Mid Atlantic Region HOT and DRY (now wet)

[John Shimony]

The discussion of TOC's turf conditions brought to mind the weather conditions we are experiencing here in the Philly area.  Very hot and very dry (rain the last two days though). Temps have been in the 90s for weeks, reaching 100 degrees for a couple days.  The courses around these parts look stressed, especially the poa annua.  What are you superintendents out there noticing?  Is this heat just too much?  I have not seen any lost areas on the courses I have been to but they do look stressed.

[Rory Connaughton]

John:

   We were on a very active syringing program the last few weeks but we have had buckets of rain dumped in the last 4 days.  I'm not a superintendent but I am more concerned with the saturation and the heat which has not dissipated much despite the rain.  Reminds me of 2005 a bit in that saturation in SE PA combined with very high temps led to roots being destroyed.

[John Shimony]

I was trying to recall what year that was when there was course damage in these parts.  I do not see anything like that but I am definitely noticing the heat and am wondering if I is requiring special attention.  I do see alot of had watering going on.

[david h. carroll]

i seem to think it was 2005 when the USAm was at Merion because i remember they shut it down 2 weeks prior

[TEPaul]

John Shimony:

What you described weather-wise in the last week or so is now being considered and being described around here as "The Perfect Storm"-----eg to foster massive outbreaks of turf diseases. It is really dangerous! You get those dry ultra hot days and nights like we had for well over a wek with the combined heat/humidity index over 150 and then a rain event like that one last week and it can be the combined perscription for turf disaster.

[John Shimony]

I assume the constant heat and dry conditions stressed the turf, now the skies have opened up and everything is soaked turning our hot and humid days into perfect incubators for disease and death.  Is this what it was like in 2005?

[Rory Connaughton]

John, David is right. 2005 was the year.  The only difference is that these conditions came later in the summer but its very very similar.
Recall that there were courses where greens were devastated.

[Mike Cirba]

Joe and I walked Harker's Hollow this evening, which had a lot of evidence of turf stress, especially after the recent rains.

It's amazing how quickly things change.   Just a week or so ago we were walking Cobbs Creek, which was getting pretty cirspy, and then tonight to play saturated turf backing in the sun just seems to be quite vulnerable, was others have mentioned.

[Carl Rogers]

Tidewater VA has been very hot and dry.  Riverfront and Sleepy Hole are being deluged with H2O.

[Dan Herrmann]

Disease is the #1 threat, and next week looks like it'll pose a lot of risk to turf.

We had a LOT of rain last week - French Creek (my place) got 4.5", but Ledgerock (less than 10 miles away) got over 6.  All that H20 combined with heat poses serious disease risk.

Apparently, the long range outlook for Sept and October is not good - temps are forecast to be above normal from now through October.

Who knows - maybe we need bermuda greens up here now

[Dan Herrmann]

Check out http://www.liveweatherblogs.com/prometweatherblogs/2/2/2912/MID-MONTH-TEMPS-SO-FAR,-OUTLOOK-JULY-18-31-(ALL-TIME-HEAT-RECORDS)

June, 2010 was the Philly regions warmest June in recorded history (which goes back to 1770's due to Ben Franklin)
July, 2010 is on track to be the 3rd warmest.

Not good for the transition zone.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Get out the hoses, fungicides and aerifiers...

[John Moore II]

Tidewater VA has been very hot and dry.  Riverfront and Sleepy Hole are being deluged with H2O.

Indeed. We must have gotten an inch in 30 minutes yesterday afternoon.

Prior to this recent rain though, we had some really firm and fast conditions at Langley, getting close to that seen at Liverpool a few years ago.

[Dan Herrmann]

This is the type of weather that makes your local super SO important.   Thanks in advance for all the work (and sleepless nights) you're going through nowadays.

[Alan FitzGerald CGCS MG]

We had a LOT of rain last week - French Creek (my place) got 4.5", but Ledgerock (less than 10 miles away) got over 6.  All that H20 combined with heat poses serious disease risk.

Dan

It's amazing how the volume rain can change over a few miles, even Flying Hills gets different amounts than we do at LedgeRock.

It's certainly has been a long number of weeks dealing with the dry and now the wet, (which was needed, just not 6" worth!!).

Considering what we've been through with the weather, overall we're looking pretty good and at least we've now dried out enough to take any rain that falls today. As Supers all we can do is work through what is dealt to us and dream of a relaxing cold beer at the end of the season;)

[Jerry Kluger]

I was speaking to our greens superintendent yesterday and while he echoed the concerns of others he felt that a major concern was that it was not cooling down overnight which made disease a greater possibility.

Would someone please get the jet stream to move further south which would alleviate most of the problems!

[Dan Herrmann]

Jerry,
That's the same thing I'm hearing.  Lows this week in SE Pennsylvania won't dip below 70F, which means our golf courses become a petri dish for nasties.

Also check out http://nws.met.psu.edu/severe/2010/06Jul2010.pdf for a scientific view of the weather pattern.

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