So this is May?!

We awoke this morning - on Sunday, May 26, 2019 - to drizzly weather and cold (for May in the Sierra foothills) temperatures. Overnight, we'd measured 0.17 inches of precipitation, pushing our total for the month (actually, for the last 11 days) close to five inches. I wore my raincoat as I checked the sheep and fed the livestock guardian dogs; I came home and started a fire in the woodstove to ward off the chill in the house. This year's Memorial Day Weekend felt more like March than May! Indeed, with the additional 0.9" of rain we've measured since this morning, we've received more precipitation in May 2019 than we received in March this year!

Agriculturally, rain in May is a mixed blessing for California farmers. Many of my friends who grow cherries have seen their crops wiped out this year. I suspect we won't see many peaches or nectarines in the farmers market later this summer. And I'd sure hate to be trying to plant rice at the moment.

For us, five-plus inches of rain in the last 11 days has meant I've been able to take a break from irrigating our pastures. Yesterday, I dug down into our pasture soil to test the moisture - the soil profile was at least 75 percent full. With more than an inch of precipitation in the last 24 hours, I didn't bother checking it today. Typically in May, our pastures require just over 6 inches of water (to meet the requirements of our grasses and replace moisture lost to evaporation). In the last 11 days, Mother Nature has taken care of this - I haven't had to drag our K-Line irrigation system across the pasture. Our summer "drought" is inevitable; these storms have delayed its onset.

Some will point to this weather and say, "See - global warming isn't real." Warming, at least from my perspective, is a misnomer - what we're really experiencing is climate change - at least where I live. From my perhaps simplistic sheepherder perspective, our climate here in the Sierra foothills certainly seems to be changing. Temperatures - and precipitation - seem to be much more variable. For example, in the last decade, we've measured as little as 21.69 inches of precipitation and as much as 62.96 inches - making our "average" of 32.94 inches all but meaningless. Our snowpack in the higher elevations has been similarly erratic - ranging from non-existent during the height of our drought to nearly double this year. I'd hate to be in the long-range weather forecasting business!

From a practical standpoint, the weather of these last 11 days has provided a welcome break in our late spring routine. Since I haven't had to irrigate, I've gained another 45-60 minutes in my day - time that otherwise would have been spent moving water. I'm not sure I've used this extra time wisely - this morning, I came home and took a nap - but I have enjoyed this extended early spring weather. I'll try to remember it when we break a 100 degrees in the next 30-45 days!