Water in SWVA -- Was: Re: [at-l] Need Rain in PA

[daveh at psknet.com (David Hicks)]

The other pattern we have had is widely scattered, fast moving thunder 
showers.  In this case, even the "official accumulation" (in the limited area 
where the rain did fall) is misleading as the water runs off into the stream 
w/o much soaking into the ground.  I was out in one last week where the runoff 
was very noticeable but when I went back to work the ground below the leaf 
litter was dry.

Re: Greenbriar's report that the springs were all flowing in PA.

I didn't mean to suggest that water was a problem for hikes here in SWVA --  
yet.  Most of the springs are still running.

Were I to be hiking a segment that I didn't know exceptionally well, I would 
not be aware of the signs of the problem.  However, when working the segments 
which I maintain, I observe things, which are easy to miss, if walking 
through.  Yesterday, I was doing the secondary chainsawing and cleaning drains 
in one of my segments.  The spring at the shelter was fine.  A few of the 
"intermittent" springs still had water.  However, this this early in the 
season this segment normally has a lot seeps and springs, which normally start 
to dry up in June, or July.  Nearly all were dry, already.  Also, when 
cleaning drains in the Spring, I normally find small trickles of water below 
the accumulated leaf litter, in nearly all.  Yesterday, most were dry.

Chainsaw


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Booher" <lbooher@pure.net>
To: "David Hicks" <daveh@psknet.com>; <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 8:35 PM
Subject: Re: Water in SWVA -- Was: Re: [at-l] Need Rain in PA


We need same good soaking, w/o flooding rains, says Chainsaw from SW VA.

Same here in south-central VA.  We've had lots of rain days, but no 
accumulation.  Sometimes, it doesn't even get damp under the trees.  According 
to the Richmond paper, we're close to 3", plus or minus, below average.  We're 
two hours SSW of Richmond, and ours could be more below average.  We need a 
good, all-day, soaking kind of rain, maybe more than one day of it.

anklebear