Mother Nature is just messing with me.
With my front and back yards full of flowers, I do need to think about water during the summer months, especially if there are going to be so many 90+ degree days. I watch the weather forecasts like a hawk to try to determine if Mother Nature is going to gift me with any free precipitation. If it’s going to rain, I really don’t to pay the City of Minneapolis for extra water.
It seems that almost every forecast of rain the past month has been a chimera – it shows as 50% or 60% and the radar shows the dark green riding right over my location – then nothing! Or else it does a very insulting sprinkle for 3 minutes. Last night I had the sprinkler on in front and when I went to water my baskets in the back, YA gave me grief. She said “it’s going to rain… it’s 80%”. I continued along, watering all the baskets and the bales while she made fun of me. As I finished up, it started to lightly sprinkle. She smirked as I came in the back. Then 5 minutes later I smirked when it hadn’t even rained long enough to wet a tissue.
I know weather is capricious but I would have thought that by now, forecasters could get a better grasp on this. I’ve said many times that if I were to look for another job, it would be as a weather forecaster. Then I could get a big salary to be on tv and the fact that I was wrong half of the time wouldn’t count against me on my annual review!
I guess for the rest of the summer, I’ll just assume there will be no rain, unless I wake up to it in the morning!
How much do YOU believe in weather forecasting?
Trail Baboon 
Mostly reliable but not gospel. Certainly not in MN during spring, summer, and fall when weather forecast can change in hours. And not for more than a few days in advance. I’ve made plans for outdoor book events where the week before, the forecast is one way, and by two days before, the forecast has changed dramatically.
On the golf course, if there’s a 50% chance of rain, I take my rain gear along. If the radar has a lot of green showing and it’s tracking toward me, I’ll bail. However, the past two times I decided it was going to rain during golf and not show up, it’s either not rained at all or only sprinkled. Go figure.
My wife’s the same as you, VS, regarding her garden. Always hoping for rain so she doesn’t have to water. She’s been disappointed more often than not this season.
Chris in Owatonna
***BSP*** I’ll be selling and signing my books at the Hopkins Raspberry Festival Marketplace Craft Fair tomorrow (Saturday) from 9-4. The Razz Fest is a terrific hometown street party that draws dozens of vendors and thousands of fans. The booths are on Main Street between 6th and 13th. I’ll be between 10th and 11th Aves. on the south side of the street. I’d love to meet some more TBers. There’ll be lots of food stands, music, stuff for kids to do, and shopping galore from all the diverse merchandise offered by the vendors. And need I say, the people watching is fantastic! 🙂 ***End BSP***
C
LikeLiked by 3 people
AND, the weather forecast looks quite benign for tomorrow too–and has for more than a week . . . Maybe I’ll bring my umbrella, just in case . . .
C
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not enough to be disappointed by it. I do find it interesting that some of our forecasts come from Norway. Don’t they have their own weather?
LikeLiked by 2 people
When you grow up in Duluth, you learn not to trust the weather person too much.
LikeLiked by 3 people
They have been more accurate here of late. Son’s brother in law and sister in law are weather forecasters. They love to chase storms.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you get some rain up there in the cities this morning?
I always check two weather sites, as they’re often quite different, The Weather Channel being more accurate than the one that comes up on Microsoft, which I learned at one point is centered far from here.
If I’m distressed at seeing an entire week of 90s temps forecast at least a week away, I no longer get upset. Just wait a week and see – this time it now looks like some of those days will “only” be 86 degrees.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We did get a smidge of rain early early early this morning before the sun came up. But again hardly enough to wet a tissue.
LikeLike
That’s really too bad.
LikeLike
Hello
LikeLike
There is hot weather coming to Minnesota. It is hotter than Hades here this week and weekend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, not looking forward to it. Luckily, since Husband’s stroke, he is much more amenable to turning on the A/C if it’s hot and sticky.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I do just as well looking out the window.
My knee used to be a better predictor; 36 hours before it rained, my left knee hurt bad. Now it wasn’t an amount; might only be sprinkles or might be 2″, but at least I knew the weather was changing.
These days, with smart phones and radar, I can be in the tractor watching that red cell on the radar come right at me and I’m still looking out the window to see if it’s really gonna rain or not. At least it gives me a running start for home.
I don’t believe it more than 2 days out and even then, it’s more a guideline. And then it will be what it will be.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Son’s sister in law used to work for the NWS out here. There is a cloud seeding program to mitigate hail storms, and she told us the cloud seeding planes wouldn’t fly over Billings County just west of our county because people would shoot at them. They thought the cloud seeders were stealing our rain and sending it east.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yikes! What people will believe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I pay a lot of attention to the whether because we plan so much of farming around it. Especially cutting hay or oats and wanting it put up without being rained on. And yet we know it’s only half accurate and so we gamble; if it’s only a 10 or 20% chance it will rain, then maybe it won’t. We win some we lose some.
You know what really works for me? When the oak leaves are turned over it means it’s going to rain. I saw them turned over yesterday and I didn’t think there was any rain in the forecast. And last night and this morning it sprinkled. Huh.
Now the science behind that is, generally it’s a South or west wind that makes the leaves flip over and that’s often what brings the weather change.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Also poplar leaves turn over before a storm.
LikeLike
I am having a rough day today. I woke up with a weather-change migraine with the heat coming in, to Lou’s phone ringing. It was set on very, very loud so he could hear it. They called three times and I nearly lost my mind. He had a Dr’s appointment at 8am, and the Dr. Was called away on a family emergency of some kind. That left me jangled and uncentered. Then I had a phone visit at 11:30am with my ortho surgeon as a quick check up. His phone number went to spam as junk and automatically took a voicemail. I left a message, and he called back, so we got it done. I might trust weather forecasting, but at this time my relationship with smart phones is quite contentious.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Yesterday all the weather forecasts were saying not to sleep with the windows open – there would be rain and probably lots of thunder. Didn’t happen. Maybe a tiny bit of rain.
I am looking after my neighbors’ dogs for a few days, and the dogs are very nervous about thunder, so I was happy for them.
I generally think, though, that forecasting is helpful. When I’m doing the gardening work in the summer I plan out my week based on the forecast. The day that looks to be the rainiest or the hottest is the day I run errands. The thing that bugs me a bit is that the weather people make assumptions on the weather based on only the temperature and the humidity. There have been a lot of days this year that we’ve had temps around 90 degrees and quite a bit of humidity, but if it’s breezy and overcast, it’s not very uncomfortable to work in that. Today it was only in the 80’s, but there was no breeze and the sun was blazing. That’s not fun.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This is true.
LikeLike
I like to use the National Weather Service/NOAA and go straight to the source for the forecast. They give a lot of details. This will come up for Northfield if you choose to follow the link. You can put your own zip code into the search box to bring up your own localized forecast. I think it’s fairly accurate for a few days out but not necessarily for a whole week. https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=44.45284000000004&lon=-93.15777499999996
LikeLike
Believe it or not but I’ve only water my garden twice this year and I live in Chicago! It’s been a mix of wet and dry this season. I focus on creating nutrient dense food with the ability to hold soil while also allowing the water to soak though. Animal manure and wood chips are my best friend in the garden!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Send some of that rain our way!!
LikeLike
I take it as a starting place and then gather the feel of the weather for myself. High pressure, cloud formation, historical experience…all much more reliable.
LikeLike
Love this!
LikeLike
Welcome to the Trail!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. The subjects of my blog depend of the subjects of yours.
Rain/water are critical components of our fragile eco-system. Let it rain!
LikeLike