My yard is a muddy mess. Earlier in the week I stranded TWO vehicles in the mud. (Don't ask.) It's a disaster near the barn, 100 hooves really make a mess.
How are you all holding up?
I'm am OVER the rain!
Everything is under water here too and even the dog is sick of it.
My back yard is officially Xeramtheum's Bog.
X
If I had fish, they could probably survive in my backyard by now. Looks like the next month is going to have above precip too - ugh. Plus they're saying below average temps again. This is turning out to be a nasty and wet winter.
I'm curious, does all this cold rain have any effect on the ground temperature?
X
I think so. My soil temp went all the way down to 44 this year. Guess it was the extended cold because 55 was the winter low in the past when we only had a few days of cold nights then the temp would bounce back to the 70's during the day. This could do some significant damage to those things that were root hardy, they might not be this year.
Sitting here chatting because the dog is pestering me to go out and the thermometer says 34; I need a good excuse to stall him as long as possible. (Maybe until April?????)
Maybe there's an advantage to having pure sand masquerade as soil...
The ice was lovely this morning, though~
Thought I'd share the glitter~
Ice storms are pretty until branches start falling.
X
I agree X, and Pine Tree become downright scary in ice storms.
I think we lucked out over here in Lexington, I hardly saw any ice this morning. Irmo seemed to get it worse than we did, though by mid-morning all the ice was gone and it was just another chilly day.
Looks like more rain Tuesday/Wed and then again Friday. Does it ever stop?
Hey, B&J, I'm near you...up by the Limehouse Bridge. Same deal here. Ground water's at surface level now, and everything's at "flood". All my plant friends here are worried about cold damage...I'm far more worried about root damage. Should be an "interesting" spring...
Think positively, there wil be lots of new real estate for new acquisitions.
Yesterday when I went to transplant a few clumps of mondo grass the holes where I removed the grass immediately filled up with ground water. It did not smell too good either, it was pretty anerobic. I understand my neighborhood has had 24" of rain since December 2. That much water along with these cold temps = bad news.
"Maybe until April??" - LOL, Ardesia - I hear ya!
Things are still mushy in my yard today!
The past 2 nights' freezes seem to have finished off one or two of my plants. :(
well, at least I'm not snowed in anymore. The school buses pass in front of our house, and the plow finally got here today around 4pm. I sent the teenager, since she's stuck at home, out to clear the front of the driveway.
It was a huge plow - I didn't even know NC had such equipment, much less that they'd use it on neighborhood streets! it's a first for here in 30 years!
Agree Ardesia! All the talk I've heard I've heard around here lately revolves around "cold damage". I'm much more concerned about "root damage" (i.e. "drowning"). I'm in a low lying area on the Stono River, and my whole property has been "squishey" for over a month...with no relief in sight. Suspect a lot of dameage come the spring, but it won't be from the cold...
Well apparently what the cold isn't killing the soggy ground is likely too. They're forecasting another 2 inches for us tonight... this is crazy. Seems we're either in a period of too little rain or WAY WAY too much. Where's the balance in the seasons and weather anymore?
y'all are suddenly making me happy to be mostly on sloping ground, and on the uphill side of most of it. All the rest of the time:
> when I don't put tools away because the shed is at the slope bottom and I don't have the umph to get down there and make it back
> when I don't weed because my back is sore from balancing trying not to fall down while weeding
> when I'm fighting the slope mowing, then
I don't like being on such a slope. But my irises would rot in a heartbeat with what all you are describing.
Oh to be on a slope right now. The rain has been coming down in buckets today. The old timers are saying they have never seen anything like this.
Are you getting any snow Bonjon?
My back garden is a large pond. The ground must be totally saturated.
I went out today checking my drainage and my most likely to drown plants are fine, fruit trees were planted in a great spots for drainage. Have to say the last couple of year that has made my fruit trees a pain in the .... water wise since they aren't where I have irrigation. You know if I put a couple of more stations on my system it will rain for the next 9 months straight. We are due for a wet summer or two.
