Winter in the South / Summer in the North

[PalmsZA]

Lucky bugger Peach! 70mm would go down like a home-sick mole here I tell you!

Coldest morning of the year this morn.....F F f ffreezing 7c! Piggie is looking a little like bacon!

Did Dennis forget his Ozslang Dictionary ? Or is the old devil just trying out some double entendres ? Hope your little piggy makes it. Both mine are toast.

Peachy

Ja I hope it makes it Peach but this time last year it looked much better...fingers crossed....

The only Oz slang words I know: tinny, doonah and chook...dont mind the spelling!

[peachy]

Left home and needed the car's heater on. Arrived at destination with the a/c running. Eventually got home in the late arvo with the heater on again. Low of 1 high of 25. Typical early spring/late winter for these parts.

Peachy

[peachy]

3 last night, 26 today and that horrible wind is still staying away. Text book late winter.

Peachy

[ariscott]

Isn't it funny that even weather forum is quiet now that Tyrone is away??? Come on Tyrone, time to come home.

Weather is definitely heating up. Soon I will be complaining about the heat.

Regards, Ari

[happ]

I was surprised it got as warm as it did today since the entire month of August has been much cooler than normal. But it will cool down later in the week per the persistent pattern this summer.

Hi: 97F\ 36.1C

[Daryl]

Going for 28C tomorrow...it will be *almost* hot! Can't wait!

Daryl

[Walter John]

Going for 28C tomorrow...it will be *almost* hot! Can't wait!

Daryl

Looking forward to it Daz, and I'm taking the day off too..

[philinsydney]

We were "double" Albury's temperature today: 20c compared to 10c. Still beaten by Brisbane of course, but we need to feel insecurely superior to someone.

[samirbouag]

sunny and 32°C today in france!

[peachy]

Thought I might spend tomorrow relaxing in the garden but going by the forecast its going to be too bloody hot. Last week the wind was too cold to be able to spend a lot of time outside. Samir, I was in the Camargue during the Sirocco and it was like being in hell.

Peachy

[samirbouag]

yes Peachy

I live near the Camargue, and it can get very hot when the sirocco blows!

is a wind from the desert, crossing the Mediterranean sea to go on the south of France!

speaking of that, he foresee a scorching temperature for the week!

it could be up to 40 ° C!

[Mike in Nelson]

Isn't it funny that even weather forum is quiet now that Tyrone is away??? Come on Tyrone, time to come home.

Weather is definitely heating up. Soon I will be complaining about the heat.

Regards, Ari

Tyrone and Zig seem to be the glue in this forum.

Isn't noticably warmer here yet but it is still officially winter I guess.

[amazondk]

It rained over night with a few nice thunder claps. It has been a while since that has happened. It has been so dry and the dust has been bad around town. And, the smoke drifting north from southern Amazonia has been messing up the air. Hopefully the rain will help a bit.

dk

[ariscott]

Pretty humid here now... Like someone has flicked the switch. People are starting to turn the ac back on. Not yet for me... Although if it keeps on going like this, I think I might have to soon.

Zig should be back soon, mike .

Regards, Ari

[happ]

Seems that the switch back to summer is in full-force with 90's this past week and forecast to stay above 90F\ 32.2C for next week as well. Overall humidity levels are relatively low per the usual California summer though monsoonal moisture may advect into the state later next week.

Max: 92F\ 33.3C

[tropicbreeze]

I'm still in Alice Springs after competing in the Henley-on-Todd yesterday. Sightseeing out in the Eastern Macdonnels tomorrow, then heading north into the warmth the day after. Everyone here's running around in Tshirts and shorts looking strangely at me wrapped in jumpers and jackets. Today was predicted to only get up to 26C here. There's been a lot of rain here this year (a lot for the desert) and there was a sprinkling today too. Luckily there wasn't any water in the river for the boat races. Should be back home by the end of the week.

[ariscott]

Have fun in the 'cool' Alice Springs, Zig. The heat will be here when you get home....

Regards, Ari

[peachy]

Freezing day here. Only got to 17 as a max, and that only for a couple of minutes. Sat on around 13 to 14 all day. Managed 6 mm of rain from it however, so there was an upside.

