Weather Stats for July

Well, it never rains in July!(Inside joke) Yes it rained in July on a pretty regular basis worrying the heck out of this superintendent but kept most of our turf lush and green. Difficult for green ball roll out and firmness plus plant health but..... I'll leave that open ended statement for September to see how we've made it the next few weeks. Always the nervous ninny, yep, pretty much!

Why report these weather records? It reminds all of us of how the weather effects our turf both in a positive way and negative. In most cases, the worst type of weather, heavy rain and or above average temperatures especially at night has the most severe impact on our greens which are the most important piece of 2.3 acres at Glen Echo. The warm season fairways and rough usually love the moisture and some temperature.

The first stat in the records at the bottom is the most telling for us in July. When the temperatures do not get into the 60's at night, our greens suffer the most because the soil temperatures continue to climb and surfaces usually will then stay a little softer. Humidity of course allows less moisture to escape which then traps heat, which then helps to build up other negative effects in our soil. Gas build up, rising temperature, and bad microbes looking for a susceptible plant to attach itself to are the main issues.

When you walk out in the morning and you feel that wall of humidity, imagine that battle that is going on for survival on our 1/8" bentgrass/poa surfaces!

TEMPERATURES
                      OBSERVED        AVERAGE   DIFF FROM AVG    LAST YEAR

HIGH                  90.0                      89.1                      .9                           88.9
LOW                   73.1                      71.0                     2.1                          72.2
AVG                     81.5                      80                       1.5                           80.5

RAINFALL
                            8.37"                   4.11"                  4.26"                         4.13"

Days over 90 degrees 18 average is 13.9 We've had 37 days over 90 since May. Average is 23.5 days accumulated so far this season

Glen Echo weather station reported 5.10" of rain. We missed some of the big rainfall storms that hit the airport that skirted by our property "So we got that going for us, which is nice"!

RECORDS

2nd most consecutive day of average minimum temperature of at least 70 degrees(28 days)
4th wettest Jul on record 8.37"
Tied for 3rd most occurrences of at least half inch of rainfall 7 days

Daily
Record low maximum temp of 72 degrees on 7/3 Tied 1924