Western USA and Europe Heatwave

[James Bennett]

Its been a lead story on the news down under - 48 degrees in LA, generally hot across California (ie near 48) except San Francisco which was saved by the coastal winds/fog.

Then there was the 39 degree day in England last Wednesday.

And, I heard from people at a water-skiing event in Bologna Italy that it was 45.

And not a post on GCA about how hot it is, and what damage is or isn't occurring.  Are the maintenance melds holding up?  Or has it just been too hot to go out and find out?  I would agree that from a golf perpsepctive there is very little difference between over 4o degrees celsius and under 40 degrees farenhiet - too hot and too cold.

Whats happening?

James B

[Craig Sweet]

We have been over 95 for weeks and have hit 100 the last two days...no let up in sight...this is western Montana..suppsoedly in the cool mountains...ha!

Yes, what is going on??

[Craig Sweet]

James, by the way...I spend most of my work day changing out sprinkler heads that are not functioning properly and hand watering greens....firm and fast conditions exist even though we put over 600,000 gals. on the course every night.

[Bill_McBride]

106 degrees in Portland, Oregon today.     Went to the movies instead of playing golf and watched, "An Inconvenient Truth" with Al Gore doing his slide show.  According to Al, 10 of the 14 hottest years on record have been in the past 12 years.  If it's true then we should get used to it.

The scariest thing from the movie is the projection that if either half the Antarctic ice shelf melts, or the Greenland ice cap, then the world's oceans will rise 20'.  If it all happens, 40'.  Then the world's links golf courses will all be over-irrigated!     No more fast and firm.

[Tom_Doak]

It's not just the western US.  The midwest has been really hot and dry this summer as well.  Only the east coast has been "spared" with less heat but a lot of heavy rains.

[James Bennett]

James, by the way...I spend most of my work day changing out sprinkler heads that are not functioning properly and hand watering greens....firm and fast conditions exist even though we put over 600,000 gals. on the course every night.

Craig

in late January, we (Adelaide Australia) had 4 days in a row above 105 (about 40+ celsius) with dry heat.  Sprinkler heads that jam/get stuck show up quite quickly in these situations, and the turf doesn't tolerate a two-day repair job, does it? And any irrigation line blow-outs that require an overnight reglue also affect the turf survival in such extreme weather. No water in this areas for perhaps 30 hours, unless some long hoses can be found.  

One of the outcomes of supplementary handwatering is an intimate knowledge of the turf conditions at the greens complexes, and of any underlying deficiency in the irrigation build.

Congratulations on being prepared to run close to the wind in such difficult conditions.  The hand-watering takes a lot of time but is worth it.  The members will really see the difference in a week or so when normal weather resumes.  I expect your course will have survived much better than those neighbouring courses who have elected to crank up the water volume over such a trying time.

James B

[Mike Benham]

Heat Wave?  What heat wave ... it was a perfect 70 degrees at Olympic Lake today, sunny and a zephyr of a breeze ...

15 miles to the south in Hillsborough it was 101 ...

[Craig Sweet]

James...shortly after the heat wave began we experienced some serious pump problems....it's amazing how these things happen at the most inappropriate time!

We could not pump the volume we wanted and made adjustments in the computer....watering began at 9:45pm at a lower volume/pressure and continued until close to 1pm the next day! Normally, we do all our irrigating between 9:45 pm and 6:30am....

As with any pump problem it's stressful, but even more so when it's hot like this..

[James Bennett]

James...shortly after the heat wave began we experienced some serious pump problems....it's amazing how these things happen at the most inappropriate time!

We could not pump the volume we wanted and made adjustments in the computer....watering began at 9:45pm at a lower volume/pressure and continued until close to 1pm the next day! Normally, we do all our irrigating between 9:45 pm and 6:30am....

As with any pump problem it's stressful, but even more so when it's hot like this..

sounds like deja vous Craig (us too).  We had pump problems as well this year during the heatwave.

About three years back, three of our bores broke down (the piping was corroded) within a fortnight, leaving the dams as the only source of water for several weeks.  The water was used for key areas (tees and green complexes) and water was kept off the fairways.  It was our first, albeit unintended, 'firm and fast'.  We had dry fairways that winter, for the first time for a long time .  The following year, all bores were fine, lush fairways during summer, and wet fairways during winter (as the sub-soil was still wet from summer irrigation)!  Now, we deliberately water fairways less (perhaps a little too less for the members) but we still get the challenging stuck sprinklers, irrigation line blow-outs, pump problems and localised electricity blackouts.  Irrigation is a critical task through summer droughts isn't it.

James B

[Tommy_Naccarato]

James,
On Saturday morning around 1:30 am I walked out of an affair at the Double Tree hotel near Disneyland, got into my waiting vehicle and the temperature was 96 deg F., IN THE EARLY MORNING. Earlier in the day it was 111 deg. F in La Habra with weather that reminded me of Philadelphia, hot, humid and no end in sight.

I've lived in SoCal all of my life, and I have never can remember it being so hot, so late in the evening/early morning.

The weather experts claim a high-pressure isn't letting our marine layer come in from the ocean and cool us down. A/C's are running everywhere, 24 hours a day. SoCal Edison has had rolling blackouts. (our power authority)

A week ago, Saturday, my cousin and I went out and walked 9 holes (that's WALKED for me, and I'm quite proud of that fact, reminding myself when I couldn't walk from room to room) in 106 degree heat. While it felt great and the course was semi hilly in some spots, to say that the courses aren't suffering would be a misnomer.

[James Bennett]

Thanks Tommy

It looks like you have it two or three degrees hotter than we did in Jamuary, but perhaps with some humidity for you as well.  Sheesh.

January 06 was the most severe for decades in my town (yes, dominated by high pressure systems), and was followed by a mild February.  Perhaps when that high pressure system near California moves on, the mild weather will return to your area.

Best wishes, and hopefully the local population doesn't go too loopy during the oppressive heat.

James B

[Tommy_Naccarato]

James,
From what I've seen in the past few weeks, the local populus has been handling it much better then I would have ever expected and I'm sure most of eveyrbody has planted themselves in movie theaters hoping to cool-off! (they get them really cold here even during the winter!)

In fact, I think it would probably be the best idea to go to the desert where it's much drier and arid as opposed to just too damn hot & humid. I might just do that this weekend!

Ryan Simper, David Kelly take note. (Hint, hint)

[Craig Sweet]

It was 102 here on Saturday and we played 27 holes on a "links style" course...no trees..

Needless to say we did not walk cus' we're big babies!

[Mike Erdmann]

Well over 100 for the third straight day here in Salem.  Saw a large man spontaneously burst into flames on a downtown sidewalk this afternoon.  It's that hot.  But it ain't unheard of, and as BillV points out, you gotta have extremes to get averages.  And I don't remember anybody wailing about global warming last winter when we had record cold.