Peachy

[PalmsZA]

Hi all

Yip this board is very quiet without our resident weather men in WA and up top.

Its looking very much like spring (doing a happy dance or a rain dance, haven't decided yet!)

Next few days are forecast to be:

Wed 11 28

Thu 12 30

Fri 14 28

Sat 14 32

Sun 16 30

What more could a crazy gardner want?

Cheers

Dennis

[Tyrone]

I'm back everybody. But I can't tell you much about Perth weather lately because I've been in lovely Sydney, apart from that fact that Perth seems to be stuck in this rut of cold nights not warm enough days and basically no rain. Sydney on the other hand was just beautiful with lovely blue skies and days in the low twenties with one day around 25C, and nights though cool, were around the 10C mark give or take a couple of degrees. Lovely winter weather. The weather in Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley (hiccup) was just fantastic and sunny except for Monday when it was cloudy, misty, and drizzly and struggled to get past 10C. A good sort of day for tasting wine around the fire.

I've decided that I love Sydney especially the old terraced houses around Annandale, Leichardt and Balmain. And that harbour. I'd never get sick of that. Just land is worth gazzilions and there is virtually no room for palms. Although I must admit the old Kentias planted in the only bit of bare ground available (around 50cm wide) in front of many of the old terraced houses look great. Also no one seems to care that all the big old lovely trees are touching powerlines. In Perth those trees would be hunted down and killed. Hence Sydney retains the closed in tree avenue canopy look which I love.

I love Sydney now.

Tyrone

[peachy]

Ah Tyrone, glad to see another convert. Wrong side of the city however !! Did you check out the harbour from the north shore....neutral bay or mosman....breath taking, and at night...well its like being in a movie. My first unit in sydney was in elizabeth bay, just down the hill from kings cross, but right on the harbour. Then I bought my first house in wooloomooloo, which back then was a frightful slum, but I fell for the roomy old terrace house and the harbour views it had. In fact it had a reasonable backyard too, many of the old terraces in potts point, had big yards (relatively speaking) too. The few years I lived in Sydney, I have no recollection of ever being cold. Well not really cold like it could be in melbourne. This will make you spit....when I bought my house in the 'loo, a friend bought a little dump way out in the woop woops at leichhardt, just near the water at five dock, and paid a massive $10k for it. I chose to buy in the slum area because it was the only place to get a bigger house, close to everything for an affordable price. My one bedroom waterfront unit in elizabeth bay was costing me a massive $50 per week to rent back then.

Did you take a sticky around double bay ? Just up on the hill behind the shopping strip, all those big old homes have some wonderful old palms...huge things, many howeas among them. You big rat !! You have made me so homesick for the south....I might go burn this place down, oh better check my insurance status first.

Peachy

Edited August 25, 2010 by peachy

[Tyrone]

Yeah, it's great in Sydney Peachy. Cafe's every 100 metres, great food, great things to do, beautiful views, and real old great looking buildings. Perth feels quite different. It feels colder at the moment.

[ariscott]

Welcome back Tyrone... Hurry up, post some more... I used to like Sydney, as long as I don't have to drive. I remember trying to go up Katoomba in Easter!!!! That was almost as bad as Jakarta, if that is possible...

I think I would love Sydney now too, if it is only the 2 of us... or Melbourne for that matter. Dragging 3 kids under 7 to cafes & restaurants is not my idea of a good time. If it was just the 2 of us... now that would be different. I am quite happy with my 5 acres here in Darwin... if things get really annoying, I would start my ride on and leave the kids with Scott and mowed for hours... And people wonder why I like mowing

Well, anymore photos, Tyrone??

Regards, Ari

[Daryl]

Tyrone, glad you had a good time in Sydney...did you take a sunset harbour cruise? That is a great way to see 'old sydney'

It is always fun to visit and play the tourist, but another thing altogether when you have to live and work there...

It's a shame everything in the better areas is so overpriced, as there are lots of good microclimates near the harbour and beaches.

I've heard it was a very bad winter this year and the inland suburbs have been very cold.

Daryl

[aussiearoids]

Getting up to 30 max now some days , winter is nearly gone .

Caladiums are sprouting , and I see enormous spears on a few palns.

