wishing for the rains.....
 

I've been reading some of the posts about "how well things are growing" and "how much rain has been falling" elsewhere and it makes me feel both sad and jealous at the same time. Since the beginning of May we've had only 17mm of rain - that's less than 3/4's of an inch. Normally May is a wet month and although we may grumble about it, it allows our gardens to flourish. Over the last 2 months we've had nothing but hot dry temperatures in the high 20's (mid 80F) and us West Coasters - or "Wet Coasters" - are just not used to these conditions; remember, Vancouver is located in a temperate rainforest (cool and wet).
Vancouver in currently in "stage 2" for water restrictions; meaning grass may only be watered once a week at certain times, so if you see any green grass here they've been watering then they're not supposed to......
These restrictions do not currently affect gardens as they can be watered by hand with a hose but I understand that parts of Vancouver Island went to stage 4 today - meaning very strict watering regulations such as no fountains, waterparks (even some car washes have voluntarily closed), no non-drip irrigation watering, no washing of cars; no commercial irrigation; essentially all forms of watering using treated drinking water are prohibited :(

Over the last 5 days (we haven't seen the sun since last Saturday) our skies have been brown from all the forest fires. And BC is burning; within the province there are currently 73 fires "of note active and/or larger than 10 hectares" in size. Total area burning for just these fires is over 238,350 hectares (almost 589,000 acres)

During all this I've been trying to keep my gardens going, and I must admit that some of my plants are loving this weather but a lot are starting to show stress - not many plants like 12 hours of constant sun - we haven't even had clouds to provide shade......
And even though I water every 2-3 days - and it takes me about 2.5 hours to water all my gardens - some of the big plants are starting to droop from the heat and dry conditions (pots have to be watered at least once a day)

And I have to ask, where is our rain??

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

Huh, sounds like you are getting our weather.
Try it for 4 YEARS! lol

But that is pretty bizarre for Vancity.

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

We are usually close to 100F here this time of year, but it's been in the 80's (fixing to get hot I hear though), we have gotten 4 feet of rain in the last 90 days, and its ruining roads, bridges, power has gone out a lot, Dams are in danger of breaking. We are not prepared for that kind of precipitation, the weather is crazy right now.

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

I feel your pain - it's supposed to be "the rainy season" here in South Florida. We are now in a "severe" drought with the Miami area total of ~10" below normal for this time of year. Where I live in the lower Keys, we are way below that. Less than .25" for the past 2 months. My bananas are not happy! :doggyandnaner:

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

We need a good Cat 2 Hurricane! At the least a few tropical storms would be great. Right now we are on the ON Fire season.

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

UPDATE:

Well it's now July 24, 2015 and we FINALLY have our first really measurable rains since the beginning of May (almost 3 months ago). As I look out the window a gentle rain is falling and has been falling for over an hour now; enough to water our parched lawns and gardens, and actually soak into the ground instead of running off. The province is still burning but over the last few days they've been able to make headway on some of the larger fires so I'm hoping these rains will help.

And for all those that have been enduring unusual weather conditions - whether it be too wet or too dry - I pray you get relief soon....... :)

Re: wishing for the rains.....
 

I wonder what's going on in S FL... we're getting inundated in the central area of the state. We're getting 4-5" over the weekend. Currently under a flood watch.