I saw that too Lee. Glad I held off planting toms and peppers. I'm more concerned with the severe storms and that four letter curse word HAIL.

Mike

Where are you located, Mike? I think much of the severe weather in Oklahoma will be with the squall line that forms on the front, and it will be in the form of high winds. There could be a little hail within the line, but high wind and small "spin-ups" are most likely. There will be a few big supercells that form before the main line gets going during the late afternoon and early evening, especially across western OK, but I don't think there will be a whole lot of them. Of course any supercell that does form will have large hail and a threat for a tornado.

Lee

Im going to plant my stuff afyer thebspring fling, because that is where i will het, hopefully, the tomatoes to plant. I will only do tomatoes and herbs this year. Im hoping all chance of freezing temps will be gone by then, but will check my 10 day forecast after the 20th to make sure, as far as storms that we are bound to get, i have my zillion year old coffee cans and buckets ready to cover my tomatoes up the way my granny taught me!

Emma

Unfortunately, the chance for tornadic supercells with large hail is a little higher than previously thought. It looks like the area with the highest threat for these supercells is between Wichita Falls and OKC. The Storm Prediction Center has that area highlighted as a Moderate Risk for severe weather, which is a pretty significant risk. They also indicated that storms forming in that area are likely to produce large hail and a few large tornadoes.

Stay safe everyone!

Lee

Guess I'll clean out the storm cellar....................and carry all the seedlings down with the cats and dogs.
I appreciate the heads up. I pay more attention to you than the others. I suppose I read this blog more than I watch the tele.

hey Lee

Im in South Tulsa. The storms always seem to follow the turner turnpike right to us. For some reason when they hit the arkansas river they tend to ease up a bit. However I did just get a new,to me atleast car and hail inevitably follows me around every time a it get a new car and or wash and wax one.

So yeah I would suggest not being within a few miles of me today if you dont like hail, LOL.

Mike

The two big weather benefits of living this far east in the state are (1) more rainfall, and (2) a large portion of the severe weather weakens by the time it gets this far east as the sun goes down and the dynamics of the atmosphere change. Tonight looks to be the perfect example of both of these (hopefully, knock on wood).

My neighbor just sent me a forecast that called for 1/2 inch to inch of ice tonight. Noooooooo. All my flowers are coming up. I have way too much stuff to try to cover. I will just cry if I lose all my peonies.

Lee, Thanks for the heads-up. I feel like we're caught in an endless wave of "one more cold spell" situations rolling through about once a week that keep it just cold enough to preclude transplanting tomato plants into the ground.

Y'all, I'll put this on a separate thread so it gets the attention it should....but the NWS just issued a Winter Weather Advisory about an hour ago. I'm not in the Advisory area, but a lot of y'all are.

Dawn

Mike
I recall the turnpike pattern and always wondered why. My last brand new car ended up looking like someone took a ball pien hammer to it for five hours. Never bought a new car again and it was a wise choice since insurance coverage is pretty crappy nowadays.

bon

They always talked about how crazy the weather is in Texas but it is nothing on this. In the 30s for three days then in the 80s for five and then back into the 30s. Unbelivable and incredibly disheartening. I'm getting depressed by this weather.

Reed, just when you get used to it and you know better than to be tempted by the lovely weather, you make fun of all the people who are planting stuff, you shake your head at them and tell them they are silly for starting so early....then you get LAST YEAR's weather!

This year is a little kookier than usual though. You should see me having to explain this to our Haitian student. We haven't had a "normal" year yet since he has been here. This is the closest to normal we've had. He just absolutely hates anything cooler than 70 degrees. Although, he has discovered that sometimes 50 degrees is not as cold as it sounds! And sometimes it is downright frigid.

I'm originally from Colorado, although I've been here way longer than I lived there! I'm still a little surprised at how early we can start gardening here.

Reed, just when you get used to it and you know better than to be tempted by the lovely weather, you make fun of all the people who are planting stuff, you shake your head at them and tell them they are silly for starting so early....then you get LAST YEAR's weather!

This year is a little kookier than usual though. You should see me having to explain this to our Haitian student. We haven't had a "normal" year yet since he has been here. This is the closest to normal we've had. He just absolutely hates anything cooler than 70 degrees. Although, he has discovered that sometimes 50 degrees is not as cold as it sounds! And sometimes it is downright frigid.

