Meteorologist Dave Epstein is our go-to person for pressing weather questions on everything from winter blizzards to summer droughts. He’s also a horticulturist, meaning he’s an expert in anything that grows leaves and flowers. GBH's Morning Edition asked our audience for weather and gardening questions, and Epstein graciously answered them on the air. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Have a gardening or weather question for meteorologist Dave Epstein? Tweet him
@GrowingWisdom, email us at
thewakeup@wgbh.org, or text 617-300-2008.
We're waking up to wet sidewalks and roads this morning, something that feels like it's happened a lot over the past couple of weeks. Last year we had drought conditions in the commonwealth. How much do we need this rain we're seeing right now? And how different is this from a year ago?
“We're certainly very different than we were a year ago,” Epstein said. “We were already sort of worried about the lack of rain at that point.”
The Blue Hill Observatory has recorded 1.46 inches of rainfall this month through June 12, compared with 1.29 inches for the same time period the year before.
“We are still technically below average,” Epstein said. “You're correct that the pattern's been such that there's been a lot of clouds, a couple of showers. But when you add it all up, we're not wet.”
I was reading yesterday about this blocking pattern that's been happening that's also causing the snowiest June on record up on Mt. Washington. I know that blocking pattern, when it travels further down and travels further out, can create excess rain. Is that connected?
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Yes, the rain we’re seeing now is connected to the eight inches of snow atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire, Epstein said.
“Last week, we had overhead cool air over us,” he said. “It wasn't that cool down here, relatively speaking. But up there, that cool pool there up at 6,000 feet was cold enough that they produced some snow.”
Blocking patterns are what happens when storm systems moving from west to east slow down, grinding to a crawl.
“And now that block, which was last week to our east, is now to our west. So we're on a warmer side of the block, but we're still seeing some showers inside that sort of stuck pattern.”
As for the snow on top of Mount Washington: It probably won’t stick around for long.
“A lot of that will melt as temperatures warm up,” Epstein said.
We've recently noticed that some of the leaves on our red maple are turning brown. Any idea what might be causing this? The tree is on the north side of our house and is partially blocked by the sun for part of the day. — Sue in Topsfield
Sue emailed in some photos, which Epstein reviewed.
“The leaves themselves look relatively healthy,” he said. “Sometimes plants lose a little bit of leaf color.”
It’s possible that insects or a cold winter snap in February damaged the tree, he said, but he could not make a definite diagnosis through photos alone.
“Trees are in our yards are really important,” he said. “If anybody’s concerned about their trees, I suggest calling a certified arborist in your local area. They usually will come out and they'll do a consultation and kind of tell you what's going on with the tree. Oftentimes, that first consultation doesn't even cost you anything. So it's worth [it] to have a true expert come out on property to look at what's going on.”
