I'm not sure what my numbers are, but I bet they're even lower. I just read that Texas is in its third worst drought in history, and since October we've had a long string of "driest [insert month here]'s" in history. My city is about to go into Stage 3 water restrictions, which limits watering to once a week by hand or by soaker hose, and once every two weeks by sprinkler. Stage 4 is as high as it goes. Here's a link to the U.S. Drought Monitor website for Texas: http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_state.htm?TX,S I'm in the maroon bit. "Exceptional" drought, the worst category. This drought is already the third worst in history, and considering how it's only June, it's probably not going to get any better for a while and could possibly end up the worst in history.

Lifesblessings, There's no point in worrying about things you can't change and things you cannot prevent. The weather is going to do what it is going to do and the plants just have to deal with it. Remember, these plants are supposed to be able to handle this weather--they are not delicate tropicals! In general, plastic on plants is not good if the plastic is touching the foliage. Anyplace that the plastic touches the foliage, the foliage/flowers will freeze if temperatures are freezing on the outside of the plastic. I only put plastic over plants if it is suspended by a framework like a teepee of poles or hoops (the kind you use to hold row cover suspended over a row of young plants) or, sometimes, if I have tomatoes in the ground with their cages staked around them. In all those cases, the plastic does not touch the plants but touches the poles, the hoops or the cages. Plastic really only buys you a degree or two of warmth at the most if used alone, but it can help hold in heat if you have WOW or Kozy Koats, two liter bottles or buckets of water set next to each plant as solar collectors, a soil heating cable or a row of Christmas lights. However, it is the other devices that are either providing heat or collecting heat....the plastic just helps hold the heat in around the plants. Sometimes I lay plastic directly on the ground, but only if there is not any foliage that could touch it. For example, if I have potatoes in the ground and their foliage is up a couple of inches, I dirt them (pile the dirt on top of the foliage, essentially burying it) put some hay on top of the dirt and lay plastic on top to keep the hay from blowing away. Same thing with onions, only I cover their foliage with hay or straw and then plastic or landscape fabric to hold it in place. Once again, I wouldn't use the plastic if the foliage wasn't buried under hay because the foliage will freeze where it touches the plastic. Covering trees and lilacs serves no purpose. If they are going to freeze, plastic won't save them. It MIGHT keep the blossoms or small fruit on the trees from freezing if temps only go below freezing for an hour, but it is not helpful for longer cold periods. I think peonies should be fine, but you could cover them at with a bucket if you want and if it would give you peace of mind. I don't cover peonies even if it is going to snow. If the barerooted trees are mulched they should be fine. It isn't going to get cold enough for them to suffer root damage. If fruit is going to freeze, and it probably is, there's nothing you can do. Relax. Drink a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa. Enjoy the snow and remember that all the plants you're worried about can take a certain amount of cold. Is it ideal that blooming plants be exposed to freezing temps, high winds and cold. No, it certainly is not ideal but it is just the way things go. This is Oklahoma where we are probably just as likely to get snow and sleet in March as in January. You'll survive. The plants will survive. As for as fruit? It is never guaranteed and probably most of us will lose our fruit crops this year if the weather develops as forecast. There's just no use in fretting over things you can't change. About the only thing you can do is water the plants well (moist but not sopping wet) if rain doesn't fall and freezing weather is expected because dry roots suffer freeze damage more quickly than moist roots. Dawn

Hi, rayminkle, We just had an inch of ice and 4" of snow on Tuesday, then this monster came through. Twelve inches on the ground with winds that whipped the drifts to 3-5' high! Out in the country it's much worse than it is here in town. Poor people. I hope this is the last big blast of winter for us. Crafty

Hi Moni, My gut feeling is that 2009's weather patterns will be similar to 2008's all over the state, with the following caveat: I think winter 08-09 will be colder than usual. So, that means colder than average and drier than average for the southernmost and panhandle counties and colder than average and wetter than average for everyone else. That's what I've been expecting for a couple of months now, but the lessening of rainfall in central OK kinda surprised me. And, you know, I could be 100% wrong. My "gut feeling" comes from watching the weather patterns across the US week in and week out, and from reading what I can about La Nina and El Nino and understanding how they affect us here. Since La Nina tends to bring southern OK drier than average weather, I was hoping for a return to strong El Nino patterns, which brings southern OK more rainfall, but instead, we have a neutral La Nina. Sunspot activity is also greatly diminished--almost nonexistent this year, and that factors into what the weather does too--if you believe the folks who publish the Old Farmer's Almanac. I've been waiting for Steve LaNore, the met at our local CBS affiliate to give us his prediction for southern OK's winter weather and he finally posted it on his blog either last week or the week before. I'll link it below and y'all can read his reasoning and predictions if you want to. For what it is worth, he pretty much agrees with me about what to expect here in southern OK....although his reasoning is built on science and probabilities and mine is mostly a gut feeling based on what little I know and understand about the weather. I cannot begin to explain how dry it is here. I have been watering, and have the highest water bills I've ever had in the cooler months to prove it, but everything is still bone dry. Every day I make water puddles for the wildlife and they come to drink at them morning, noon and night including deer, rabbits, racoons, possums, coyotes, bobcats, field mice, voles, etc. Our dogs and cats are so used to all the wild critters being around that they pretty much ignore them. Well, the bobcats, racoons and coyotes mostly come after dark, and all my animals are in either the house, chicken or guinea coop, or barn/garage by then. I feed the wild birds, and have more than ever before, including woodpeckers and flickers, blue jays, carolina chickadees, tufted titmice, etc. The crows, whom I've never been especially fond of, have become very territorial and have their own spot where I scatter grain for them. In return, they chase off every hawk, kite and kestrel that tries to lurk in the skies over our property. That's a good thing, because the predator birds will attack our poultry if given the chance. And, for what it is worth, my daffs are still chilling in the extra refrigerator in the garage. It isn't that I have forgotten them or that I don't care.....it is just so dry. (sigh) The area where I am going to plant them is very sandy, and I need to till it up, rototill in some organic material and get them planted soon. If I stand there in that spot and pour a glass of water onto the ground, it beads up and runs off....the ground is so dry, it cannot soak in. So, I clearly need to water that area well for a few days before I plant the daffs. One year I didn't plant until Jan. and still had blooms in March. Steve's blog entry with the forecast for colder/drier weather here in southern OK is linked below and I found it to be fascinating reading. It just amazes me how he looks at and analyzes everything that is going on and climbs out on a limb and makes a forecast. I need to read his later blog entries, but I am almost afraid to. I can see from the title he's talking about a Russian Bear and, somehow, I bet it means bad news for us. LOL Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: A Professional's Forecast for Colder/Drier