I'm originally from Colorado, although I've been here way longer than I lived there! I'm still a little surprised at how early we can start gardening here.

I think it was Mark Twain that said "everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it". I am fed up, I think we should do something about it.

Larry

I danced naked around the firepit last year trying to get it to rain. No luck. Was that too much info or entirely inappropriate or both.

Im in a mood...... Its the weather......

E

Not to add insult to injury for a lot of us, but the computer models are currently indicating ANOTHER cold spell by mid-late next week, too. If the modeling is correct, we could see more temps near freezing in a week or so. Of course this is after it will be in the 70's and 80's by Sunday and Monday.

This weather roller coaster is crazy!

Lee, I was waiting for you to bring up the weather the models are showing for next week. I was hoping you'd say the models won't verify. At the rate things are going our tomato plants are going to start getting cranky about being held out of the ground. As long as moisture keeps coming, we have to put up with the cold.....and happily! We need the moisture.

This year's weather, late cold spells and all, still is an improvement over 2011 and 2012.

I am starting to think that when this spring's last big cold front has come and gone, we will get hot almost overnight and stay hot.

It was 82 degrees here today and I worked outside most of the day. Tomorrow will be totally different and I likely will spend it indoors.

Dawn

Rain of at least an inch so far, hail in the night and ice on the trees (but not roads) in NW OKC now.

Mia, I hope all of your plants are ok, and I hope that weather does not head this way. I think if we get through tonight and tomorrow night we can relax for a while.

Gah!! I already buttoned up the stove and move the rick outdoors. I need a fire burning today!!

bonnie

Erod1:
Did you light the right candles when you were running around that firepit?
Luvabasil

It may amazing if we get one small bucket of tomatoes total. We may all be forced into fall gardening. Anyone recall ever having to rely on a fall crop of tomatoes to get any at all?

I checked my plants this morning and nearly all are root bound and having temper tantrums about it. I don't have the space to pot them up into gallon pots which is what they need. Should I try root pruning?

Susan

What i learned from Ok gardening forum yesterday..... Never post after having a glass of wine. Sheesh. Sorry you guys.

Emma

Ms Emma,
Your firepit was my bright spot today. You can tell when I post after a glass, my dyslexia is really bad!
If this weather keeps up we all may be asking for the firepit instructions.........just in case

Mia, Awesome photos! Only dull old rain here, but it beats getting no rain, doesn't it?

I hope the ice and hail and whatever wind y'all are getting is not enough to bring down power lines. Those poor plants probably weren't expecting to be encased in ice in April.

Larry, We can relax for a little while. A very little while. Some of the models are showing more very cold temperatures next week. That's been our weather pattern lately, so I won't be surprised if the models are right. However, models this far out can change a lot too.

Bon, It is a good day to be inside by a nice warm fire or heater....with the TV on and a cat curled up next to you. Oh, and a dog curled up at your feet.

Susan, We still have oodles of time to get tomatoes. Some years when it is wet and cold in spring, the temperatures stay just cool enough in June and July that fruit sets virtually all summer. I got fruit all summer long in 2002 and 2004, and both of them had recurring spring cold spells like we are having this year. The summers were very nice those years.

Today is only the first day of OSU's recommended tomato-planting dates....we still have tons of time to plant tomatoes with a reasonable expectation of getting fruit. Some of my cherry tomatoes still in plastic cups in flats have begun blooming this week, so they'll likely have fruit on them by the time I put the plants in the ground.

I cannot remember a year when I didn't get any tomatoes until fall. Even in 2011, which was a rough summer overall, we were harvesting tomatoes in late April from plants in large pots and in either late May or early June from plants in the ground. As long as you plant some cherry types, you'll get tomatoes regardless. They don't shut down in the heat as early as the larger tomatoes do. In 2011, we got fruit in all sizes, even the very large ones from plants that went into the ground on-time, with on-time meaning within OSU's recommended tomato-planting dates of April 10-30. Last year was a great early harvest because we could plant early, but we don't only have great harvests in years when we get to plant early. We can have great harvests in years when cold weather makes us plant on-time or late too.

