Weather Wreaks Havoc on Avon Lake's Spring Sports Teams

"Rain, Rain, Go away, come back another day!" 

It's a children's song, but this year in Northeast Ohio, it seems like a daily ritual.

Streams have been near or teetering close to flood stage since the end of March, flooded basements are becoming a routine. There's been surprise snows this spring, and mother nature has also featured other extremes like dense fog and high winds.

April proved to be a record setting month for Cleveland as 6.89 inches of rain fell. Twenty days featured rain, and according WKYC meteorologist Bruce Kalinowski, May is looking to hold a similar pattern.

"The way its looking now, its basically the pattern that we are in and its not changing that much," Kalinowski said. "Pretty much there is no sign of a drying trend except for a day or two now and again."

Kalinowski said the difference between last year when the area set record highs and saw little rain , is that high pressure is over the Southwestern instead of the Southeastern U.S.

This flip-flop in turn sends low-pressure systems swinging through Northeast Ohio while pulling up lots of gulf moisture.      

"Its a cyclical thing," Kalinowski said. "And by cyclical I men that it  could last a month or two before the pattern shifts, and that's basically what it is now."

Because of it, scrambling to find ways to play games and get matches in has become a way of life for because of that pattern.

Thus far the boys tennis team has canceled or postponed nine matches. The baseball team has had four of its games canceled, one suspended due to snow, and has had to postpone a number of other games. The girls softball team has had one cancellation and eight postponements, including three now against Olmsted Falls.

One of those was played in a driving rain storm on a mud slopped field at Olmsted Falls, before being called by umpires in the seventh inning as a tie. 

"It's been crazy for sure, but its a lot tougher on the kids. They want to play and are tired and bored with just practicing, they want games," Barone said. "It's difficult for us, in the fact you have to reach the umpires, the other schools, our coaches and there is also transportation involved sometimes. But its part of spring sports in Northeast Ohio."

The only teams not affected have been the track and field squads, who are like the mailman and compete in rain, sleet or snow. The Shoremen baseball team has fared better than many area teams due to the school investing in diamond dry and other materials, not to mention they also have a tarp that was donated by the Indians.

Barone says the worst thing about this rainy spring is the way it has affected the freshman and junior varsity teams.

"The priority for us is getting the conference games in," Barone said. "That's the goal. But in finding a field that is dry, so we can get the varsity game in, the freshman and junior varsity programs lose out. Its those kids I feel bad for. They are the ones hurt the most by this weather." 

If there is a positive to it all, unlike most schools, Avon Lake has the facilities to accommodate the teams indoors in the case of rain.

"We are very fortunate," Barone said. "The district made some investments and it has paid dividends."

So the question now, is there light at the end of the tunnel?

"There's always light, the question whether its a train or sunshine," Kalinowski said with a laugh.

And while people might be wondering when spring will finally arrive, here is some food for thought, it could be much worse.

Kalinowski says that if all the low pressure systems that have been drenching us would be riding just a little further east up the Appalachians and draw with it more colder air, these would be snow events

"We would be talking a lot more about snow, like they are in the Dakota's and Minnesota," he said.