Monsoon was a bust, but there are advantages

With one of the driest, hottest Augusts on record, this summer is being called the “non-soon” by some who miss the afternoon thunderstorm rains that cool the critters and people and cover roads and streambeds with water.

However, the dry monsoon has meant fewer mosquitoes and has quieted the often-deafening cicadas; has meant fewer allergy problems; more backyard bobcat sightings; fewer lost workdays for road crews; and fewer plunges into floodwaters for emergency workers. While there are higher irrigation bills for those who cannot avoid them, most homeowners have cut back on water consumption.

Ozone levels have been down countywide, and dust complaints appear to be down.

Dr. Uwe Manthei, an allergist in Tucson and former professor of pediatrics at University Medical Center, said fewer people are going to the doctor for allergies this year.

“We are not seeing as much severe allergy cases in our offices as we’ve seen in years in which there have been heavy monsoon rains,” he said.

Manthei said the summer and fall grasses and weeds that have shallow roots are more rain-dependent, while spring allergens, such as trees with deep root systems, are less dependent upon rainfall.

Ranchers who having been having a hard time with the drought for years are seeing drought impacts worsening on stock ponds and grasses, Vicki France with the Pima National Resource Conservation District recently told a study group.

“Most ranchers have sold their herds due to lack of range grass for forage,” she said.

Tucson Electric Power spokesman Joe Salkowski noted Green Valley had “a series of storm-related (power) outages” this year because of violent storms. “Elsewhere in the valley, we haven’t seen quite the same level of storm activity that we’ve seen in the past.” July was worse than average for TEP, but in August, power poles have remained upright and power outages have been down throughout the Tucson area.

How hot, dry?

The National Weather Service reports that August was two degrees hotter this summer than average in Green Valley and the area has seen less than half the average rainfall for the month, though July was slightly wetter — though still hotter — than average.

“Because we haven’t had moisture and daily rounds of thunderstorms to cool us off, we’ve certainly had warm temperatures. For July and August we rank up there pretty high on the list,” National Weather Service meteorologist Ken Drozd said.

“We sure wouldn’t mind it if the monsoons would make a comeback,” Sahuarita High School track coach Joe Prince said.

“It makes a world of difference in your training with that 10- to 15-degree drop in temperature — your mind-set and your approach to covering a 6- to 8-mile run is huge,” said Prince, who said practice has been canceled twice because of lightning.

On the other hand, Sahuarita Town Public Works Construction Supervisor Rick Robinson said he has hardly lost a day to rain on the widening and re-routing of La Canada Drive.

The same is true for road projects in Green Valley and elsewhere in the region, Pima County Transportation Director Priscilla Cornelio said.

Healthier outside?

“Good ozone days” are up 21 percent compared to last year, and the AQI, a measure of ozone, this year has been no higher than 71, which is in the mid-moderate range, compared to a high level last year of 104, in the unhealthy range, said Beth Gorman, spokeswoman for the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality. However, the department doesn’t have a clear-cut explanation and cannot link the monsoon weather to the ozone conditions. Dust-control complaints number 118 so far in 2009, compared to 209 in all of 2008.

Police and public works overtime costs are down because they have to conduct fewer road clean-ups and rescues of flood-stranded motorists, Sahuarita Police Sgt. Matt McGlone said.

But on the other side, “My roses have struggled terribly this year,” said Laura Acosta of Sahuarita. “The water bill is up, as a result the plants are suffering a bit.”

And things got worse.

“I thought I was drinking lots of water but was in the hospital for severe dehydration.”

“I’d like to remind people to make sure they drink lots of water. Not soda, juice, coffee or tea, but lots of water,” Acosta said.

Nurseries also are irrigating like crazy, some doing it three or four times a day, and the Sahuarita Unified School District, which operates three public parks and its own fields, also is watering the grass more.

However, the average homeowner is using about 5 percent less water than last year, (down to 73.3 gallons per person per day, compared to 77.5 at this time last year) among residential customers of the Community Water Company of Green Valley, company president Arturo Gabaldon said.

That trend is holding true of water providers in Tucson and Oro Valley, said Kathy Chavez of the Pima County Regional Flood Control District.

“A few of my friends in Rancho Resort have small ponds in their back yards. Since that development is near the desert and right by a large wash, they are finding that more critters, especially bobcats, are coming into their yards for water,” Sahuarita Sun columnist Jeannie Applegate said.

The mosquito counts are down significantly, Pima County Department of Health reports. There has been only one West Nile virus positive case in a chicken, no human cases of West Nile virus and no positive mosquito pools (a measure of infected or carrier mosquitoes) compared to last year’s totals of three chickens, one human and three positive pools as of Sept. 29, 2008. However, the mosquito season is not over, Health Department spokeswoman Patti Woodcock said, as last year ended with 13 human cases and one death and 14 positive pools.

On the other hand, Ellie Kurtz of Amado said that despite a drop in rainfall to eight inches from last year’s 16, she has seen “more mosquitoes around our place. Our horses are always vaccinated for West Nile virus so that’s not a worry- except to us!”

Kurtz has heard none of the deafening cicadas this summer.

“However, the drought has been here since 1994. Sopori Wash used to have an almost perennial stream. That’s been gone for over 10 years. It has affected our wildlife: fewer humming birds. Other bird numbers seem to be down. And fewer fruit bats. Deer numbers as well as coyotes seem to be down as does wild life in general,” Kurtz said.

“We have not seen an increase in brush fires in our area,” Rural/Metro Fire Department spokeswoman Anne-Marie Braswell said, but she noted that dry conditions make it more dangerous for firefighters because of the increased chance of rapid spread of fires in tinder-dry brush.

Sahuarita school board member Kris Ham said, “Personal experience with the ‘nonsoon’— fewer flies in the pig barn; our neighbors appreciate this! From a business perspective, fewer days lost to weather. Visually, lots of dead and dying cactus. We’ll hope for a wet winter.”

The forecast from the national weather service Climate Prediction Center is guarded, but gives some hope, saying that if low pressure systems move off the Pacific and across the Southwest earlier than usual, and if they move into the right places, “they could tap monsoon moisture, which will remain quite plentiful over Mexico, and pull it north into Arizona rapidly. Thus while lengthy hot and dry spells are likely to continue for the rest of the monsoon, they may be punctuated by an unusually wet episode or two in September and October.”

Or not.

pfranchine@sahuarita.com| 547-9738

BY THE NUMBERS

Green Valley temperatures

July 2009: 88.1

August 2009: 86.4 degrees

July average: 85.5

August average: 84.4

Green Valley rainfall

July 2009: 3.59 inches

August 2009: 1.28 inches

July average 3.24

August average 2.85

Tucson temperatures

July 2009: 90.1 degrees*

August 2009: 88.7**

July average 86.5

August average 84.9

*Third-warmest July and fourth-warmest month since National Weather Service began recording temperatures in 1895.

**Second-warmest August on record and 10th-warmest month overall.

Source: National Weather Service