Wet spring in forecast for East Central Indiana
By JOY LEIKER
jleiker@muncie.gannett.com
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MUNCIE -- Spring showers bring more than flowers.
There are sports practices and games to cancel. Landscaping crews that can't work. And construction projects that fall behind schedule.
And all those problems are sure to come this spring as forecasters call for an especially wet season across the Midwest.
Brandon Redmond, a Randolph County weather forecaster who manages www.Indianaweatheronline.com, said as of last week East Central Indiana already had received 200 percent more moisture than normal for the first quarter of the year.
"The soil remains 150 percent saturated and many streams and rivers remain in a flood stage," Redmond said.
Muncie has soaked up more than 10 inches of rain thus far this year, more than 3 inches ahead of normal, according to measurements by Accuweather.com.
The weather will be influenced by La Niņa, Redmond said, and that typically means more moisture. "That will almost definitely be the case this spring."
The last thing Ana Hunter wants to hear about is more rain in the forecast. As the team manager for Muncie's StarSoccer team of girls ages 10 and younger, she knows plenty about weather delays. The girls, who were supposed to play their first game of the season March 15, have already rescheduled four matches. And last week, for the first time all season, the girls practiced outdoors.
"Lately, the fields have been so soaked with water that they sink when you walk on them. Obviously, we cannot play when the fields are that wet. It would ruin the fields for the rest of the season, plus the summer and fall seasons," Hunter said. "We have had to reschedule four games already."
As for Jay-Crew Landscape Inc. owner Jason Brooks, weather is one of those things he simply can't control. The wet season so far has pushed everything at least a week behind the normal growing schedule. On the flip side, Brooks said the moisture is badly needed after last year's dry summer.
"We had one of the driest summers we've had in the last 10 years. So some of this moisture is very much welcomed. So some of this is making up for last year and is needed," Brooks said.
At the same time, it's slowing business a bit. Typically, Jay-Crew hires its peak of 25 employees by mid-April. Right now there are up to eight workers, and Brooks said it's too soon to add many more.
"There's nobody that wants sunny and 68 degrees anymore than I do," Brooks said.
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