Monthly Rain Totals In Your Garden

[D. Morrowii]

The thread started by@SubTropicRayabout Florida’s drought conditions had me wondering about the amounts of sky water we palm folks were getting in our gardens. 
 

Here’s mine for June 2023

Merritt Island FL,

Monthly total. 8.43”  

For the year 20.71 

What are your totals? 

[kinzyjr]

22 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

What are your totals? 

Approximates:

Year to date: 31 inches

• 06/2023: 12.5 inches
• 05/2023: 11.25 inches
• 04/2023: 3.25 inches
• 03/2023: 0.50 inches
• 02/2023: 2.00 inches
• 01/2023: 1.50 inches

[greysrigging]

Last 12 months in Darwin

[D. Morrowii]

8 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Last 12 months in Darwin

Are you guys sub tropical or tropical there? At first I thought this looked like the rainy season for the West coast of the US but then I remembered that the earth is tilted on its axis 🙂 You guys got about 500mm more than we got here in Central Florida last year. 

[UK_Palms]

June finished on 10mm / 0.39 inches here. Most of that rain came during the past week, which has been cooler and wetter than the first 3 weeks of June. Overall still pretty dry, as expected in my climate with drier summers, which is more akin to the west coast of the USA, or the west coast of Australia, rather than the wetter, more humid eastern coasts of continents. Any rain that has fallen this month has come from thunderstorms, so it can be very hit and miss. Some places got a one-off deluge, while just down the road they had nothing.

 

The lowest UK values for June 2023 that I can see are as follows (no surprise they are all in the south of the UK)...

5.) Cheam in south London - 4.2mm / 0.16 inches

4.) Heligan, southeast Cornwall - 3.6mm / 0.14 inches

3.) Both Bildeston & Lavenham (tie) in East Anglia - 2mm / 0.08 inches

2.) Mumbles Head, south Wales - 1.4mm / 0.05 inches

1.) Both Pinner & Stanmore (tie) in north London - 0.4mm / 0.01 inches.

 

Year to date here - 10.68 inches (March - April period was the wettest on record in my area).

Jan - 1.77 inches (around average)

Feb - 0.14 inches (exceptionally dry compared to ave)

Mar - 3.95 inches (exceptionally wet compared to ave)

Apr - 3.28 inches (very wet compared to ave)

May - 1.15 inches (around average)

Jun - 0.39 inches (slightly below average)

[Tyrone]

June 23 260mm 

[greysrigging]

On 7/1/2023 at 11:42 PM, D. Morrowii said:

Are you guys sub tropical or tropical there? At first I thought this looked like the rainy season for the West coast of the US but then I remembered that the earth is tilted on its axis 🙂 You guys got about 500mm more than we got here in Central Florida last year. 

Monsoonal tropical at 12.46*S, so generally 4-5 months with little or any rain and 7 months with rain, late Dec-early April being 'monsoonal'.

[D. Morrowii]

Ending July with 11.02 inches for the month - YTD just under 32 inches

[kinzyjr]

A total of 6.25 inches, but nothing meaningful in nearly two weeks.  That puts here at roughly half of the monthly average.  The airport and other stations closer to downtown and I-4 will report more rain as they've gotten significant rain fall over the last week.

[D. Morrowii]

@kinzyjr When you look at it that way the increments are probably more important than the totals. As mentioned before I’ve been very lucky over here this year. Its been raining at regular intervals and regular amounts. Nothing left to do but enjoy it while it lasts. I put in a few rain barrels this year too so even when the rain passes me by I have a couple/few days worth of rain water stored. 

[SubTropicRay]

May - almost nothing

June - pathetic

July - really pathetic

August - a waste of time so far

Total:  B--s--t

[PalmatierMeg]

June/July combined total = 3.04"

June/July "normal" expected total = ~20"

[kinzyjr]

May and June weren't too bad here, so not much to complain about in comparison to some of the locales further west and southwest. 

August is sitting at 0.40 inches of rain, with nothing from 08/02/2023 to the current day.  Some of the plants, Veitchia and Carpoxylon in particular, are starting to show a bit of stress.  Neither really cares for municipal water straight out, so I'll boil, cool, and filter some tap for them.  The big problem has been the long dry spell coinciding with day after day over 100F.  My initial thought was that my temperature sensors were all going bananas until I realized everyone else in town was recording roughly the same thing.

Update to post on June 29th:

Year to date: 37.65 inches

• 08/2023: 0.40 inches (as of 08/10/2023)
• 07/2023: 6.25 inches
• 06/2023: 12.50 inches
• 05/2023: 11.25 inches
• 04/2023: 3.25 inches
• 03/2023: 0.50 inches
• 02/2023: 2.00 inches
• 01/2023: 1.50 inches

[greysrigging]

[Chester B]

May -0.9”
June - 0”

July -0”

August -0”

 

[kinzyjr]

On 8/10/2023 at 9:21 PM, kinzyjr said:

• 08/2023: 0.40 inches (as of 08/10/2023)
• 07/2023: 6.25 inches
• 06/2023: 12.50 inches
• 05/2023: 11.25 inches
• 04/2023: 3.25 inches
• 03/2023: 0.50 inches
• 02/2023: 2.00 inches
• 01/2023: 1.50 inches

UPDATE:

• 08/2023: 2.7 inches (as of 08/26/2023)
• 07/2023: 6.25 inches
• 06/2023: 12.50 inches
• 05/2023: 11.25 inches
• 04/2023: 3.25 inches
• 03/2023: 0.50 inches
• 02/2023: 2.00 inches
• 01/2023: 1.50 inches

Depending on what we get in the next 5 days, this might be a record dry August.  It wouldn't surprise me if we also set an average high temperature record as well.  Got curious as to how moisture in the planting beds was holding up.  When I turned the pine bark mulch over to remove some deep-rooted weeds, it was still moist on the bottom.

