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Good luck getting rain, Gary! Sounds like what has happened here the last few times - drenching rains forecast, but it would go N or S, and I would even here the thunder, but no rain, or almost no rain. Today it is only supposed to get to 84°, with those TS forecast for later, and my area is in the near 1.5" area on the map...but I'm not turning my watering timers off yet.

Still no rain in the forecast for more than a week, and even then just one overnight sprinkle. Lots of lightning strikes are now expected, and consequent wildfires. Haven't heard if Lytton is still burning.

Good Grief, VanIsle!

90% destroyed by fire.

https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/british-c ... 93293.html

@digitS', is the 'hot front' or 'dome' now headed in your direction? Here, I haven't felt any specific danger of wildfire; but I guess being smug could be a big mistake. Everything is terribly dry. How are you fixed domestically with A/C & such, if temps get extreme? Pray that the power doesn't go down.

It is moving ever so slightly away, VanIsle.

The nearest airport weather station recorded

• 113°f or 45°C, on 29 June

• 108° on 30 June

• It is 97° right now at 1:30pm

There were 8500 homes without electricity for a short time a couple of days ago. That hasn't happened at our house. We have AC but it isn't for every room in the house. Usually, I can rely on early morning temperatures being so low but not this time. By the way, our usual hottest day in about the 1st of August, the Weather Service says.

Steve

It's coming down HARD now! I only got .16" in earlier showers during the day, but I could hear the rain, so I went down to the basement, to shut the valve to the two watering pipes - easier than going out and setting the timers for dalays! (rofl). It rained over .1" in just the time I was downstairs - just 2 to 3 minutes! It has more or less stopped, and I'm only up to .43", but more coming, looking at that radar. Temp only went down 5°, and it's supposed to drop more, with the later fronts. Up N, in Bensalem PA, where a cousin of mine lives, was in a tornado warning until a short time ago, as are some areas down in DE. I'm in between these, so it's not as bad here, but still bad! Unless you're looking for rain...

It looks worse up in your area, apple - I hope you are ok up there!

I watered this morning, so of course we’re getting drenched. It wouldn’t have rained if I hadn’t watered.

But looking at the radar, the secret anti-rain device that makes the storm clouds dissipate then reconverge as the system passes over us is mostly working. We got caught in a tail end of a wisp of heavy stuff that didn’t quite make it around….

It looks like officially, we had 0.92 inches of rain today (so far) including the bit that fell overnight and the earlier quick shower.

You did get more than me, but still not like those flooded areas. I only got .49" - I'll turn those timers back on tomorrow night, barring more rain in the forecast.

It is hard to believe Canada temperature at 116. It is still only June. I wonder how long the heat dome will last? I never heard of it before this.

Here the house is designed to leak and houses are built with wide eaves to promote cooling. I usually go shopping when it is very hot since I can stay in an air conditioned mall or store for at least a while. I haven't done that lately because of Covid. I have a fan, actually 2 fans and an air conditioner. It would have to be hotter than this to turn on the air conditioner. Drinking a lot of cold drinks and cracking ice cubes usually is enough for now. I have to make more room in the freezer for ice.

It is getting hot here too because it is June, but so far it is not anything out of the ordinary for this time of the year. It is 80 degrees now , but the breezes did come back for a little while today and that helped. The air is relatively dry at 52%.

I am watering the yard early and doing most of my chores before 10 a.m. If I have time I can go out later in the day after 3 p.m. to do a little more work.

It sprinkled here on & off for 5 hours with 3 nice rains about 5 to 10 minutes each time. 1/2" of rain is not much in this drought but better than nothing garden will love it.

It rained last night, and there is more headed this way. The radar on this phone doesn't work as quickly like on my old phone and its the same weather app. Temperature is a yucky 82 degrees.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers on Florida as Hurricane Elsa approaches.

Yes, the Hurricane season started early. Hopefully, everyone will be as prepared as they can be and keep safe. The worst storms of the season usually come in late July.

It is 74 degrees right now and cloudy but only a teaser of light rain. The high will be around 81. It is 6:45 a.m. now, so I have to go out and water the yard.

It rained last night and is still cloudy and sprinkling today. The wind is a measly 5 mph so it is humid. I still had to water the garden today, but it took less time since I was mainly topping off. The smaller pots did need a bit more water than the larger ones.

The last two days my rain has added up to 2.47", then today, there were several brief downpours, that only totalled .18" so far - another headed here soon. Just enough to keep wetting the plants, and ground, so I did little out there today, though I did harvest a few more cukes and bottle gourds.

This weather is crazy, it is cold outside. I put on long plants, winter jacket, & sock hat this morning, it is 57° and won't surprise me if it is 80° later today. Humidity has dropped it feels like Arizona winter.

It's 'cooler' now in Port Alberni. The radio reported a high of 26C today. At my place about 4 miles from downtown it was actually a little over 30 (86F); cooler but still pretty warm.

