Areas Short on Rain

Areas Short on Rain

weather

Shown below is the rainfall map for the past 7 days.  The hole in the middle is mainly south central and southern Illinois.  The areas that got a good amount of rain are set for good pollination. Some of the southern Illinois area is just now recovering from excessive rainfall, so the situation is not as bleak as it may look,  but many of the the counties in white or light blue need a shower.  Is  it drought?  Maybe.  Can we recover?  A timely rain would help.

Past 60 Days Rainfall

Past 60 Days Rainfall

Rainfall weather

Several people have asked about rainfall amounts recently, so I thought it was time to get a map from National Weather Service.  The map shows the past 60 days.  I darkened the Illinois border.  While it seemed like a wet spring because of the number of days of missed field work, rainfall amounts have been moderate except for the southern 100 or so miles of Illinois. Rainfall amounts around the first of the year were excessive, so we still have good subsoil moisture.  We have done septic tank investigations regularly this spring and except yesterday, we have had a water table in the subsoil at some point.  While things are starting to dry out, and we are seeing corn starting to roll in some areas, we are still a long way from a severe drought.  We are getting in to the part of summer when rainfall amounts are highly variable, but as long as storms keep moving through, there is always a chance to get some rain. As in many years, corn yields will be made by a timely rain in mid-July.

Rainfall Past 60 Days

Weather Spotter Training

Weather Spotter Training

weather

Yesterday I went to weather spotter class.  I have gone 3 times and learned some new stuff each time.  The NWS instructor had some impressive video of the El Reno OK tornado.  I recommend that farmers and others who work outdoors a lot to go to the class.  It is good to learn how to read the clouds and know if you are going to get soaked or if you could get blown away.  They always say how much they depend on spotters for reports on tornadoes, hail, and snow.  There things that can only be seen in person.  They rely a lot on the trainded spotters.  THere were around 50 people last night.

Dear Mother Nature, I would like some winter

Dear Mother Nature, I would like some winter

Humor weather winter

Geranium foliage, late fall

Dear Mother Nature,

I would like some winter, please and thank you.  I love my winter. I don't want my winter to be like fall or spring.

Winter gives me the freedom to leave the garden for a bit and turn my attention to other activities like reading about gardening, napping and dreaming about gardening, and  convincing myself it is too cold to be out in the

Enjoy each flower as it blooms

Enjoy each flower as it blooms

bulbs weather

Crocus speciosus

I like to think if you blinded folded me and lead me gently to the center of my garden on any given day of the year, and then took off the blindfold, I could look around and tell you about what time of year it was, give or take a week or two.

Today, I'd be off by a few weeks because this autumn crocus is blooming and I think it's early.

I usually look for the autumn crocus,

We'll call this "The Summer it Rained A Lot"

We'll call this "The Summer it Rained A Lot"

Humor weather

Zinnias and dill from the garden

I'm trying out different names to describe this summer in future years.   So far, the name that seems to fit the best is "The Summer it Rained A Lot".

It seems like we have an hour of sunshine, and then it gets cloudy and rains for days.  An hour of sunshine, then days of rain.

I'm sure it hasn't been that much rain but it has been more than the normal amount

I will when Mother Nature says I can

I will when Mother Nature says I can

Humor weather

When will I next be able to head out to the garden to weed or perhaps mow and trim the lawn?

When Mother Nature says I can.

And right now Mother Nature is speaking the language of rain.

When it is flat-out raining, she is saying "No, do not go out to the garden."

When it rains in the morning or overnight, that's her way of saying, "You can garden this evening, but please put on a good