Extra Ordinary Warm September Days

       For the past five days it has been very warm in this part of Alberta. We had a few days of 25 C and the last two days have been 30 C. Now thirty degrees is not a record but it is extra ordinarily warm.

       Our summer was wet , cool and cloudy. Gardening was a challenge. Sunning at the beach was a waste of time unless you had an umbrella. About July 15th I gave up on my goal of 1000km cycling for the summer. It quit raining in August and I am close to 1000km and will easily do more. We did not have a day with a high of 30 C all summer and very few days reached 24 or 25 C. So to have these temperatures on Sept. 24th and 25th is quite extra ordinary. I had taken most of my tomatoes off the plants about a week ago when we had a couple of frosts. Now all kinds of new tomatoes have formed and if we get a few more warm days they will be pickable.

       I can never remember Sept. days with highs of 30 C. That doesn't mean to say that it hasn't happened before. It's not a record so we must have had a 31 at some time in the past. I was born Oct. 21st and my Dad always told me that it was a very warm day. I wish that I had pinned him down as to what the temperature actually was. He said the old house was really hot. I don't know if that was because of all the hot water that was needed or if it was a case of nerves for somebody who was about to become a Dad for the first time.

       Whatever warm temperatures we have now I will take them and enjoy them to the fullest.

October Arrives Gently

       It is with some relief and pleasure that the month of October has arrived very gently as far a weather is concerned.


      September in Central Alberta was a very nasty month. It was cool, cloudy and rainy. We had a couple of nights with killing frosts and half a dozen nights with below freezing temperatures. We had day after day of overcast skies. We had drizzle, heavy showers and just plain rain. We didn't set any precipitation records but added to our already wet conditions it just made matters worse. We didn't have sunny warm drying days.

      So to begin October we have had some sunny warm days. What a relief! The days have become shorter so drying up is much slower. Why am I  so antsy about getting warm dry weather? Well, I'm a farm boy at heart and I know we need some warm dry weather to harvest crops. Closer to my world , I need some dry weather to complete some gardening tasks the way I would like to do them. I dig my vegetable garden by hand. I need the exercise. To do this the soil has to be fairly dry. Right now the soil is muddy. It's hard to dig and have the soil broken down.

     So to get some warm dry weather is a real treat after what September had to throw at us.