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Drought gets extreme northwest of Boston
By adamg on Thu, 08/11/2016 - 9:57am
The weekly state drought map is out, and for the first time it shows some "extreme" drought, in Middlesex and Essex counties. Except for the extreme western part of the state - and Nantucket - all of the state is now in some form of drought.
The MWRA reports the Quabbin Reservoir, which serves Boston and a number of surburbs, was at 87.4% of capacity on Aug. 1.
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Comments
The Japanese Knotweed on Route 2
is dying. The area leading up to Route 16 at Alewife has tons of it where nothing else will grow. Stuff is tough, but not tough enough for this drought. More of it brown every day.
kill it!!
Then this is a great time to get out there and KILL IT!!!
I hate that crap.
Agreed, let it die. It's
Agreed, let it die. It's everywhere by the Minuteman bike path in Arlington and it's been taking over until the town cut it back.
Dew or Sierra Mist?
I forget which one, but I'm pretty sure that's the solution for extreme thirst.
Obedience, not solution
Sprite-"Obey your thirst"
Brawndo
Brawndo
It's got electrolytes!
Getting bad all over
All regions are now in drought - Western is pushing drought warning on the stream flow and fire danger alone. The cape is okay for ground water but is showing signs of drying and stress. Connecticut Valley, Central, Northeast and Southeast are in serious trouble now, particularly central and Northeast. Wells are running dry, water supplies are holding out because people are listening and are not wasting.
August is critical. If we continue to get dribs and drabs of rain, it won't get worse. It won't get better, either, but we can hold out until fall. The long term forecast is not good, though.
The Fire people are very concerned if we get to leaf drop without substantial rain - that puts us at risk of Western-style mountain clearing events. Even now, fires are burning so deep into the ground that the firefighters literally have to dig them out.
TL/DR: things are deteriorating despite some rain this month. Our Great Wet Hope lies in tropical deluges, but nothing is expected there until September. This is the worst drought on record.
PS: Since the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs have to provide stream flow to the Swift and Nashua rivers AND may yet have to supply emergency connections, the MWRA is asking people to be careful with water.
Correction for Adam
The Quabbin is NOT at 87.4% of capacity - it is of 88% of the mean normal elevation for August. That means that it is below normal, and considerably more below full capacity. It is still well above the level of concern, and can meet needs for five years even if other communities need to connect.
Hmm ...
The page I got the number from says:
In either case, yes, it can go quite aways before we run into major trouble - thanks to the MWRA's lesser known work in dramatically reducing the amount of water that flows out of it.
It is very confusing
The MWRA guy made a point of clarifying it ... They are kinda of stuck with an abstruse system that needed three diagrams to explain clearly. I could show you, but they didn't have handouts. The base diagrams looked like they came from the 1960s.
They have mean levels that are seasonality adjusted. They report levels as a percentage of those seasonal means. They also determine action levels based on those seasonally conditioned percentiles.
So, ya, it is screwy and this situation may result in better reporting metrics because these are not easy to communicate. The MWRA people were a bit frustrated with that.
3rd extreme weather event in 6 years
Spring 2010 - what seemed like 40 days of rain (flooding)
Winter 2014 - the big snows (and the cold)
Summer 2016 - the current drought
2017:?