BC fruit growers are reporting heat-ruined crops and there's been a big die-off of shellfish on the beaches, literally cooked.

cooler here too, but still pretty warm and dry
my Martha Washington rhody is sunburned and looking like it might die
my Honey Berry bushes also are sunburned
most of the damage is from that extreme 113 degree day
I put a tarp and a sunshade over my Honey Berry bushes for now

Both of your reports underscore the abnormality of it all. Those poor shellfish and your shrubs had no way to prepare or be ready to withstand that kind of temperature that they or their recent predecessors had never experienced….

I forgot to include this photo of scorched leaves on my other rhody:

Thanks for sharing those photos @HoneyBerry. The impact does not always sink in unless you witness it. Kind of scary to think that could be us humans if we don’t look ahead and prepare/be ready…. In fact there have been some terrible losses already.

In case such an event happens again — I think spraying all the vegetation with something that would strengthen them and/or shield them could help them withstand the period of abnormal stress.

Certainly physical barriers to provide shade, too.

I’m thinking
- Surround kaolin clay spray could be a good sunscreen even if you have to deal with looking at everything coated in white for a while
- I’m trying to think of which foliar sprays might be beneficial — liquid kelp, actively aerated compost tea, hyper diluted eggshell/crabshells extract vinegar, hyper diluted hydrated lime …. nothing with oil or soap in it I think.

I got 1.8" from Elsa overnight. It added up to about 2" with the earlier storms, which were spotty. At least it's cooler - not supposed to be in the 90s today, though it's still very humid.

Yesterday evening it rained so hard & was so loud I though it was hail. It rained so hard I could barely see the garden 50 ft away. Cat was gone in a flash, it scared dog so bad we let her in the house, she had the shakes for an hour & refused to go outside again for a while. It has rained several days in a row & we have 90% chance of rain in the forecast for a week. This time of the year rain is evening 5 to 15 minute storms. Perfect timing for corn. Our rain is probably hurricane spin off. It is very over cast today I hope it stays over cast.

There was about 1/2" rain on 15 June with a "trace" on 1 other day since then. No rain otherwise. We are at 44% of normal precipitation in 2021 for this time in July. And, for a place that receives only 16¼ inch of precipitation through an entire year, this means "extreme drought."

No afternoon highs have been below 90°f (32°C) since 21 June with several daily and all-time records. No days over the next 7 are forecast to have highs below 90° and may be above 100° (38C) once or twice. This is right at 2000 feet elevation and just over 1° of latitude south of the US/Canadian border.

There are several wildfires burning within about 100 miles from here. Fire Season Early

Steve

I have never heard of sunscreen spray for plants. That is something to look into. The heat dome was so sudden. I was not prepared for it. Rhododendrums are native plants here and they are not liking the extreme heat. So other native plants are suffering too. The water supply here is good for now. But what about next year? The heat dome melted 30% of the the snow cover that was on Mount Rainier. It melted really fast and quickly filled the rivers, and exposed the glaciers, which need that snow to protect them. There were warnings for hikers to seak higher ground if they hear a loud roaring sound like a train because that is what the sudden rush of water from the melted snow sounded like. Mount Rainier supplies most of the water for the municipalities here. I know that the snow cover is really important and when there is no snow cover, the water supply suffers. And the fish suffer if the water is too warm. It not just a singular weather event. Everything is connected.

I watered the herb row this morning. The bay leaf is scorched but the stems are still green. There is another 2 months of extreme heat to go. Hopefully, by the fall, I will be able to cut the dead parts off and it will have time to leaf out again.

It is 82 degrees and cloudy. I am watering the front yard this summer. I deep water every three days. Normally, the front yard has drought resistant plants and I don't water at all. However, since it hasn't rained much, I am giving it some water. I might be able to go another day. Things still look good after 3 days.

I am still watering the rest of the garden and pots daily, although some can go a little longer. Some will start to wilt after a day and a half. It has been hot and dry for nearly a week. It must be raining somewhere, just not here.

I was hoping to not have to go out today, but saw from the window that a cucumber vine had not been able to hold on and one of the recently planted tomatoes had fallen over and was laying in a puddle after the Elsa remnant had passed through last night. I can’t see all of the garden from the windows so seeing just those two examples left me anxious… but the other beds didn’t sustain as much damage.

I would guess Elsa had dropped about 2 inches of rain last night. The ground was saturated and deeply puddled along some swale/paths that need to be forked, re-dug and/or graded better. I didn’t go into the really wet/deep parts even though the tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons seem to have grown another 4~6 inches and needed to be re-supported. They can wait until tomorrow.

This is one wild, weird, wacky place. A couple weeks ago some days in the mid 90's, nights in the 70's. Night before last, 38 degrees, last night, 37. In July? Had a much needed 3 inches of rain about 10 days ago, and another 3/4 inch about 3 days ago. But, soil here dries out fast. Am actually deep watering today and will finish tomorrow.

I remember Jal-ut posting years ago that he had actually seen frost in his part of the country in every month of the year. I think the same could be said for this area. Not really common, but seems possible. In fact, I'm not so sure it didn't frost here 2 nights ago, or last night. My over the hill garden gets even colder than this side of the knoll as the cold air moves down the hillside. Some of my potato leaves over there look a little strange like they might have been nipped. I think my tomatoes and peppers are going why did you bring us here dufus?

