"Without snow, we had no water in the ground to begin with in the spring."
Mary Concklin
Most of Connecticut remains in a moderate to severe drought, despite the recent storms. In an average year, many areas would have seen at least eight inches more rain at this point in the season.
Farmers say rainfall in the last couple of weeks has helped save some vegetable and corn crops, but it’s not enough to save them from expensive irrigation work, and they expect yields to be low. The state issued its first drought advisory in six years in late June and it remains in force.
Mary Concklin is a fruit crop specialist at the University of Connecticut's Department of Plant Science. She told WNPR this year got off to a bad start even before the dry summer hit.
"We had no snow over the winter," said Concklin. "And without that snow, we had no water in the ground to begin with in the spring, whereas the year before, we had so much snow at least we started off before the drought with some groundwater."
She said the recent storms are welcome, but they're not nearly enough to make up the deficit.
"Some places have had maybe one to two inches, and that's great for them. They're still in a drought, but at least it helps get things growing," Concklin said. "Other places have had maybe a quarter of an inch to a half inch total - barely enough to wet the dust."
"Just let it go dormant in the summer. Grasses were evolved to do that, and they're very tough," Christopher said on WNPR's Where We Live. "If you can accept a more natural look in your lawn, you won't have to pour drinking water all over your lawn to keep it chilled down and cool."
