Thursday, June 5, 2014

Angry Skies

There's an old joke that it always rains when the wheat is ready to harvest (or the hay is dry enough to bale, but that's another story for another day) and this year is trying its best to prove the truth behind that joke.   

This morning, the sky was dark and lightning was flashing everywhere (I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd seen lightning with the drought this winter until I saw all that lightning).   Usually the weather is like this in May (thunderstorms and tornadoes) , so I don't know what this means for the rest of the summer.

I played around with the camera on my cellphone taking pictures of the clouds and was surprised at how close the picture was to what I was seeing with my eyes so I decided to post a couple of them for the world to see. 

It looks like it's raining hard 10-15miles away


It's a double-edged sword with rain this time of year, I'd like the rain to hold off until I can harvest the wheat, but the grain sorghum, hay fields, pastures, and crabgrass all need the rain.  But, I like for it to rain, so I hope it pours, I can always figure out a way to get the wheat harvested a week or so later.

5 comments:

  1. We got an inch and a half out of that storm system and we really needed it. We've been getting rain but not as much as we need. Not as dry as you guys down that way fortunately. With all the global warming forecasts, it doesn't sound like we are going to get out of this drought cycle anytime soon.

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    1. At least it hasn't got really hot yet, we've had a few days that reached the 90's, but we haven't gotten close to 100. In 2011 and 2012, it was over 100 degrees during much of May (105 and dry in May is a special kind of miserable).

      The '30's, '50's, and '80's were all drought decades. The '70's and '90's were wetter decades. Weather is like everything else in nature, it runs in cycles.

      I've also read that we are ten years into a thirty year dry period. Most of the years I've been farming have been dry, so since I can make a living now, I'm planning on hitting the jackpot when it gets wet again.

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  2. Those skies look awesome... I love angry skies when I'm pretty sure we'll make it through ok.

    I was standing on a dock yesterday morning, fishing in a light rain, and I thought my rod felt a little bit tingly... and I noticed all the lightening and decided I had better head for home.

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    1. I've been wracking my brain trying to remember the details of the story, but someone (not sure who it was) once told me that they missed the thunderstorms, lightning storms, and being able to see the thunderheads build in the sky when they moved away from OK (I can't tell you where they moved). It would have made a much better story if I could remember the details, but I do remember thinking that I'd also miss them.

      I do remember being a little reckless in the past, fishing in storms, and catching more fish than usual. There's something about risking your life on the off-chance that you might catch a big fish.

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  3. Man, something about those skies in that flat country. Frightening!

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