Blame it on the Rain
This summer, the nursery rhyme should run: “Rain, rain go away, come again every other day” as Butler County has been visited by a series of downpours, thunderstorms and flood warnings since the middle of June.
The county has had nearly three times as much rain as normal, according to Fred McMullen, a meteorologist at the Pittsburgh forecast office of the National Weather Service.
“It looks like Butler County got 8 to 11 inches of rain in the last 30 days. That's a departure from the normal by 200 to 300 percent,” said McMullen.
McMullen said residents can thank two stationary high-pressure areas for precipitation.
“We are in a situation where there is a high-pressure area in the Pacific Northwest and a high-pressure area in the Southeast United States, and they have altered the jet stream. This has allowed us to have a parade of storms come across Western Pennsylvania,” said McMullen.
People whose livelihoods depend on the weather can't make hay until the sun shines — in some cases literally.
Glenn Studebaker, 74, who's farmed all his life in Worth Township, said, “It's has been really tough to make hay.”
“I have 300 large bales outside fermenting,” Studebaker said. “You can't get the hay dry.
“The quality of it is gone. It is overripe,” he said.
“On any low-lying ground, the corn is terrible. On low ground it is yellow and will never amount to anything,” Studebaker said.
Jason Draper, sales administrator at Power Up Equipment, an outdoor equipment dealer at 620 Evans City Road, said, “In effect, there has been no hay season. The weather definitely took away sales from the hay season because we didn't have much of one.”
“We did sell more generators this year than in the past,” Draper said. “But a $60,000 tractor versus a $1,000 generator ... In tractor sales the profit margin is pretty good.”Bob Stirling, owner of Stirling Landscape & Nursery, 840 Mercer Road, said the current rain spell hasn't affected his business.“I will say it was the hard winter that brought on our busy season,” he said, noting trees and plants that died during the winter had to be replaced.Stirling said he doesn't think the recent weather has been a factor.“It's led to a flush of new growth. Sometimes it's good to have rainy, cool conditions. Trees and bushes grow in it,” said Stirling.Of course, the cool, wet weather is also great for growing ticks, fleas and fungus, said Maria Candera, an employee of Oesterling Lawn & Garden, 101 S. Monroe St.“We've been selling fungicide and insecticide for plants,” Candera said.“And with all this rain, it's perfect for planting grass, so we are selling grass seed,” she added.“But with all this humidity, we're having a problem with ticks and fleas, and we're selling insecticide for that,” Candera said.The weather has definitely been affecting the business at Saxon Golf Course, 839 Ekastown Road, Sarver, said Frank Ekas Jr., its vice president. He said attendance is down between 15 to 20 percent this summer.“There are some days when they look at the forecasts and it looks iffy, they change their plans,” said Ekas of golfers. “But if they are golfing and it starts raining, they keep going.”Keeping the course in shape in such sodden conditions hasn't been difficult, he added.
“We are so behind on the mowing,” he said. “The greens and tees are elevated so they are in good shape and we are trying to keep up with the roughs and fairways.”Of greater concern, Ekas said, “The sod is starting to get weak root-wise because it's been under water.”“And with so much rain we get extra disease because we can't go out and spray some areas,” Ekas said.But, Ekas added, “Even if everything doesn't look 100 percent, every golf course should be up and running.”Also running — high, fast and full of debris — are the rivers and streams in Western Pennsylvania, according to Mark Draskovich, commander of Butler County Flotilla 7-3 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.The same hazardous conditions that caused the cancellation all river activities associated with the July 3-5 Three Rivers Regatta in Pittsburgh has also canceled the flotilla's river training.Draskovich said, “We've had less operational hours this year than I can remember.”He added the unit's 22 members need hours on the water to keep up their certifications.“We've tried to move some events to Lake Arthur,” he said.“Hopefully, the weather will improve for the regatta at Lake Arthur (Aug. 1 and 2),” said David Lynch, another flotilla member. The Coast Guard unit will be at the regatta to render assistance to boaters if needed, he said.
If Flotilla 7-3's training this summer has been a washout, so have the county's roads.Mike Mattis, Pa. Department of Transportation assistant county maintenance manager for a section of the county from Route 422 to the Freeport/Saxonburg area, said, “We've had to deal with a lot of washouts along all the roads in Butler County, north and south.“We've had to move some crews to handle all the items: clogged inlets, washouts, separated pipes, trees going down, drainage ditches that we had to dig back out and clogged pipes as well,” said Mattis. “I'd say the crews that we moved off normal work has put them back three to four weeks behind for the plans that we made this summer.”Those plans included routine maintenance such as shoulder cutting and road patching, he said.“Tar and chipping has been delayed as well because you can't do that when the roads are wet,” Mattis said.“We've had to buy more stone than planned to fill out those washed out areas,” he said, adding the 88 PennDOT employees in the county have had additional call-outs because of the weather.“This is probably — since I started in 2007 — the most rain I've seen,” said Mattis.“Since all this rain, we've been getting a lot of calls. We have been handling all of them,” he said.Mattis said road conditions that present an immediate hazard are fixed that day. Other problems are added to a list to be tackled in a cost-efficient manner.The rainy weather is a mixed blessing for the state's wildlife, according to Regis Senko, information and education supervisor for the Northwest Region of the Pa. Game Commission. The Northwest region encompasses Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.
“The lush vegetation creates feed and cover for many species. It looks like we will have a very good berry crop this year,” said Senko.“Usually it's a double-edged sword. The weather will prove bad for one species and good for another,” Senko said. Rabbits may flourish but then so will the predators that feed on them, he said.And conditions won't change anytime soon, according to the National Weather Service's McMullen.Above-normal precipitation is forecast through July 22, he said.“The rest of the summer outlook calls for below-normal precipitation across southern Pennsylvania and near-normal temperatures, in the low 80s, for mid-July through September,” McMullen said.
