After weeks of sub-par temperatures and enough rain for ducks to turn heads down, tails up on their ponds in disgust, many people have been wishing for weather that more closely matches expectations for the month of June.
We may get some this weekend. Forecasters are even predicting partly sunny skies today with temperatures in Everett expected to hit 65 degrees.
“There’s not too much summerlike weather right now,” said Johnny Burg, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Seattle. “I know people are complaining about it being too dreary and wet.”
Skies are expected to be mostly cloudy on Sunday with highs in the low 60s. “Sunday, a shower here and shower there; you might get hit, but you may not,” Burg said.
Scott Stephenson, who works at My Garden Nursery in Bothell, said the disconnect between the date on the calendar and the thermometer readouts has confused many gardeners.
“Everybody is worried about when they can put their tomatoes out,” he said.
“Just because it’s cool now doesn’t mean it’s too bad … Mine are out now.”
Sharon Collman, an educator with the Washington State University Extension Snohomish County, said the frequent spring rains promote plant disease.
“So what we’re going to be seeing is gray mold on tender growth of leaves,” she said. “We’ll see things like rhododendrons with blossoms that will look shriveled and collapse.”
Water-soaked petunias “wilt down like wet tissue paper then go fuzzy gray,” she said.
People despairing over lawns that look like a teenager who hasn’t had a haircut in six months should plan for a two-step plan to mowing their yards.
“Don’t try to scalp it down,” she said. “Mow it once to take the tips off and then wait a day and lower the mower. You don’t want to cut down to the thick stems at the base right away.”
All the rain hasn’t put the kibosh on gardening that some enthusiasts fear, she said.
The community garden in Marysville donated 503 pounds of greens to its local food bank in May, including lettuce, broccoli and radishes.
Burg said the winter months were warmer than usual because of El Nino, weather patterns that develop in the Pacific.
Then, as May progressed, temperatures were below normal and there was above-normal precipitation. “So, yes, he said, “we’re catching up.”
Long-range predictions call for about normal temperatures and precipitation for June, June and August, he said.
“Mother nature always compensates,” Burg said. “If you have something that sticks out for one season, it’s made up for with the next one.”
By the numbers
How cold was it in May? 2.6 degrees below the average normal temperature of 55.8 degrees; 8 degrees below normal on May 30.
How wet was it? 2.83 inches of rain were recorded in Seattle. That’s wet but doesn’t rank in the top 10. The wettest May on record: 4.76 inches of rain in May 1948.
In Everett in May: 3.94 inches of rain were recorded; 2.57 is the average.
First four days in June: Seattle: .55 inches of rain; Everett: .60 inches of rain
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com
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