Since then it hasn’t rained anywhere in the area except for a bit on 4 September. The ground is brown, leaves are falling early, and it is still sunny and hot. Yesterday was 85°.
Drought: Playing field at Frick Park, 20 Sept 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
By mid September we should have had 30 inches of precipitation in Pittsburgh. Instead we’ve had only 25.83 and the entire deficit has occurred since mid July.
U.S. Drought Monitor‘s national drought assessment map now shows parts of our area in Extreme Drought (red). Our area is circled in pink on the disjoint map below.
Will it end soon? The Weather Service predicts at 50% chance of rain on Monday night for a possible total of 0.39 inches and showers on Thursday that might drop more than 0.85 inches. But in my experience a 50% chance of rain during a drought is just wishful thinking.
We’ll see.
p.s. Why the disjoint map? The tri-state area of Ohio, western PA and West Virginia is split into two regions by U.S. Drought Monitor along the Ohio River and at the PA-OH line.
Gabrielle Marsden releases a zebra swallowtail at Schenley Park, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
6 September 2025
This week I couldn’t help but notice the landscape looks very dry and plants are wilting.
Unwatered grass is brown in the drought, 2 September 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)Orange jewelweed at Schenley Park is wilting in the drought, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
And now it’s official. Pennsylvania is in a moderate drought in Elk, Cameron, northwest Clearfield, western Allegheny, Beaver and Greene counties. Notice the pink arrows I added to this map from U.S. Drought Monitor at UNL.
Gabrielle Marsden (@gobbism on Instagram) raises many kinds of butterflies, especially zebra swallowtails. She brought three adults to Schenley Park to release during the Botanical Society walk last Sunday. (See top photo) The butterflies’ host plant, the pawpaw tree, grows in Schenley.
Zebra swallowtails ready for release, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania walks focus on plants but the outings do not ignore the rest of nature. Bugs are often associated with specific plants so when we found cool bugs we took a look … and found a planthopper. He was easy to see because his bright green disguise doesn’t work in a drought.
Planthopper is too gren for the drought.
We also found the remnants of a scissor-grinder cicada who left his exoskeleton behind on a leaf.
Scissor-grinder cicada exoskeleton, Schenley Park, 31 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Sometimes the bugs found us. Steve Tirone had to stop in his tracks to avoid hurting the katydid on his shoe.
Katydid on Steve’s shoe, Schenley Park, 31 Aug 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
p.s. I forgot to tell you what we saw on the Schenley Park outing last Sunday, 31 August.
Schenley Park outing, 31 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The birds were quiet and generally hard to find. We saw only 15 species. Best Birds were two immature red-tailed hawks that chased each other.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 75 on Flagstaff Hill Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 3 Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 2 Immature hawks lazily chasing each other up the creek Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 3 Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 6 Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) 1 Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 8 Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 1 European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 20 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 25 House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 16 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 3 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 4 Adult & fledgling were not the color we expected. Both had a rumpled appearance as if they got dirty somehow. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 4
Hydrologists are now talking about the possibility of “dead pool” at one of these dams. What is dead pool and what does it mean for the river?
The Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1966, was designed for the relatively abundant water of the 1950s. The dam crest is more than 3,700 feet above sea level with two sets of pipes for water to pass through the dam: the hydropower intake at 3,490 feet for generating electricity, and the river bypass at 3,370 feet that sends water straight through the dam. This diagram from the Grand Canyon Trust shows how the dam works.
The design engineers didn’t think about a drought. If Lake Powell’s surface falls below 3,370 feet there’s no way water can get through the dam. That’s called dead pool and it means the downstream river is dry.
This 4-minute video from Arizona’s 3TV CBS explains what will happen.
Looks like a drought near Herrs Island Pittsburgh, 3 August 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
4 August 2025
Where I live in the City of Pittsburgh it looks like we’re in a drought. The ground is dry and plants are wilting as seen at this photo near Herrs Island yesterday.
Are we in a drought?
