Author: admincatsg

And the heat goes on

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Well, I’m not sure if its good news or bad news. We will not hit the triple digits. That’s sort of good. But we will not be dipping out of the 90’s over the next 10 days. The nights are not what I would call terribly cool, but they do dip down just below 70 or stay in the low 70’s. At least one nice thing is no rain to speak of over here. But that’s not the say it can’t get humid. My dear wonderful dog has not been sleeping thru the night well, so I’m often up early (think 3am) to let him out. It is actually still pretty warm, high 70’s, but humid at that time of the night.

My plants are not happy. My lettuce is bolted as is any arugula left. And my peas are not happy.

In defiance of this heat, I have added a bit more watering heads to the drip water system. We’ll see if it helps the plants. But it looks like it will be a long hot summer, or spring, whichever this is.

Clouds 05/14/22

I will say we did have these interesting clouds yesterday. We don’t see these often.

You call this spring!

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It is Saturday, May 7, 4:45 pm and already 95 degrees outside. At least the humidity is down to 41% but it is definitely hot outside. And tomorrow is due to be just a couple of degrees hotter.

And the coming week is forecast to be just as hot. We seemed to have transitioned into hot spring, cool summer (is that a good description?) time of year. The 10 day forecast doesn’t drop below of 93 degrees. So hot seems to be here.

Welcome to why growing things in central Texas is so difficult.

My lettuce bolted as has my arugula. Its hardly a surprise that they’ve bolted, with this weather. But it is what it is.

This is spring!

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So you think it’s spring time in central Texas. It balmy, wait this isn’t exactly balmy weather. It early May and we’re due to hit 89 degrees, with 66% humidity. And we could even get a shower or possibly a thunderstorm. This is spring time in central Texas. I wouldn’t call it balmy. It warm, more like hot, and humid already.

But just wait. This weekend it will be sunny, after showers later this week, with lovely highs in the high 90’s. And I’m talking 97-98 degree heat. I cannot make this weather up. It might be a sunny weekend and that hot, but after that it stays in the 90’s but its going to be cloudy. Let’s call it what it is, hot and humid – and we’re not in summer!

And you wonder why gardening is such an adventure here. Poor plants.

We got rain

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They promised we would get rain, and I have to say they delivered that yesterday. Here we got 1.59 inches of rain. It may not seem like much but it has made for some happy plants. There was no rain today, but it was good to get it the other day nonetheless. We still have a chance for more rain in the coming days, how much I’m not sure. Will it come, I’m not sure.

But we got some, and I have to say I have a happy garden.

The weather has been somewhat warm so those seeds I put out the other week have begun to sprout. And that’s why I am happy for the rain. I’m sure it helped convince the seed to sprout. Oh happy spring!

Its been a while

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Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Its been an interesting time. For starters, I’ve been “sick” with allergies. Like really bad allergies. Bad enough I’ve been on antibiotics and steroids, plus inhalers. Its been bad. Even some street corners look like someone poured yellow paint on them. This has been pollen time in this area of Texas. And me, I got hit bad.

But help is on the way. The weather is changing, and with it hopefully all the various pollens will settle down. Or at least hopefully it will settle down enough for people to breathe easily again.

Or at least for me to breathe easier.

As for how does that affect my garden? Well I haven’t been able to spend much time out in the yard. I did get a few things done. On one day we went out and redid the drip water system, added some new lines, added a second timer, and I was even able to get some seed in. The grapes are actually growing, and were able put out small grapes. I will need to cover them to keep the birds from them.

The blackberries are coming back, and even the roses have been blooming. The trees have gone through flowers and are getting leaves, though the apples are not getting apples this year. But I didn’t expect them to.

Where the garden is not where I hoped it would be, allergies have put me behind the curve a bit, but I think we’ll still get something. I’ve been harvesting lettuce, even some arugula, and even the peas are still producing. So all is not lost yet. But the weather is still up and down. One day was a high of 64, and the next in the 80’s so this is Austin, TX spring weather.

WOW!

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They mentioned severe storms for today. I know earlier they mentioned possible tornadoes, unusual for this area.

Well, we have had confirmed at least 4 tornadoes as this time (7pm). Taylor, Hutto, Round Rock, Elgin, even an area called Kalahari Resort have all been hit. One tornado crossed a freeway flyover, near I-35 and I-45. At this point there are areas with some damage, how much I don’t know. Some areas are without power. At one point they even said possible tornado in Wimberley, close by where I live.

It is a very unusual situation here. First of all, we don’t get many tornadoes show up in this area. But having a number of tornadoes all happening at the same time comes under the the extremely unusual situation description. From what I can tell, most of the tornadoes have not been in highly populated area, downtown Austin didn’t get hit, but outer areas of Austin are getting hit.

According to the news channel I’ve been watching, at least one doppler unit got hit, either by tornado or lightning. I’m sure more information will be coming in.

I’m sure damage reports will be coming in later today. As of right now, they have said there is damage, but they have not mentioned how much damage.

I even feel for the weather people on tv. They have been broadcasting nonstop for well over an hour.