Hurricanes are like that. Fast moving storms don't cause as m damage as the slower ones but it is still a mess when you go out there. I remember after Iniki going to the botanical garden and the entire grounds were covered in broken tree branches. It looked worse than it was. With the staff and the volunteers picking up sticks and tossing it in the truck, it took less than an hour to clean up. The hanged branches though had to be taken down by the arborists later.

The wind does most of the damage especially the back side of the storm. Slow storms have more opportunity to cause flooding. Flooding is much more dangerous than wind damage. We have wide eaves on houses. It helps keep the house cooler but it makes it easier for the wind to rip off a roof.

Although it looks like a mess, you can be surprised. Some plants will be in pockets of protection and depending on how they were staked some may be salvageable. There will be some losses but hopefully you can get the garden back up and running soon.

The most important thing is that you are safe and sound.

Taiji wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 09, 2021 11:04 pm

I'm not so sure it didn't frost here 2 nights ago, or last night. Some of my potato leaves over there look a little strange like they might have been nipped.

Frost is no problem for potatoes. Frost can kill above ground plants and you will still get a good crop of potatoes. I cut the plants off of 3 rows of Russet potatoes several days ago this should make new potatoes grow larger. Best potato crop I ever grew was planted in Nov, there was never any plants all winter, I dug up a nice crop of potatoes in May. You should plant potatoes in AZ in Nov or Dec.

We have been getting 1" of rain every day. Very heavy fog this morning I can't see neighbors house. Humidity is so high water streams are running down the glass windows. We have severe storms in the forecast, today & next 3 days & rain for another week. Corn will love this.

The rain seemed to be skipping me again, but it finally rained...HARD! I was out there for a long while, and kept hearing thunder N and W of here, but at 6:50, I quickly came inside, as I saw lighting. Still, the only rain wasn't enough to wet the leaves or sidewalks, but around 7:25, it started coming down hard, and now, in a half an hour, it is up to .81", and still coming down!

It rained slow and steady all night. I worked yesterday so I did not get a chance to water the yard. This morning there is still a light rain. I just went out and checked. Looks like I won't have to water today either. Two storms are heading in my direction by the weekend that are close together. Both are expected to weaken by wind shear and be downgraded. The first storm is passing to the south so it will probably bump the surf. The second storm is coming more directly. That might bring more rain from the remnants. Where the rain falls depends on the spread and if it hits the mountains first. It is 72 degrees now. Compared to the severe conditions elsewhere, this is fairly normal for this time of the year. There is a brush fire on the Big Island, the rain may actually help put it out. Most of the state is in a moderate drought. Maui, Molokai, and parts of the Big Island are in severe drought. Rain would help.

imafan26 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 1:29 pm

It rained slow and steady all night.

Sounds like heaven!

Still no rain in our 10 day forecast.
Official total for June was 29.1mm (slightly more than 1 inch).
July total till today (19th) is 6.8; about 1/4" - but I don't recall any.
Since Jun 6 not one day had - officially - more than a millimeter - actually none perceptible.
I wonder if 'they' count dew as precipitation.
Temp at 2pm this afternoon is comparatively cool at about 30F. It hasn't peaked yet.

Although it has been raining for most of the day, it hardly registers in my rain gauge. The recorded amount for the last 24 hours was 0.01 inches. I guess there was a lot of evaporation.

I’m not complaining but I am sad — DD just came back inside after getting the mail from the mailbox at bottom of the driveway and asked “Why is it so …hazy out?”

… and I knew the answer — the smoke from all of the west coast wildfires have arrived here, riding the jet stream. It’s unimaginable.

I saw that there are wildfires in Canada causing similar smoke stream on the news (we’re getting some of that as well here). It made me look for a comprehensive status of wildfires and it is staggering —

Fire and Smoke Map
https://fire.airnow.gov/


…DDs and I were talking about the “Bootleg” wildfire yesterday, and how the massive fire can’t be subdued by human intervention any more — I likened dumping the huge plane load of water over the conflagration to trying to douse a burning house with a cup of water….

It made me wonder how we still don’t have the technology to effectively stop the burning, on-site or by changing local weather patterns … then remembered the lessons in this book:

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

I’ll try to find an excerpt if I can.

We're lucky so far, here on Vancouver Island. No major fires, I think, and the mainland smoke must be blowing eastward. The moon & Venus so bright we wished we had blinds on the bedroom windows.

TV weather said air quality is near the danger zone it must be from smoke. I have been sneezing all morning but I don't smell smoke. 93° F again today and all week. Humidity is very high with all this rain, it never rains this much in summer in TN it is usually dry as desert June to Oct.

98° it feels like an oven. It must be ME 98° NEVER felt his HOT before. NO clouds, NO breeze, High humidity it feels like 120°

Another heatwave — mid-70’s past midnight is rare here — usually summer temp falls below 70°F to high 60’s during the night.

But this will be good for the melon project. I’m trying different techniques including added thermal protection this year to try to grow good melons since I usually have hard time. — hoping for good results.