Precipitation
Precipitation changes have occurred across the U.S. and, like temperature, these changes are not uniform (Figures 4 and 5). In general, there has been an increase in annual precipitation across the United States and more of these storms are occurring as downpours in which there are large amounts of rain in a short period of time. Te expectation is that there will continue to be an increase in heavy precipitation events. Tis will add to the complications of turfgrass management, especially in the sod production area where soil is bare while the grass is being established.
In addition to the trend of increasing annual precipitation, there is a shift in the seasonality of precipitation with more of the annual precipitation occurring in the spring while summer’s rainfall decreases and becomes more variable. Tis trend is especially evident in the Midwestern U.S. However, the long-term trend projected by climate models is for the summer precipitation to decrease across the U.S. while spring, fall, and winter show a much more variable pattern. Water management in the turfgrass will become a challenge with these changes in precipitation patterns, particularly decreased precipitation during the summer months.
Our climate has undoubtedly been changing. However, the rate of change today is unlike anything we have experienced before. Weather is one of our favorite topics of conversation and we will have even more to talk about with the changes in temperature and precipitation patterns expected in the coming years. We need to talk about strategies to offset some of the impacts caused by this variation and future articles will provide more details on specific topics of importance to turfgrass. Tese changes will impact decision making processes in all aspects of the turfgrass industry, including turfgrass production.
Figure 4. Precipitation changes across the United States in the recent decades by region. Figure published in the National Climate Assessment 2014 (
https://www.globalchange.gov/nca4).
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TPI Turf News July/August 2019
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