The U.S. Drought Monitor map indicates that the Eastern U.S. is just fine.
Pittsburgh day-to-day rainfall in July tells an interesting story. It barely rained before I went to Finland on 13 July and has barely rained since I returned. But I missed more than an inch of rain in Moon Twp on 16 July. Did it rain here in the City on that day?
I ask this question because lately, when the National Weather Service predicts rain for Pittsburgh, it rains everywhere else in the region but the clouds part — north and south — before they reach the City.
While last week’s heat wave broke here on Friday, I was in Virginia where the heat persisted and was even more intense. The temperature got up to 99° in Virginia Beach with a heat index somewhere near 110°F. I don’t remember the number. I stayed indoors. Meanwhile all the plants and animals were stuck outside in adverse conditions but one ornamental tree was thriving. Crape myrtle loves heat.
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp., also spelled crepe myrtle) is a small ornamental tree or shrub from Asia and the Indian subcontinent that is widely planted in southeastern Virginia. There are many species and many varieties bred for color and local conditions.
The trees that thrive in Virginia Beach are not the same variety that survives in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is too cold for typical crape myrtle so we have to plant cold tolerant varieties. I hear they were slow to bloom during our cold spring.
Thirteen years ago I marveled at crape myrtle’s resilience as I melted in the Virginia heat. Learn more in this vintage article.
Crape myrtle, Smithfield, VA, 7 July 2012 (photo by Kate St. John)
May and June were very wet in western Pennsylvania, so much so that some crops won’t make it. @CBSPittsburgh interviewed Dan Yarnick about the floods at Yarnick’s Farm in Indiana County.
Graph comparing 2019 average high/low temperatures by month to 2080 prediction, Pittsburgh, with 100+ degrees maximum (graph by Kate St. John using current averages, adding UMCES prediction) Graph comparing 2019 average rainall by month to 2080 prediction for Pittsburgh (graph by Kate St. John using current averages, adding UMCES prediction)
The prediction said it would happen 55 years from now, in 2080, but it seems that climate change is ahead of schedule.
Rinse and repeat. Bad weather is becoming bad climate.
Woodland crocuses blooming in the lawn on Neville Street, 4 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
5 March 2025
The crocuses are blooming!
But of course they are. In yesterday’s sunny and unseasonably warm 67°F the woodland crocuses (Crocus tommasinianus) on Neville Street were in full bloom. I say “were” because today’s rain, clouds and wind will probably keep them closed.
The crocuses dotted the lawn, above, and opened their petals to the sun.
Woodland crocus blooming in the lawn on Neville Street, 4 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Honeybees came to take a sip.
Bee visits blooming crocuses in the lawn on Neville Street, 4 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Now that they’ve opened, how does this year’s crocus bloom date compare to those in the past? Is it later than usual because we had such a cold winter?
Surprisingly, this year is on the early end of the spectrum, based on my record of Crocus First-Bloom Dates in Pittsburgh’s East End since 2009.
I don’t have a crocus record but the date was probably March 7, 2016 based on temperature data, this post about coltsfoot, and feedback from Supriya in Squirrel Hill.
Plotted on the calendar it’s easy to see that the dates cluster and the outliers are early, not late. Repeated dates are circled twice. Interestingly, the dates in February become earlier each time they occur.
Traditional bucket collecting maple sap for sugaring at Beechwood Farms, 3 March 2025 (photo by Kate At. John)
4 March 2025
This winter we’ve hated the cold weather but the freezing temperatures have been good for maple sugaring in March. Cold as it was, this winter was closer to what we had before climate change and the maples in Pittsburgh are happy about it.
Maple sap runs best when daytime temperatures are above freezing and nights are below freezing. When the nights don’t freeze the sap stops running, and the season is over. Last year the season ended early because it was so hot.
Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania (ASWP) has used three methods to collect sap from sugar maples at several of their properties: traditional buckets, bags, and tubes. Yesterday at Beechwood Farms I could tell the sap was running because the bags were filling up.
