All climate change is local?
November 15th, 2008
For those of you who are buying into the global warming hysteria, and lining up to buy carbon credits, consider the sorry state of temperature measurements which are used in measuring climate warming. In Cincinnati, the ‘official’ temperature, over 130 years, has been measured at three very different site, North College Hill, the roof of the post office building downtown, and the airport in Hebron which is an increasingly urbanized area with time. These records have been combined into one historical record. Huh?
Ron
The Arbor Doctor drought analysis and weather update was featured in the November 5 “In The Garden with Ron Wilson’s newsletter. In addition to the Arbor Doctor wisdom, Ron Wilson always has lots of good information.
Click here to see the In The Garden newsletter.
Tree care article, tree care tips and new tree planting
November 6th, 2008
Arbor Doctor provides consulting services for inspection of and preservation of existing trees, plant health care services, and tree planting services.
Fall, even late fall, is a great time to plant.
Contact us for recommendations and to arrange for a new arboricultural addition!
Ron
Moderate drought, comparable to 2007
Conditions are currently seriously dry, with tree and shrub damage, short and long term, becoming possible which could be similar in scope to what we saw in 2007. Four month rainfall deficits in 2008 are comparable to 2007 and the desicating effects of Hurricane Ike made up for the less severe heat this year.
While 2008 has been cooler, October ended as yet another warm and very dry month. After only 1.01 inches of rain in September, 2.17 in August, and 2.86 in July, the paltry 1.39 inches in October left us with a four month total of only 7.43, or a mere 1.86 inches per month over the four month period. Normal rainfall during this period is 13.32, or 3.33 inches per month. The four month deficit this year is 5.89 inches.
Amazingly, during the same period in 2007, a very hot and dry year, the rainfall was 12.10 inches! The four month deficit in 2007 was 1.22 inches. It should be noted that record rainfall in October 2007 fell on two successive days at the end of the month, totaling 4.46 inches. Subtracting that from the 2007 four month total would yield a four month total of 7.64, compared with 7.43 in 2008. Therefore, while 2007 was hotter than 2008, the four month rainfall deficit was comparable.
By the 21st of October 2008, Cincinnati was classified as having moved into the moderate drought category. 0.57 inches of rain on the 24th moved us back out of the drought category. However, the index is doing a poor job this year of reflecting the true deficit. Soils were dry just days after this surface soaking rain, and at month’s end soil profiles were bone dry. On October 28, Cincinnati was moving back into the moderate drought category and no rain was predicted over the next week.
It is very important to keep watering, at least through Thanksgiving, unless we get rain.
Ron