"air you can wear" lol, that's a new one for me.

Zucchini, squash and anything cucurbit-related is going crazy. Found first ripe cherry tomato today--a yellow variety.

Would you please bottle up all that extra water and send it to us?

Bottles? I'd send it by the truck-load if I could.

I live in the rain forest and it finally, after over 2 months of basically no rain and way higher than normal temperatures and a forest fire season that is out of control, it finally rained yesterday. Finally we went from extreme fire hazards to high fire hazards. We have one more day of rain and then back to warm/hot.

Yes, please! Truck-loads would be lovely! I was trying not to be greedy. :) You could send tanker-ships-full if there were a way to run them and it would barely wet us (or whet us).

anymore on the proposed ocean water to drinking water plants? years ago they said it wasn't viable but they've doing it in the middle east or so I've read....of course most of those countries have all that oil $$$...

The Chicago Tribune's weatherman actually used the term rainforest to describe today's hot, steamy weather. This morning we had a severe wind and rain alert that ended just before I had to drive DH to the hospital for a colonoscopy. (We were not going to miss that appointment, after he'd done the nasty prep for it!) We're supposed to get even worse wind and rain this evening. I hope Lake Michigan keeps on protecting us; these storms usually break apart before we get damage close to the lake.

The problem with treating salt water is what to do with all the salt. If you put it back into the ocean it raises the saline levels to where nothing can survive in the ocean.

There are a few desal plants along the California coast. A big one in Carlsbad is nearing completion and will soon be producing drinking water as a partial supply for the local system.

I don't think the return of the output saltier water is a big deal or more than the proverbial small drop in a big bucket. I'll link an article from last year I found. Note the the plant shown as "proposed" for Cambria has been built and is operating.

Desal plants in Calif

The water situation is severe, I hope we get enough rain this winter to start to ease the problem. I'm of slightly mixed feelings on the subject, though, because I much prefer sunny days to rainy ones. I wish I could arrange for rain to happen overnight so as not to spoil otherwise good days.

Yes to the rain in east central Illinois. June was real close to 10" and lots of hot weather. July's rains are not so bad...yet, only 2" so far. However, the mosquitoes will get me just walking to the mailbox and back. There are so many and they are so hungry that they will take on almost anything in the middle of the day in the middle of the yard!

The dew points are horrible and there is nothing changing in the next week or so. One of the things that strikes me is the lack of air movement. It is still, thus it makes it seem warmer. We might as well live in Florida as their weather is close to what we have and the winters would not be as severe.

Snidely, I've always thought that would be a perfect arrangement--rain at 2:00AM every Wednesday. ;)

I left my bug bucket on a bench outside a few nights ago, with the evening's catch and about an inch of soapy water in it. The next morning there was at least 3 inches of water in the bucket, and 5-6" in a wheel barrow with sloped sides. I don't even recall hearing rain during the night, but the mockingbird didn't wake me, so he must have been hiding.

As I type, we just had another storm and heavy downpour, which came up so quickly it sent us scurrying from the tomato garden, which is well drained. The larger garden (pumpkins and squash) has water standing between all the rows. I always plant the seeds in hills, so I hope they survive.

My weather is about like Mama Gooses weather. The grass in my dog run got so high that the little chi thought she was walking through a jungle. Only thing showing was her tail. We finally got two days with no rain (today might be the 3rd, unless it rains later), and I weedeated it all down finally. I would be happy to send it to anyone that needs it, if I could. I used the garden hose to water my stone planter which is way under the eves, and doesnt get wet when it rains, and sunk in the ground over the top of my shoes.

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention that I mow every 3-4 days. I have used more gas so far this season than the previous two mowing seasons!

Jim - you're using the gas that we aren't using this year. I think we have mowed our grass 3 times this year and most summers it is a weekly chore. The lawn mowers have fallen silent.

Once in awhile I need to run the water for a short time. There's always a vessel under it so it can be used. I've always hated getting wet, unless it was full on wet, like swimming, but since the water levels have been so far down, I just revel in letting it run over my hands. Running water is such a blessing, so long as there's water to run.

