Nothing in the Phoenix area to speak of, all summer, at least at my house (can vary depending on location).

Never thought I'd say this, but I envy you Las Vegans for the rain you're getting (sorry don't mean to sound snippy but Las Vegas has never been my favorite place).

jaspermplants,

I have not checked the doppler radar today to see where the rain is going; but more is definitely expected.

I once had a low, biased opinion of Las Vegas, and could not fathom why anyone would want to live here, that is until I actually explored and really learned about Las Vegas. My ex had a friend whose entire family, parents, siblings, moved from the Westside ( Mar Vista) in Southern California to Las Vegas. We actually came here to look because he had been promoting this place for months; we figured that we would make the trip just to show consideration of his suggestions, believing all along that we were traveling here to rule it out. Thirteen years later......lesson learned about making judgments without "current" solid information, research and investigation.

I have discovered there are far worse places in terms of politics and on other levels, but do not get me wrong, this place is far from perfect, but there are not a whole lot of places ( big cities) that can't throw stones; I cannot think of any in the vicinity based upon my criteria. There are great places in this country but it also depends upon what is important to the individual.

I am not sure about you , but many people have an opinion of Las Vegas based upon what they hear in the media, and as I have written in previous posts, so many of these same folks have never ventured any good distance away from the strip. But everyone has what they like. If I could easily move, at this point, I would never move back to California, or any hot climate, an exception would be a mild interest in Austin, or Plano TX, but I would strongly consider the PNW; maybe one day:)

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 0:36

I cannot remember getting rain in August since I moved up here in '04, but yesterday, we had heavy rain off and on all day.

This summer, the weather has been rather nice. Only a few days in the triple digits, more in the 90s, but it's already beginning to feel like fall. Night temps are in the 40s.

I really like it because it's easier to work outside.

Smiles,
Lyn

45 miles north of here there were torrential rains today, complete with flash flood warnings. I understand from friends who commute down the 14 FWY it was very ugly. We only had 95 degrees with high humidity, some clouds, a bit of thunder and NO rain, dang-it. Kim

Roseblush,

Do you have a strong Fall flush?

Kim, no kidding. All that drama without the glory of rain.

Our temperature hit about 84 today, but will return to the low 90's this week, which without high humidity is very pleasant . I just hope my roses like the change.
Lynn

We were promised heavy rains since at least a week ago and were so happy, and then the whole thing passed us by completely, except for some unwanted humidity. I'm seriously bummed.

Ingrid

I watched the thunderhead far off in the distance knowing they were too far away to bring us rain.

Instead we are warmer, yesterday too. But the fog is just off shore were I can see it and hope it returns soon.

After two hot dry months we got a half inch of rain about ten days ago, then, after a week of hot muggy weather, two days ago an unexpected inch of rain and dropping temperatures. Oh, this is nice, and not something I can count on every year. Three years ago it was blazingly hot (and dry) all the way through September, thus killing any idea of a fall flush in our unwatered garden.
I needed this. For some reason not clear to me, summer this year has been murderous for the garden. I don't know if the extremely wet winter and spring left it in some fashion unusually vulnerable to the usual summer drought--which is not what I would expect--but the state of the garden is ghastly. I went on a tour of it a couple of days ago and came back really depressed. It hurts when you work for years on a piece of land and then see it looking (or so it seems) worse than when you got busy with it.
It's raining right now. I hope all you folks in drought-stricken areas will soon be able to say as much.
Melissa

We were in drought for several years. In June we started getting lots and lots of rain. Then the first of August, the good rain came to a screeching halt, even though other areas are in flood. We've had a few scattered showers, and that's it. We really need as much rain as we can get in August and September for the plants and also our pastures for the cows and horses.

We actually got some rain last night, finally. It's been such a dry summer.

Lynn, I admit my opinion of Las Vegas is based on downtown "Vegas" stuff. I don't know much about the town at all. I agree, Nevada politics can be an improvement over Arizona politics, no question.

Personally I don't care that much for the Phoenix area either and would love to move to a cooler climate. I moved here years ago and don't know if I'm motivated to move again due to owning house and having family here, etc. However, this climate is certainly not my favorite. That being said, I would not move to California either due to high prices, incredible crowds, etc etc. The only place I would live in CA is Sonoma County north. However, too expensive and will probably not do so.

But, anyway, am glad we at least got some rain yesterday. Hope it continues. Glad Las Vegas has gotten some rain as well.

