Bay Bud
fat old guy
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- May 4, 2011
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it's been a strange and tough stretch of weather here in the lone star state, with 2011 certainly the hottest and driest year i've experienced. at least we escaped those damned wildfires that so many of our fellow texans did not, so we ended up having it relatively easy compared to others.
here on the sw side of canyon lake, we mustered through the drought and heat pretty well. our tomatoes, both summer and fall were not so great, but we had a late boon with peppers and enjoyed tons of basil, cilantro and parsley. someone – we're not naming names – left the gate open which is why there's not much happening in the garden right now. we'll miss out on winter broccoli and lettuce, but most of the cabbage did survive the feasting by whoever wandered into the garden. the biggest crop news was our first harvest of meyer lemons, albeit a small one. already looking forward to next fall's bounty.
back to the weather, which was crazy and included both extremes. we hit the low of the year on feb. 2 (16.5f), plus had a dusting of snow two days later. rhe high was recorded aug. 29 (110.5f), marking the fourth consecutive day i'd been in 110+ temps having spent part of that week in las vegas. june, july and august all saw average daily highs over 101f. rhere was a 44-day stretch from July 23 through Sept. 4 that the thermometer hit the century mark or higher. new braunfels reportedly has an average daily high of 79, and it was over 83 averaging the measurements recorded at canyon lake in 2011.
we ended up with 19.2 inches of rain, well below the 'norm' around here which is 29-32 inches depending who you ask. the rain we did get wouldn't have been so horrible if it hadn't come on top of a dry 2010. more than a quarter of the rain fell in the last month with 5.3" in december. from feb. 28 through sept. 17, less than 3" fell, and june's 1.5" all fell at once and accounted for half of that 202-day span.
i'm most proud of how we pulled some of the wildlife through the long, hot and dry summer. we had daily visits (that we saw, at least) from several species of critters, including my first live spotting of a porcupine ever in texas. the hummingbirds were amazing, plenty of cardinals, bluebirds, mockingbirds and tit mouse, plus the dove have all be fattened up for the cats this winter. we adopted one more stray cat, speaking of felines, and luis 'louie' tiant has fit right in with the other four regulars. we spent a small fortune on corn and feed for the deer, but well worth it.
the bad news is the long-range forecast is calling for drier than normal conditions to continue into the early part of next fall. the only good news i can find in the almanac is we aren't supposed to hit such a long spell of 100 temps next summer.
we've upgraded the weather equipment for 2012, thanks to a gift from santa, and will be able to more accurately track wind, relative humidity and barometric pressure.
here on the sw side of canyon lake, we mustered through the drought and heat pretty well. our tomatoes, both summer and fall were not so great, but we had a late boon with peppers and enjoyed tons of basil, cilantro and parsley. someone – we're not naming names – left the gate open which is why there's not much happening in the garden right now. we'll miss out on winter broccoli and lettuce, but most of the cabbage did survive the feasting by whoever wandered into the garden. the biggest crop news was our first harvest of meyer lemons, albeit a small one. already looking forward to next fall's bounty.
back to the weather, which was crazy and included both extremes. we hit the low of the year on feb. 2 (16.5f), plus had a dusting of snow two days later. rhe high was recorded aug. 29 (110.5f), marking the fourth consecutive day i'd been in 110+ temps having spent part of that week in las vegas. june, july and august all saw average daily highs over 101f. rhere was a 44-day stretch from July 23 through Sept. 4 that the thermometer hit the century mark or higher. new braunfels reportedly has an average daily high of 79, and it was over 83 averaging the measurements recorded at canyon lake in 2011.
we ended up with 19.2 inches of rain, well below the 'norm' around here which is 29-32 inches depending who you ask. the rain we did get wouldn't have been so horrible if it hadn't come on top of a dry 2010. more than a quarter of the rain fell in the last month with 5.3" in december. from feb. 28 through sept. 17, less than 3" fell, and june's 1.5" all fell at once and accounted for half of that 202-day span.
i'm most proud of how we pulled some of the wildlife through the long, hot and dry summer. we had daily visits (that we saw, at least) from several species of critters, including my first live spotting of a porcupine ever in texas. the hummingbirds were amazing, plenty of cardinals, bluebirds, mockingbirds and tit mouse, plus the dove have all be fattened up for the cats this winter. we adopted one more stray cat, speaking of felines, and luis 'louie' tiant has fit right in with the other four regulars. we spent a small fortune on corn and feed for the deer, but well worth it.
the bad news is the long-range forecast is calling for drier than normal conditions to continue into the early part of next fall. the only good news i can find in the almanac is we aren't supposed to hit such a long spell of 100 temps next summer.
we've upgraded the weather equipment for 2012, thanks to a gift from santa, and will be able to more accurately track wind, relative humidity and barometric pressure.
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