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March2019Weather diary page March 1, Aomori: The ice has melted from most of the lake. Some trees are budding, barely. The highs are creeping up. We may break 10 over the next few days. Lows still getting down to -3 or -4. Today is partly sunny, not much wind, high of 8. Mar 6, Northern Rivers: Showers nearly every day the first week - hot and humid - a kind of natural greenhouse. Planted 20 natives as first step in reforestation program but see apart from a storm tomorrow, another heatwave is coming - heading to 36 - with the humidity here that's hot March 8, Aomori: Had flurries today but nothing stuck. It was a pleasant morning with sun, no wind, and 1-2C. Mostly sunny today. Wind kicked up in the afternoon as it normally does, high of 4. It's supposed to get over 10 tomorrow. Clearly moving in to spring temperatures with more frequent days over 6C. Snow piles melting quickly. Roads are dry and clear. We had our first day over 10C a couple days ago. I think it hit 11. March 12, Aomori: Sunday (10th) was beautiful with high of 13, though windy. Last night rain turned to snow and there were nearly 3" on the ground this morning. It is melting quickly with the high today to hit 10. Lows are still hitting -1 to -3 or so every night, with highs still averaging about 8. March 15, NR: Planted another 150 trees over last three day All along creek bank. Hard work digging each hole with a crowbar - though the soil is pretty soft. Incredibly, i didn't find a single stone - that's a big contrast to Taidong where the land was full of rocks. Waited until he heatwave finished and a stretch of rainy days was forecast and it has come - good soaking rain - which had me feeling my timing was great until someone said 'Why are you planting now? They'll all be killed by frost in a few months.' Need to work out way to try and mitigate that. I hadn't imagined they would have frost here but apparently the winters nights are regularly in the minus as it's in a valley. Main problem now is keeping the grass under control. Saw wedge-tailed eagle today. Wallabies starting to come up around the house - the previous owner had three dogs so surprised how quick they decided it was safe to come around here. March 19, Aomori: First day that really feels like spring is coming. The cherry tree outside the classroom is clearly budding. The high today is forecast at 15. Sunny morning, low wind, though wind has been kicking up every afternoon. Lows still hitting below 0 most nights. Snow is nearly gone. March 20, Aomori: It's a beautiful morning and supposed to hit a whopping 18 today which, if true, will be the warmest it's been yet this year. Of course, later in the week the highs are forecast to only hit 6, but we're getting there. Bugs are out but not in bothersome numbers at all. Cute little things, bugs. I'd forgotten what they look like. March 23, Aomori: Woke up to a little less than an inch of snow this morning. The highs today and tomorrow are only supposed to hit 3. Northern Rivers, Mar 23: Two cat 4 cyclones, Trevor and Veronica, making landfall in the current 24 hr period - doesn't look to be much rain associated with them at this stage - not around the eyes anyway. Nice little surprise storm this evening - was listed as 5% chance of rain but we had a cool lightning show and a 30 minute downpour - which is great for my native trees. In fact it's rained every day just about since i planted them - and just the right amounts - about 5-20 mm a pop. The vegies which i planted late Feb, i've hardly had to water at all. That's handy coz there are no hoses or outside taps here so i have to cart the water in in plastic containers. Days are still hot - locals seem to think it's very late in the season for such hot weather - the next two days are predicted to be 35C. Started cattle farming last week - had to - the grass was getting out of control. They do a pretty good job - in fact of all the people i have dealt with to get stuff done moving into this place, lawyers, building inspectors, real estate agents, council officials, builders - the cows have been by far the most useful - at least they do what they said they'd do, which is eat tremendous amounts of grass. However, they are restricted to a single paddock at this stage coz cows and newly planted saplings don't mix. The back paddock grass seems to grow a bit slower, but stuff around the house has grown at a frightening pace. Bought a 'weed-whacker' this week - even though i went top-of-the-range - it's still plasticy toy-like crap compared with the backpack motor ones they use in Taiwan - you just can't buy that kind here. In fact, despite what people think about Taiwan having crappy stuff, i've found that with tools especially, the quality is much higher in Taiwan, and about half the price of Australia. March 23, Aomori: -3 when I got up this morning, and it's snowing, pretty hard too. It's spring but you wouldn't know it from what's going on outside. March 26, Aomori: All snow gone from the front and back yard of the apartment. I don't see any out the classroom window either. Highs averaging 7-9 this week. Today it's supposed to hit 11. March 29, Aomori: A dusting of snow on the ground again this morning with -1 at 5am. Beautiful morning otherwise and should hit about 6 today with a fairly crappy forecast for the weekend ahead with highs only hitting 3-5 and precipitation, the consistency of which could be most anything. March 31, Aomori: Woke up to about 4 inches of snow this morning and it's been snowing all day. It's about 1C out so nothing is accumulating but it's not melting either. It's supposed to snow into tomorrow. |