A very dry end to summer and start to fall has given way to beneficial rains the last month or so in Northeast Wisconsin. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — After a bone-dry start to fall, our weather has taken a much wetter turn lately.
Although it looks like many plants are dormant already above ground, UW-Green Bay associate biology professor Dr. Karen Stahlheber says the rain still helps what we don’t see below ground.
“A lot of roots will still grow even throughout the whole winter. People have looked to try and measure whether or not roots are fully dormant, and 90% of the time, they found that they are still growing,” says Dt. Stahlheber.
While trees and shrubs don’t draw up as much water as when they were full of leaves, not all trees and shrubs have leaves.
Green Bay Botanical Garden head of horticulture Mark Konlock says certain types of plants are particularly benefiting from this late-fall rain.
“The conifers especially, being evergreen, they’ll grow all winter. At a slower pace of course, with the temperatures. But the more moisture they can get now, the more they’ll be able to store and have for when the ground freezes, because then they can no longer take up moisture through their roots. But what’s still in the roots can be used,” says Konlock.
This fall’s weather has taken an abrupt turn over the last few weeks.
The entire state has seen more precipitation than normal over the last month.
Specifically for the Fox Valley, we’ve seen 200 – 300% of our normal rain. That equates to two to five inches above average depending on exactly where you are.
Most of the state is still making up for the lack of rain we saw from August through most of October.
There are some small pockets that are running a little above average now, but we had a lot of ground to make up.
So the rain that we’ve had lately has definitely been a welcome change.
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