Watching an Arizona monsoon storm from the safety of your own home can be an awe-inspiring experience, but if you’re caught outdoors during one, here are some safety tips:

Here are some tips to help you protect yourself and your family when a big storm hits:

Outdoors:

Lightning is attracted to metal and water, and often strike the tallest objects.

YOU ARE IN A STRIKE ZONE IF YOU HEAR THUNDER FIVE SECONDS OR LESS AFTER YOU SEE LIGHTNING!

• Stay away from wide, open areas such as fields and golf courses.
• Stay off hilltops and other high points of land.
• Don’t stand near trees or tall poles
• Get at least 7 feet away from tall objects
• Avoid metal objects such as golf carts and clubs, lawn mowers and pipes.
• Get to the lowest point of ground you can, and kneel or squat to minimize your contact points with the ground.
• Do not lie flat. This will make you a bigger target.
• Don’t huddle with others. Spread out at least 15 feet apart.
• Remove golf shoes or steel-toed boots.
• If you’re out on the water, get to land.
• If you’re in a pool, get out.

Downed Power Lines:

• Stay at least 100 feet away
• If the power line has fallen on your car while you’re in it, don’t touch anything metal in the car, and stay inside until professional help arrives.
• Never try to help someone trapped by a power line. You endanger your own safety. Instead, call 911 immediately.

Indoor Safety:

• Stay away from windows during strong winds. Tree limbs and other objects can be a hazard.
• Electrical wiring attracts lightning. Don’t use the telephone, except for emergencies.
• Lighting can move through a home’s plumbing, attracted to the metal or water. Don’t use using sinks and showers.
• Unplug computers, tv’s and other delicate electronic equipment. Consider attaching surge protectors to such equipment.

Driving Safety:

In Dust:

• Don’t enter a dust storm if you can avoid it.
• Turn headlights on and drive a slow and prudent speed.
• If you pull off the road, get as far to the right as possible. Turn off the car and headlights, and set the parking brake. Keep your foot off the brake pedal – other drivers may think you’re a car is moving.

In Rain:

• Rain reduces traction and causes streets to be slippery.  Slow your speed accordingly.
• Water on roads may be deeper than it looks. Watch for vehicles travelling too fast. They can throw up blinding sheets of water.
• Don’t cross rain-swollen washes. You can be caught in a flash flood that can sweep you and your vehicle away.
• Pay attention to hazard signs and roadblocks. Ignoring them threatens life and property, and can result in enforcement action by police.

Stuck in a wash: It is possible to lose control of a vehicle in 6 inches of water. Most vehicles will begin to float in 2 feet of water.

• If you have a phone, call 911.
• If you can, climb onto the roof and wait to be rescued.
• If the water is still low and you can wade to safety, do so, but beware of floating debris

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Spring is winding down and summer’s just around the corner. Here’s the last burst of garden chores to get done this month before serious heat sets in.

Planting Nursery Plants

Continue to plant warm-season annual flowers and vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, and the like) as long as you have enough time for them to beat the summer heat. (However, in hot desert areas, for example, that means no later than late February.) If in doubt, give a quick call to the garden center nearest you.

• If you haven’t already, plant seeds for corn, green beans, melons, squash, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes and other heat-lovers.
• Keep up with watering. Even highly drought-tolerant plants can need irrigation. Water large cacti, for example, once a month and agave and yuccas every three weeks.
• Prune winter- and spring-flowering trees and shrubs once they stop blooming.
• Limit pruning of desert legume trees such as palo verde and mesquite, just removing dead or very small limbs as necessary. Heavy pruning, to stimulate new growth which will be stressed by oncoming heat, should wait until later in the summer.

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What to expect with the transition from winter to summer lawns:

When nighttime, low temperatures in the Valley remain above 60 degrees, the Bermuda grass, which has been dormant all winter, begins to grow. As daytime temperatures exceed 90 degrees, the rye grass will begin to recede. It is during this transition period where both types of grass compete for space and water. The transition from Rye grass to Bermuda grass is a gradual process that lasts from the beginning of April through the end of May. All the grass in the common areas should be primarily Bermuda grass by the beginning of June.

You can expect to see changes in the turf areas throughout the transition period. The irrigation watering times will be monitored closely to encourage the Bermuda grass to grow instead of the Rye. We gradually lower the decks of our mowers from 2” down to 1.25”. Lowering the mower heights does not hurt the Bermuda, but will serve to force the Rye to die off. As the Rye grass dies off, the turf may appear off color or yellow and there may even be some distinct areas that appear dry. This is a temporary condition that improves as the Bermuda grass fills in. In some areas where the Rye grass dies off it forms a thick mat. This is easily removed with a verticutting machine as necessary.

The Bermuda should be actively growing at the beginning of May. At this point the water will be increased and we will apply an appropriate warm weather fertilizer to promote healthy turf.

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