Off to visit Kerry Macavoy who has heaps of rare fruit tree seedlings

from her recent Borneo trip .

[Tyrone]

Tyrone, glad you had a good time in Sydney...did you take a sunset harbour cruise? That is a great way to see 'old sydney'

It is always fun to visit and play the tourist, but another thing altogether when you have to live and work there...

It's a shame everything in the better areas is so overpriced, as there are lots of good microclimates near the harbour and beaches.

I've heard it was a very bad winter this year and the inland suburbs have been very cold.

Daryl

Thanks Daryl. Didn't do a sunset harbour cruise, but I used the ferries a lot and walked a great deal which is a great way to experience places like the Rocks. We walked the pedestrian path on the bridge and went up the pylon museum. I've been to Sydney before, but only for business, so you don't really do local things when you stay in the CBD etc. We were staying with friends in an old 1890's luxury terrace house that stretched almost the entire length of the block in Annandale. They were saying that this winter has been a cold one too. Some of their friends in the same area reported scraping thick ice off their cars in the morning. Annandale is only a km from Rozelle Bay so that surprised me actually. It sounds like Perth and inland Sydney have had similar cold experiences although I've not needed to scrape ice off my car here. It's just been monotonously cold at night, and dry. 55mm so far for Aug vs 130mm avg. Really bad. However the BOM is tipping a wetter than average spring with warmer nights than average which will be great if it actually happens. I hope we get a wetter than average summer and warm nights too. We need a break from this terrible cold. So far Perth's August is almost identical to Canterbury in Sydney this month.

Yes, there are some great microclimates around the harbour. I love the steepness of the land and how it undulates and has valleys in certain areas, with thick growth around the harbour itself. A lot of the Sydney Harbour coastline looks almost untouched and still wild. I love the fact also that ferns will self propagate in shady nooks in brick walls and rock areas, and that even on the headlands around Bondi and Bronte fresh water seeps out of the rock walls and allows all sorts of things to grow.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Getting up to 30 max now some days , winter is nearly gone .

Caladiums are sprouting , and I see enormous spears on a few palns.

Off to visit Kerry Macavoy who has heaps of rare fruit tree seedlings

from her recent Borneo trip .

It's great to hear that things are starting to warm up somewhere. It's like waiting for a train to arrive and looking down the track and seeing it come. I can't wait for some mid twenties action in the day and mid teens at night with the occasional shower, which is basically October November. But it may come early. You never know.

[amazondk]

Tyrone,

I sounds like you had a great trip. I always have wanted to go to Sydney. And, in fact Australia. Now that I have a bunch of PT friends it would be a great thing to do. But, who knows when I may get the opportunity. Here in my part of the world the summer heat has come on full force. We have had a bit of smoke in the air from the firest in southern Amazonia though. A lot of it comes from Bolivia from what they say.

dk

[Mike in Nelson]

Four more days and winter is officially over. Hooray!

[ariscott]

We had our first STORM today!!! Yiippeee... missed us completely!!! But it is a good sign of what is to come.... it means the wet is well and truly on its way...

Regards, Ari

[peachy]

After the rain, the really cold nights (down in 2 and 3s again) and the freezing winds in the daytime, plants are dying everywhere. Today I was pulling spears on palms that have been here for 3 or 4 years. No more mucking about trying to keep the bloody things alive. Been there done that. Got someone coming in tomorrow to dig up everything that isnt thriving. Strange part is, its not only delicate things suffering....butia, livistona, areca... all unkillable usually..are dropping spears and have leaves curling up. I don't even want to think about the $s gone down the tubes this winter.

Peachy

[ariscott]

Sorry to hear, Peachy.... I wonder why it was such a non-dry season here, and yet it is a horrible winter for you & Tyrone... I hope things are looking up from now on...

Regards, Ari

[happ]

It must sound selfish but I am glad the heat wave has finally broke down, especially after a summer that has been uncharacteristically cool. Today was the 12th consecutive day of 90F\ 32.2C or higher heat and humidity but a very strong trough is moving down the coast and will knock down the temps by 10-20 degrees this weekend.

