Stepped out into Day 3 of our heat wave, happened to look up and, WHOA! The immediate impression was exactly like the movie scenes where the giant alien spacecraft slowly slides over the city. And you know what happens next. After a second, this wasn’t nearly that menacing, just pretty cool. Unfortunately, my fixed lens couldn’t squeeze in the full picture, the complete half-disc emerging from a mass of foreboding dark grey cloud. Nature!
Weather
Tree in the wind
It’s Day 2 of our little heat wave, and apparently time for the daily thunderstorm. This is the second one, same pattern. Heavy wind and darkness roll in for a while, shaking things up and looking ominous. Then rain, building up, pounding down for a few minutes, easing off again, then it’s gone. The whole thing happens in half an hour or so.
The whole thing is a little alarming, especially the wind, mainly because you don’t want the power to go out. But it’s not the storm itself, it’s these short periods and odd combinations of weather that there’s no settling into—a week or a month of one thing, then a quick switch to another. Like now, where after the storm, the air feels cool and fresh for a bit, then it’s back to oppressively heavy, humid heat wave heat.
Weather has become a regular news event, even around here where we haven’t had the extremes I read about. No months long drought with temps above a 100F (35C). No atmospheric rivers dumping massive floods. No wildfires that black out the sun at noon and cause their own local weather systems. No asphalt cracking in the street. No frying eggs on the sidewalk. Just this heat/storm combo for now. I’ll take it!
The puddle returns!
After a pretty impressive inch and a half (3.75 cm) of overnight rain, my water table indicator puddle is back. Not usual this far into June, but there has been a lot of falling water recently. You can see the water in the tamped down route of my path to the veg field, but it also extends into the grass on both sides. A mini-Everglades. If the veggies were planted right here, it would be a problem: plants breathe through their roots, so they’d be spluttering for air, in danger of drowning! Luckily, the veg patch starts not far off, but up a gentle slope, so, pretty much high and drier. With the clouds and rain of this May extending into June, and a few days of a heat wave-ish break, the weather pattern of the last 20 years holds true—there is no pattern!
Plants just wanna have sun
These winter squash are looking a little pale and thin, with those deprived-looking almost lime green leaves. No wonder, to go along with all the rain, most of the last few days have been cloudy. The garden veg really aren’t demanding. All they want is decently fertile soil—composted cow manure and a handful of alfalfa pellets will handle that—ample water, warm but not searing temperatures, and sun. Also, not being devoured by animals, insects or disease, or smashed to tatters by golf ball-sized hail, of course. This season so far, all conditions met. Except for the sun. The forecast continues cloudy with chance of rain for the next week. If that holds up, no rich, deep green leaves and satisfyingly sudden growth spurts for a while.
Quick storms and rainbows
Seems to be a little weather pattern repeating over the last few weeks: ominous darkness rolls in with gusting wind, a short, sharp storm with lighting but usually no thunder, half an inch to an inch of rain drops in just a few minutes, then the sun suddenly pops up and…a rainbow. Quite the little show. There’ve been several storms like that recently, and although this is only the second rainbow I’ve seen, I wouldn’t rule out others I missed. This one was a full arc, treeline to treeline. Didn’t have a wide enough lens or enough backing up room to get it all on digital film. Overall, the rain is welcome, even if not the slow and soaking in kind, and the pretty massive rainbow was cool, good for letting your sci-fi imagination wander for a few minutes!
Mud on the leaves
[From yesterday] Unless someone went wild with a hose, mud on the leaves is a sure sign of heavy, pelting rain. It came down this afternoon while I was on a supply run to town, hidden away in a giant box store, completely disconnected from big weather events (that is, until the power went out, which was its own little adventure in a dimly lit cavern). Back in the field, taking stock, the veggie plot was nicely watered in, the rain gauge read a decent half inch (1.25 cm), and no plant problems, just mud-splatter.
These potato plants do a good job of illustrating the ability of pounding rain to throw up a startling amount of dirt. Still, it’s really only of particular veg garden interest if you have to harvest in quantity. Grabbing some salad greens for dinner, a quick mud rinse and into the salad spinner, no problem. On the other hand, harvesting quantities of lettuce, baby salad greens, beets, radish, and carrots with tops, anything with leaves low to the ground right after a deluge becomes instant extra rinsing work. Which adds up! Of course, rain is manna from heaven for growing stuff. We can’t ever wish rain away, at least not around here (well, not most years). Harvest mud is just one of those things to take in stride…
Morning dew
It’s around 6 a.m. and I’m out in the field, in a grassy meadow that hasn’t been cut in years. At this hour on a sunny June morning, it’s wet out here! The sun is low but fully risen, backlighting the dew. The light is intensely glittering but without glare, like millions of tiny droplet-sized lightbulbs, each nearly as bright as the sun. To get to the tool shed, I’m walking a well-trodden single-file path through the unchecked grass. Weighed down blades lean in and soak a line in my jeans as I brush by. Rubber boots for sure. It’s almost mind-blowing when you think about how much water is gathered out there, all in single drops. Then the sun burns it off in an hour or two, and it’s back to the regular day.