The increasingly erratic weather patterns, droughts, floods, record heat waves (93 degrees in Germany, where the roads buckled), sink holes that have swallowed up people, record freezes, record EVERYTHING, make me very much afraid that we're coming very close to the end of life as we know it. It's becoming very frightening.

Ingrid

Our rains come almost exclusively in the winter. We've had two years of drought and no hint yet how this winter will turn out. We can only cross our fingers and hope.

Here in California it is part of the normal cycle to have drought come in waves that last several years, even a decade or more. We have survived it before, though native species that are just hanging on sometimes do go extinct. The chief problem is not the climate pattern but that each time this cycle works its way through, the limited water is being shared by more and more people than the time before.

I am happy for everyone receiving the blessing of much-needed rain. May you get all the rain you want and need! I wish that for everyone, everywhere, who is in drought.

Rosefolly

The intensity of the sunlight seems tremendously greater here this year compared to any other year in recent memory. The temperatures aren't higher, but the severity of the sun's radiation is. Plus, there isn't any ground water due to less than 40% of the usual annual rain fall totals. Established, well watered, well mulched roses and other plants are simply scorching. Burnished foliage is all over my garden and all of my clients' gardens. I'm sure the salt levels in the soil are at all time record highs because all of the water has come from the municipal water supplies. No real rains have hit to wash the salt accumulations through the soil. It's honestly looking quite bleak.

Here are a few examples from out back here. Most of these receive mid morning to late afternoon sun. There is nothing to be done to shade them. They're at the top of a severe slope where wind will take anything left possible to move. And, this isn't the worst of it. As close to the coastal ridge as we are, my conditions are moderated by what little of the marine layer creeps inland. Deeper into the Valley and at lower elevations where the heat is much greater, things are looking quite a bit worse. There has been nothing sprayed on the foliage except hose water and that is done at dusk when there is no chance of the sun frying it. I'm not feeding anything. Inorganics will increase the soil salt levels, which they don't need. Organics will attract even more rabbits, squirrels, rats, coyotes and even worse, increase the mole activity due to increased earthworm populations. We NEED some good rains! Kim

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Now that all looks very familiar!

Nice to know you are not alone, isn't it? Kim

Lynn......

I usually get a good fall flush, but I have never had rain this early in the season. I am very grateful this storm came with rain because it was a low thunder storm with cloud-to-ground lightening and the heavy rain decreases the chances of wildfire.

Usually, I have day temps in the high 90s and low 100s through all of September and no rain and am more worried about blooms frying. This year, the day temps are in the low 90s and high 80s, but the night temps are dropping into the 40s. The roses are loaded with buds, so I am hoping the night temps don't drop much lower until the roses have a chance to bloom.

I'll probably give them one more feeding this week and not give them their last feeding in October. Generally, in September, I am putting down my winter mulch and dealing with stacking wood and getting the house ready for winter.

I have a feeling fall is going to be unusually early this year and short with night temps dropping below freezing earlier.

When the night temps drop below freezing, that's when I put the hoses away and the roses are on their own. We generally get enough rain that I don't have to bring the hoses out for additional irrigation. This year ? Who knows ?

Smiles,
Lyn

Kim, my roses look like yours and probably even worse. Very sad to go outside and look at them.

Ingrid, I'm with you on feeling like there is some type of environmental disaster awaiting us soon, if it has not already arrived (and has been denied or ignored). I can't see how these types of problems can continue without reaching some type of breaking point.

I've been reading your weather posts, Lyn, and now check LV's temps regularly on the weather map. We have been running hotter than you the last few days--lucky you, but things are cooling down here just a bit (95 today). We were pretty much neck and neck with Fresno temp wise this summer, while LV, Palm Springs, Phoenix, and Tuscon were pretty consistently hotter. I noticed today that the hottest spot in the nation yesterday was...Scottsbluff, Nebraska, my Dad's birthplace, of all things. The Midwest must be getting hammered. What happened to dear old Death Valley?
Back to rainfall--about a week ago, we got .42 inches of rain--a veritable downpour, to bring our year's total to 4.91 inches. We are pulling ahead of LV at last.
Enjoy your cool weather, Lynn.
Diane

That was a fun post, Diane. I hadn't thought about Scott's Bluff in thirty years, since we visited Scott's Bluff National Monument WAY back when! Thanks for the memory jog! Kim

You're very welcome, Kim. Do you have any family connections in Nebraska? Another family town was Broken Bow, Nebraska, and my mother was born in Jewel County, Kansas (there was no town in that county; still is pretty much that way). I think I've read that you hail from Alabama, which I love. I've visited Jasper a number of times to see relatives (now gone) and loved seeing the Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, the gardens that Coke made possible--ha. Love that stuff. Diane

No ma'am, my best friend's father's family was from Nebraska. We were just there traveling and seeing any and everything there was to see. I haven't seen Bellingrath Gardens in over forty years. Kim

I think gardeners are the canary in the coal mine as far as the environment goes. I don't know what it's going to take for the U.S. (and we are the worst offenders) to become aware that we are fast approaching a point of no return. I drive a Prius, only go out about once a week and combine all my errands, keep my air on 80, my heat on 68, recycle, compost, etc., etc. But I don't know many people who are willing to do that, including my own children.

