April Weather Thread

[ruskinPalms]

...hemispheres that is...

Anyway, what is going on where you are? California? Australia? England? South Africa? New Zealand? Anyone?

A summertime pattern of daytime heat and humidty followed by evening thunderstorms is in place right now. Last day of March and first 2 days of April have seen widespread showers and thunderstorms across the southern 2/3 of FL. Actually kinda' strange to have this pattern so early. Could the weather be forshadowing a nasty hurricane season ???  Palms are loving this spring so far and I like this weather as long as it lasts but I am sure we will have an extended dry spell coming before the real summer rain pattern sets in.

[_Keith]

Skipped spring and went right into Summer here.  

Last week and this week temps in low to mid 80s and full sun.  

After nearly 3 dry weeks it did rain today, and it was just in time.  Going from a cloudy rainy cool winter right into dry heat had stressed quite a few of the non-established plantings.  The root systems had become lazy and had to jump start into growth and heavy transpiration.

[SubTropicRay]

It's been dry here Bill.  Enjoy the rain for me.

[junglegalfla]

Have had rain the last 2 days. Last night got almost an inch. Sorry Ray  

[SubTropicRay]

I've had "rain" too Bren.  The kind of "rain" where you can keep dry by running under an oak tree.

[BobbyinNY]

Still cold as S#$T here - mid 50's day/40f night.. ugggh.. Warm up, DAMMIT

[osideterry]

The cold continues... Our normal range now should be 50F low and 65F high, but instead lows are 40-45F. The only days we've seen average temps since November were days with some precipitation.

My plants that are flowering now llook stressed from it: Hong Kong Orchid has minimal flowers and leaf tips are brown; Clivia has nice flowers, but leaves are yellow-orange in places. Bird of Paradise are going gangbusters though.

[_Keith]

We got typical spring cold front through last night.  Today's high will drop down to 75, which is 10 degrees cooler than yesterday's high, and 10 degrees cooler that tomorrow's high.  This time of year a cold front means slight cooling of 1 to 3 days, and the the Gulf of Mexico takes over again.

I was awkened last night just after midnight at the front arrives with a light show that would have rivaled the best New Years Eve fireworks display.  It might have been the most intense show of lightening lasting 30 to 60 minutes that I have seen in my lifetime.  After that came maybe 1 to 2 inches of rain, but within a couple or 3 hours it was all over.  I had heard of tornados up in Mississippi, but no wind events here at all.  Kind of nice to have spring rains here, which is not the usual case.

Weekend will be clear blue skies and cool air.  Ground too wet to do any work, so nothing to do but sit back and take it all in.

[FRITO]

benn dry for the last couple weeks until yesterday. as the front started moving through and is finishing through currently.

I went camping in my jungle hammock last night and it roared lightning and thunder with rain too boot.  I was hig and dry with minimal spray.

april showers bring may flowers?

80/60 degrees is the current trend with a slight dip from this cold front.

[ruskinPalms]

Big line of storms set to come through tonight. Temps are forcast to stay in the low 80s for highs and mid 60s for lows. This has been a good spring for my palms so far!

[amazondk]

Here on the equator the rain continues.  We had over 500 mms of rain in March.  And, the prediction for April is about the same.  With the heavy rains this year in the Andes mountains along with the heavy rain across the Amazon Basin the water levels of the rivers should be near record.

I am heading up across the equator my car today and leaving the rain behind for the end of the dry season.  La Nina has had a lot of impact around here this year.

dk

[ariscott]

Still raining where you are, Don? Lucky you!! Today was the first day of dry wind... It is still humid and hot, but we could feel the dry breeze, which is a sign of dry season... Unfortunately despite La Nina, we are getting early dry this year. I think we actually do better without La Nina.

Usually the dry doesn't come until May 1st, when someone flick the switch and we get those beautiful dry cool days. Unfortunately plants grow much slower if not stop all together for some of them... and we have to keep up the irrigation to keep everything green for the next 6 months.

Well... I guess we have to let the rest of the country to enjoy the dry. I know which one I'd rather have... give me monsoon any day!!

Regards, Ari

[_Keith]

(ariscott @ Apr. 06 2008,08:30)

QUOTE

Still raining where you are, Don? Lucky you!! Today was the first day of dry wind... It is still humid and hot, but we could feel the dry breeze, which is a sign of dry season... Unfortunately despite La Nina, we are getting early dry this year. I think we actually do better without La Nina.

Usually the dry doesn't come until May 1st, when someone flick the switch and we get those beautiful dry cool days. Unfortunately plants grow much slower if not stop all together for some of them... and we have to keep up the irrigation to keep everything green for the next 6 months.

