El Niño is coming, so it’s drain cleaning time!
Drain Cleaning Can Help Prevent Flooding
The National Weather Service says that all signs point to 2015 as a strong “El Niño year.” What exactly is El Niño? El Niño is a periodic weather phenomenon characterized by unusually warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. Nice, but Northeast Ohio isn’t exactly near the equatorial Pacific.
Truer words were never spoken, but this weather phenomenon is capable of affecting the way winter plays out in Northeast Ohio. Exactly how weird can the weather get during El Niño? The high temperature records for Columbus include 76°F in December, 74°F in January, 75°F in February and a whopping 84°F in March – all in El Niño years.
75°F and sunny sounds great in the winter, but winter in Northeast Ohio isn’t typically sunny. In fact, winter is our “rainy” season, but because the air and ground temperatures are so cold, we get snow instead. A typical, gradual spring warming means the snow melts slowly and absorbs into the ground in ways our drains can manage.
An El Niño means that some of our winter precipitation comes snow, but on those wild, warm days, it comes as rain and creates an instant snowmelt. If the ground is frozen, or partially frozen, it won’t absorb rain or melt, and that water is going to go somewhere!
Right now is the perfect time to invest in drain cleaning for the drains and culverts around your house in preparation for El Niño. Removal of organic debris – dirt, leaves and other organic material in your drains now means that you won’t be up to your knees in water in January!
Drain cleaning isn’t just reserved for culverts. Sump wells, dry wells and other drains will benefit from cleaning as frequently as once every six months. Main drain cleaning – the line that runs from your home to the sewer or septic line – should take place at least once per year.
Whether or not we’ll get soaked this winter is strictly up to Mother Nature, but I’ll take being prepared for rain and staying dry over getting soaked with dirty runoff (or worse) any day of the week! For more information about drain cleaning, contact us at Clear Drain Cleaning in Dover/New Philadelphia at (330) 343-7146 today!