our first goose-egg

 August will end with no measurable precipitation. Zero!

That's only slightly less than a couple of Julys here, with 0.05 and 0.03"  - but it's our first fully dry calendar month since we moved here. Both July and August average less than an inch, so it's somewhat surprising that we've gone eight summers without a zero.

Our water-bucket that fills from a hole in our gutter is essentially empty. Since most of our live plants are up on the deck, it's a handy water diversion project when it works. With no rain since July 6th, it's time to get out the hose and fill the bucket - that should do until the rains resume!

another heat wave, another break

 

Once again we've survived a pulse of heat from the Southwest deserts, in this case a more humid bout with 'convective debris' overhead but no showers or thunder. As the chart shows, temperatures are falling (red line) from mid-90s to low 80s. The wind (blue line) had failed and is now picking up - and it shifted from mostly south (blue points) to solidly west. All good news, and makes tomorrow's forecast of upper 70s more reasonable.

The clouds are still overhead though. The cure is not instantaneous like a Midwest or Southern front, with massive rains followed by a radical change of airmass. It's changing though, and that'll do for me!

Our yard has not had a good time lately. I damaged the riding mower, and the heat has kept me from pushing the other mower around more than once the last few weeks. Our deck plants have been treated well, and the blueberries and grapes also have received moisture. The yard itself is getting on with minimal assistance though. Like several years in the past, it will manage fine but not look its best.

a little light entertainment?

 

.. is in our forecast! We shall see how it plays out.

This is the storm that chose to be coy over a week ago, it retrograded further off the coast instead of ending our hot spell. This time for sure -?

post script: it arrived this time, more or less - it grazed the coast and headed to BC. Rain was never a sure thing though, and sure enough we had three days with a trace of rain. It's now been nearly forty days since a measurable storm visited us (0.43" on the 6th of July). Pretty typical around here in July/August.