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Oooooook, so here is the new thread: How's the weather ? (2014) [Part II]

Weather: We can talk about but cannot do a thing about it.

That is fine. But we can learn how to cope and deal with it when it comes to gardening.

OK, here is our 10 days forecast. As you can see, it is going to cool off....and lots of rain ... typical PNW fall weather. But luckily there is no frost in the horizon ,YET>

Today Wednesday, 66' F at 9 am !!!

Yesterday, Tuesday, there were 28' F in Effie, Minnesota.

Yessss.

Yay, spring is here...

Anyway, In PNW:

Today : High 68F: ... low 49F

Morrow : ........72 : ..........49

In another week forecast shows highs in 50s but lows will remain in 40s. So no fat lady coming soon to sing.

My maters are ripening slowly. I have a lot of good size ones out there. I can always pick them and let them ripen inside. NO PROBLEM. hehe

Here the ripening outside is pretty fast. And the thick leaves / branches grow faster. Many flowers too.

I don't want to put my tomatoes inside yet, I just keep them outside as long as I can - when lower 50s at night, they will go in the basement.

My "subjective" tongue told me that those riped OUTSIDE are tastier than those riped INSIDE.

My tongue says it "feels" the artificial ripening in my basement.

What a lop sided situation. North, NorthWest quarter is all blue and South, SouthEast quarter is orange red warm and nice.
Call it Canda Effect.

Here in Sammamish, WA, currently is 53F and should warm up to 72F later.but starting tomorrow more BLUE is going to BLOW this way. :-)

The highest in my neck of the wood: 69' F. Good !

It gets down into the 40's at night but tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and chilis continue to bloom, bud, and ripen. Maybe they're being warmed by solar energy from the house ...

well...

but 69 YOU, 63 ME... that is not ok...

just kidding.

anyway it could get higher here, imo...

50' F in Long Island (NY)

Hopefully it will warm up in the next few days.

Otherwise... that's it. See you in spring !

I may pick green tomatoes in the morning if I have time (DD has a parade to march in so we have to leave by 10:30). Or maybe Monday morning. I have plenty of ripe/ripening ones to deal with (plus about 15 gallons of peppers) so I don't really need the green ones but I would like to make 1 batch of sweet green tomato pickles. I've got a full sheet pan of ripe ones roasting in the oven right now.

Low is supposed to be 35 at 7am - but warming up to 42 by 9am?! Mid 50's during parade - I'm not sure if I'll be marching along or waiting at the bus (I'm chaperoning), I'll make sure DD wears a T shirt under her uniform.

Cold again tomorrow night/Monday AM but then it looks like it's going to warm up. Tomatoes are done, so's squash (and the beans will die), but I'm hoping for some ripe peppers and still have tatsoi, beets, chard, carrots, and mustard.

I picked the last cantaloupe tonight. We have some ping-pong ball sized watermelons - big waste of space this year.

short of freeze/frost, season coming to an end.

And things are going so well in my garden: healthy new branches, tomatoes ripening on the vines, lots of flowers...

Nothing will go inside until I have 40s at night, which might be in the next few days, imo.

One more cold rain like the one today, and that's it... 40s at night, 50s during the day. When that arrives, it's time for cleaning my garden.

IF weather will cooperate...

Low tonight 45' F. Not good.

Obviously I don't expect anything from those flowers, just curious to see what will happen.

I have bee snipping all the buds and flowers on my plant as much as I could reach, as of the end of August. I have whole lot of green tomatoes, as big as 14 oz and smaller gulf ball size. And I am hoping those will have a chance. I am pretty sure that I will end up with plenty of small green ones to pickle and make relish with. Some of the plans seem to have gotten the signal (from cold) and have given up setting flowers.

But despite all the cold I will keep my plants Until the frost. There is nothing to lose. Every other day I pick a basket full ( ~ 5 lbs). That is enough for fresh eating , salad, etc.

Today was a nice cloudy day , with showers and light thundering, high reaching 64F. Not bad.
Our rain season has begun no doubt. We won't see much sun for the next 10 days, temps in 64H/51L range, rain probability 60% avge. (10% to 80%) ; typical PNW fall.
Wishing you a nice fall weather.

