July weighs in as washout
Stormy weather brings destruction to region, with more mess on tap
July has secured its place as one of the soggiest and stormiest on record, with double the average rainfall and thunderstorms in Greater Boston for the month, according to the National Weather Service.
The frequent storm bursts have brought havoc and destruction to parts of New England, including a death from a tornado in New Hampshire, injuries in multiple states, and considerable home and infrastructure damage.
The wet weather has also had a more mundane effect, persistently dampening summer plans, swamping ball fields, drenching playgrounds, and sending people scurrying. Although it has kept lawns green and given animals plenty of flora to feast on, it has also allowed mosquitoes to flourish.
Meanwhile, meteorologists see no signs that the weather - caused by a warm, humid air mass hanging over the region, broken up only by small and infrequent cold fronts - will change in August.
"I would fully anticipate seeing more rounds of showers and thunderstorms," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. The temperature this month has been about average, but the warm, moist air sucked into the region from the southeast by a southwest air flow hasn't been disrupted by fronts from the north that normally bring cool, dry air into the area, he said.
As of yesterday evening, Logan International Airport had recorded 6 inches of precipitation in July, nearly twice the July average of 3.06 inches. That was enough to make this the sixth wettest July since 1920, said Kathryn Vreeland, a climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, a climate archive and research center. The July record for Boston is 11.69 inches, set in 1921.
July usually brings four thunderstorms to Boston, with an average of three following in August, but this past July saw nine thunderstorms.
Neither the National Weather Service nor the regional climate center could quickly produce the last year the region experienced nine in July. So far in 2008, there have been 21 thunderstorms, well above the city's typical 12-month total of about 17.
Grounds crews and recreation directors have been harried by storms.
"It's wreaked quite a havoc as far as getting the fields ready and keeping them open through the rain," said Mike Nestor, working foreman for Medford's 22 parks and 16 baseball and softball diamonds. Last week, the city canceled 16 of 21 scheduled men's league games and at least 20 youth games, he said.
Nestor's crew has had to pay special attention to diamond maintenance - clearing puddles, filling holes, applying bag after bag of a drying agent, and reapplying white lines - to get fields ready for the intermittent dry days, thinning the available staff for litter cleanup and mowing the parks.
"We're working seven days a week trying to keep everybody happy, and guys are getting run down," said Nestor.
Meanwhile, Andrew Grandoni has had to reschedule hundreds of games for the 201 softball teams in the Boston Ski & Sports Club's weeknight and Sunday leagues.
"It's been tough, especially lately, trying to do playoffs right now" and not disrupt the brackets, Grandoni said. The organization uses fields not just in Boston, but in suburbs as far away as Andover, Wayland, and Canton, which makes the intermittent nature of the thunderstorms more vexing than widespread rains when trying to schedule or call off games.
The rain has been a boon for homeowners who usually spend July trying to keep their lawns from drying out.
Water usage is down about 5 percent this month from the average July, to about 237 million gallons a day, according to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
Flowers are blooming, but excess water can cause plants to rot and fungus to grow, said Elaine England, manager at Lexington Gardens. Heavy rain can also wash nutrients from the soil, requiring more fertilizer, she said.
For wildlife, the weather has brought mixed fortunes, state wildlife officials said. It's great for animals, birds, and other creatures that eat greenery and insects, but rising water levels pose a danger for turtle eggs laid too close to shore; they can also allow fish to gain access to seasonal pools and eat developing tadpoles and salamanders. A larger mosquito population can spread West Nile Virus among birds. Heavy rain can change the salinity level in salt-water estuaries or carry sewage run-off into clam flats.
At Community Boating on the Charles River, bursts of rain have discouraged boaters, who have stayed away in droves, and forced the staff to scramble to warn those who are out on the river when lightning is coming. "It really stinks," said Charlie Zechel, the executive director.
This year, he said, "we have to bail a lot more water out of the boats." 