Backyard Almanac

Larry Weber observes that if this month's weather continues as it has, we'll have one of the wettest and hottest Julys on record. But the rain has benefitted the many ripening berries around the region. Basswood trees are in bloom right now which some beekeepers say creates the best honey. Many late summer flowers are beginning their bloom cycles as well, including tall sunflowers. Canada thistle is starting to seed, providing food and nesting material for American goldfinches who mate later in

As of yesterday, we've gotten twice the normal amount of rainfall we usually get in July. That 2.83" is almost the same amount of rain as we got in April, May and June. As our 90 ° temps cool into the low 80s, it's the perfect time to celebrate the 84th anniversary of 1936's "heat week;" the coolest temperature recorded that week (these were recorded by the lake, by the way) was 95 ° and the 106 ° on July 13 is the hottest temperature ever recorded in Duluth. The vernal ponds got a little goose

Vernal ponds are drying up. June will go down as one of the top five driest Junes in 150 years. And now ... big spiders.* Perhaps this quote from Dorothy Molter, the "Root Beer Lady" sums up these days best: "When it gets to be July, I look forward to the long cold nights of November." *A note about this photograph The photographer who contributed this shot to Flickr also wrote about it back in 2009 in a blog post, and knows quite a big about these little eight-leggeds. You can read the post and

Remember that 21-inch snowstorm we got last Thanksgiving? You know; the one that shut everything down and people had to work from home and school was closed and we were shut up with our families and couldn't get out ... wow.

For one thing, temperatures have dropped from the 80s and 90s to the low 70s here in the Northland. But Larry is still concerned about the rainfall amounts: we're 2" behind where we should be at this time of year.

Next week at this time, we'll be celebrating the longest day of the year with almost 16 hours of light, and the first day of summer. If you want to celebrate now, though, go ahead; Larry calls it summer when the wildflowers out in the open outnumber the ones in the woods. Trees are blooming, birds are raising babies, infant turtles are being threatened by infant racoons, love is in the air for mink and green frogs ... now if it would just rain. About five inches worth would catch us up nicely -

For June to stay on track, precipitation-wise, we'd need to get about an inch of rain per week, and that's not counting the deficit we're carrying over from May. The not-great news is that some vernal ponds are already evaporating due to the dryness. The good news? Fireflies and lady's-slippers!

Take advantage of the breezy days; Larry Weber says the northwesterly winds this morning are doing a fine job of keeping the mosquitos and blackflies away. There's also still time to catch the tail end of the first phase of wildflowers and the beginning of the second, plus frogs are calling, birds are nesting, turtles are laying eggs and you can't swing a dandelion without hitting a butterfly or dragonfly!

It might be you, too, but the world really did change overnight. Our high temperature yesterday of 73° yesterday - the first time above 70° since October 9 - broke our seven-month fast from warm temperatures. Now all of a sudden trees are leafing, baby turtles are moving, wild plum and juneberry bushes are awash in blossoms ... and the blackflies are out.

Mother Nature's in no hurry to balance out our too-dry conditions, although a little rain the other did day help. And it sure gave "the greening" a goose as quaking aspens and smaller trees began to leaf out, and tamaracks sprouted new needles. But serendipity plays a role when the trees' new leaves, the hatching of small caterpillars, and the warbler migration all occur at the same time, and Larry says, this might be the year.