[euge]

It feels like Pele is living in my town.  Yesterday the official thermometer broke here but it was 107, day 61 of over 100F so far this year, and today will be day 62.  Normal is around 20 days over 100F.  If we hadn't had so much rain last year I'm sure we'd be rationing water by now.

Looks like some weather is headed your way. It's hotter-n-sh!t, disgustingly humid and windy around here.

I gotta question. My soil is predominantly dark clay. Very rich while moist- used to be farmland. Since I moved into the property the drought has been in existence. The clay soil pulls away from the slab. I've been soaking and watering around the base of the house so it swells back, but can barely keep up. Now I'm considering pouring sand into the gaps. Is this a bad idea?

[punatic]

Clay soils swell and shrink with changes in moisture contant.  This phenomenon is called heaving.  If you fill in the voids created while the clay is dry with sand, when the clay gets wet again and expands the expansion may cause uplift and cracking in your foundations and slab on grade concrete.  Maintaining a normal soil moisture content as you have been doing is the right way to go if you have the water to do it.

Oh yeah, to stay on topic, it is raining here tonight.  The sound of rain on the metal roof is soothing.  Good sleeping weather.

[1vertical]

euge NOAA images show some reflectivity boiling across the center of Texas...

Is it so Hot that.....

the trees are whistling for the dogs???

or

you realize that asphalt has a liquid stage??

or

the cows are giving evaporated milk??     

[punatic]

Sunny today, but more rain on the roof tonight.  Such is the rhythm of life here on the windward side.  God bless the tradewinds.  No rain, no rainforest.  No rain, no rainbows.  No rain, one gets to see the Perseid meteor shower.  Oh well... two outta three ain't bad...

Rain on the metal roof is very soothing.  Sleep is easy to succumb to with that fine pattering rhythm on the roof...  yawn...

[maxieboy]

Cold front. Low 60s today, low 40's tonight. Love it...

[pinnah]

Cold front. <snip> Love it...

The start of fall.




Snow expected this week in the hills around here.

[tschmidlin]

80 and sunny here all week long.

[corkybstewart]

80 and sunny here all week long.

Same here, but for us that's an amazing improvement-a cold front dropped our daily highs from 100F to low 80's.  Cooler but still no rain.  We're up to 0.55 inches since September 19 last year.  Even here in the desert we should get 8-10inches.

[tschmidlin]

That's just a crazy low amount of rain.  I'm sure we're up to more than 40 inches in that time, and punatic has probably had 140 inches in the same time period.

[corkybstewart]

That's just a crazy low amount of rain.  I'm sure we're up to more than 40 inches in that time, and punatic has probably had 140 inches in the same time period.

I've lived here in the desert for over 30 years and never seen a drought like this.  The last time we had real rain was the day before our 2010 Oktoberfest, and Oktoberfest 2011 is just a couple of weeks away.

[boulderbrewer]

Crap Frost tonight, I hate Northern Wii growing season. Don't get me wrong we can grow animals but are limited in growing vegatables, 50 birds are in the freezer right now and 10 duck and 16 turkeys are going to be ready in November.

[punatic]

That's just a crazy low amount of rain.  I'm sure we're up to more than 40 inches in that time, and punatic has probably had 140 inches in the same time period.

140" would qualify as a drought here on the windward side.  We've had close to 180" in the last year.  Most of our rain comes between midnight and sunrise.  However, just to keep things in perspective, the area called Puako on the other side of the island has had about 8" of rain in the last year.  Puako is in the South Kohala district and is in the rain shadows of Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Mauna Kea.  No snow on the Maunas yet, but it is not uncommon for the snows to start up there in October.

It has been clear here at my house for the last three nights.  I've been watching the moon move across Maui's Fishhook (aka Scorpio).  The night sky here is breathtaking.  All of the lava is contained within Halema`uma`u and Pu`u `O`o, so no nighttime trips to the lava flows in a while.

[euge]

That's just a crazy low amount of rain.  I'm sure we're up to more than 40 inches in that time, and punatic has probably had 140 inches in the same time period.

I've lived here in the desert for over 30 years and never seen a drought like this.  The last time we had real rain was the day before our 2010 Oktoberfest, and Oktoberfest 2011 is just a couple of weeks away.

About the same here. Six inches when we would have forty. Still no significant chance of rain. It is however 72 outside. That is a little freaky.

[corkybstewart]

I don't think it got to 90 here yesterday and this morning it's 51F, half what it was 3 days ago. 

[jaybeerman]

rain, rain...slight pause...rain.  a least I don't have to water the garden or the new trees