I have recorded 1.89 inches of rainfall since last Thursday. The drought isn’t over yet, but there are signs that it is improving.
Most of Centre County is still experiencing a moderate drought. However, our little corner of the county is now abnormally dry. The outlook for the rest of September indicates equal chances for normal rainfall (about 4 inches on average).
On August 31, 2020, our Scotties, Toby and Tillie, had an unfortunate encounter with a porcupine.
Toby, our male Scotty came in from outside before bedtime and we immediately notices the quills in his snout. He was able to eat and drink so we decided to call the vet the first thing in the morning. He got through the night with no issues.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when I gave Tillie a chin scratch, that I was stabbed by two of the quills that were in her snout. The quills are quite sharp, even on the broken ends.
We were right not to try to remove them on our own since the quills are barbed. The barbs expand when they are exposed to body heat, are quite brittle and there is the risk of driving them deeper into the body.
The vet sedated both Scotties and removed the quills. Tilled had 15 embedded quills and Toby had 12. The vet also confirmed that they were porcupine quills. The dogs each received an analgesic and antibiotic.
Until last night, I had no idea that there are porcupines in our area. They live in a narrow range across central PA which includes our region. They are classified as rodents, are herbivores, mostly nocturnal, and are pests due to the damage they can inflict by chewing tree bark, leather and wood in their search for salt.
August was 2.2 deg F above normal for temperature. The high for the month was 93.1 deg. F recorded on August 22. The low for the month was 47.0 deg F, recorded on August 20. There were 6 days at or above 90 deg F. There were 24 heating degree days and 259 cooling degree days.
August was a below normal month for precipitation with 1.48 inches of rainfall recorded, which was 0.72 inches below normal. The maximum rainfall in a single day was 0.75 inches recorded on August 28. There were 8 days of rain >.01 in, 3 >.10 in and 0 >1 in.
High wind speed of 30 mph on August 24.
Outlook for September 2020
Meteorological Summer is officially over. Here is a brief summary of June 1-August 31 in Stormstown, PA:
Number of days Max T >= 90 F: 18
Max T: 95.1 – July 18, 2020
Min T: 40.9 – June 1, 2020
Jun Dep from Normal: 0.1
Jul Dep from Normal: 3.8
Aug Dep from Normal: 2.2
Heating Degree Days: 108 Cooling Degree Days: 761
The main feature of the summer was the moderate drought conditions that developed during July and August. All of Centre County experienced those conditions. Between June 10, 2020, when it rained 0.91″ and August 28, 2020, when it rained 0.75″, there wasn’t a single day when rainfall exceeded 0.50″. In fact, rainfall has not exceeded 1.00″ of rain, in a day, since June 4.
The outlook for September 2020 shows that the drought abatement is likely.
Precipitation amounts for the summer:
Jun Precip: 4,.80″, 0.94″ above normal
Jul Precip: 1.19″, 2.27″ below normal
Aug Precip: 1.18″, 2.66″ below normal
The 3-month outlook for Autumn 2020:
Stormstown Dispatch 