So, the humidity is up to 75% now and headed for 98% tonight, but I'm not complaining... October can be the month everyone envies Florida. The problem is there are 11 more months and the freeze comes in too quickly in the north part of the state. But for the moment we'll take this (80 F on my outside thermomenter and it's 10 till midnight!

PC

Sunday, October 12, 2014, in Colorado.

YAY !!!

BTW> Today we hit a whopping 76F. How about that !

76.. Mamma Mia!

Coooool.... but be prepared, OVERNIGHT things can change...

Last winter I saw on the map, a VERY cold air coming from Canada and in ONE night it reached Northern Florida. The lowest last winter, here in Long Island was 5' F on January 17 if I'm not wrong. Now THAT is cold, VERY cold...

Today our highest was 65' F, very nice weather but pretty cold for the toms. But it's still going well. VERY well in the small hoop house, where during the night temperature is about 5' higher than outside, and during the day about 20' higher.

I have started picking anything with some color suggestion, letting them ripen inside. I have a feeling that they will ripen faster inside than on the vine, b'c of the temperatures.

On the positive note: This year has been wonderful. I have been harvesting since mid July regularly ; That is 3 months and still going. Last year by this time my plants were gone by mid to late September . A relative asked "Aren't you going to pull your plants ?". I said, " Hell no. They will stay until the frost.". I might be able to serve some fresh tomatoes with Thanksgiving dinner. That'll be something.

I’m sure seysonn, that INSIDE, they will ripe faster, simply because you have at least 5’ higher (in the basement) or 10’ higher (in the kitchen, or guest room.)

But, my tongue tells me that those riped on the vine are tastier than those riped inside. Tell me what you think.

> They will stay until the frost.

Same here. Well, not until 32’ F, but when I will have lower 40s at night and mid-50s during the day, that’s it, see you in spring. At those temperatures they grow / ripe veeeeeeery slow.

I also need a few days to clean my garden and it's no fun to do it with freezing temperatures.

Can’t believe the forecast for the next two days…

Today Wednesday, October 15, 2014... 77' F !

Or maybe not...

Our temps are in 50 to 64F (L/H) range. When the sun comes out it warms up 5' to 7' during the day. The rain cools thing off.

I appreciate this year's performance. Last year my garden was finished one month ago. The main reason was bad weather. The second reason was bad varieties. And the third reason was my lack of understanding PNW weather (first season).

Tomatoes are still growing and ripening. But I don't know for how much longer. We are well past even the latest estimates for first night time frost.

Of course it's possible - I saw it last winter - but I don't see it possible these days. But obviously I might be wrong.

What I don't understand is HOW they know that Sunday's high will be 15 ( !!! ) degrees lower than Saturday ?
---------------

I am not a weatherman, but I think they use satellite and also do computer modeling. For example, they see a cold front with a given speed, temperature and direction is coming from Canada ... so they know when that front will be in LI and what the temperature will be then. Often they revise their forecast as the things change. Lets hope that they are wrong.

I am not either

> … but I think they use satellite and also do computer modeling.

Yes, they do.

> For example, they see a cold front with a given speed, temperature and direction is coming from Canada…

Yes, but I DON’T see that cold front.

In my 5+ years of watching the satellite map everyday and many nights, I saw that cold fronts from Canada comes every night / early morning, then, at midday / afternoon a hot front comes from Florida and Mexico, which pushes the cold air from Canada. And the next day, the SAME thing.

In winter, that cold air from Canada is colder, and the hot air from south is weaker, which means we have winter here in the USA.

> Often they revise their forecast as the things change.

They rarely do that; many times the “current temperature” displayed on their pages is HIGHER than the predicted “highest” - which means that do NOT update.

> Lets hope that they are wrong.

I think they are. I mean Saturday’s highest will be 69’ F and Sunday’s highest will be 53’ F (16’ !!! lower.) and, Sunday lowest will be 39’ f, and the next day Monday will be 60’ F (21’ !!! higher...) I don’t think so.

