Summer (southern hemisphere)

[Tyrone]

Watch the lawn and the weeds go crazy now Pip. Summer rain and warmth makes them grow like you wouldn't believe.

Last week I was out in the country looking at now green fields (mostly weeds) and one field had another crop of wheat growing on it with a good amount with what looked like full heads of grain though still dark green. Either this was wheat that didn't germinate in winter, or the harvester was clumsy and dropped most of the harvest back on the ground back in Nov, Dec.

[Pip]

To much rain is a bad thing in my local area as this time of year the grape harvest is on. The rain will cause the friut to swell and split, the sugar content will also drop effecting the quality of wine produced. The high humidity will also mean an increased risk of fungus attack on the vines to. 

[Tyrone]

Yes, that's true. I was speaking to someone yesterday about this. I think the vineyards will take a hit this year. It's not been a good year for grapes here. My olives haven't been irrigated this summer at all. I'll get my first small crop this year, but I'm not going to irrigate them unless I get hot dry conditions for at least 6 weeks. Considering where we are in summer, I doubt that will happen. The irrigation to the olives will remain off probably for another year. More water for my palms then. :)

[Tyrone]

43.3C (110F) here today. Warmer than Perth by a smidgin.

[tropicbreeze]

I guess that'd be a dry heat as well. Don't think your tree ferns would be liking it. Read an article saying that maximum temperatures are going to keep rising and these current extremes will become the norm. Not something to look forward to.

Here today the sun was overhead on its way north. As usual it's stirred up a bit of activity but my rainfall for February is still only about 80% of the average for this far into the month. That's a lot better than January's effort by a long shot, but it's a long way to the end of the month and a lot might happen before then, or else might not happen. At least I'm getting a good start on my weed spraying. I start early in the day with a good Delta-T reading on the low side. Then I get a clear 3 to 4 hours before any showers come through. By then if showers do come they help the herbicide penetration. And the amount and intensity of the sun has the weeds at their most active. So my dam hasn't overflowed since December (normally it's overflowing continuously during the months of January and February) but at least the weed management is well ahead of normal. As they say, "Make hay while the sun shines".

[Tyrone]

Yes it was a dry heat. RH down to around 20% when the temp was over 40C. The last few days have been much cooler with low cloud and humidity in the 50-70% RH in the day and nights in the high 90's RH. We had a 27.6C day today and then drizzle which sent the humidity sky high. Very clammy weather.

Got the property sprayed for weeds on Monday. Should see it all working properly in about a week.

[tropicbreeze]

February turned into another miserable rainfall month, my total was 55% of average for the month. The latest weekly tropical climate note doesn't hold out any hope for improvement in the near term either.

"A moderate strength Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is currently enhancing tropical convection over the central Pacific Ocean, whilst suppressing tropical convection and rainfall over the Maritime Continent and northern Australia. Climate models indicate that the MJO is likely to either weaken and become indiscernible in the western Pacific Ocean, or move eastward at weak to moderate strength into the western hemisphere in the coming weeks. All models indicate it is unlikely for an active MJO to return to the Australian region before mid-March. When the MJO is in the western hemisphere, northern Australia usually experiences less than normal cloud and rainfall, and above average daytime temperatures. El Niño is also associated with below average rainfall over parts of northern Australia at this time of year. The latest climate outlook is consistent with these scenarios, suggesting below average rainfall and above average temperatures are likely for most of northern Australia for March."

The three month outlook is pretty miserable for rainfall:

"March is likely to be drier than average across northern Australia, and parts of southeast mainland Australia.

For autumn (March to May), rainfall is more likely to be above average across the southeast, except eastern NSW and eastern Victoria. The tropical north is more likely to have a drier than average three months.

The current outlook reflects a combination of a weakening El Niño, very warm Indian Ocean temperatures and warm sea surface temperatures near Australia."

Temperature:

"Summer-like temperatures are likely to continue into March, with both daytime and night-time temperatures very likely to be warmer than average.

For the three-month period (March to May), daytime temperatures are more likely to be above average across the country, except for northern and central SA, western NSW and western WA where the chances of a warmer or cooler season are roughly equal.

Nights are favoured to be warmer than average nation-wide, except near Carnarvon, with a greater than 80% (or an eight in ten) chance of warmer nights for much of the country.

The current outlook reflects a combination of very warm Indian Ocean temperatures, a weakening El Niño, and warm sea surface temperatures surrounding Australia."

Seems like a good time to go into hibernation, or probably more accurately aestivation.

 

[Tyrone]

Yes, it was a weird summer. I wasn't counting on it being so wet down here. The weeds took mega efforts to keep in control. Normally you can slacken off as the ground dries out and weed germination ceases, but not this year. Also if you leave the lawn more than a week between mows you're struggling to cut it even with an 18.5HP ride on mower. I remember last year the grass sort of slowed down in the dry heat and you could back off to once every 3 weeks. The gardens are slowly settling in here though. The bamboo has gone absolutely crazy. It's been a good summer for growth though a bit cool at night.

[tropicbreeze]

We seem to be having opposite problems. Doesn't matter where you are, there's usually some issue going on. I guess if you only worried about what plants were on your dinner plate things would be much simpler. Just curl up in front of the telly or with a good book and forget about the rest.

The minimum this morning was 27.6 with 92% relative humidity. I can cope with that part of what we're getting, but day times we're reaching 37 - 38 with RH down to 50 - 55%. With negligible cloud cover during the day the sun's got a lot of kick in it, we're still only 3 weeks after the high sun.

Growth at my place is a bit of a mixed story. I've lost 7 out of the 12 Areca catechu I planted during the rain we had in December. There's a few more things I want to plant out as well. Just waiting for a return of the monsoon later March that they said was a possibility. Although, the closer we get the less likely it's looking. The weird thing here is that a storm could come through this evening and dump 50 to 100mm in a couple of hours, or perhaps nothing. I still keep looking optimistically at my half full glass, and to the sky above for the bit to top it up.

But I am doing reasonably well with my weed spraying and mowing. Normally I'd slash in the early dry season with the tractor. It ploughs up the ground too much in the wet season though and causes erosion. So when I have the opportunity I use the ride on but have to use it more frequently because it won't handle the sort of grass the slasher will. This year when the time comes there won't be near as much slashing for the tractor to do as in other years.

[Pip]

This is a photo a friend snapped during the thunderstorm that hit Adelaide today