posted 04-20-2002 08:02 PM
I like to do a little farming in the summer so last evening I was quickly running the disk over the freshly plowed ground ahead of a comeing storm. I could see the Spray pilots were hard at work as the rain approached. I put on my parka and kept on disking as the rain began, that is when I noticed that the planes stayed right ahead of the front doing their normal grids X,s but staying just ahead of the fast moveing front .Why do they do that? It was so obvious that it was on purpose .This was something that I have not experenced before.roman...
posted 04-20-2002 11:32 PM
Roman... I haven't been keeping up with the drought situation in your area...but the thing you've experienced today is the very thing I was wondering about today too(coincidence?) especially in light of the drought situation in areas off the east coast which has also been getting sprayed heavy. There does seem to be a cause and effect relationship here.
Our family is also involved in farming... basically we're cattle ranchers and depend on a good source of water to irrigate our pasture. Now... this year I've noticed a decrease in spraying activity... and an increase in precipitation.
Keep your observations coming,.. as to how much spraying and precipitation you're seeing in your area... A definite pattern may actually evolve here.
Correct me if I'm wrong... but don't you folks in Ohio depend mostly on consistent releases of rain to water your crops?.... Where we live our irrigation water comes from melted snow packs stored in the large reservoirs and lakes which exist mostly in the Cascades Mountains. If we had to depend on just the rain this area would be a dessert.
posted 04-21-2002 02:06 AM
I've definitely noticed a pattern between the increased spraying activity right before storms and the decreased amount of precipitation. The amount of precipitation since November has been between 0.02" and an inch. I'd say that's it's no coincidence.
posted 04-22-2002 06:07 PM
Thanks for your replys Catnip57 and Dan.Catnip I live in the Ohio valley and we are right on the Ohio river. But most of us irrigate by plain old rainfall.As for the dry weather we are right on the edge and still in the normal zone.Last summer we were dryer than normal but poor old West Virginia just across the river was so dry that I thought the whole state was going to burn up from all the forest fires.I think that the Ohio river helps to keep this valley moist because most frontal systems hit the river then follow it east from here..roman...