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Weather diary page

Northern Rivers, Mar 9: The big wet goes on. Pretty intense thunder and lightning storms the last two evenings - the first came in from the west which is normal then yesterday we had the one that 'drops over the rock' - meaning it comes from SSE - which is not common. Strong wind - lots of lightning - not huge rain - about an inch each time. Similar rain forecast for today and tomorrow. Have managed to get most of my native planting done in the last two days - going for that 'after the sustained heat but just before the big rain' window that makes the paddocks undriveable. Bloody hard work - seems to get harder each year. Just got the car through yesterday but it's impassable today - left the seedlings, mulch and tools down there so will walk down to finish off. Having pre-scalped the earth for about 80 spots over the previous few days, i planted/mulched 70-odd the day before yesterday - which nearly killed me - then 21 yesterday. Going down to finish off after writing this. Cockatoos still not as bad as last year.

Mar 10 Kanagawa: Nice sunny day with stiff breeze. High of 19 or so. Beats the hell out of Aomori.

Mar 12, Kanagawa: Warm, balmy, morning with hazy sun and weather coming from the south. 13C at 7:00AM with high today forecast at 16 with 70% chance of rain. All in all beautiful weather.

Mar 20, NR: Welcome Kanagawa! - 'warm, balmy' - those are words you haven't used for a while. The big wet goes on here - seems we get an inch of rain every day as a standard issue. Radar shows a very scattered pattern with small storms drifting through - but there's some oomph in the rain - can't hear the football on the TV level. Very humid - any outdoor labor and you're drenched with sweat in minutes. Big rain event unfolding just (300km) south of here with some places getting 300 mil in 24 hrs and up to 500 in two days. System is moving south so we're safe from that one.

Mar 20, Kanagawa: Very pleasant, balmy day with a high in the high teens, low to no wind, very spring like. Cherry blossoms are starting, just barely. Left home with no coat.

Mar 23, Kanagawa: Very pleasant still with highs in the mid to high teens, lots of sun, one day of rain recently, periods of high winds but right now calm and beautiful. Spring seems to be at least one month ahead of Misawa.

Mar 26, NR: The rain stopped 3 days ago - now waiting for the access road to my land to dry out. Could still get the car through but it tears up the road and leaves deep rut imprints so giving it another day. One good side-effect of the rain is that the white cockatoos have gone. They never got to the same mega-flock numbers as last year, then they disappeared at some stage during the weeks of rain. Either they hate rain and they've stayed north - or the rain has produced enough food elsewhere so they don't need to come here. Either way it's a blessing. Pumpkin crop is going well - it's about the only thing that is. Has already produced 8 pumpkins and more coming. The question is, when to call time on it? It has taken over the entire vegetable garden and makes it impossible to control the weeds. Harvested and dried some lemon balm and another similar herb - makes a nice tea. Nights are getting cooler - down to 17 last night when i went to bed. No sign of any field or wild mushrooms this year. Maybe they came earlier with the early rain and i didn't notice or maybe it's just too wet.

Mar 26, Kanagawa: Very pleasant weather with highs in the mid to high teens and lows around 10.

Mar 30, NR: Forecast rain didn't really eventuate - a couple of short showers at night. White cockatoos have begun to appear in numbers - not the huge flocks of last year but enough to make a ruckus. We've been lucky so far but that luck might have run out. It's track pant weather in the evenings but days still warm.

Mar 30, Kanagawa: More brilliant weather with highs around 20, pushing 22 or so, sun, balmy. This is an environment I haven't quite lived in before. It's like northern California, but more humid. I'd compare it to San Francisco without the fog and micro-climates of that peninsula, and warmer for this time of year. Very pleasant indeed. Cherry blossoms have entered their first week of full bloom.