Edited August 28, 2010 by happ

[peachy]

Hot today after a near freezing night. I needed the a/c on in the car today. The bloke supposed to dig up the dead and dying didnt bother to turn up.....typical !! If things run true to form, he will turn up in a couple of weeks then get nasty when I tell him the job has been done. Tonight is going to be another cold one....this is ridiculous. Anyhow managed to offload well over 200 potted things of all sizes and species today. Staying with euterpes, chamaedoreas, licualas and chambeyronias....things I can plant, squirt now and then and forget about. Tonight its getting cold again, just had to put the heating on. Another 4 weeks or so and all my temperate climate palms will start croaking from heat stress.

Peachy

[Tyrone]

Peachy, I'm sorry to hear that you've had it so bad. I've had the worst winter ever, but it's not anywhere near as bad as your winter. We got to about 25C today and the night is going down to 7 or 8C and 21 C tomorrow with afternoon rain. I think your palms are so stressed from the crazy temp fluctuations and the moisture variances. To go from 28C one day then within a whisker of freezing a couple of nights later then days in the high teens with rain then back down to near freezing must have everything totally messed up. For Butia's to curl up and Livistona's there is something really wrong. Have you tried some fungicide on them before totally giving up. Within a couple of weeks you'll be OK again.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Four more days and winter is officially over. Hooray!

Hooray indeed. Only 2 days now.

I think we're moving into spring now. No really cold nights forecast though they are still cold to cool. August has been around a degree warmer than normal during the day, but 2.5C colder at night on average due to the lousy rainfall of just 55mm vs 130mm avg for August. 21C today before a weak cold front brushes buy and drops some light rain which will turn the dust laying on everything from the east winds into wet dust that marks everything like the car.

In the next week we're expecting only around 10-15mm of rain while SE QLD expects around 50mm of rain. The powerful cold fronts which bring rain just didn't happen this year. Antarctica must be running out of puff. The BOM is tipping a wetter than average spring for the SW corner of Oz. We'll see if it happens.

The 28 day forecast is tipping Sept 11 this year to be a nice 23C day after an 11C min. It's around that time that spring locks in and wintery weather fades away. I'm looking forward to warmer nights. By mid Oct, wintery weather is totally gone, and that's when we start getting the possibility of weather in the 30's C again. I've forgotten what its like.

Best regards

Tyrone

[peachy]

Tyrone, its not just the palms, all my lovely aroids that have taken me years to find, have croaked as well. The cold nights started in April this year instead of June and that hasnt helped any of the delicate stuff. Conversely the silly zygocactus are still flowering happily. My ancient Iris flowered for the first time ever and the begonias are putting on a real show. My Azaleas look awful, just a few half arsed flowers. All the chambeyronias are thriving this winter, the bangalows look wonderful and the rhopies of all descriptions too. I might have to learn to hybridise and just grow rhopangaronias.

Peachy

[peachy]

ps yes the dust is everywhere, then a bit of rain and everything looks dirty and streaked. I am going to have to get the house washed down again before summer. Glad I dont have a car to keep clean. However even the toyota is filthy atm.

Peachy

[ariscott]

Dry surge is here again . Annoying after the first storm of the season the other day!!! 34deg and 21% humidity!! What the???? Good thing the sprinkler will be on in a few hours... Scott is still sick & I have potting up to do.. but that is it for the weekend. Too busy going everywhere this weekend... joy!! Although I did pick up 3 nice glazed pots today... I love shopping for pots...went in for 1 pot and left with 3... which is why I don't do it very often.

Regards, Ari

Edited August 29, 2010 by ariscott

[Mike in Nelson]

Hot today after a near freezing night. I needed the a/c on in the car today. The bloke supposed to dig up the dead and dying didnt bother to turn up.....typical !! If things run true to form, he will turn up in a couple of weeks then get nasty when I tell him the job has been done. Tonight is going to be another cold one....this is ridiculous. Anyhow managed to offload well over 200 potted things of all sizes and species today. Staying with euterpes, chamaedoreas, licualas and chambeyronias....things I can plant, squirt now and then and forget about. Tonight its getting cold again, just had to put the heating on. Another 4 weeks or so and all my temperate climate palms will start croaking from heat stress.

Peachy

Alot like Florida for you Peachy. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.