Photo from Universal Hub
The signs of the extended drought this year are hard to miss, There’s brown grass everywhere you look and I can’t remember when the last time we had a substantial rain storrm.
Perhaps the most visible local sign of the drought is on the Charles River, especially just upstream from Newton. The photo above is by Cutler Park in Needham. All that brown mud in the photo is usually flowing water.
Here in Upper Falls its most visible sign can be seen by looking at the falls. There is barely any water flowing over the falls these day. The flow through Hemlock Gorge has dropped so much that that stretch of river has turned from a relatively fast slowing stream to a nearly stagnant pool.
Its going to take a lot of rain over a long period of time to replenish our local rivers.
Worst of all, with the low flow through Hemlock Gorge I had to give up my daily swims in the river.
Drought is measured using several metrics: groundwater levels, streamflow, soil moisture (usually for crops), and levels in lakes and impoundments.
The groundwater pumped by municipalities upstream of us for their drinking water (and, unfortunately for the river, irrigation of lawns) has a direct effect on the flows downstream.
Lawns in New England normally go dormant in the month of August, maybe extending to September. But this dry spell started early & the heat hasn’t helped.
To help conserve water—don’t irrigate your lawn, mow it taller (the grass will have deeper roots commensurate with the height of the grass), and if you do water outside, do it at night or at dawn, not middle of the day.
Let’s hope for rain, but not too much (see Kentucky!)