Weather Reports Archive June 2010

Summer Showers

We just had a nice thunderstorm. About an hour and a half ago, when it had just reached here (we’d been watching it come across the Manzanos and the valley), the temperature on the porch was 72° with 25% humidity. It was already raining, so I remarked that 25% humidity seemed rather low. Within two minutes it was 71° and 29% humidity. And about ten minutes ago it was 55° and ... can you guess? ... 81% humidity. Whee!

I haven’t checked the rain gauge yet; there are a bunch of wet plants between me and it. But I will just mention that, although the gauge had 1/4 inch of rain in it last Thursday when I checked (that I told you about), the next day when I emptied it, it showed 1/2 inch. So obviously there was rain overnight that I did not notice when it came down.

Tibs has been showing up regularly and is really stocking up for serious now. This reminded us that last summer, when Tibs was so intent on scoring as many peanuts as he could possibly stuff into his cheeks, we joked that it was going to be a long and hard winter. And, hey: it was! Tibs knows all.

Jun 28, 2010 6:58 PM

For real this time

Got our first downpour of the year, with at least a quarter inch of rain coming down in about 20 minutes this afternoon.

Cool, dank, and heading toward monsoon season. (Sounds like a good title for something!)

Jun 24, 2010 9:49 PM

Such a kidder!

Mother Nature, that is. Yesterday evening’s rain stopped about the time my post about it finished uploading. We had heavy cloud cover this morning, and it sprinkled on us in a very lazy fashion for about 20 minutes, and that’s it for the rain. Rain is forecast for tomorrow. We’ll just see about that!

Jun 22, 2010 6:02 PM

Solstice rain

It’s raining! Yippee! (I watered this evening just to make sure that it would, even managed to just about empty a barrel, so refilling is called for.)

I heard on the news today that forecasters are expecting monsoonal conditions to develop by the end of the month. We like that news.

Our phoebe babies have moved out into the world, and the phoebe mom has to be one of the most hardworking creatures around. The babies fledged on Friday or Saturday, and this evening we could hear their unending chirps from various trees — plaintive reminders about their locations and needful tummies. And phoebe mom just flies from one to another with supper.

The chocolate flowers in my garden have gone crazy and put out a couple dozen additional plants, which I’ve allowed to happen because I love love love sitting on the porch in the morning with the delicate fragrance of chocolate in the air. Someone else really approves of them too: the goldfinches! There are often two or three goldfinches flying into the chocolate flowers and eating. I don’t think they can really be finding seeds yet, but there they are. I like how they match the plants too, lots of yellow zipping in and out of the yellow flowers.

Jun 21, 2010 10:30 PM

Fire Restrictions in Effect

Click here for the announcement about Stage 1 fire restrictions in Cibola National Forest, including the Mountainair Ranger District.

It has been consistently warm and dry for nearly two weeks now, with many days quite breezy. That’s June in central New Mexico: our driest month, and one of our warmest.

And the national forest is just over there, as you know. Conditions are essentially the same at Deer Canyon, except that we are in a piñon-juniper forest instead of a tall tree forest.

Be careful out there, folks!

Jun 18, 2010 3:32 PM

A Dry Spell

Cooler last weekend (high 70s & low 80s), but mostly warm. Dry. It’s supposed to continue warm & dry, too. Very June.

Yesterday we received this from Arlene Perea of the Mountainair Ranger District, Cibola National Forest:

“Mountainair Ranger District Fire personnel responded to a wildfire this morning out in the Fox Fuelwood area around Forest Road 275 in the Manzano Mountains.  After meeting up with local volunteer crews, the fire was quickly contained at 1-2 acres.  A fire investigator is currently on site as the fire is believed to be a human start within an open fuelwood area. 

“Special thanks go out to the Torreon and Mountainair Volunteer Fire Departments for their quick response and hard work at containing the fire.”

We are also receiving "red flag alerts” nearly every day now, as it has been breezy-plus.

Jun 17, 2010 8:58 PM

A bit late with this

In the midst of summer weather (no matter what the calendar says; we’ve been hitting the 90s pretty frequently), we had a lovely thunderstorm roll through on Saturday evening. We received 0.2 inches of rain, and it dropped the temperatures back down to the 60s. Well appreciated!

Jun 8, 2010 6:42 PM

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