2017 What's the weather like where you are?

[imafan26]

Its 67 degrees right now. I was up at 2:30 last night to the sound and sight of multiple lightening flashes and thunderbursts. My cat was running around trying to find a place to hide. It poured for about an hour and the road was flooded for a little bit. Good thing I live uphill so the water keeps going downhill.

We had our first sale of the year and my phone went off when it started pouring again and flashed the flood warning. It was a little late as the road was already disappearing under the rain water and the sump pump was also inundated. We did have a crowd of diehard people who came out anyway to brave the weather. I didn't sell much but I still ran out of the usuals. Cucumber and cilantro and I did manage to sell almost a tray to kale. We decided to leave everything until Monday to put it back since the rain wasn't letting up much.

On the drive home I had to fight my way through the puddles on the freeway.

It has been raining off and on and the sky is totally socked in, but it looks like most of the heavy rain has passed. Funny thing though, I was cold because I was wet, but during the storm there wasn't much wind and the rain was relatively warm. The wind is only starting to pick up again now.

It was still a good day. Since the crowd was small, I had time to walk around and I talked to the bonsai guys and found out I can get akadama and wire from him cheaper than amazon and he told me where I could get some turface locally. Now I just have to find the rest of my bonsai stuff. It is packed somewhere on the lanai.

I talked to someone else who is giving an organic pest control class next month and we talked about what is available for pest control and where some things could be found. He was looking for tanglefoot. I saw it at Ace and at Koolau Farmer's a while ago, but not recently. I know who doesn't have it so it eliminated some other vendors. I also got a lead on where to get some large pots. I just don't want to buy a sleeve so I may have to think about that one. I picked up some pepper seeds. Not bad for a rainy day.

[pow wow]

If you keep posting these beautiful Alberta pics, I may be forced to make another trip up that way this summer!

So, the Canada geese don't fly south for the winter, or are they south of where they would be in summer? Maybe they came down from the Northwest Territories?

I think most do fly further south but there are a few spots where the water doesn't freeze over around here. I just learned of a spot nearby where the Robins overwinter instead of heading south. I plant to walk over soon and have a look. It happens to be a little stream through the cemetery where my parents are buried.

[gumbo2176]

It's been in the upper 60's to lower 70's for a while now during the day and lows of upper 40's to 60's at night. With Mardi Gras just starting, this is great weather for all the parade goers and a treat for the out of town visitors coming in from more northern areas of the States. They are predicting rain for mid week, but that can change in a heartbeat being so close to the Gulf of Mexico and shifting weather patterns.

Mardi Gras Day, or Fat Tuesday, is on Feb. 28th this year and will once again signal the end of the Mardi Gras season with the following day being Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, where many folks give up something they really like until Easter Sunday. We have an old saying here------"Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder." So whatever you give up should be something you really enjoy.

[imafan26]

I remember that the reason given for all the partying on Fat Tuesday was that people needed an excuse to use up all the lard, fat, and other stuff they were giving up for 6 weeks. Someone at work used to live there and she would make a King cake for us.

[gumbo2176]

I remember that the reason given for all the partying on Fat Tuesday was that people needed an excuse to use up all the lard, fat, and other stuff they were giving up for 6 weeks. Someone at work used to live there and she would make a King cake for us.

Bakeries here make a small fortune selling King Cakes leading up to Mardi Gras. Truth is, you can order them yearlong, but they soar in popularity during the Mardi Gras season, and a well made one is a real treat. Bakeries that are know for their King Cakes are usually so busy that long lines form before they open and they stay that way all day long.

If you ask any New Orleanian who makes the best one, you will get a half dozen or more answers to that question depending on the style of cake they like. My personal favorite is one from one of the several Randazzo's Bakery outlets, but Haydell's and Lawrence's also make a good one.

They have been making them with different "fillings" for many years now, but my favorite is the traditional one that is unfilled.

