May2022
Weather diary page
May 3, NR: Temp has gradually dropped - getting close to lighting fire in the evening - around the 12-13C mark. Track pants, jumper at night. Rain drags on - had a few days of little or no rain but a couple of all day drizzlers, such as today. Autumn rain is normal here, it's when i plant the natives, but coming on the back of what we've had it's unwelcome this year. Can't even get down to tree paddock to plant (or even mow) this year anyway - the land down there is not bad cause it drains into the creek - it's the road between the house and there is too boggy. Not huge flocks of white cockatoos thank God - similar to last year. Good numbers of black cockatoos hanging around. Corellas dominating on the porch.
May 9, Kanagawa: We've had maybe 4 nice days so far in May, nice being in the low 20's can mostly clear. But so far this spring has been far wetter and cooler than last. There's a stationary front moving in and the forecast for the next week calls for mostly cloudy skies with rain. At least it'll warm up a bit.
May 12, NR: Luxury! We've had maybe 4 nice days in the last year and a half. That's an exaggeration but not by much. This is how you go stark raving mad - you think you've endured the worst it can throw at you, but then it keeps on pushing that little bit further. There's currently another major rain event going on to the near-north of here - the 'Sunshine' Coast had 150-200 mil yesterday, similar amounts a few days ago - with constant rain in between. There's a huge system over most of Qld that's moving down south - remains to be seen how much of that we will cop. On the satellite it's a whopping mass of cloud that covers most of Qld and creeping into northern NSW. We had one day last week cloudy all day - dark cloud. Was working hard to get stuff done on chook-house before chooks' arrival (3 days ago) thinking i was bound to get rained out at any minute - but it never rained - hardest day's work i've done for ages. Also warm in the evening. Currently it's only 10-20 mil per day here - not every day - there are days sprinkled in without rain or not much - can still do some work outside level. A week ago we had a 40 mil day (night after the two cloudy but rain-free days) - my neighbour said the creek went up by 4 metres - which is indicative of how saturated the ground is - the water table is the same height as the earth table so any rain at all is enough to turn the ground into slush and swell the rivers. I've heard of liquefaction in earthquakes but we've got that as a near permanent state. Desperately need a two week period without rain preferably sunny and windy but the extended forecast is rain every day for the next week at least. Temps are moderate - about 17-18 inside house when i go to bed - feels colder coz of the humidity i guess but only had fire going once - using air-con heater a little to take the edge off. The freezer section of the fridge is showing condensation on the outside again. Not a good sign - guess it's an indication of humidity. Last times i saw that was prior/during the two floods - in fact i wondered if there was something wrong with the fridge the first time. Today was cloudy intermittent showers - very typical. Also feels warm again tonight. Starting to get a sense of the bad signs!
May 13, NR: 280mm at Killarney overnight, which is about 70km wnw of here. Other huge falls of 150-200 on Sunshine Coast (again) and inland areas to the north west, esp in the mountainous areas. This system appears to have split from the original huge one to the north (which is moving out to sea) and is doing it's own thing now. It's gonna be hit & miss - i'm hopeful the worst is going to stay west of here as it slides south. We had 20-30 mil overnight - mostly stopped since 9 am.
May 16, NR: The rain goes on - it's becoming ridiculous. Since the second flood, it's rained almost every day. You expect it to peak and then a wind down and while there's not been big falls here, there's no sign that the big wet is over. Outlook is rain every day for the forecast period. The other thing is the night time heat. Should be wearing a sweater with the fire going by now but the last few nights it's been shorts and t-shirt. 22.7C inside when i went to bed. This time last year we down to 5C!
May 18, Kanagawa: May has been much cooler and wetter than last year, and most days have seen below normal temperatures. We're just coming out of a few days that didn't break the teens while the normal this time of year is approaching the mid 20's. Just today it's starting to get back to normal, with a high of 23 and mostly sunny, and that's the forecast for the next few days. A welcome change.
May 23, Kanagawa:Beautiful day yesterday, finally, with high of 22-23, clear, low wind. The coming week is the first week this spring with everyday forecast to be in the 20s, which is average.
May 23, NR: This is getting boring, but, more rain from another big system hanging around the last few days - about an inch+ each day, raining all day long. Have put the chooks into 'lockdown' to avoid the risk of them getting too wet n muddy n picking up some kind of disease. It was a good decision to put in a concrete floor in their main shed - ppl thought i was going over-the-top doing that but it gives them a nice dry space amidst this world record wet spell. Night time temps have dropped but the humidity stops it from going too low - it's around 13C - still much higher than this time last year. On the cusp of lighting fire, but haven't done so - using reverse cycle air-con just to take the edge off in the evenings. Have been scanning the extended forecast for over a month hoping to see some sun icons on days 6-7 but always rain as far as the eye can see. Finally, and i almost don't dare to write it, there looks to be light/sun at the end of the tunnel coming in 4-5 days time. We'll see. Another galah turned up with 'bird flu' - only seems to be affecting galahs, but there's definitely some disease going through them. Oh, had a snake inside the house! Pretty late to even see a snake, but he'd gotten into the track rail for the sliding door - noticed the door was getting stuck when i tried to open it - finally realized it was coz a snake was lying there blocking it. Only a juvenile, abt 2 ft long. Guided him outside with a broom.
May 28, NR: Finally, an extended dry/sunny break. Started yesterday and is forecast to continue for at least a week. My farmer neighbour thinks we need 2 weeks to dry out - i think he's right - but i'll take one week at this stage. Have avoided using the access road for last couple of weeks so as not to tear it up further - will give it a couple more days then drive out for some needed building supplies. Interestingly, the corellas didn't turn up this morning - first time in months they haven't been waiting for me to get out of bed. That's a good thing coz although the corellas are fine, they do bully the galahs, preventing them from sharing the seeds i put out. An hour later a few corellas did arrive but not a lot. I wonder if they're migrating somehwere. Tomatoes are ripening - small crop. Bloody rats are eating them so put baits out. Rats are also the likely culprits in eating the avocados.
May 29, Kanagawa: Seasonal weather has finally arrived for more than a day or two at a time. Daily highs are now above 20, with this weekend seeing highs of 25-6, mostly sunny, and calm. Definitely shorts weather.
May 31, NR: Picked the last of the oranges from main tree. Looked not promising in the beginning but ended up being a reasonable crop - key is to weed-whack/mulch early summer and add fertilizer. Pecan trees have lost nearly all leaves.