Well... I guess we have to let the rest of the country to enjoy the dry. I know which one I'd rather have... give me monsoon any day!!

Regards, Ari

Ari, are the signs of winter with you guys yet?   And how much do you cool down.   I assume you are not as super stable as Don, but it sounds like you may have even less impact by winter than So. Florida.

[spockvr6]

(keiththibodeaux @ Apr. 06 2008,10:53)

QUOTE

but it sounds like you may have even less impact by winter than So. Florida.

Darwin is a quite a few steps above South FL in "tropical-ness".  I think the average high in the dead of winter is still in the middle 80's.

[spockvr6]

(keiththibodeaux @ Apr. 05 2008,15:31)

QUOTE

We got typical spring cold front through last night.  Today's high will drop down to 75, which is 10 degrees cooler than yesterday's high, and 10 degrees cooler that tomorrow's high.  This time of year a cold front means slight cooling of 1 to 3 days, and the the Gulf of Mexico takes over again.

I was awkened last night just after midnight at the front arrives with a light show that would have rivaled the best New Years Eve fireworks display.  It might have been the most intense show of lightening lasting 30 to 60 minutes that I have seen in my lifetime.  After that came maybe 1 to 2 inches of rain, but within a couple or 3 hours it was all over.  I had heard of tornados up in Mississippi, but no wind events here at all.  Kind of nice to have spring rains here, which is not the usual case.

Weekend will be clear blue skies and cool air.  Ground too wet to do any work, so nothing to do but sit back and take it all in.

Keith-

That front arrived here today....what a treat!  I have logged nearly 4.5" of rain today alone and still rising!  Fantastic (as I applied fertilizer this AM right before the rains hit)!

[ariscott]

(keiththibodeaux @ Apr. 06 2008,10:53)

QUOTE

Ari, are the signs of winter with you guys yet?   And how much do you cool down.   I assume you are not as super stable as Don, but it sounds like you may have even less impact by winter than So. Florida.

Yes.... officially the dry season now   . I thought we might still have a month of wet!!! So much for La Nina. We are monsoonal tropics, so still very tropical. Not as good as Don has it as he is closer to the equator than we are.

No winter to speak of. Just dry cool days - 27degC with low humidity (not as low as southern states though) and 15-20deg C min at night in town. Since we are living rural, our place might go down to 8-10degC some nights. Beautiful weather for tourist, not so much for plants.

No rain for probably 6 months. I have to run the bore for irrigation to keep everything green. Although, there are talks that because of La Nina we might get a wet dry - rain about July/August. Although, I would believe it when I see it.

Regards, Ari

[spockvr6]

(ariscott @ Apr. 06 2008,18:21)

QUOTE

Since we are living rural, our place might go down to 8-10degC some nights. Beautiful weather for tourist, not so much for plants.

Ari-

Want to trade?!?!?!

Ill take 8-10C mins  

[SubTropicRay]

Just like a rainy day in Hilo today.  Beautiful!!!!!!

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Apr. 06 2008,19:32)

QUOTE

Just like a rainy day in Hilo today.  Beautiful!!!!!!

As of 915PM tonght....4.84" today!

[Neofolis]

My wife and I have a holiday every April, generally somewhere warm.  Last year we came home from Tenerife in mid April to find record high temperatures in the UK, it was 26°C/79°F a day after we returned, which was warmer than Tenerife had been and turned out to be the warmest temperature we saw all year in England.  Having returned from Miami today, which was 25°C/77°F minimum on the last night, we came back to find our car was covered with snow, when we collected it near Heathrow.  There is more snow forecast all over the country for the next couple of days, although we haven't actually had any where we live.  This is only one week earlier than we returned from holiday last year.  That said, having checked on weather.com, it was much warmer here last week, though not as warm as our April highs of last year.

[SubTropicRay]

My rain gauge is only 3" tall and it's full.  Let's see how the rest of the spring goes.

[bubba]

We seem to be getting our first Monsoon like stuff here. Good thing is it seems to mainly rain at night with mucho Thunder.

[osideterry]

(bubba @ Apr. 06 2008,18:31)

QUOTE

We seem to be getting our first Monsoon like stuff here. Good thing is it seems to mainly rain at night with mucho Thunder.

We may have mountains, but you have thunderstorms.

Man I miss thunderstorms.

[_Keith]

(osideterry @ Apr. 06 2008,22:04)

QUOTE

(bubba @ Apr. 06 2008,18:31)

QUOTE

We seem to be getting our first Monsoon like stuff here. Good thing is it seems to mainly rain at night with mucho Thunder.

We may have mountains, but you have thunderstorms.

