Rain takes a summer break.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

Not a hint, not a drop, drip, nor even a trace of rain fell in Eugene-Springfield during July.

We haven't had such a thoroughly parched seventh month since 1967, according to the National Weather Service in Portland.

Sure, July's usually a dry month. In fact, 13 Julys since 1952 have lacked any measurable precipitation. (For those of you wondering: "traces" of rain don't count. Traces - less than 1/100th of an inch - are recorded as zero precipitation on official weather charts.)

So, July 2003 stands out with 1967 for its lack of even a trace of H2O.

Still, state climatologist George Taylor isn't necessarily impressed.

"We're having a dry, warm summer. It will soon be followed by fall and winter, and in a few months we'll wish it was July," he said. "We're never satisfied."

We can thank the winds - predominantly from the northeast - for this spurt of hot, dry days, Taylor said. It will take a wind shift to bring in cooler marine air from the west, he said.

That shift will come in a day or two, when highs will drop into the mid-80s over the weekend, with evening lows of 50 to 55, according to the National Weather Service.

But while the forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, the immediate future looks dry as dirt, with no rain on the horizon.

Over at the Amazon community garden, Bunny Lawson has been taking the weather in stride, watering her double plot of potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, leeks and beans.

Lawson, 76, and a retired teacher, has been gardening at the community plot since 1984.

She visits the garden daily, watering, harvesting and, on Thursday, preparing a spot for a fall planting of peas.

"It doesn't seem all that unusual," she said of the month's dry run. "We always have a few hot days in July and August."

The challenge for gardeners is making sure the water gets down to the roots of the plants, she said.

She poked a finger down through the mulch to check the soil beneath tomatoes in a neighbor's garden plot and then turned on a small sprinkler.

"He's on vacation and I'm just sort of helping out," she said.

But the dry weather is challenging plenty of less-experienced gardeners, said Pat Patterson, a Lane County Extension master gardener.

The heat and wind have combined to scorch plants, especially trees, she said. People who have carefully stepped up the watering of their container plants may be washing out nutrients at a faster than normal rate and should probably add some nitrogen, she said.

The recent cool nights complicate matters, too, causing blossom rot on tomatoes and fungus problems on other plants when people water after the sun goes down, she said.

Better to set a timer for the water to start just before dawn, she said.

"Water deeply, down through the soil profile," Patterson said. "But plants should be dry going into the night."

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Stephanie Barrow / The Register-Guard Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Bunny Lawson has kept on top of watering her plot at the Amazon community garden during the dry spell. "It doesn't seem all that unusual," she said. "We always have a few hot days in July and August." She uses an elaborate system of valves to carefully water each type of plant in her plot.