NM Monsoon Season

Every summer around here in the northern mountains comes what the locals call the "monsoons" - daily, afternoon thunder storms. Normally they start in late June or early July. People plant with with these things in mind. This year they are three weeks late but seem to be finally here.

Today I have towering thunderheads right to the east of me and heavy clouds coming over the mountain to the west of me. I feel like I'm in the fishbowl of storms here. Although there are thunderheads to the north and south, the highest are just to the east. NOAA says we're under severe tstorm warnings for 1/2 inch hail and flash floods. From a drought to lots of rain. Well the trees will survive it but the gardens are in delcate stages of growth. So I hope the hail today misses me.

Sometimes it's a bit heavy and last Friday I had a heavy dose of hail with mine. It was a half hour of hail and heavy rains. This did not do the cabbages, lettuce and spinach any good at all.

RAIN! finally!

We finally got some rain last night and more this afternoon. When I got up this am early, I had these beautiful mountain mists around the area while the sun was just coming over the mountain across the valley. The first shot is looking up the valley and the second shot shows the garden area out in the front field. The flower is from a wildflower patch I planted in the middle of the garden between the corn and some cabbage plants. The seeds were for butterfly and hummingbird flowers.

Even with showers now and then there hasn't been enough rain. We've also had a few dry lightening strikes that have started fires up on the mountain behind me. Too close for comfort. This rain will help some. The good news is that El Nino in is back in the Pacific which means we will be getting some moisture this fall and winter.

The gardens are growing slowly this year. The nights are too cool and the ground doesn't stay warm enough to aid in the vegetables growing. There is no 'global warming' up here.