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April2023

Weather diary page

Apr 4, NR: Cool weather continues, couple of rainy days. Wild mushrooms about. Track pants since cool nights arrived 5 days a go. Noticed improvement in sleep-comfort with the cold nights.

Apr 7, Kanagawa: We are full into spring now. The heat no longer comes on at night and I'm leaving for work with no coat. It's getting light by 05:00 and shit is blooming everywhere. Thank God. For some reason, the winter of 22 seemed too damn long. Today we have a front coming through out of the SW, highs of 22, rain, wind, and I love it. It's a few degrees above average, which would be in the high teens.

Apr 9, Kanagawa: Saw a stingray in shallow water today. It was a cool morning and it seemed to be looking for the sun, but that was probably my own projection! Regardless, they do migrate. A number of migratory birds have returned, and although I recognize a lot of the songs, I'm to lazy to have learned the names of the species, aside from the cormorants. Cherry blossoms have hung on for longer than usual, probably because we have not had any really severe spring storms yet at I believe we did last year (as in high winds and heavy rain, not damaging to anything but the cherry blossoms.)

Apr 10, NR: This is the ships passing in the night zone between northern & southern hemispheres. This year the last day of March signaled the end of summer - a forecast hot-spell after that failed to materialize (got up to 28 on one day). Days are a sunny, pleasant 26 (though windy - as windy as it gets here), but the nights are where the big difference is - down to 9C this morning. Change-over was more sudden this year than before as March was consistently hot. Grass growing has slowed down but still needs one last cut then that should do it until Sep-Oct. Down to 8.5C last night. Heater on for the first time last night. Swapped over to quilt. Still water in small pond near work-shed, which is notable coz it's been quite dry for autumn. Indicates the water-table is still high from The Big Wet. We might need it - feeling is we're bouncing straight back into a drought.

Apr 16, NR: 29C today but that's an outlier, likely the hottest day we will see until Sep-Oct. Been extending work-shed & got the concreting done yesterday (26C) - always hard work but pulled up not too bad (with the help of a couple of well-timed Voltaren & evening stretching exercises). Rogue tomato (2.4m high), despite good size fruit, is still refusing to fully-ripen ... after 7 mths. Appears to need another 2 weeks but rainy weather forecast will complicate that. Fall crop of tomatoesbegan flowering a few days ago - some are only 20-30cm tall. Cat 5 cyclone crossed north west coast - amazing how little rain the west ones drop - well under 100mm. With no mountains to pull it up, it also gets a long way inland. Crossed in remote area & only impact was one unlucky roadhouse. Had a kestrel or small hawk snatch a bird right under my nose in back yard. Raven lay on the ground with wings spread out - not sure what the point of that was - chooks high-tailed it. Amazing how fast it attacks. Went into tree near workshed then when i went to investigate it flew off with some bird in its talons. At first i thought it was my rail coz it looked about that size & it didn't appear the next morning when it had been coming out regularly. Felt quite sad, but finally the rail did poke his head out - guess he's taking it very cautiously with this pocket-rocket killer around.

Apr 19, Kanagawa: Unusually warm day with high of 25. Saw the first hutoufeng of the season.

Apr 26, NR: Typical autumn weather for this area, which means daily showers, some sunny patches. Included one downpour two days ago where the rain appeared to come from every direction, all at once, including north, which is quite rare. May have been a small rotating system - there was some wind, though not super-strong - either that or it was the valley-effect, causing wind to swirl around. Big tomato is still going, fruit still green. Autumn crop looks healthy, though a bit stunted, probably due to cooler temps. Grass-growth stopped dead in its tracks as soon as cool temps hit at the end of March. Could do with a cut, but wallabies are enjoying it, so might let it be. Cockatoos are about in big numbers for the pecans - not the massive flocks of the drought years, but bigger than last couple of years. Lots of black cockatoos around. Got 12 eggs in a day last week - a new world record - one for every hen. Cool temps haven't slowed them down. Haven't lit fire yet, though had the heater on most nights. Night temps are around the threshold - down to 12-13C - about 17C in bedroom at lights-out. 10C or under is time to light the fire - forecast has that coming in a few days time.