It’s Cold & Wet —

Where’s Summer?

By Jeff White

Nancy McCarthy sure wishes that large green John Deer tractor sitting in her garage wasn’t broken; she needs it to keep up with a lawn that has grown dense due to heavier-than-normal rainfall this summer.

Standing out behind her Valley View Road home, Mrs McCarthy says that she has attempted to attack her lush property with a push mower, to no avail. In a summer that has seen precipitation markedly higher than past years, she knows it is little use keeping up with a growing lawn.

“I’m trying to keep up, but it’s kind of a lost cause. Every time I go out, it starts raining,” she explains.

Thus far, summer 2000 has been a far cry from a year ago, when the parched swelter of June and July left many in town talking about the dry spell. Ground water levels hovered at dangerous levels; bedrock wells were watched on a weekly basis. Last summer’s drought was serious enough to be described by weather experts as “one of the most severe droughts since the Great Depression for the Danbury area.”

Those experts are singing another tune this year.

“It’s been definitely cooler, wetter, more spring-like,” says Mike Ferrara at the Western Connecticut University Weather Center.

Through most of the early portion of this week, Newtown and the surrounding area was wrapped in a shroud of London-esque fog and mist. On Tuesday, as the month of August – traditionally the warmest month of the year – was ushered in, the noontime temperature in downtown Danbury read 68 degrees.

But just how much has it rained this summer? According to Mr Ferrara, in a normal year, the month of July sees an average rainfall right around 3.8 inches. July 2000 ended having tallied 7.20 inches of precipitation, up 5.5 inches from a year ago.

June 2000 was equally sodden, getting 7.16 inches of rain compared to 1.93 inches a year ago.

But rainfall hasn’t been the only thing deviating from traditional readings. Many weather experts count the temperatures this summer among the coolest in recent memory. July’s warmth usually hovers around 72.3 degrees. But for July 2000, the average temperature was 68.4 degrees, down from an average temperature a year ago of 78.3 degrees.

June 2000 saw five days with temperature readings in the 90s; July 2000 had just one 90 degree day.

And to think some people this year were expecting a summer to easily exceed the extreme conditions of a year ago.

“We’ve had roughly two warm summers in a row, so logically people expected this summer to be warm also,” explains Mr Ferrara. He adds that a mild winter didn’t help people’s expectations: since the winter was warmer than usual, people just expected the summer to be hotter than normal.

The end result of this summer’s wacky, wet weather has been a lush, verdant Newtown, resplendent with showy, healthy looking gardens. But all of the rain has not necessarily been a godsend to the property owners who have come to regard normal summer temperatures and precipitation as effective agents for keeping unruly yards at bay.

“I would rather have the drought conditions,” says Mrs McCarthy. She says that she finds herself outside two and three times each week mowing a lawn that remains saturated due to the poor water drainage of properties along Boggs Hill Road. “It’s hard to keep up with all of the rain.”

“I’ve never seen any [summer] like it,” says John Andrews, who has spent the last 30 years at his home up on Bonnie Brae Road. He too mentioned that his lawn has grown thicker. “It’s weird.”

Weird perhaps, but this summer’s cooler, wetter weather has at least in part contributed to a boost in sales over at Lexington Gardens, as many gardening enthusiasts rush over to take advantage of good planting conditions.

“Sales seem to be up considerably [10 to 15 percent] from last year,” says Lexington Gardens Office Manager Linda Pruzinski. “Growing season has been better because it hasn’t been that hot.”

But summer is supposed to be the time for sunburns. It’s supposed to be the time for bathing suits, refreshing plunges into pools, and outdoor ballgames. On more than a few days this summer, however, to pull into one of the town’s parks was to behold swimming pools devoid of splashers.

“We’ve been missing the pool, let’s say that,” muses Linda Clement, who has had to find alternative ways to entertain her nine-, eight-, and five-year-old. Her family is used to summers spent outside, underneath the leafy trees at Dickinson pool. That’s not the case this year.

“The library has been getting much use. We’ve been going to Borders, to the movies. We’ve been walking around the mall.

“To be honest, I would rather have the drought. I would rather have the sun. It’s so much easier to find things to do in the warm weather. When it’s raining, there’s not much for the kids to do. All they want to do is swim.”

Mrs Clement admits that she expected this summer to be as warm and dry as last year, and like most around town, the onset of dreary, cool days came as a bit of a surprise.

Mike Ferrara at the weather center at Western Connecticut State University thinks that Newtown will emerge soon from the low-pressure trough that has been parked over the region for the last 12 days, pulling up moisture from the south and keeping the clouds thick.

What will August have to offer?

“If I were to give an extended look into August, I’m expecting slightly above normal precipitation, and right around normal temperatures,” he predicts. August typically sees temperatures hovering close to 73 degrees on average.

But a continued wet, cool summer could have its benefits, explains Mrs Clement. “The only good thing is that we’re getting a lot of reading in.”