UPDATE: 03/24/2022

How many confirmed separate tornadoes did the Austin area get? Actually I don’t have an answer for that. I wish I did. But the NWS (National Weather Service) is in the process of confirming various information about the different tornadoes that we had. What I can glean from the news includes:

Round Rock area had a confirmed tornado. It crossed over a freeway intersection (I-35 and 4), taking out a light standard, caused damage to a bank, and a resort in the area. At this time I am not sure if they have confirmed strength.

Wimberley is said to have a confirmed tornado.

Areas near Tayor and Manor had confirmed tornadoes. Areas near Elgin also had confirmed tornado activity.

At this time I’m not sure if some of these may have been one tornado that merely moved, or what. But I’m sure more information will be released in time. Suffice it to say, the greater Austin area saw its share of tornadoes this past week.

The cold cometh

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I woke up this morning to a high of 36 degrees. I can’t tell you how cold it was last night, but it was cold. Today, we hit a brief, and I don’t think it was even an hour, of 43 degrees. But it has already begun its slow drop in temperature. Tonight is forecast to be 26, that is a definite hard freeze. And I believe it will hit that.

I had the joy of walking my dog outside, and it was barely over 40, with a good breeze, probably a 4-5 mph. It could have been a bit stronger, but it has been blowing that strong. To say it was cold is something of an understatement. Here in this area of Texas this is a cold front that is a bit on the late side. We are all hoping this is the last hurrah of winter, and it will leave and give us a chance at spring.

One crazy thing is that by Sunday we should be up to 67, but next week it will be high 70’s almost 80 degrees. How is that for crazy weather!

But for now it is cold and windy. With more cold cold on its way tonight.

UPDATE: I got up late last night to find the weather station said we were at 27 degrees. Cold night as they forecasted.

Third Winter

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There is a meme going around from Texas Storm Chasers (https://texasstormchasers.com/12-seasons-of-texas-second-summer/). According to this, there are 12 seasons in Texas. In order they are:’

  • Winter
  • Fool’s Spring
  • Second Winter
  • Spring of Deception
  • Third Winter
  • The Pollening
  • Actual Spring
  • Summer
  • Hell’s Front Porch
  • False Fall
  • Second Summer
  • Actual Fall

That is a rather good description of what we are in now. I would guess we are in Third Winter. It is now 8:30pm, 44 degrees, and expected to drop to 33 tonight. And this Friday we are expecting to drop down to a low of 28, and they have even said possible snow showers. How’s that for a fun weather pattern? We shall see what happens

Welcome to central Texas weather.

UPDATE: The new forecast says Friday early morning (think 4AM) may be the warmest part of the day. By 4pm we expect to be around 35 degrees, with some possible sleet. That means Saturday morning might be a frigid 24 degrees, but warm up to mid 50’s. Then Sunday could be in the low 70’s. Its Texas folks.

Winter is not gone yet

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Yesterday, actually for the past 2 days we have had lovely warm, 80 degree weather. This morning it was all of about 45. And we’re going for a high of maybe 50. Welcome to spring time in central Texas.

To give you an idea of how strange this is, tomorrow night our low should be 33, tonight’s low if 39. Then later this week, Friday we are due to get down to 30, with a low of 32 next Saturday night.

Just for reference, the average last freeze date for this area is Feb. 23, and that was a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure some people are very frustrated, they probably put out transplants figuring freezing nights were behind us. SURPRISE!!

I’m sure some areas are worried about losing crops with this unexpected upcoming cold. And I can’t blame them.

I’ve also notice that the birds are eating seed like its cold. They went through an entire bird feeder since this morning, after leaving it alone for a couple of days. That is what the cold has done to our feathered friends.

UPDATE: its after 4pm, but we made it up to 53 degrees. But make no mistake, the breeze outside has it feeling colder.

Still cold

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Okay, its just plain cold. The cold front arrived, nothing spectacular in its arrival. But it has stuck around. Yesterday morning we started out above freezing, not by much but definitely above freezing, I think it was 35. Then it just did a slow slide to about 27 degrees. Then throughout the day it just waffled between 27 and 30 degrees, staying most of the day at about 29. I say about since it might be 29.2 then change to 29.7, then back down. Not a large variation, but a cloudy day. Today has been no better. It started below 32 and now at about 5:30 pm, we have made it to 32.7 degrees. I suppose you can say we are above freezing, but I think that might be splitting hairs. Our high today was supposed to be 33, so I guess you could say we got there. But its still cloudy.

And the forecast for tonight, 27.

Hopefully tomorrow we should reach out of freezing for a high of 40, and a low of 34. But tomorrow should still be cloudy. Saturday will be pretty might like tomorrow except we’ll add light rain. Not my favorite weather. I admit walking the dog in these conditions is not great. He starts walking, then tires of the cold quickly and wants me to carry him.

Hopefully by Sunday the daytime temperatures will climb to the 50’s, even if the night will be back to freezing. Monday both daytime and nighttime temperatures would be above freezing, even thought the nights will still be in the 30’s. But both Sunday and Monday should have some sun, that will be welcome.

Tuesday we will be into March, and with it hopefully better weather. Then we should have daytime temps in the 60’s with nights in the 40’s. Hopefully that will be so. Maybe we’ll get out of this winter weather and get into spring time. That would be nice.