Rain, Snow, and Sunshine

It seems to me that only gardeners or meteorologists keep up with rainfall totals.  If I start talking to anyone else about the amount of rain (or lack of) that we have received for the year, the temperatures, or the stress of the weather conditions on plant or animal, it is usually met with a blank stare.

Photo borrowed with permission - copyright reserved (KBH)

The weather has traditionally been a topic of safe conversation with new acquaintances.  No more, it seems.  With heating and air conditioning, indoor work, personal transportation (with heating or cooling), and so many people staying indoors after their working hours, the general public (IMHO) has become immune to the changes in the weather.  They don't have to suffer hours, days, or weeks of unbearably hot weather.  The snow is pushed aside for them to journey to their jobs without worry.  Hasn't rained for weeks?  Didn't notice.  As long as the sprinkler system keeps working, and the garden guy keeps showing up, they are oblivious.  At least, this is how it appears to me.

Gardeners, however, are always aware of the slightest change in weather patterns.  We know if the plants are suffering from lack of rainfall.  We worry about a late freeze.  We record the first freeze of the season, and whether it was later or earlier than normal.  Because our garden's life revolves around the weather, our lives seem to also revolve around the weather.  Talk to a gardener, and you can have a very long conversation on the simplest subject - the weather.

People around me have started asking me about the weather.  They know that I watch the rainfall totals.  They just have to ask and I will let them know if we are in or out of a drought.  If it snowed the last two years (yes, unusually).  How much, and usually why (hurricane or cold front) we received rain.  We were expecting a large amount of much needed rain last night.  I woke up, not to thunderstorms as expected, but to the sun shining.  Such disappointment!  Most people would see a beautiful day.  I only saw missing rain.

Mr. Holleygarden has looked extensively for historical records of rainfall totals, to no avail.  If you know where to get historical records for a certain area, please let me know.  I have started keeping records for about a year.  I have now publicized that record in a new page on my blog, and will update it monthly.  Since this is a garden blog, and the weather is such a big part of the success or failure of my garden, I feel it deserves its own special page.

Want to know if someone you just met is a gardener?  Ask them about the weather.  Then see if they know a little more than it just being hot (or cold) from their office to their car.  Want a long conversation with a garden blogger?  Ask them how many pictures have a hose in them!