Ingrid, like you, I'm terrified about what's to come.

Not a drop. Darn it!

Kim, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's made that observation about the intensity of the heat. I've mentioned this to several people this year but so far you've been the only one to voice that same feeling. I have very light skin and if I'm in the sun for only a few minutes my skin actually begins to hurt, as if it were literally being burned. Of course if it does that to me what is it doing to the roses? Your rose leaves look exactly like mine, especially your first three pictures, which seem to be the worst.

I read of a town in Texas that went without water for five days because every drop had been used for fracking. Other towns in Texas and no doubt other places are facing the same problem. When are we going to wake up and stop this madness? I wonder how much worse it has to get before corporate greed is finally controlled and the government comes to its senses.

Sorry, I don't mean to preach, but it a way it seems frivolous to worry about roses when fairly soon our very existence, including that of plants and animals, will be threatened. At the same time, without beauty and passion in our lives, it would be a very diminished existence. The very life of our roses and gardens is tied up with the health of the planet as a whole. I think floridarose is spot on with her comment about we gardeners being the canary in the coal mine. I do pretty much what she does but wonder how many people around me care or know enough to do the same.

Ingrid

Hi Nanadoll,

Your area has already exceeded the rainfall we usually receive in an entire year :( Good for you... awful as usual for us.

Depending upon the source, we average anywhere from 3.5" to 4.5" of rain annually. Unfortunately we are the driest major city in the country. We are having a record setting year, as it is almost September and we have hit 4"; maybe we will make it to 5" or so by the end of the year. Unfortunately, our winters can be pretty dry too.

The state receives 9+" of rainfall annually due to Reno way up North, which is a lot cooler. That area also gets its fair share of winter snow.

We have been cooler, but it is usual for our temperatures to begin a descent in mid-August. I use local sources to get an accurate reading for our weather. The national services use the airport area for the weather, and being in a valley, what they report is often inaccurate, but not far off. My source uses a middle school less than a 1/4 mile away from my home.

We have hot and cool spots. The East side of town is always the hottest. My weather high today is 88 degrees. When I was on the other side of town this afternoon, the reading in my car was consistent with the Weather Channel's report of a high of 91 degrees.

For a major city, Phoenix is by far the hottest; far exceeding Las Vegas. I find it to be an excellent basic point of reference as to whether or not a rose can deal with dry heat.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 19:21

I think we're related, Ingrid. As a teen, I was a blue eyed, platinum blond with a white mustache and red beard. This sun IS intense! It does hurt after a few minutes and I work out in it hours every week, so you think I'd be more used to it, even with protection. Whether it's temporary or an honest to goodness change in climate, it is much more "saturated", intense than what it used to be. Kim

Lyn, I think you've become a weather addict, like I have. I agree that Phoenix is the worst--unless you count Death Valley, oh my.
I've got to tell you about how hot Las Vegas really can get, though. Back in 1972, I was staying with my in laws in LA during July. I decided to meet my parents in LV since they were coming down from Idaho. Like the complete idiot I was at that time, I crossed the desert from East LA (doing some research in that area at County Hospital). I took off with my four year old daughter across the desert in the afternoon in a ratty car with no air conditioner. All along the way, cars were pulled over with engines on fire. It grew so hot, I couldn't grip the steering or put my feet on the floor of the car. My daughter was suffering in the back seat. What to do? We approached the spot in the road known as Baker, California. Its huge sign proclaiming the temperature said "126 degrees"! I saw a restaurant ahead and know we were stopping there for as long at it took--until that temp dropped. I pulled into the parking lot. I started to get out of my car, and the elastic holding up my slacks had failed in the heat, and they fell down to my knees before I could grab them. Disaster! We staggered into the restaurant, me clutching my pants, and stayed there for a couple of hours. When we arose to go, I found, voila, my pants stayed up...the elastic had rebounded, and so had my dignity. We arrived in Las Vegas at 7 that evening, and it was a mere 115 degrees. At midnight, my parents and I walked along outside between casinos, and it was still 100 degrees. And that, friends, is how hot it can get in Las Vegas. Diane

Diane,

I watch the weather really closely now because of my bands and own root plants. I have to determine when they can handle being out in the sun, and when they need to be in the shade. The hot weather and direct sunlight can cause a quick demise for some of these fragile plants.

