Thursday, July 19, 2012

An Incorrect Weather Assessment


When we contemplated moving from our long-time Utah home to southwestern Michigan we of course considered weather among other factors.

In Michigan’s favor, we listed:

1.  Much higher and more frequent rainfall means we won’t have to worry about watering lawns or most plants.

2. Lower summer temperatures will give us more hours to enjoy the outdoors.

Oh, yeah?

From June 1 to the 22nd, a time when frequent rains usually help plants grow vigorously, our total rainfall has been 2.83 inches.  That’s equivalent to one serious day of rain.

From June 22 until last night we’ve had nothing at all that could be classified as rain—just a few drops from occasional little thunderstorms.

Throughout the whole period, temps have consistently reached the high nineties.  Tuesday the high was 101. Humidity around 75 percent made it a truly unpleasant day.

Yesterday, things cooled off to a mere 90 in the shade.  After last night’s light little rain, we’re going to enjoy 80 degree temps for about two days. Then we enter the fearsome Dog Days of Summer, which last until mid-August, traditionally the hottest and driest time of the year.

One consolation: We don’t have to mow the lawn.  The grass stopped growing  three weeks ago.

3 comments:

schmidleysscribblins,wordpress.com said...

The weather is awful. I hope you got some rain this past 24 hours. My granddaughter reports the back pasture at the farm where she works has nothing but dead grass. They have put 4-5 troughs of water out for the animals. Farmers are having a tough time I think. What a shame beautiful Michigan is so dry. Dianne

Kay said...

I just talked to my daughter in Illinois and they've got a problem with all the warm weather. Mosquitoes are out and they carry West Nile. Sheesh! I wish fall would come quickly.

joared said...

The Great Lake States have really been clobbered with the heat which would be miserable if you have very high humidity as I recall Ohio days.

Watering grass typically doesn't have to be done there as I recall. Hope your grass survives.

News reports here in So Cal reveal they've found West Nile though we haven't had rain for a while either.