What size cups or pots are your tomato plants in currently? A couple of years ago mine were becoming rootbound in 20 oz. plastic cups and I went to Wal-Mart and found some big white styrofoam cups. I think they were 32 oz. cups. There were 15 cups plus lids in each bag. I bought 6 or 8 bags. I potted up into those big cups and the plants were happy for another week or two. I never pot up into gallon pots unless I'm saving some tomatoes for the spring fling and want them to get a little bigger, like the ones I was saving for Paula last year after she had some plant issues in the spring.

I wouldn't root prune. To me, it just isn't necessary and might be harmful. Even rootbound tomato plants will do just fine when you put them in the ground, as long as they haven't already been rootbound for a month.

Dawn

Sorry - guess I had a moment of panic! Will look for the 32 oz. Cups. They are in 20 oz. right now. Thanks, Dawn!

My DD called (she lives on the west side of town) and the mature trees around her house are crashing all around her from the ice.

Susan

Susan, I understand momentary panic. You cannot be a gardener here without sometimes experiencing momentary panic. :)

Oh, that is just awful news about the trees. I sure hate to hear that.

It was such a relief we didn't have the baseball-sized hail or the 70-80 mph wind gusts, but I guess parts of OK are paying a high price for that because they're having ice instead, which can be just as damaging.

Dawn

I've lived here for 15 years and have learned to expect anything with the weather. However, this is my first year to start a lot of seedling early indoors, so it's very frustrating not to be able to plant yet.

Even though we've had rather late freezes this year, it's been a pretty mild winter. So I'm really hoping for a mild summer this year.

I just came in from covering my potatoes again because some of the hay blew off last night. When I covered them last night after 10:00 it was 81 degrees. When I was recovering then a few minutes ago I was wearing a coat and gloves and was still cold. It is dark and raining now. It seems as though we never know what to expect from one minute to the next.

Larry

Cynthia it is so hard to gauge when to start seeds here. I was actually late getting mine going and here I am STILL waiting to plant. Lol

Dawn, I seem to be having lots of panic attacks this spring....especially when I start thinking about everything I need to do to get the garden steady. I lost one of my faithful sweet kitties this last week and it is hard to get motivated to a lot of anything.

Susan

Susan, I know the feeling....I feel like even if it was possible to work in the garden all day every day for the next month I'd never get caught up, and with each cold front and rainy spell that delays planting, I feel like I'm falling farther and farther behind. It is not a good feeling. I think it is made worse by memories of how early we were able to plant last year too.

I am sorry about your cat. I know how hard it is to lose a beloved pet. We lost one of our younger dogs either last week or the week before. It is hard enough when an animal is old or sick and you see it coming, but she was relatively young and healthy and it was such a shock. She died in her sleep and I found her when I went to her room in the morning to let her out so she could go outside. Tim said he thinks this is the first dog we've had die at home of natural causes. Usually they live until they are ancient and feeble and we finally have to make the dreaded trip to the vet to put them down.

Cynthiann, The weather here sure is full of surprises, and rarely is it dull.

I hope for a mild summer every year but it rarely happens. Still, there' s nothing wrong with wishing and hoping. One of these years maybe we'll have a mild summer again.

Larry, We were so warm yesterday--82 degrees was our high and it still was 73 degrees at bedtime. Then the cold front came roaring through and our temperature fell fast. Still, there were no tornadoes and nothing like hail so I hate to complain. Of course, we're back to muck and mud again. About the time the mud finally dries up from one storm, another front brings rain and we're back to mud again. I'm starting to live in my mud boots.

We have a Freeze Warning for tonight so I covered up what I could with row cover. It is getting kind of old, but my cool-season crops are starting to produce so I sure don't want to lose them now.

Dawn

I'm currently in the middle of a really long moment of panic. I started a new job a few weeks ago and I've spent the last three weeks in eastern OK, going home each weekend. I have my weekends in the garden completely planned out and planting tomatoes was on last weekend's schedule. I should've held off but I didn't think it would get that bad. And then as if freezing wasn't enough, it hailed. I had someone cover them for me, but I won't know if they're okay until I get home Friday. It's not the end of the world, but it still sucks.

Leslie

Thank you for the condolences, Dawn. Many people don't understand the grief we feel upon losing our special companions. Sammy was the first long time baby that adopted me. He was found lost and abandoned, soaking wet from a summer rain storm, in an apartment parking lot at 6 weeks old. I then adopted George to keep him company. Both being the same age, they became fast friends - growing up together, playing together, grooming each other, sleeping close together. George is in mourning Sam, too. I found Sammy on the floor gone, and while he lived a good long life, he was not showing any signs of old age or illness. Such a shock.

