps had created a gently background hum, which suddenly turned to a loud drumming. Several women waiting to buy produce peeked outside at the sudden rush of water.

Thinking back on the summer season, Ms Short said, “The humidity and nonstop heat and warm nights makes things grow.” As the sun sets, but temperatures remain hot, plants grow through the 24-hour period, unlike weather with warm days and colder nights.

In the last three months rainfall has been roughly eight inches below normal, said Western Connecticut State University’s Assistant Weather Center Director Gary Lessor. Before Tuesday’s rainfall, the July precipitation total was just 0.12 inch. June saw almost three inches of rain, which is about 1.5 inches less than normal. May was also dry this year. May and June both had a day with temperatures above 90 degrees, July had six days above 90, and one day that reached 100 degrees. The Windsor Locks weather station registered eight July days above 90, with three days in June.

Although the water tables are good and the area has not seen a drought, a heat wave of three or more consecutive 90-plus degree days did sweep through.

Mr Lessor believes that “Mother Nature is trying to even the score” to counter last season’s cooler, moist weather. Between this year and last, “You have an average New England summer,” he said. “We tend toward opposites from one year to the next.” He predicts that the region could see “a cooler August” than last year.

While the heat and lack of rain were not a hydrological problem dropping the water table, agriculture, crops, and grasslands suffer from such weather, he said. “That’s where the farmers come in.”

Looking at the weekend, he offered a warning: through Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, “We’re looking at another potential heat wave.” While Newtown may see relief in August, he said, “Expect more to come.”