I'm not complaining about the heat this summer either. Last two or three years were the coldest summers this part of the state has had for decades. My DD debates me this, but I read the farm reports from corn harvests. I also know that for two years there were no ripe tomatoes unless they were picked and brought inside. This summer reminds me of the hot summers of my early childhood when I'd lay on the linoleum of the kitchen floor and my mother would fall over me when she was cooking. I knew, just like the dogs did, it was cooler there if you didn't lay too long in one spot. LOL. We still haven't had many hot nights. Mostly high sixties. I even love hot nights, when I'd take a glass of iced tea and sit out under the stars. But, the humidity has been pretty rank, despite the fact we need rain. It hasn't been nearly as bad as the summer of my seventeenth year when I was working between my Freshman and sophomore years at a lodge in the wilds of the Ozarks. It was so constantly wet in the air toadstools were growing in my bathroom. I carefully cleaned around it because I thought it was cool. That's what seventeen year olds do.

Jay, I missed your earlier post because I was writing mine. I was trying to watch the radar last night to see if you got more rain, but the storm split a couple of times and I wasn't sure if the rain reached you. I'm glad you got those plants staked so any wind that accompanied the storms couldn't blow them over. Three and a half inches of rain is great and I suppose the seven inches is wonderful too although that much in a short period can cause problems, especially in tight soil. I'm sure you'll get additional fruitset during this cool spell. How wonderful that will be. I am seeing a lot of new blooms the last couple of days, so think our plants will set more as well if the highs don't go too high. We just haven't cooled off nearly as much down here as many of you who are a lot further north. Today is the first day that it feels really good and cool outside. Any cooldown at this time of year is good though, even if it only means a high temp of 90 or 95 instead or 98 or 102. Y'all, our rain arrived very late, around 3 a.m. and was a very loud thunder-and-lightning storm with a little rain thrown in. We had a little more than 3/4s of an inch, so added to this week's earlier rain, we have had 1.7" this week, which is a lot of rain for us in July. My garden is looking deliriously happy and quite green. No violent weather here. I was watching the storm make its way towards us when it was still in Texas and producing winds of 100 mph, but I knew it would run out of steam (in terms of windspeed and such) before it got here, and it did. I'm glad a lot of you who have been needing rain up there in central OK have gotten a lot this week--your drought type numbers (rainfall, fractional water, KBDI) were starting to worry me. George's and Scott's drought numbers still do worry me. Lisa, Just a little more rain and your gauge will start overflowing like it did last year! I'm glad you got your new car out of the hail zone in time. Carol, So the rain was just a little late arriving? Better late than never. George, I have been mystified by the way the rain keeps missing y'all there in Tahlequah. I have watched it closely since spring, and it does astonish me that y'all are having our usual 'dry holes' in the radar/rainfall. Never in my life would I have thought you'd ever have a rainfall shortage there (or that Scott's area would be abnormally dry either). I am hoping and praying that you and Jerreth get rainfall there so that your garden will produce well. I hope Scott gets some rain too. Y'all have been far too dry for far too long. You have my sympathy, George, because I understand the frustration of being surrounded by rain that somehow continues to miss your particular location. You are starting to sound like me last year, but you can't help it....you're experiencing similar conditions and frustrations. Hopefully you'll get some rain today and, if not today, then soon. Down here, we always say it takes a flood to end a drought, so it wouldn't surprise me if you get some really heavy rainfall to end your drought there, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Y'all know that the Oklahoma weather is all messed up and out of sync when Marietta has had more rain than Tahlequah. A lot of us still have rain in the forecast on one or more of the next few days. How odd is this rainy pattern for the end of July/beginning of August? Now, let us all hope for a cooler-than-usual August, because that would be almost too good to be true. Dawn

I am NOT expecting trouble, and most years we have a lot of little warning fires before big ones break out. This year has been blessedly quiet since the rain began falling at the end of April. We haven't had a freeze, so we still have oodles of green here. I might feel differently if all the grasses and trees were dormant and their foliage was dry and crunchy. : ) Having said that, it surprises me to see the use of the word 'high' in the fire weather forecast at all, but then some parts of Oklahoma have been much drier than us--most notably western OK, and have had a freeze, so they might have more to worry about. Oh, and I should clarify, that 'high' sounds worse than it is. 'High' is only one step up from 'moderate', I think. Higher on the scale than high would be 'Very High', 'Extreme', 'Critical' and 'Extremely Critical'. As a firefighter's wife and mom, I generally don't get too worried until it hits 'Extreme'. Barb, The wind isn't bad here yet--maybe 12 to 15 mph, but the temp is in the upper 70s. I looked at the Mesonet and it is stronger where y'all are than where I am. Sometimes, being in a low-lying river valley helps keep the wind down, though not always. Our forecast looks excellent through at least Tuesday, and that is the local forecast I'm looking at. If I go to Accu-weather, the forecast starts looking dicey around Friday the 13th. If we have a freeze or a light frost around then, that would be pretty much on schedule and expected--though not necessarily welcome. Beth, All those peppers are calling my name, and I think I will put them out of their misery today. Once they are dehydrated or frozen, they can't bother me any more. LOL I am not really worried. I have been cutting grass and it still has a lot of moisture in it. It is just that after months and months of not having to look at the fire weather forecasts, the OKFire page, or the Keetch-Byram Drought Index page, I'd practically forgotten such things existed. We have had more bad fire years than good ones lately, but I am so hoping for a good one this year. Dawn

Glad y'all like the site. I'm keeping an eye on my weather now and battening down the hatches for a couple of cold nights. It's 38F out there now and is expected to steadily drop throughout the day and wind up down at 26F early in the morning and again early Sunday AM. My hands are scratchy now from fighting with wind-blown lemon branches from a ladder, trying to reach the last of the lemons. I also have lots of kumquats and a fair number of ripe calamondins I could pick if I have time this evening after finishing up covering trees and protecting outdoor plumbing. Looks like I'll be juicing fruit Saturday while it's too cold to be outside. Oh, I am ssoooo ready for spring and, February, our worst month of winter is still yet to go. We are actually supposed to have temps back up to the 60s Monday and Tuesday through Saturday are supposed to be in the 70s. I could plant sooo many different types of citrus here if it weren't for just a hand full of really cold nights each winter.