I am also sorry for your loss, too, and once again thank you. Our pals are at the rainbow bridge......probably rubbing noses!

Susan

Susan and Dawn,

I'm sorry for the loss of your pets. While I'm glad it seems they didn't suffer, it still is such a shock when they're gone.

Poor George - I know you will have lots of cuddles and cries together!

Sharon

Thank you so much, Sharon.

Susan

Leslie, When you get home I hope you find your plants are alright.

Susan, Thank you. Mrs. Jeeves' mama dog, Honey, has really been missing her most of all. We've been giving her lots of extra attention because she seems to need it right now. I hope our beloved pets are at the Rainbow Bridge together...and if they are, they're likely discussing their garden-obsessed humans.

Sharon, Thanks so much.

I hope everyone made it through this latest cold spell okay. We were fine here, but we only went to 34 degrees and even the plants I did not cover were fine.

I moved all the flats of plants out into the full sunlight today to bask in its warmth, except for the pepper flats which still are inside on the light shelf. I'm waiting for the air temps to warm up a little more and then they'll go to the greenhouse which will be warmer than the outdoor temperatures.

I am looking carefully at next week's forecast and thinking I may start putting tomato plants in the ground around Saturday or Sunday of this weekend unless Lee posts something that scares me weatherwise. The issue now is not the temperatures (after tonight passes). It is the mud. I'll plant as soon as the pathways are dry enough to walk in. The raised bed for the tomatoes is at the lowest point of the garden this year, so while the bed itself drains well and is fine, the pathways are a big pit of mud.

Dawn

Dawn,

I don't think the cold coming next Wednesday-ish will be any worse than what we've just experienced the past couple of days. With that being said, you know from experience with your micro-climate around your place, that at certain times, your early morning temperatures can really bottom-out. It's hard to say when that could happen for you. I can say that the potential for such an event for you will be there.

We are stuck in this pattern of successive Arctic high pressure systems dropping down every 5-7 days. Right now, the longer-range models are showing this to continue through the end of the month. The magnitude of the cold air associated with each of these is hard to predict right now. I can say with some confidence that much of Oklahoma will probably experience their last frost day several days later than average this year.

I hope this is helpful in your decision to plant this weekend.

Lee

Lee,
I do appreciate your warnings.....as sad as they are. I won't plant this weekend, maybe around the 21st. I am having Little House of Horrors nightmares. I sneak past the tomatoe plants as its.....and I can hear those little leaves turning to see if its me...and then they growl......
heebie jeebies.....

Lee,

Thanks so much for your input. I appreciate it so very much.

Because the temperatures in my microclimate here very near the Red River drop so low thatpatchy frost is routine as late as May 3rd or 4th (every year since 2007, I think, except for 2012), I almost always have at least my tomato plants in the ground when we are getting late frosts at least once a week, so I am pretty used to the routine of planting and then watching the weather.

The weather used to drive me totally insane here, and then I bought a 5000 square foot roll of Agri-bon floating row cover, and that has helped me dial down the weather panic a great deal.

Since I have the row cover, my current plan is to put tomato plants in the ground Sunday unless the forecast worsens, and I am waiting until Sunday just to give the models a couple of days to drop the temperatures lower...so I have one more chance to back out of planting.

Our local TV met scared me last night by dropping his forecast low for Marietta to 33 while the NWS was saying 38. I was in full panic mode for about 30 minutes. I could have run out and hastily thrown row cover over everything, and I almost did, but I really wasn't feeling like he was right. I sure was fearing he might be right though. So, what happened? Our Burneyville mesonet station recorded 33 degrees but at our house one outdoor thermometer dropped to 38 and the other one dropped to 37 and the plants look fine this morning. I wasn't really worried about much of anything other than that late frost or freezing temperatures might knock the blooms off my sugar snap peas. That wouldn't have been the worst thing that's ever happened here.

So, all systems are 'go' for planting tomato plants soon, but I'll say I am 90% certain I'll plant Sunday afternoon and we'll see if the models worsen and make me back off from that plan.

My real fear is that when the weather pattern changes, we'll go from the 30s at night to the 90s during the day all in the same week!

Dawn