Not since 1941 has a year started this dry

PETER R. BARBER/DAILY GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER A Schonowe firefighter stretches a hose line to put out a large grass and brush fire in a field behind SCCC Tueasday, April 14, 2015. No structures or were in danger and the fire was brought under control in l...

At Faddegon’s Nursery in Colonie, president and co-owner Bob Graves has seen a lot of customers lately struggling to keep plants and lawns alive in what is on track to be a historically dry spring.

“I just had a customer come in who had put in a couple of plants and they had dried up,” Graves said Monday. “He just was not accustomed to having to water as much as you would have to right now. Literally, some things have to be done twice a day right now.”

Between Jan. 1 and May 24, New York has gotten a total of 7.98 inches of rainfall, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Hugh Johnson. That’s 6 inches short of the average for the time period, 13.9 inches.

“You have to go back to 1941 to find a year that started out drier, and that was 7.52 inches of rain,” he said. That was also the second-driest year on record for the state.

Johnson says the dry spell, officially classified a moderate drought, is due to a split jet stream deflecting moisture to the north and south. Once the ground gets as dry as it is now, he said, there is less and less moisture to evaporate into the atmosphere, deepening the drought cycle.

“Not that we’re in a big drought yet, but this is how droughts form,” he said. “Something initially deflects the rain away and then it kind of feeds on itself.”

Shane Mahar, deputy director of communications at the state Thruway and Canal Corp., said the water levels in the canal system and its reservoirs are holding steady despite the dry spell. Smaller creeks and streams, however, may be noticeably low.

“I went over to the Normans Kill and I was amazed,” said the Weather Service’s Johnson. “Just a week or two ago, it was flowing. Now I see rocks.”

At Faddegon’s, Graves said the dry spring following a particularly long and harsh winter means some plants are struggling to recover.

“I have heard that as far as plant material goes, this is one of the worst winters in the last 100 years in terms of things sustaining damage over the winter because of the sustained cold,” he said.

Then, in the past month or so, the temperatures ramped up from around 40 to about 80 degrees in a matter of days, causing some shrubs and trees to flower early; then some areas saw frost again this past weekend. In the midst of all that, high winds have been beating up leaves and further drying the ground.

“It’s been a rollercoaster,” said Graves.

Until the drought breaks, Graves recommends watering more often and for longer periods of time to ensure plants’ roots get a good, deep soaking. He’s also suggesting people hold off on lawn seeding, which would require three waterings a day.

Johnson said 2013 began with a similar, though less severe, dry spell that lasted until May 21.

“It was like someone hit the switch,” he said. “We got big thunderstorms that day, a lot of rain. And then basically the trend just completely ended and we got inundated with rain for like the next six weeks.”

He said it’s hard to say for sure if we’re going to see a repeat of that, but conditions could be lining up for at least scattered thunderstorms across the region in the next few days.

“If you step outside, you’ll notice the humidity has increased,” he said. “The potential is there. It’s not going to alleviate [the drought] by any means, but it’s a step in the right direction.”