Today is the first official day of summer, and many are welcoming its arrival. The hope is that summer will bring drier weather.
Spring has been one of the wettest, if not the wettest, on record. Since the first of April, we don’t recall a rainless stretch of more than four straight days, and most of the time, it has been one or two. This situation is not just in Ohio. The entire Midwest and other areas have been affected.
The fact that it has rained well over the average is not as dismaying as the number of times the rain has come in deluges. With the ground saturated, there is no place for it to go, so ponds develop in abnormal places, and streams and rivers spill over their banks.
Farmers have borne the brunt of the miserable weather, many not able to plant all of their corn or soybeans. And even for those lucky ones who did succeed to some degree, recent heavy rainfalls have flooded the fields and wiped out some of their work. At this juncture, we are told that the time has come and gone for the planting of any more corn, and that may also be the case with soybeans.
Other businesses are hurt by so much wetness. Golf courses in particular have a tough time because golfers aren’t able to play and workers cant cut the grass and perform other duties in preparing and keeping the links in playing condition.
Any activity that takes place outside has been affected.
So much rain also brings a misery factor. Homes and businesses have experienced flooding and the water erodes streets and roadways causing potholes to appear. Mosquitoes have already appeared, and will no doubt plague areas in huge numbers the rest of the summer.
So, many are looking forward to summer, hoping it brings less rain and drier conditions.