We can use the rain, but let's skip the dreaded "I" storm for the year.

[D. Morrowii]

Barely past the 2” mark for August

2.11”

[D. Morrowii]

Added a surprise 1.77 inches yesterday to end the month with 6.56 inches. 

[kinzyjr]

Added just over 1.25 inches on the last day of September to put the total at 5.65 inches.  Could have used it in a more spaced out fashion, but this year, lucky to get what we get.

[D. Morrowii]

We had 7.8 inches of rain in October although almost 6.5 of those inches poured down in one day on the 1st. For the year we’re only about an inch under our average. 

[kinzyjr]

2 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

We had 7.8 inches of rain in October although almost 6.5 of those inches poured down in one day on the 1st. For the year we’re only about an inch under our average. 

Here at the ranch, a whopping 1 inch of rain plus an unmeasured misting one night that made the top of the car wet, but not the mulch.  The total is about normal, but the long dry stretches this summer make the total a mirage.  To help a few struggling palms recover during the recent mild weather, I've boiled and then filtered water and that seems to be good enough for a few that need an extended growing season to make it through whatever is coming the next 4-5 months.

[D. Morrowii]

2 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Here at the ranch, a whopping 1 inch of rain plus an unmeasured misting one night that made the top of the car wet, but not the mulch.  The total is about normal, but the long dry stretches this summer make the total a mirage.  To help a few struggling palms recover during the recent mild weather, I've boiled and then filtered water and that seems to be good enough for a few that need an extended growing season to make it through whatever is coming the next 4-5 months.

Yeah I guess there is a lot more to consider when it comes to Florida’s climate if you’re trying to grow non native stuff. The native or near native stuff can handle the scorching heat, the dry spells, the torrential rain, etc.. Its not a rain forest thats for sure.

[Looking Glass]

Yesterday it was a sunny 90 degrees here and haven’t had any rain in probably 3 weeks with a total of around 4 inches in early October.  I’m back to irrigating 2-3x per week plus giving each palm a good, deep soaking with the hose about every 5 days at most.   Temps and sun are getting better for rainforest stuff, but it’s “the starving time” for water lovers now.  The Cuban, Carribean and native stuff handles the dry spells nicely though.    

This time of year, when I look at the weather, rain is always 7 days away…. But never seems to get here.  Check in a week, and it’s 7 more days…. 

[flplantguy]

I got a whopping 0.83 inches for October. All the weeds are dead of course.  Fall flush of growth on some plants anyway, the mature trees rooted to the moist soil further down. Cooler nights are helping bring plants back and warm days are allowing them to grow still, but that's about to change fast. Greenhouse getting started this weekend before it gets away from me. November above average rain will be believed when it happens lol.

[D. Morrowii]

A higher than average  4.49” for November.  
 

[kinzyjr]

6 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

A higher than average  4.49” for November.

Almost 3 inches here.  It definitely has the yard green.

[D. Morrowii]

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Almost 3 inches here.  It definitely has the yard green.

This mini warm streak isn't hurting anything either! 😉

[kinzyjr]

3 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Almost 3 inches here.  It definitely has the yard green.

CORRECTION: Almost 4 inches.

3 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

This mini warm streak isn't hurting anything either! 😉

Amen.  Every warm day is one that isn't a cold snap.

[D. Morrowii]

4.67 in December ended with 58.07” for the year. 

[kinzyjr]

Ended up with ~3.5 inches of rain in December.  A good haul and nothing below 43F, so less chance of root rot than when we get a few of those nasty nights where the first number is a 2 or a 3

It's an above normal year from the statistics, but the bulk of the summer rain fell in one or two events each month.  We did have some trace rain amounts that didn't register on my gauge the last two months.

After the next day or two, the area should be over 3.5 inches of rain for the start of 2024, but with a few nights in the 30s to ruin that whole zone 11 dream.

[D. Morrowii]

2 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Ended up with ~3.5 inches of rain in December.  A good haul and nothing below 43F, so less chance of root rot than when we get a few of those nasty nights where the first number is a 2 or a 3

It's an above normal year from the statistics, but the bulk of the summer rain fell in one or two events each month.  We did have some trace rain amounts that didn't register on my gauge the last two months.

After the next day or two, the area should be over 3.5 inches of rain for the start of 2024, but with a few nights in the 30s to ruin that whole zone 11 dream.

I need to dig up the data from early 2023 and put together a table like that! 

[D. Morrowii]

@kinzyjr I hope you don't mind the plagiarism. 🙂

Looking at it like this it looks like I got a very even distribution of rain but it certainly wasn't the case..