Re desalination plants (BTW, Cambria is a great place for one because the Central Coast has very little water even when there is no drought), there was one that was installed last time out that was mothballed because it was too expensive to run. That's the big issue. OTOH, people who are near the ocean, and have sunny yards, could run solar stills for home use. Some of these technologies work better on a micro level. :)

My sympathies to the people who do not really truly live in rain forests and are getting that much rain. Our hills crumble when we get 30" in a year.

Grass dies here without sprinklers and while some outdoor watering is permitted (so long as total usage is within each customer's maximum use amount), a green lawn here is a social no-no.

No mowing is needed, our lawn is dead.

The mothballed one they're trying to resuscitate is in Santa Barbara.

There was one proposed for Santa Cruz, but the broad thinking folks in charge decided to scuttle it because it might provide enough water to support growth.

::Snicker:: That sounds about right. :) I do think they have a fair system there, though. Instead of percentages, they just decide how much water they have and divide it up equally, then tell everyone how much they can use.

I remember seeing a desalination plant when we lived in western Colorado--it could have been on the Utah side of the state border. I'm sure it wasn't on the same scale as plants in CA.

Just checked our weather--more thunderstorms starting at 1:00AM. Here are a couple of pics I took this evening. Yes, another downpour, this time with the sun shining. What looks like fog off to the left is actually bright sunshine:

Lovely rainbow....thanks to the rain.

I'm feeling very worried for all the gardeners around here; their livelihoods depend on weekly grass mowing. We do our own, but we're in the minority.

I would love a couple of days of good steady rain here in Western Washington. I miss it.

I think that what they got in Ohio was more than a steady rain. My newspaper showed that Columbus had 2.2 inches in one 24-hour period! We had that last month, one overnight rain was 4+ inches! Yikes, water in places that I had never seen before. And, that was after the rain had completed its drenching several hours prior.

Saskatchewan and Alberta is in a drought. I really feel for the farmers, it's serious.

I know what heavy rain is. We have gotten as much as 5.1" in a 24 hour period.

What we need is a steady rain.

The promised storms started at 1:07AM. I don't know what happened, other than thunder, because I didn't hear a thing after that. This afternoon another torrential downpour, with some interesting clouds in the north-east:

Stunning pictures. I hope you get a good break for the water to soak in and do some good instead of bad.

Its been raining just about everyday here in Florida since June. This morning it sounded like the roof would cave in we had so much of it. I'll be glad when this summer is Over!

I do live in a rain forest..only problem is we have very dry, forest fire conditions due to lack of the wet stuff! Well, at least until a couple of days ago. Now it's on it's way to being beautiful and green once again in our rain forest. Breathing is a lot easier also.

We had another downpour sometime during the night. When I went outside today there was a new, higher line of debris along the drainage ditch--grass and twigs, not trash. The morning was overcast, but the afternoon has been very nice, partly sunny and no rain. I hope it holds.

Well, here is what is going on in the rain forest right now. It's really sad to lose all these old growth trees. It happens naturally once in a while, but it's hard to not believe it is exacerbated by climate change and the drought in the west. Rain forest on fire - Washington Post

Thank you for the link. I'm so sorry for everyone going through the droughts and fires.

We had a day without rain, and I mowed grass for two hours in the sloppy wet yard. What a mess, but at least I won't have to rent a bush-hog when (if) the ground dries up.

Today: 96°, 50% humidity, Dew point 71°

Rain yesterday. Dense fog this morning. I think still more rain tonight. But Monday!! Oh, glorious Monday! High of 86!! Can't wait! Mid 80's for a few days before it goes back to hot.

It's only a drop in the (very empty) bucket, of course, but thank you for sending some of your rain to California (er, by way of the tropics). We appreciate every little drop!

There was some rain forecast but it never materialized. We are back to hot and no rain in the future but lightning is forecast in some parts of B.C. tonight and in our current conditions that is not a good thing.

But boy, watching the fires in California on the news tonight, wow!