AUGUST 2009 WEATHER & PHENOLOGY IN REVIEW
From the North Shore of Little Rock Lake
Jim Hovda Rice, MN.
56367-0265 jhovda.rice@jetup.net
For me, relating to the cool temperatures, August was a
month that sort of seemed like September.
There was not a night that required the AC. Tho I didn’t miss the hot humid days and
nights this was an issue for some crops.
East Central Electric took a hit on my bill. With no AC or lawn watering, I had the
lowest August electric bill in many years.
Jan and I welcomed the roadside stands that had sweet corn, watermelon
and cantaloupe, our favorites. An August phenomenon for sure. Because of timely rain, our flower gardens
produced the best plants and really beautiful blossoms ever. Roadside Black-eyed Susans blanketed the
roadside with their bright yellow blossoms.
There was a record crop of anything that produced berries. Most notable was the area Mountain Ash. The trees can barely hold all their berries
that are waiting for fall birds to rid them of the weight. Yes, summer is on the wane. It was a sad day when we realized that our
flock of Purple Martins had left for good.
Instead of the chirping and singing that had been present one could not
help but notice the total silence from the houses near the shore of Little Rock
Lake. The most telling sign of fall is
the Minnesota State Fair that is already underway and we are only fifteen days
away FROM THE POSSIBLE SNOW SEASON...
WEATHER LAST AUGUST: Drier and
warmer. From the 1st to the
26th rain fell on only six days totaling .61" of precip. There was a lot of lawn watering considering that eighteen of those days had
temps in the 80's with one day reaching 92.3 degrees. The only significant precipitation was the
1.66" of rain that fell on the 28th. The thunderstorm that occurred on the 27th
and 28th produced 2.11" of the 2.72" that fell the entire
month. The month ended with a total of
21.12" of precip for the year.
WEATHER: August
temps - cool. Our noted weather guru
from St. Cloud State, Professor Bob Wiesman,
notes that this August is one of the tenth coolest on record. There was not one recorded low temp in the
70's. Some great sleeping weather. Our low reading for the month occurred on the
31st with a 41.5 degree reading.
Five low readings were in the 40's.
On the warm side of things (if one could say that) there were no 90
degree readings. Eleven days eighty degree
readings were recorded with the high temp on both the 12th and 15th
of 86.3 degrees. Of note, there were
three days when the high temp for the day never hit 70 degrees. The average low was 54.37 and the high 77.12
degrees.
As for the precipitation picture, it rained on sixteen
days. The 3.54" of rain fortunately
was spread out evenly throughout the month.
Notable was the fact that most of the rains exceeded .20" allowing
the flowers and grass to grow like crazy.
The most rain fell on the 15th when I recorded
.91". We ended the month with
20.56" of precip for the year.
WEATHER RECORDS: Our
local low record was set in both 1974 and again in 2004 when the temp dropped
to a chilly 33degrees while the low for greater MN was a cold 24 degrees
(F). No, the cold weather northern MN
experienced on the 31st of this year missed the record by only three
degrees when they recorded a low temp of 27 degrees in none other than
Embarrass. Our local record rainfall
for Aug occurred in 1900 when 9.28" fell.
NO SNOW fell in any August...
OTHER RECORDS:
The most rain in a 24-hour period fell in Hokah (in the SE corner of MN
near Caledonia) 15.10" on 18 - 19
August 2007; Most rain in one month,
Hokah, again, with 23.86" filling the rain gages; Longest track of a tornado (broken path) 110
mi on the 26th of Aug; Record
flooding occurred in 2007 in SE MN when the Middle Fork of the Whitewater River
and the Root River when over their banks;
The highest wind sustained was 110 mph (177 km/h) and the highest wind gust of 180 mph (290
(km/h) all in St. Paul in 1904. Was
there a heated discussion at our beloved State House and was the fast-moving
air hot???
PHENOLOGY: In
the bird department the most notable event, the Purple Martins started their
migration at the beginning of the month.
Here for a while then gone.
Finally by the end of the month, went for good. Another sign of fall was the gathering of
more than 100 Tree Swallows on the Seviola dock. They too, are getting ready to leave for
warmer places. Tho not a bird, I’ll
place them in the bird category. I have
not seen one bat all summer. Upon
further investigation, very few In Harvy’s barn (usually lot’s make there home
there) and Randy Fernholz reports that all his bats are gone. Randy’s stay all year in his bat house. Randy tells me that when potatoes are
planted a short distance north of his house all the bats disappear or die. Wonder why?
At the end of the month I still have lots of hummingbirds and Northern
Orioles. I’m going thru grape jelly and
nectar really fast.
Flowers, the best ever.
The phlox - tallest and most blooms ever along with tons of American
Cranberries with their bright red color.
Lot’s of beautiful yellow sunflowers gracing the garden. A couple are more than ten feet high. Believe it or not, I still have hostas in
bloom and the Trumpet Vines are still producing flowers that the hummingbirds
really like.
OTHER THINGS: Very
few butterflies. I can’t recall seeing
an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail or other swallowtail butterflies. Monarchs were in short supply even tho I
have a lot of milkweed plants growing.
Our chipmunks took a big hit when we sort of adopted a stray cat. Jan and I were nearly over run with the
little critters who took great joy in eating as many of our sunflower seeds as
they could. Then along came Molly. I don’t think they ever grasped the
seriousness of their adversary. Ms.
Molly had kids to feed. (Her kids are
now at the Tri-County Humane Society barracks and Ms. Molly is now a new
resident of 160 North Freedom Rd. and cannot have any more kids)....... I believe there is only one chipmunk
left. I think Ms. Molly is happy to be
inside all the time and not have to worry about being a meal for a coyote, fox
or other critter.
We’ve lost 2 hrs 18 min of sunlight since the summer
solstice. And, not being an optimist, I
covered the inside of the AC on the 31st.
NATURE NOTES: Monarchs
travel in migration anywhere from ground level to 7,000 feet above ground. Jim Gilbert, WCCO Radio 30 Aug 09