Btw, today beautiful weather all across the USA.

Talking about nice weather across USA today; Ours is ok but Saturday and Sunday will be better.

BTW: I picked a few big ones yesterday with some color break. They are not doing anything out there.
One those I picked is 17.5 oz. Wow. The biggest I have had this year was 19.5 oz.
I will carve a ripe one today.

Have a nice weekend !

OK, where is the "cold front ?"

Can't see it. Can they see something that right now is NOT visible ???

I wrote: > They rarely do that; many times the “current temperature” displayed on their pages is HIGHER than the predicted “highest” - which means that do NOT update.

Here is the proof - it happened faster than I expected:

71’F current temperature, highest predicted for today… 70’ F ?!

NO UPDATE !

High =62F>>> Low = 50F.... just 102' separating lows and highs. That is a good " JUST HANG IN THERE" weather. 8 out of 10 days will be cloudy with some rain.

I am going to pull and clean up, if I find a sunny day in last week of October. Then it will green tomato pickling and relishing time. I might try some frying and a lot of pitching. How about singing some blues ;
Thrill Is Gone, Baby !!. hahaha

It won't last too many days. Maybe 2 or 3 days.

Monday I'll clean my garden.

Most likely I'll clean the small hoop house too.

The main purpose of the hoop house was for rain protection.

Keeping watering under control.

The hoop house is not tight enough to protect against cold.

It will be next spring.

Well, looks like... that's it !

Nice journey and many lessons learned.

Pretty cold.

For tonight the lowest, 39' F.

It's getting there...

The party seems to be over here too. Our temps will average 47(L) to 58F(H) the next 10 days. I am just bringing in some green bigger ones. One came out @ 14.7 oz.

Seysonn

Not really: they said 70’ F for Sunday - it was 73’ F - and 55’ F for Sunday - it was 58’ F. So, they went lower in both cases. But yes, it’s getting colder.

Probably I’ll pick up everything today; maybe not those in the hoop house. For not being too tight - the hoop house - today Monday morning 40’F outside 42-43’ F inside. But at midday even if outside will be only 50, inside I will have 80 or more.

I’m so sad because everything is going so well.

It will get a little warmer later, but not much.

The forecast says 59' F. I agree, it might even be 60+.

2014 was an exceptional year, much warmer, FFD ~~ April 1st. So we will have 7 months of FROST FREE season. But practically just 5 months of summer gardening. So from plant out to first fruit takes 2.5 (75 days) months. Then you have another 2.5 months (75 days) to continue harvesting.

So, I wait a few more days for some "color."

In my opinion such a weather conditions does not help ripening significantly. I think , once a tomato has reached mature stage, the bilogical process of ripening happens in the fruit. Sun and warmth are the factors to aide this process. But I don't thing the root system has a role. So in my experiments, they ripen better and faster inside on the counter (70F) than outside (47 to 58F).

This is for the mature size, I am talking about. The smaller ones still in the growth stage stand no chance. I nominate those for pickling.

I agree, but again, I want some “color” and then I’ll bring them inside.

> I think , once a tomato has reached mature stage, the biological process of ripening happens in the fruit.

You know, now it’s too late but next year I’ll do this experiment: I will choose 2 mature tomatoes, showing some color, from the same variety, and about the same size. I will rip one from the vine and tie it with a thread near the other tomato. After a few days / one week, I’ll compare: in my opinion the one ON THE VINE will ripe faster, and will taste better. What do you think ?

seysonn, each and every time I pick up a ripen tomato from the vine, it tastes (much) better than those ripen in the basement. Those ripen inside taste ok, but lack… “PERSONALITY.”

Yep, nice...

H =63 .... L= 54 ( H + L = 117... avg. 58.5)

Tomorrow's forecast : 59/52, ... 70% chance of rain

In Long Island (NY) 55' F at 9:00.

It will get warmer, probably lower 60s.

Not cleaning yet; waiting for some "color."

I thought about that, but I saw that tomatoes with “some color” got more color even in this cold temperature. So I thought / hoped that the green ones might get some color even in the 50s.