My hubby is just a geek, he has weather related gadgets attached to our home and something in a tree. I do not get involved with any of that, but somehow, information is sent to some gizmo in the house that provides a lot information about the weather.

Oh yes, that sounds right, just like July, every year here and there. It was 124 degrees one day in July; a few weeks ago, and any one with an accurate thermometer, or a more localized weather report was aware of the high temperature. After one day of that blistering heat, it dropped down to the normal highs for July in a day; which are the high 100's to 100 teens. July is brutal. But these temperatures are same for the major cities you listed. I was in Palm Desert two years ago during the summer, and it was 118 degrees. I remember saying to my husband when we walked outside " this is awful", then I said oops... we live in Las Vegas.... I had no room to talk. The difference is we were tourists and went out in the heat. During July, in Las Vegas, we go from air conditioned houses, to air conditioned automobiles, and then scurry into air conditioning buildings. The parks are empty during July. This past weekend, there were people in the parks, feeding the ducks and geese, having picnics, playing volleyball. I saw people walking to the neighborhood library and families in the nature discovery park with their young children. It was refreshing to be able to go out. I actually began amending my soil for the Fall blooms:)

We average 70 days per year over 100 degrees. Phoenix takes the record for a "major city" with 110+ days over 100 degrees, often hitting the one hundred teens and sometimes above too. These temperatures are not sustained for hours; they represent the height of the heat during the day; and it almost always occurs in July here. But the people who live here now this for sure; we try to stay indoors.

I have been living here for 13 years, but visiting Las Vegas here and there since 1976.

I am sure there are other records as one would find for all cities, but these records are not the norm.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Wed, Aug 28, 13 at 16:24

Diane, that was very funny.

The last time it rained here, was on May 9th!
Daisy

Daisy,

Wow! Is going over four months without any rain normal for your climate ?

Lynn

Daisy, I actually envy you, since it's been so long that I can't even recall our last rain, but it might have been February or March. I hope you're not facing a water shortage that will affect your beautiful garden.

Ingrid

Nooooo, *sob*. We've had a few 'impulses' of clouds in off the Gulf, & a few folks have received hit & miss showers, but they haven't hit in our exact spot.

I'm really starting to loathe this damned drought. Oh, it really is actually "normal" for us, but....

I'm old enough to realize there are rarely normal or average years--just wet years & dry ones--& droughts are periodic & tend to go in several year cycles. Hurricanes (not that I wish them on anyone) have been surprisingly rare & so we've been missing the influx of tropical storm rains for several years now.

Oh, well, it WILL change, that's what weather does--& I'm looking forward to the heat breaking & the rains coming again. They always do.

Yes Lynn, that is normal for here.
I live in the north eastern end of the island. It is a lot drier than in the west. We hope to see some rain in September, but last year it didn't arrive until October and then not a lot of it.
Ingrid, so far there has not been a water shortage. Luckily,my garden is small and only gets watered once a fortnight.
I am hoping, I will only have to water it twice more this year.
I hope you get some rain soon for your elegant and beautiful garden.
Daisy

Blue girl,

You're lucky you do not live in a dry desert, smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert floor; the aridness is par for the course. Receiving a lot of rain (wetness) is just not part of our "climate", and we do have "weather" averages that are not spot on, but give a good general idea as what to expect. With an exception of a day or week here or there, our temperatures within a season do not and have not fluctuated drastically.

We, as well as those in other areas in the West, receive our water from the Colorado River; ours is via Lake Mead, and both have been majorly impacted by the drought that some believe is cyclical, others contribute it to global warming. I guess we will see what happens.

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Sat, Aug 31, 13 at 14:09

We live in eastern Washington (5 miles from Idaho) and have very hot, dry summers. Being in the upper 90s and even 100 is not unusual, especially in July and August...even early September. Our summers are shorter (due to our long winters) but we often don't get much rain after early June.

The last few days, it's finally rained a few inches...and I'm so glad. We have horses and the pasture can get so dry and dusty, without rain. 10 miles north of us, they had flash flood type rains, but we were lucky to get a lighter down pour. We just had canola planted in the fields and too much rain would wash away the small plants.

The roses get watered a lot, but the grass and pasture are looking a bit greener, already :)