Weather Reports Archive May 2010

Wildflower Walk with Jerry Tuesday June 1

Wildflower Walk with Jerry Tuesday June 1

This just in from Jerry Melaragno:

A Good Memorial Day Weekend to all DCP Residents,

Yesterday I walked the dogs in Goat Canyon and was blown away by the abundance and diversity of wildflowers. If you haven't been there recently, this is a great time to go. I've been meaning to lead a wildflower walk on the Preserve for some time and this was just the incentive I needed. Even though it's short notice, I picked this Tuesday morning and hope some of you will be able to make it. I'll point out all the wildflowers I recognize and offer suggestions about how you can find and identify more in the future. We'll walk the first half mile or so of the trail and will probably wander off the trail from time to time, but it won't be very strenuous and the pace will be very slow. Please let me know if you can join us so that I know how many to expect and don't leave without you. We'll meet at the trailhead (near the southeast corner of Jumano Trail) at 8:30. Bring any wildflower ID books or aids that you might have and of course drinking water. I'll attach a photo I took yesterday as an enticement.

Jerry Melaragno

May 29, 2010 11:14 AM

Glorious

Just truly beautiful outside just now, and not even breezy!

Yesterday late afternoon we had some lovely thunderstorms and received a third of an inch of rain from them. A couple of lightning bolts were close enough to our house that we really jumped and one of the cats disappeared under the bed. The phoebe had to deal with the water too, as she has built her nest in one of our gutters (although in the part of the gutter that should be relatively dry, as is it behind a spot where water from another gutter pours in). I was glad to see this morning that she was still sitting on her nest in the same spot, so they weren’t flooded out.

It rained Thursday evening as well, but I hadn’t remembered to put my rain gauge out yet, so I don’t have a total on that.

So at 9:30 am it is 64° and 34% humidity outside. Yesterday during the thunderstorm the humidity was up in the 90s briefly! We opened all the windows we could to increase the humidity in the house, which had been running around 20% recently.

May 29, 2010 9:33 AM

Now I get it

Today our winds were in the morning. This afternoon has been much calmer. Yay! And it’s just lovely out there now. Just so you know we’re not suffering here!

May 24, 2010 5:19 PM

Wind

Strong winds early. Bah! The past several days have at least had still (or only slightly breezy) mornings, so that this time of day was very sweet outside. Not today! Today we’re being blown to bits, at least since dawn.

All days recently have been enhanced breezy through windy in the afternoons. The most recent precipitation I know of was 10 days ago, a drizzly day with occasional rain showers. (I’ve really got to put out my rain gauge.) I wasn’t here that Friday, either, so that’s Alan’s description of the day.

Birds have been fantastic. We have so many black-headed grosbeaks that the yard is always full of color. We had our first Western Tanager in the yard a couple of days ago! They could be around all the time, I just have never seen them before. We have a couple of mockingbirds who occasionally battle it out in song 100 feet from the house. We have red-winged blackbirds! Also never saw them this close to the house before. Several sets of phoebes, scrub jays, hummingbirds, canyon towhees, spotted towhees, doves — all our usual guests have stayed on.

With any luck, they’ll still be here when the wind let up!

May 24, 2010 6:55 AM

Pre-Summer

Warm enough, just a touch breezy (really breezy, not windy), cloudy this morning but scattered clouds now: a lovely day.

I did my first sweep for tumbleweeds this morning and found a few. They appear quite innocuous when they first sprout. Hah! I’m getting ahead of them this year, no matter what. (I’ve never been indifferent to their presence, but last year there was a small patch out front that I didn’t notice until late July, and that caused a few problems. I found blown tumbleweeds all around this winter, which means that I must be vigilant to prevent a major tumbleweed outbreak. Oh well.)

On the other hand, the evening primrose are especially bountiful and beautiful this year. The verbena is just starting to bloom. The filaree has been blooming for two or three weeks now, but last year it was blooming in January. (I have mixed feelings about filaree: the purple flowers are pretty, but I don’t think it’s really native here and the plants develop thorns. Filaree is everywhere, though, so I don’t delude myself that I’ll be able to eradicate it. I just pull it out of my garden and walkways.)

May 18, 2010 4:08 PM

Valley as Lake

Valley as Lake

While we try to outlast the wind, enjoy this lovely photo from future neighbor Eileen Perry, who caught the valley in “lake” mode! (Who knew we had lakefront property?!)

May 11, 2010 10:13 PM

Enhanced usual

Wind. Wind today. Wind yesterday. Wind the day before. I can’t remember before then, but rather suspect those days were windy too. There were some pleasant days last week some time. But that was then.

May 11, 2010 10:10 PM

The joys of spring

Also known as ... snow! Well, it’s trying to snow, but fortunately the temperatures are staying above freezing, so on the ground it’s rain. There’s a lot of it, too: my front garden has standing water in the low spots and the water is gushing down our downspouts. I feel sorry for the hummingbirds.

Speaking of which, the black-headed grosbeaks have returned.

There was a touch of snow on the ground at dawn, but that melted as soon as the sun came up. And now the great big fat flakes of snow have sped up; but it’s still just water on the ground.

May 2, 2010 2:18 PM

© 2011 Alan & Kathleen Clute