Rain Rain Go Away

It’s July 1st.  June has come and gone and it’s STILL raining!  According to the Northeast Regional Climate Center, June was the wettest month in a long time.  Neither Boston nor Concord hit their all time highs – Boston got 10.50 this year but 13.20 in 1982 and Concord got 6.78 versus their high of 10.10 in 1944 – but there were more rain days than sunny days by far.

So what is up with all this rain and is it good for the environment?

Anyone with allergies was happy to see the rain come in the spring!  It helps to wash away the pollen and other allergens from the air much faster. But the bugs also love this weather! Mosquitos are everywhere!

Is all this rain normal or part of Global Warming? Depending on who you talk to, the term “global warming” takes on different meanings.  For some, it is a fictional scare tactic being used to make money.  For others it is a scientific reality as there is so much data backing up that the Earth is indeed getting warmer.  For those who favor the latter, all they need to do is look at the current US drought map to prove their point.  Compared to last year, the drought in the western areas of the US is much worse this year than last.  In the same light, the wet areas are more prevalent this year in the Northeast.

Personally I am in the middle area – I think some of the issues are affected by Global Warming while others are just normal shifts in the Earth that are causing climate change.  Is this my wettest year to date?  Maybe it will be but then again, I wasn’t alive in 1944 when Concord hit that all time high.  Maybe if I was I would have been saying the same thing back then.

With the economy still being as it is, all this rain is putting a damper (pun intended!) on the start of the summer plans.  Many people who are opting to stay close to home to save a few dollars are planning beach and camping trips – neither of which works well in the rain!

We talk about eating healthy from local farms.  They, too, have had some challenges due to all this rain.  Last year there were times when we desperately needed rain.  This year to date, some of the fields in the Northeast are so saturated that they cannot plant and local farms may end up way behind this year due to too much rain.  According to CNYCentral.com, Many central New York farms by mid-June still had not planted because the fields were saturated and they could not get their equipment through the fields.

More rain means more issues environmentally with the local water ways.  Lake Erie is an extreme example of this with the algae that is killing off plant life and fish.  According to an article in the New York Times   ”The spring rains reliably predict how serious the summer algae bloom will be: the more frequent and heavy the downpours, the worse the outbreak.” And with the rain we have been having…

Our own local waterways are not immune to this type of problem and anyone who lives on or near a lake, river or pond may be noticing additional issues in their areas with the water levels rising.

The Merrimack River, according a recent Eagle Tribune article, is having issues of it’s own due to the sewage that goes into the river and is flowing right past the treatment facilities due, in part, to the raised water level.

It would be nice to be able to regulate the amount of rain we get, but this is not Camelot.  This is the real world and whether it’s global warming changing the weather patterns or just the way the earth turns, we all have to deal with it.  We may not be able to change the weather but you can make a difference in your own area.

Do what you can this year to help out.

Buy local produce and help support the farmers who may be having a tough year.  As the saying goes “No Farms No Food” right?

Don’t add more water to the problem!  If you have a sprinkler system installed to water your lawn, install a rain gauge so the system automatically shuts off instead of adding more water to your already drenched lawn.

If you are out on the waterways and see something that doesn’t belong – large amounts of algae blooms, sewage backups, general pollution build ups – report it to your local authorities or to one of the many local non-profits that help keep our waterways clean and healthy.

Help reduce the mosquito population by doing what you can to eliminate unnecessary standing pools of water like bird baths and kiddie pools.  At least clean them out regularly so they do not become breeding grounds.

We only have the one planet to live on.  With all the severe weather that has been happening all over the country, we are all involved whether we want to be or not.  Look around.  Do what you can to help out.  As Miley Cyrus puts it in her song “Wake Up America” – “Everything you do matters”!