This site gives you very extended forecasts. I think it is still more art than science in giving these forecasts, and they are really only valid in a general sense so on any given day 3 months from now could be very wrong. But, they are interesting. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/longrang.html

Reed, I feel sorry for Tulsa. This morning Dr. Forbes distinctly mentioned Tulsa having a '7' TorCon more than he mentioned OKC, though at one point he said the storms would form near OKC and move towards Tulsa. The issue will be how violent they are when they form...even if they form in the OKC area, they could be violent from the start or they might gain in strength as discrete cells merge together into a squall line. I think today I wouldn't want to be in Iowa either. We have crazy wind here today. I guess it must be from outflow boundaries from yesterday's storms. I have gigantic trees north of my garden and they were dancing back and forth in the wind so much that it was scaring me and I came inside to get away from them. If a tree is going to fall on my garden, it needs to do it while I am not in the garden. Wulfleton, I am sorry you're feeling homesick. Count your blessings every single day because you do have a lot to be grateful for. Oklahoma has beautiful weather in April and October. The rest of the year we just cringe, hold our breath and hope for the best. The good thing is that once you have learned how to successfully garden in OK, you can garden anywhere. Today's weather likely won't turn out to be nothing, but maybe we'll luck out and the worst storms will hit sparsely populated areas so at least fewer people are harmed that way. Dawn

I'm new to posting here. Also here to learn. I read the container forum, Texas, and the antique rose forum. I used to just lurk here when I had a house with several acres out in the country. DH insisted on selling and moving into an apartment with a 4 x 14 foot covered patio with eastern exposure and 4-5 hours of morning sun. There is also a covered porch in front with western exposure and afternoon sun. So I went with him because I like being married. I am starting over in a very limited way. I really like bouganvillas. I have a friend that has a bright pink one in a pot on her front porch here in Austin. My Florida grandmother had one covering the whole side of her house. I love the ones pictured. Your yard is beautiful, shade and all. I have ordered a couple of shade tolerant roses suitable for containers from ARE and plan to plant only things that are drought tolerant, use Al's 5:1:1 soil mix, and a modified version of a wick watering system involving 2 inch pipe to minimize water needs. Every day I find containers and dead plants and even a watering can out by the dumpster which I rescue to clean and recycle.

At about 5:45 am every day, I go outside in my bathrobe and "check" the weather. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning and I take my umbrella with me when I leave the house at 6:30. Red sky at night, nice sky in the morning, sailor's delight, no umbrella. If it's just a little brisk at 5:45, I wear a sweater or light jacket because it'll warm up by the time I come home and I'll be carrying whatever I've worn. If it's really cold, heavy coat and other gear - yes, I lived in the TC so I also know downright bitter cold. In the winter, I always wear some type of shoe/boot that can withstand snow. In my normal daily routine, as long as I don't get drenched with rain, I don't care too much about what the weather is. I have hairspray at work. If I'm going out of town for some number of days, I google the newspaper of my destination city and check what's going to be happening. Because there's not a darned thing I can do to affect the weather, I don't both too much about it.