Whew! Our Miserable Heat Wave Broke

Catherine+twin · June 24, 2015

It started late last week, rising over 80 F on Thursday and Friday, breaking 90 on Saturday, baking us with a relentless 93 and 92 on Sunday and Monday, and a still unbearable 89 yesterday! Cloudless skies (dangerous for my strawberry blond twins!) and humidity in the single digits sucked the moisture from our skin and made my poor tomato plants droop even with deep drip watering. Clouds built late yesterday, with dry lightning and thunder, then evaporated. This evening, though, thin overcast became real clouds and it finally drizzled on us, producing enough to half-fill my rain barrel (maybe 0.1 inch in the rain guage). Wind has now chased the clouds away, but the moist air (35 % humidity) is making even the 68 F air feel cool.

It's actually supposed to get down to 59 tonight, perfect sleeping weather!

At this point every window in the house is open, and the breeze is already cooling the bedrooms down for the first time since last week! Hey, my little 1949 house on a mountain side doesn't have air conditioning, other than the open doors and windows.

We generally have about 2 weeks of unsleep-able nights in June, then the nights get back down into the low 60s/high 50s and the days in the mid to high 70s/occasional low 80s.

Of course, comfortable for people is not so great for tomatoes. I suspect they would like warmer nights for more of the summer, and for that matter a longer summer. It's no wonder that I grow varieties like Glacier.

Catherine in northern New Mexico, 7200 ft

June 24, 2015	#1
Catherine+twin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Northern New Mexico Posts: 34	Whew! Our Miserable Heat Wave Broke It started late last week, rising over 80 F on Thursday and Friday, breaking 90 on Saturday, baking us with a relentless 93 and 92 on Sunday and Monday, and a still unbearable 89 yesterday! Cloudless skies (dangerous for my strawberry blond twins!) and humidity in the single digits sucked the moisture from our skin and made my poor tomato plants droop even with deep drip watering. Clouds built late yesterday, with dry lightning and thunder, then evaporated. This evening, though, thin overcast became real clouds and it finally drizzled on us, producing enough to half-fill my rain barrel (maybe 0.1 inch in the rain guage). Wind has now chased the clouds away, but the moist air (35 % humidity) is making even the 68 F air feel cool. It's actually supposed to get down to 59 tonight, perfect sleeping weather! At this point every window in the house is open, and the breeze is already cooling the bedrooms down for the first time since last week! Hey, my little 1949 house on a mountain side doesn't have air conditioning, other than the open doors and windows. We generally have about 2 weeks of unsleep-able nights in June, then the nights get back down into the low 60s/high 50s and the days in the mid to high 70s/occasional low 80s. Of course, comfortable for people is not so great for tomatoes. I suspect they would like warmer nights for more of the summer, and for that matter a longer summer. It's no wonder that I grow varieties like Glacier. Catherine in northern New Mexico, 7200 ft