May 2014 Weather Summary

The highest temperature recorded at Leslie Park for the month of May was 85.3 degrees, which happened on May 8th. The lowest temperature was 34.2 degrees (6th.)  The average temperature was 59.8 degrees.

The weather station recorded 5.17 inches of rain. May 12th saw the most rain at 1.31 inches of precipitation. The next day had 0.44 inches of rain which means that 1.75 inches of rain occurred during one rain event. Two days had over an inch of rain. May 7th saw 1.04 inches. There were 10 days were the golf course received over a tenth of an inch of rain and 15 days saw more than a trace of rain. The accumulated precipitation for the year is now just under 11 inches at 10.97.

The highest wind gust recorded was 42 mph. The average windspeed was 3.0 mph for the month.

April 2014 Weather Summary

The high temperature for April 2014 was 76.4 degrees (April 21st.) The lowest temperature recorded was 17.5 degrees (16th.) The average temperature at the golf course was 48.0 degrees. Six days had low temperatures below 32 degrees.

The weather station at Leslie Park measured 2.56 inches of rain for the month. The most recorded in a single day was 0.78 inches (29th.) Eight days had more than 0.1 inches and 12 days saw at least a trace of precipitation. The total for the year so far is 5.8 inches of precipitation.

The average windspeed was 5.0 mph and the highest recorded wind gust was 41 mph (April 14th.)

Irrigation at Huron Hills

The irritation irrigation at Huron Hills is often a challenge. Whenever we start digging, you never know what you will find. This irrigation leak near #7 green has been on the agenda for quite a while. Last year, we dug down far enough to know that the leak was at the reducing coupling where the six-inch main line went down to 2.5 inches.  This type of repair is not easy and the leak was not big, so we opted to do it in the spring before we started up the water. This gave us a couple of advantages. The first is that we did not have to drain the water out of the main line. With a 6 inch diameter main line, this would be thousands of gallons of water we would have to remove. The second advantage is that usually in the spring, the water needs of the grass is not high and a fix of this size can take a couple of days.

When we got back and started digging out the lines, what we found was a maze of pipes.

I have no idea what the thinking behind this design was.

The six inch main line runs from the lower right to the upper left in this picture.

It seems like this might have been a repair and replacement of a four way joint, or cross. These cross joints are extremely tough to replace, especially on a six inch pipe. The "solution" was to put in a tee coming out to the north and size it down to 2.5 inches. Then come out and make a 90 degree turn with an "elbow" to the east. After another 3 feet of 2.5 inch pipe, a tee was added. This matched up with the 2.5 inch pipe that headed east. The problem was in then connecting to the 2.5 inch pipe that runs west. It is on the other side of the 6 inch mainline and at the same depth. They then took another elbow and came up enough to clear the mainline and then bring it back down on the other side. 

I should mention that the mainline here is only about 18 inches below ground. This meant that the pipe coming over the mainline was less than a foot below the surface.

We decided to put in two tees off of the mainline. One for the east and one going west. 

The two tees coming off the mainline.

In order to realign the pipe, we used 45 degrees turns. This cuts down on the pressure loss that would be experienced using 90 degree elbows.

The finished product with a new quick coupler that we will be able to use on #7 green.

March, 2014 Weather Summary

The high temperature for March was 56.5 degrees (March 31st.) This means I did not have to start off this month's summary with the statement "It was cold." Five days had high temperatures in the 50's. The lowest temperature recorded was -3.6 degrees (13th.) The weather station at Leslie Park had three days were the low temperature was below zero. Twenty-six days got below freezing and only 11 days had highs above 32 degrees. While this may seem cold, compared to what we had been having, it was balmy. The average temperature for the month was 28.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

We recorded 1.02 inches of rain, although at least some of that number was from melting snow. The highest daily rainfall was 0.17 inches (11th.)  Five days had over a tenth of an inch of rain.

The highest windspeed was 31 mph, recorded on the 12th.

The snowpiles are still hanging on, but they do not have much life left in them. Here is a picture from this morning.

I think the guess of April 7th will be closest.

The same area in February.

#9 fairway and green still have some snow on them as well. But there is some green in the picture, as well.

Chimney Swifts in Washtenaw County

In February, I met with Barbara Lucas, the producer of "In the Green Room" on WEMU (89.1 FM) to talk about the chimney swift tower that was built in the fall at Leslie Park Golf Course. This morning, that segment aired on the radio and is now podcast on the WEMU website. My part is brief and the interview was conducted during the walk up to the tower through the snow. Looking back at my records, the low temperature that day was -10 degrees.

You can listen to the whole segment HERE

You can read more about the Chimney Swift Tower by reading my blog post about it or by going to ChimneySwifts.org.

The Chimney Swift Tower at Leslie Park Golf Course



Going Slow

It may seem like we are way behind where we have been in previous springs, but looking at the opening dates for the golf courses over the last seven years, you can see that we are not yet behind schedule. The average opening day for Huron Hills (front 7) is March 16th. The average first day at Leslie Park is March 28th. The official first day of spring is March 20th. While the snow may keep delay us until after the usual dates, we are still three weeks away from the average Leslie opening day. Think spring and have warm thoughts.

Cherry trees between #5 and 6 in the Spring of 2013



Blooming Redbud next to #7 Spring 2012

Blue Flag Iris from the native garden along #12

February 2014 Monthly Weather Summary

Checking the greens requires specialized equipment.

February 2014 was cold. Twenty of the 28 days did not get above freezing. Every single day in the month had a low temperature below 32 degrees. We saw four days with a low temperature below zero, with the lowest temperature for the month of -10.2 degrees (Feb 28.) The high temperature for the month was 46.6 (19th), the middle of a four day stretch which saw highs reach the 40's.  The average temperature for the month was 19.2 degrees.

The month did not see any rain, but the weather station recorded 0.85 inches of water on the 20th, most likely due to melting snow in the collector.

The average windspeed was 4.2 mph. The highest sustained windspeed was 37 mph (Feb21st.)