Rain: Miracle March (and April) of 2006
March more than made up for the previous post describing the dry year so far. Hastings had 3 days or real snow (8th, 9th, 10th), and 20 days of measurable precipitation. While the 60-year average here is 3.2” for March, we had 5.84”. Vernal pools and creeks near Hastings finally filled with water, some with the occasional mallard pair. Still very few newts were seen on the roads, with minimal mortality due to traffic. Maybe they deferred breeding for this year, as they generally migrate to ponds and creeks in late December or early January to lay eggs and breed. These were basically dry this winter, but now are ripping along or overflowing. As of today, we had an additional 4.09”of rain in April. This is well over the long-term April average of 1.26”. Our rainy season total for this winter so far is 23.68”, just a bit over the long-term average of 23.2”.
The cold soils (under 50 deg. F) kept the spring flowers and grass from much growth. With the return of warm days (finally) the flowers and grasses have erupted and we expect a reasonably good spring flower show and forage.