Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
The Weather
Another dark damp day. We had about 2 inches of rain last Friday, and I've got to think we must be approaching that today. Saturday was nice, until it rained in the evening. I think Sunday was mostly dry too. Yesterday, it rained early and late with a brief sunny interval in the middle of the day.
The National Weather Service does a nice job of summarizing our spring so far:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
915 AM EDT SUN MAY 22 2005
...IT HAS BEEN A COOL AND WET RAMP UP TOWARDS SUMMER...
IN WASHINGTON...THE PAST MONTH HAS BEEN DECIDEDLY COOL AND RAINY.
THE PERIOD OF APRIL 22ND THROUGH MAY 21ST THIS YEAR RANKS IN THE TOP
10 FOR BOTH COOLEST AND WETTEST IN THE PAST CENTURY.
DURING THAT STRETCH OF THE PAST THIRTY DAYS...THERE WERE TWO DAYS
THAT REACHED THE LOWER 80S...AND ANOTHER TEN THAT REACHED THE 70S...
LEAVING THE MAJORITY OF THE DAYS WITH BELOW NORMAL HIGHS IN THE 50S
AND 60S. MOSTLY DUE TO OUR LACK OF SUMMERLIKE DAYS...THE PAST MONTH
RANKS AS THE SEVENTH COOLEST IN THE PAST 100 YEARS. IT WAS THE
COOLEST IN NEARLY FORTY YEARS...AS 1967 WAS THE MOST RECENT YEAR
WITH A SIMILAR PERIOD OF TIME THAT WAS COOLER.
OUR RAINFALL IN THE PAST MONTH...WHILE MORE CONCENTRATED ON FEWER
DAYS THAN THE GENERALLY RAINY SPRING OF 2003...HAS BEEN GREATER
THAN THE SAME PERIOD OF 2003. WITH JUST OVER FIVE AND THREE QUARTERS
OF AN INCH OF RAIN...THE PAST MONTH RANKS AS THE EIGHTH WETTEST IN
THE PAST 100 YEARS...WITH ONLY 1989 WETTER IN RECENT TIMES. DURING
THE PAST MONTH...THERE WAS ONE NEARLY THREE INCH RAINFALL AT THE END
OF LAST WEEK...AND TWO ADDITIONAL ONE INCH PLUS RAIN EVENTS.
WITH A NEARLY STATIONARY LOW FORECAST TO WOBBLE NEAR THE AREA FOR
THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...THE COOL AND WET TREND CERTAINLY SEEMS
LIKELY TO CONTINUE AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE UPCOMING MEMORIAL DAY
WEEKEND...AND THE UNOFFICIAL START OF THE SUMMER SEASON.
So the Washington Post's front page article yesterday about stormwater runoff was timely. A new housing development in Gainesville incorporates "rain gardens", shorter driveways, narrower streets, and drainage ditches to minimize stormwater runoff. I like to think of my little suburban lot as more eco-friendly than many, but the article about stormwater runoff made me look again at the places where the rainwater runs across the grass and out into the street. Maybe I should do more to prevent this. Some Googling turns up many websites with good suggestions, the following among them:
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