Man I miss thunderstorms.

I understand that statement.  I would miss them too.  I love a thunderstorm in the middle of the night.  Sometime I get up just to watch the ligthening.  What magnificence.

[ariscott]

We have the best thunderstorm!!! Pity it is over for this year.

Regards, Ari

[osideterry]

We get one every few years, when a storm out over the desert drifts West. In July 2005, we had major lightening and thunder all night long. Our german shepherd jumped in bed with us every time it happened. No sleep, but worth it looking back.

I lived in Missouri, Colorado and Texas until I was 27, so I definitely miss them.

[Bilbo]

`singin in the snow!

Yesterday heaviest UK fall in 20 years esp at this time of year and in the "deep south" of the UK - I am about 200 yards north of the English Channel.

Have had pic taken of the Snow Queen and I which must be a very rare event for what some regard as a tropical palm.

Anyway she is tall enough to laugh it off as cold air seeks the lowest point.

Bi guys note the active crater and please bring inhalers if required: hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide are poisons.

Charlton Heston has passed away and was a fine actor the obituary reminded me of El Cid.

Here is a true story: as the Moors retreated towards the sea from Granada their leader reached a bend in the road and looked back at his magnificent City knowing it was his last sight wheron he burst into tears only for his mother to admonish him thus "Why does tho weep like a woman for what thee could not defend like a man?"

Wow what a Mom (!)

Here endeth the Sermon on the Mount.

See you in Costa Rica.

Regardez

Juan

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Apr. 06 2008,21:29)

QUOTE

My rain gauge is only 3" tall and it's full.

The rain tally for yesterday (ending at midnight) was 5.00" exactly.

[osideterry]

Larry - You just beat our annual rain totals for 2006 and 2007 in consecutive days.

[gsytch]

Yes, incredible rains just over 4" here in New Port Richey for the weekend, and not a low below 63F this April. Now the sun is out and it is time to dry. April AVERAGES 1.80" for the month, so we are well on  our way! Greg

[Scott Mcintosh]

I received 2.17 inches/ 55.1mm yesterday.

[Dave-Vero]

About 3.6 inches here.  It was a wave of storms--the first ones missed, but then we got at least two in a row.  I planted a bunch of cycads, rain lily bulbs, caladiums and irises just in time.

[Cristóbal]

3 - 4 inches.   :laugh:

in one day.  ???

this is what happen in my city when theres 3 inches rain in TWO days. year 2004 el niño, 30 people die in one storm of two days, 3 inches rain.

in 1993 el niño 300-400 die.

[ruskinPalms]

A fairly strong cold front for this time of year is set to come through sunday and cool things down into the upper 60s and low 70s for highs and maybe into the upper 40s for lows for a couple days. I think I may actually be looking forward to a couple crisp days before the heat and humidity finally sets in. The sun is nothing less than powerful this time of year hear so I think a high of 68F under clear blue skies will be nothing less than spectacular

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Apr. 10 2008,17:02)

QUOTE

A fairly strong cold front for this time of year is set to come through sunday and cool things down into the upper 60s and low 70s for highs and maybe into the upper 40s for lows for a couple days. I think I may actually be looking forward to a couple crisp days before the heat and humidity finally sets in. The sun is nothing less than powerful this time of year hear so I think a high of 68F under clear blue skies will be nothing less than spectacular

I just noticed that the forecasts are calling for upper 60's all the way to WPB/Ft Laud/Miami.  If that pans out, I think some record low highs will be set.

[_Keith]

Funny how these things go sometimes.  We are looking at Sunday being partly cloudy 69° high, 48° low.   Warmer than so many place further south.  

For me, the winds have been a real killer this spring.  Got some things really starting to suffer.

[SubTropicRay]

We've had 40's in April before.  That said, I don't expect that kind of weather this time.  I'd add 4 or 5 degrees to whatever they're forecasting.  It's held true all winter/spring and don't have any reason to believe that will change now.  These meds do work.

[ruskinPalms]

I'm inclined to believe Ray on this one. I just don't see us being held in the 60's for a high this time of year with that wicked sun. The lows may very well reach the upper 40s, especially if the wind dies and you live in outlying areas like where I live.

[ruskinPalms]

If  the wind stays up, you can forget about the 40s.

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Apr. 10 2008,21:25)

QUOTE

We've had 40's in April before.  That said, I don't expect that kind of weather this time.  I'd add 4 or 5 degrees to whatever they're forecasting.  It's held true all winter/spring and don't have any reason to believe that will change now.  These meds do work.

I checked the records and its been as low as 40F in Tampa in April....and 42F in Miami in April.