[Hbrocato]

Brrrr....you are all making me so cold even thinking about some of those temps. Here in Louisiana we've been having an unusually warm winter. It's been in the upper 70's to mid 80's for awhile now. To today is only expected to be a high of 68 though
The azaleas have been blooming like mad which makes me sad since Easter is still far away and I won't get those Easter pics in front of them with the kids. The tulip trees are almost all done blooming around town and in my neighborhood. (I think they're actually called oriental magnolias)
My knock out roses are blooming and my other rose bushes all have buds. The hydrangeas are starting to get more and more leafy.
It's all so bizzare to see this in February!

[gumbo2176]

Brrrr....you are all making me so cold even thinking about some of those temps. Here in Louisiana we've been having an unusually warm winter. It's been in the upper 70's to mid 80's for awhile now. To today is only expected to be a high of 68 though
The azaleas have been blooming like mad which makes me sad since Easter is still far away and I won't get those Easter pics in front of them with the kids. The tulip trees are almost all done blooming around town and in my neighborhood. (I think they're actually called oriental magnolias)
My knock out roses are blooming and my other rose bushes all have buds. The hydrangeas are starting to get more and more leafy.
It's all so bizzare to see this in February!

My biggest issue with this type warm winter season is the proliferation of garden pests when it really gets warmed up. I've noticed a big increase in garden pests when we have these type weather conditions with very little cold weather this time of year.

[Hbrocato]

I really haven't seen the garden pests yet but the mosquitoes are eating me alive!

[imafan26]

It is 74 degrees and very windy. My pots are rolling around in the yard and my kaffir lime keeps getting blown down.

[rainbowgardener]

It was 75 degrees today and sunny. Normal for the date would be 56 degrees. We had terrible drought most of last year and we got so far behind in rainfall that we never really caught up. Since Nov. we've been getting some rain fairly regularly, but never a lot. So we still count as being in extreme drought and have pretty much the whole time since last May:

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/



See that little red band across north georgia? That is me and that red dot has just been sitting over me for months and months.

Also all the flowering trees are blooming. Spring leaf out is nearly a month early! Below is a spring leaf anomaly map, showing how far ahead of normal the whole south east is at leafing out.


https://www.usanpn.org/data/spring

Much of the country is in a heat wave. We don't take it so seriously in Feb, because 75 degrees feels pretty nice. But that is 21 degrees above normal for me. If it were July and 22 degrees above normal we would be at 111 degrees!

February is likely to be another one in a long string of hottest months on record.

[imafan26]

It is 66 degrees now, but it feels colder. It is mostly clear and the winds are only about 5 mph. The palms are barely moving. It has been raining in spurts sometimes heavy and unexpected, but is still below average for the year. THe prediction is for another warmer than usual summer and possibly el Nino conditions. Which would mean a wetter summer and a drier winter.

My rainbarrels are overflowing. I need to empty them.

[applestar]

What is this ridiculous day!? How can it possibly be 74°F

[rainbowgardener]

There is an answer to that ....

Note the sudden jump between 2014 and the last two years. Anyone who knows how to extrapolate can hypothesize that 2017 will also be a VERY HOT year! ..

The southern hemisphere is already experiencing it: They had the hottest January ever with successive heat waves and now

Sydney Airport recorded its hottest February day with 42.9C (= 109 deg F) at 2:24pm, exceeding the previous high of 42.6C set in 1980. Observatory Hill in Sydney set a new record for the number of consecutive days above 35C (=95 deg F); several parts of Sydney exceeded 40C, while Penrith recorded 44.5C (=112 deg F) With all this they have had drought and huge wildfires. Note that Australia also had severe (out of the normal range) heat waves in 2015 and 2016, but not as bad as right now.

If this is February, I hate to think about August!

[john gault]

I love the heat, bring it on

[Gary350]

Tornado warning, rain and 100 mph wind this morning about 8am then sunny and 70 degrees after lunch. Tonight sky is clear stars show is amazing. The little stream behind the house has 20 feet of water from the storm it looks like the Colorado river.