It’s been consistently warm and persistently dry in Wyoming for several weeks. Winter ended early, prompting many people to think sprinkler season has already started.
Landscaping companies are getting an early influx of calls from clients who want their sprinkler systems turned on. Since the weather isn’t providing much relief, people want water as soon as possible to keep their greenery alive.
“I usually tend not to turn sprinklers on till closer to the end of April,” said Junior Reyes, the manager of J & J Landscaping in Cheyenne. “I started getting calls two weeks ago. It’s been so dry, people just want water on their grass.”
Many Wyoming communities don’t turn their raw water on until May 1. After the winter Wyoming didn’t have, people might have needed to start watering a while ago.
“You need to start now,” Reyes said. “I think we can start watering now, so you might as well go ahead and water now.”
Desperate Times
That Wyoming had an unseasonably warm winter isn’t breaking news.
The last five months have been dominated by streaks of record-breaking temperatures and an alarmingly low amount of snow, leading to the lowest snowpack in Wyoming’s recorded history.
Plant people have been alarmed for months. Arborists began recommending that Wyomingites start watering their trees and fields as early as February.
“When we go two or three weeks without snow cover, it’s a warning sign that you need to water if you want to keep your plants healthy or alive,” horticulturist Shane Smith told Cowboy State Daily then.
Meanwhile, pear trees started blooming across Salt Lake City in December. The same thing happened to lilacs in Denver around that same time.
Cheyenne's trees have been leafing and blooming for weeks. Smith said trees and other plants were definitely responding to the consistently warm temperatures, but that might have been more out of desperation than anything else.
“Flowering is a common response plants have to stress,” Smith said. “They want to reproduce in case they don’t survive. When temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees above normal for days on end, it’s especially hard on fruiting trees.”
That should be enough reason to start watering, but getting sprinklers going is a different matter. In a normal year, Wyoming isn’t done with winter weather and freezing temperatures in April.
Earliest System Turned On
Tony Larson maintains the city parks in Thermopolis and has been working on sprinklers since 1985. He said he's never seen weather this warm this early.
In years past, he had to turn on one sprinkler system in late February to water young trees, but this year, he’s already turned on the sprinkler systems in all the city parks, and his own house.
“I have never seen weather like this,” Larson said. “The grass is already turning brown on the mountain.”
Mat Post of Precision Outdoor Power told Cowboy State Daily that he has already turned on 20 sprinkler systems in Fremont County, the earliest he has turned on systems since he has been in business.
“To be honest with you, most years I wait till the 15th of April,” Post said. “But what I could see on the weather, I think we're probably plumb fine. I don't see any issues, just a different year than normal.”
The first system Post turned on was March 16 for an underground system on a well.
“I told the guy he was crazy, and the next day we got that cold snap,” Post said. “I called him and he said he didn't have any problems at all, and he just got a little frost on his lawn.”
How Systems Freeze
A sprinkler system will freeze if the temperatures reach a consistent 30 degrees, but Post said that every system is different. It also depends on the soil temperature.
“It takes about a week of cold weather to freeze the pipes underground,” Post said. “You get your breaks in the pipe that comes from your water source to the irrigation system.”
The pipes above ground are more likely to break in a cold snap, but those underground should no longer be in danger of breaking, said Post. You would need to get about 15 degrees consistently to freeze the buried pipes.
“If you have exposed pipes that are above ground, just wrap them in some insulation or foam like those pool noodles,” Post said. “That will give them some protection overnight and it usually won't hurt anything.”
Larson said that if a freeze is predicted, another precaution homeowners can take is to cover the valve coming out of your house with any type of insulation ranging from a blanket to a thick plastic bag.
Why Turn Systems On
Post and Larson said they are turning on sprinkler systems so early this year not to water lawns, but to save their trees and bushes from the drought that the state is already in.
“I turned on my sprinkler system two weeks ago at my house and in the city parks,” Larson said. “I'm only watering twice a week on the root systems around all the trees.”
Post said that the best thing his customers are doing by watering now is helping their trees out and not the lawns.
“The biggest thing I'd tell people is not to get too excited because the ground has to be close to high 50s, low 60s for your grass to start activating,” Post said. “No matter how much water you put on it, you got to have that soil temperature before it starts turning green.”
Whether The Weather Is Cold
There’s a reason why everyone in Wyoming turns off and drains their sprinkler systems over winter. If you leave any water in the pipes, it could freeze and cause them to burst.
Wyoming has had an abnormal winter, but does that mean it’s safe to turn the water back on?
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day is usually the first to caution against prematurely setting sprinklers up. After the last few weeks, he’s warmed up to it.
“At this point, we do not foresee a prolonged freeze that’s long enough to cause pipes to break,” he said. “It depends on the system.”
Day said the last frost of the season usually happens in mid- to late May, and there’s no reason to think it won’t be the same this season.
Last week’s winter weather was a potent reminder that April can still bring strong surges of snow, freezing temperatures, and frigid wind gusts.
However, a surface freeze is different from a freeze that penetrates into the ground. After the weeks of warm weather Wyoming has had, Day doesn’t think it will get consistently cold enough for a deep freeze.
“The odds that we're done with freezing temperatures are extremely low, especially overnight,” he said. “We're getting into these longer days, and the ground does a great job of retaining heat.”
Most sprinkler systems are buried between 6 and 12 inches underground. It takes a prolonged period of freezing temperatures and snowfall to get that deep underground, and that’s increasingly unlikely as spring progresses.
“You might have a cold night where the spot on the wall where the hose is attached to the building is susceptible to freezing, but even if it gets into the 20s for a few hours overnight, you’re probably OK.”
While Day, other meteorologists, and many Wyomingites would certainly like more days of cold temperatures and high-quality snow and rain, nobody’s hopes are high. That led Day to give a rare endorsement.
“Anyone who wants to irrigate right now is probably going to be OK,” he said. “If you're willing to adapt and be able to shut off water systems while watering before we're done with the freeze season, then go for it.”
Many people don’t wait for Day’s endorsement, however.
“People get antsy,” he said. “I've been seeing people with their hoses and sprinklers going every month of the year so far. It’s basically what and how you want to risk things.”
So Far, So Good
Reyes has turned on many sprinkler systems for clients across Cheyenne in the last two weeks. So far, he hasn’t heard about any issues.
“I found one system with bad valves, but nothing else for the most part,” he said.
Even though there have been freezing temperatures in Cheyenne since he started, no one has reported a frozen or burst pipe to Reyes. He’s not saying it’s completely safe to keep your sprinklers on, but watering sooner might be better than later.
“I think we should have started a while ago, with how warm and dry it’s been,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to see any freezing pipes, but you never know. We live in Wyoming.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com and Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