> Time clock of tomato is on a real slow motion at such temperatures.

Very true.

Well, for the next few days, temperatures will be in the 60s, with a whopping highest of 70/73’ F on next Wednesday. So, I wait a few more days.

Anyway in the morning was pretty cold everywhere in the USA (8 am) All the way to Florida and Texas.

Nice in the US of A.

There is a warm region in south central.
The rest is fall weather. Look at Central Florida, California !

Across the land , Lowest: 22F... Highest : 75 F......OURS : 52F. Just about the average of the hi-lo

Yesterday Tuesday: 72' F, today 73' F...

Going in the right direction.

Not sure about that 47' F tonight.

---------------------
You can be sure . The cold front finally arriving there tonight.
Just look up your next 10 days forecast. It is going to be almost the same temps as we will have here, in PNW. Highs in 50s

We had 49' F at 8 am.

The forecast is 58' F, but for sure it will be warmer.

Anyway, these days, the cold air from Canada is STRONGER, and the warm air from Florida / Mexico is WEAKER.

Now, the cold air from Canada goes all the way down to the southern states.

-----------
I believe that is the way will be for the rest of fall and winter. Cold front will be overall dominant.

I just checked LI' s and our SAMM. high both will be 61F today. You are sunny, we are rainy.
I need a sunny day to clean up my garden beds. Then I will make some more pickles. hehe.

It was 49' F / 62' F.

It was still nice.

Next few days, NOT that nice...

Today, Friday October 31, 2014 here, in Long Island (NY) we had 46' F at 8 am.

In Langdon, North Dakota, 14° F - feels like… 2° F !!!

Still not bad. It is like our April weather....raining..raining
Days are short and getting shorter ... No frost on the horizon.

Not happy with that 35' F Sunday night...

I'm thinking...

seysonn

Temps on Nov. 1st morning hours across USA

Blue in Florida is bad news for NorthEastern.

Reason enough to call it END OF SEASON.

So, I picked up - almost - everything.

I think the temp can go lower than 36' F.

I left a few to see how they will look like if lower 30s.

Well...

ONLY 500 miles away from NYC.

That's why pink is scary.

And it's only beginning of November.

Let's see January 2015...

Super beautiful !

It is official the fat lady is going to town to do her song , tonight. :-)

Mercury will drop to 28F tonight and the next 4 night we will also get frost. My tomatoes are already gone but my pepper plants will be toast.

Seysonn

I see, you are having a pic nick over at the East coast. But apparently the cold front is pushing your way . Enjoy while it last until Friday.

At this moment it is 27F in my garden, in Samm, WA. hehe.
I am glad I am not in Montana. I see a -10F somewhere up there. WOO WOW.

Seysonn

Don't know for how long...

WOW !!!

MINUS -15' F in mid-November ?!

Some records might be broken tonight...

> Readings at Denver International Airport overnight have far surpassed previous cold-weather marks.

Just before midnight, the mercury dipped to -12 degrees, setting a new record for the coldest Nov. 12 on record in Denver, eclipsing the previous mark of -4 set in 1882.

Just before 3 a.m., the temperature plummeted to -14 degrees at DIA, shattering the record low for Nov. 13 of -3 set back in 1916.

Starting tomorrow things will get uggly: cold, rain, snow (?)

> A RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -28 DEGREES WAS SET AT WORLAND (WY) TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF -10 SET IN 1978.

Seysonn.

21' F tonight... WOW !

> There have been more than 360 record lows and record cool highs set, covering 43 states, since Sunday.

Here in NYC area, sunny, no snow.

Yesterday Thursday, 39' F.

And it's still... November.

In my neck of the wood, upper 40s the highest.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

So right now - 10 pm - we have 35' F, and RealFeel... 17' F.

17 ???

I never saw such a big difference - 17' F - between Real temperature and Real feel...

I think it might be a mistake.

I mean, tomorrow there will be 40' F vs. 37' F RealFeel.

That - 3 ' F - is acceptable. 17' F... not really.

JMO.