Bag collecting maple sap at Beechwood Farms, 3 March 2025 (photo by Kate At. John)Tubes collecting maple sap at Beechwood Farms, 3 March 2025 (photo by Kate At. John)
All told, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make just about 1 gallon of syrup. The sap, which is 2% sugar and 98% water, tastes like lightly sweetened water, tasty and refreshing, but lacking in flavor. The boiling process reduces the liquid until the concentration is 65% sugar.
Maple for Scouts. at Beechwood Farms 3/8/2025, Succop 3/15, and Buffalo Creek Nature Park in Sarver 3/22
Hike Through Maple History: Maple Madness. at Beechwood Farms 3/15/2025 and 3/22
Sweetest Season
Maple Drink Tasting, Adults Only Happy Hours: Maple Madness. at Buffalo Creek Nature Park 3/6/2025 and 3/13
Sap collection will end when the maple buds open. (The festivities will continue with pre-collected sap.)
How can you tell that maple buds have opened? From the ground the twigs look thick with little lumps. This red maple was already flowering at Beechwood. Fortunately it’s not the species that produces good sap.
Red maple is flowering already at Beechwood Farms, 3 March 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
Honeysuckle leaves in a Too Early Spring, 20 Feb 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
20 February 2025
Yesterday I looked back seven years and found photos of honeysuckle leafing out! Obviously we’re having a very different February than we did in 2018 when it was hotter than normal.
How does this year’s Spring status compare to years past? Here are a few photos for comparison.
Maple tree flowers: 2023 vs 2025
Only two years ago the maple trees had started blooming by now. This week the buds are still slammed shut.
Maple flowers blooming on 17 Feb 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)Maple buds slammed shut on 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Tulip Garden: 2024 vs 2025
Last year the tulip leaves were standing tall. This year they emerged and stopped.
Tulip leaves standing tall a year ago, 7 Feb 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)Tulip leaves emerged and paused, 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
The Crocus Lawn: 2023 vs 2025
Two years ago this lawn on Neville Street was carpeted in blooming crocuses. This week it’s covered in snow.
The crocus lawn on 21 Feb 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yesterday that lawn looked like this.
The crocus lawn on 18 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
And here’s an interesting juxtaposition …
High water comes and goes: 2018 vs 2025
The Monongahela River at Duck Hollow flooded the parking lot seven years ago. This month the highest reach was well below the parking lot.
Monongahela River flood at Duck Hollow, 17 Feb 2018 (photo by John English)Monongahela River highest water in February 2025 (so far), 3 Feb 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)
This map shows why we’re confused by this news. While most of the world and everything north of us was extra hot, the Continental US was unusually cold in January 2025.
We’ve often heard and seen how species change their behavior because of humans. Birds now spend the winter near us because of our bird feeders. Mammals originally fled cities, then moved back into them (deer and raccoons). But an article in the Guardian caught my attention when it described physical changes in animals’ bodies wrought by human pressure. Here are two examples.
African elephants without tusks
During the Mozambican civil war, heavy poaching by fighters meant that African savannah elephant numbers plunged by more than 90% in Gorongosa national park. With populations now in recovery and representing one of the most important examples of global restoration, many of the female elephants have no tusks – a consequence of tuskless elephants being less likely to be targeted by poachers, say researchers. The same change has also been recorded in Tanzania.
The map shows where this has happened: Tanzania (north) and Mozambique (southern half of red area).
Map of Mozambique and Tanzania in Africa (merg of two maps from Wikimedia Commons)
Shrinking mahogany trees
Mahogany trees, native to Central and South America, have disappeared from large parts of their historic range. Two of the three species are listed as Endangered yet some individuals survive by adapting. Because the largest trees are always cut down, only the shrubby ones survive and they’re the ones that reproduce. As a result, mahogany trees have shrunk in the wild.
Here’s how human pressure changed the range of Endangered big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in South America: Historic range at top, 2008 range at bottom.