There were a few flakes to begin, which almost immediately changed to sleet, and within 30 mins. had changed to this cold rain. It's been pouring all day. Rain is so cold, even when it was light, and DH and I ran errands but were only out of the car for a minute or two, we both got a chill. The air is very cold. DH feels badly enough he headed to bed at 8pm instead of 2 am!
We still have snow on the ground a week later - that almost never happens. Everything is soaking wet and what was coming down by 10am was running off because the soil is saturated. I haven't heard of any local flooding yet.
I live on a slope and my yard is still a marsh in the making. And now they're calling for more rain next week. Gah, when does it stop?
Maybe send El Nino and eviction notice?
X
X, I like your idea. It's still raining a little bit here this morning, and it just poured yesterday. You really get a sense of why they call this the Lowcountry after a lot of rain. Several of my friends of some of the sea islands have septic systems that are non-functional 'cause they're full of water. What a hassle.
No real rain today but it has been misting non stop. It is 53 degrees and it feels like 33 it is so gray, windy and WET. To add insult to injury, the deer have been flooded out of their habitat again and are munching on whatever greenery is left - and that is darn little.
The septic system thing is kicking in in Bluffton. Most of Bluffton is on septic systems and wells, the drainage isn't so good in the old town part.
I think it's safe to say that whatever survives this winter - it's some pretty tough stuff.
Just a note, if you ever have problems with the drain field get Septic Seep. It works .. when I live in Virginia my drain field failed and was facing a huge bill to rebuild it .. out of desperation I searched the net for alternatives and found Septic Seep. I figured it was worth spending $100 dollars for a few gallons just for the heck of it .. by golly it WORKED! It totally rejuvenated my drain field to like new. It works by breaking up hard pan which is a real problem in states with lots of clay.
http://www.septicseep.com/
If you have an old system it's definitely worth dumping a gallon or so in the tank every few years just to keep a drain field percolating.
X
you're only getting mist? we've had snow, sleet, and rain all day. not as heavy as yesterday - yesterday it poured, slacked off, poured, slacked off.....aaaaaalll day.
X, the problems some are having has nothing to do with poor drainage this time. The water table is about 3" below the surface of the soil right now. Good thing it is winter and showers are not as necessary as they are in the summer. :-)
I haven't the heart to go check the hosta I spent 3 months trading for, on the other side of the house .. it's probably toast.
X
I would love to see rain like this in the summer - when everything can actually use it. I can't remember, but I think El Nino summers end up being about average precip. Less likely chance of Hurricanes, which is nice. If this keeps up through spring though, everything's going to green up like crazy in a hurry, or at least what's left alive in the "bog."
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/impacts.html
OK, I actually was curious, so I Googled what would happen if El Nino did stick around through Spring/Summer. I found Summer particularly interesting since it's like SC alone gets more rain - how weird is that?
Spring with El Nino
This message was edited Feb 6, 2010 11:26 PM
Summer with El Nino
And according to NOAA, it's expected to last through Spring. Good news if anyone wants more rain this spring/summer.
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.pdf
This message was edited Feb 6, 2010 11:30 PM
Glub, Glub, Glub
ardesia, were you in the canoe when you posted?
LOL, fearing it was about to float away, I am ready to put an anchor on my kayak which sits 150' off the marsh. The tide has been coming up to meet the puddles recently.
K that's good news for summer, since we normally seem to be the one state that gets bypassed by every rainy system.
Have no idea what "normal" ground water level is around here...never did the homework. (Should have, but didn't). But I know what we've got ain't "normal". My whole property "squishes" when I walk on it. Even what I had previously considered "high ground" squishes when I walk on it. Pond is continuosly overflowing, and has for the past 10 days. That never happened before...in 22 years. Definitely some climate changes going on, but I think they're they're more natural cycles than political manipulators of such observations...