We recently broke the record for number of consecutive days with high temperatures above 100 degrees. We’re currently at 73 days but the forecasts say it may break in four days. We’ve had no rainfall at our house since June 22 and I’m worried about the impact on the plants and wildlife.

The grass has been brown for several months now and that’s not really unusual, but the trees are starting to show signs of stress. Their leaves are turning brown and dropping. Trees lose quite a bit of moisture through their leaves through the process of transpiration. A fully-grown tree may lose several hundred gallons of water in a day. The trees minimize this loss by dropping their leaves and entering a dormant state.

I’ve noticed that the smaller trees are the ones turning brown, so they may be more susceptible to the water loss and stress.

There is no way for us to water all the trees so they’re going to have to make it on their own. On the other hand, they’ve been out here for hundreds of years and have seen worse drought conditions, so they’ll probably be fine.

Here’s a photo of a grove of live oaks. The taller ones are still green but the small ones in front are not.

 Here’s another one showing the same effect.

This is a photograph along our driveway in which the trees don’t show much signs of stress. I think much depends on the soil and the general health of the trees.

The grass and trees are very visible signs of the heat and drought. They remind me though that many of the effects are not so easily seen. The wildlife especially has to cope with the lack of water too. The deer especially seem thin right now. I hope they make it.