Drought Signs

Two of the soggier places in my area are Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and Lord Stirling Park, the latter being a county park that's part of the same ecosystem as Great Swamp. Both are about as dry as I've ever seen them. Great Swamp has a boardwalk that normally takes you through some pretty swampy areas; this month it mostly looked dry as I peered over the sides. As expected, Lord Stirling Park was no better; below is a picture of their Lily Pad Pond. Admittedly it still looks muddy there, but usually water would be covering this whole area. (I never appreciated just how shallow this pond was, though I suppose the abundance of lily pads should have told me that it wasn't very deep.)

Lily Pad Pond
August 3, 2022 at Lord Stirling Park

Here's another sign of the drought. Upon entering Duke Farms you'll usually see a small waterfall. There are plenty of times in a normal summer when the waterfall becomes more of a water trickle, but it's rare for the falls to get as bone dry as this (though admittedly there's still water below the falls).

Duke's Brook
July 16, 2022 at Duke Farms

There are few signs that the drought is going to break anytime soon.

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