Wow! Didn't see THAT yesterday. Yay!

Rain is good. We were fortunate and got nice rain a couple of weeks ago so I don't feel desperate, but it is time for it to rain again. I watered the pots today.

Looks like summer is about to end!

Dawn, if it slides south, you will be in the bull's eye! It does look promising for you!

I wish! You know how it goes. It will look good for us until Friday when the rain is supposed to start, and then our drought will take over and send the rain someplace else--anyplace else other than here.

Eventually it has to hit you!

The folks at Thackerville High School are believing the forecast--they just moved the homecoming parade from Friday to Thursday to get ahead of the rain. Probably a smart decision in case it actually does rain. We've been waiting on drought-busting rainfall since March. Still waiting. Every part of our county has had it in spades and they're all back to only being Abnormally Dry, but not us, so my fingers, toes and eyes are crossed, waiting and hoping, hoping and waiting. It is okay with me, though, if the rain goes to southeastern and eastern OK where their drought conditions are much worse than ours. Hopefully we'll all get what we need, and hopefully this will be the start of a lovely, long autumn.

Well, now the folks at Marietta HS also have moved the homecoming parade, events and game to Thursday from Friday. I guess the higher rainfall totals are starting to scare people. Me? I'm sitting here with my boots and my raincoat singing "Bring It On...." lol lol lol.

If we get even 5" over the next seven days, that will be the best rainfall at our house since February. It's been a long, hot, mostly dry run since then because our part of our county keeps getting trapped in a dry slot while it rains (and even floods) all around us. I hope this coming rainfall finally is our turn to get heavy rainfall.

I was watching the weather models earlier in the week and the Euro was showing really high rainfall, and the GFS was showing substantially less. (The amount shown on the QPF at that time seemed to be sort of an average of the two--not as high as the Euro nor as low as the GFS.) Now the GFS has come higher to come more in line with the Euro. We sure do need the rain, but the snakes, which are out in abundance right now, sure won't like it.

Are the rest of you seeing local high schools rescheduling their Friday night football games?

Broken Arrow schools moved their big game to Thursday night too.

The Euro model has the highest amounts of rainfall. Aren’t those usually considered the most accurate?

We're supposed to go to Enid on Friday. But because I'm only paying attention to the band side of games, I have no idea if they're moving the game, but I don't think so. However, our director hasn't announced if we are taking the band or not. He will wait to the last minute.

Dawn, I am banking heavily on this rain you are sending us. I will try to sow a few more turnips and clover tomorrow.

I went out to check the pasture this afternoon, even being hot and dry, we are in much better shape than normal. A good rain will put us into a good cover crop and fall pasture, I hope....

The garden has done pretty well for a first year "No Till". I will need to water tomorrow, but I have watered far less this year. I still have a lot to learn, most of the fruit size has been small and production has been less. My sweet potatoes look good, almost too good. I am afraid production will be low on the sweet potatoes.

Larry, I'm doing my best to "wish" rain your way. My results in drought are the same as yours---I think there's just a point where we cannot even water enough to get our usual fruit size and production. Hopefully next year will be better. We can't stay in drought forever, right?

Lots of people in OK have odd sweet potatoes this year. (Not a problem here, but we didn't get the heavy rains that caused it.) They are having lots of sweet potatoes with repeated cracking and splitting to degrees I've never seen before. Some of the photos they've posted on Facebook show sweet potatoes with so many layers of cracking, splitting and then regrowth that the sweet potatoes' multiple layers look like human brains. I know some folks who are digging their sweet potatoes today in OK to get ahead of their projected rainfall, which in some areas is 6-8" and, in one small area, more than 8". We haven't had good rainfall in so long that I'd be thrilled with 2 or 3". If this rainfall forecast promises us big rain and fails like every other storm since March has done, then we'll get 1-2" even though our forecast is for 5-7".

If I even manage to find my rain boots and dig them out of the closet, they're likely to be covered in dust.

Dawn

Dawn, I would like to find time to dig sweet potatoes tomorrow. I will have to do it alone because Madge is going to Mena Ar. to visit family. Her baby sister is in the nursing home there, she also has another sister and brother there she will also visit.

Mom has had a rough week in the nursing home in Ft. Smith. I will be going up there to try to find out what the problem is, she has been sick since I came back from Joplin.

I have finished planting the wildlife garden, if it does not wash away I should have plenty food for the critters. I planted purple top turnips, forage turnips, winter peas, diakon

radishes, wheat, Elbon rye, clover, and 50# bag or wildlife mix that had about everything in it.

My peppers and okra really need water. The peppers are doing well, but I expect some rootknot nematoad damage on the okra.

Well, it sort of started in OKC, at 6:30 AM. I woke up at 5:45, got myself ready for a bike ride around lake Hefner, and as I rolled out of the garage it was wet, and misting.

I don't start riding from home in rain or mist. Thus, I am back here at the puter, and will work on my bike journal from this summer. I am getting close to being done with updating text and adding pictures. A day indoors should put me over the top.

But yesterday I got somewhat ahead of the Bermuda grass that had spread while I was gone... and this rain will make it easier to pull out the rest.

Edit: It quit, and eventually I changed my clothes again, and rode out. Yes, I did get wet before returning home, but I also did 2 laps around Lake Hefner. :)

Moni

and now, second lap:

The rain started here, just east of the Arkansas / Oklahoma line at 9:00 AM and it sound like it stopped about 15 minutes later. I was almost finished pulling weeds in the south garden and it rained hard enough that it ran me into the house. If the rain has let up enough, I will go dig a couple of hills of sweet potatoes. I am afraid they will be few and small because I planted much later than normal. This crop of sweet potatoes is Covington, it is also the first time I have grown them. The past 3 crops of potatoes I have harvested I did it with the bucket on the tractor. That is not a very good way to harvest, but I just cant dig any more. I would just scoop up as much soil as I could and then raise the bucket up to hip high, lean against the bucket and sift through the soil picking out the potatoes, then repeat the process. This could be my last crop of potatoes of any kind.

I have no problem with Bermuda grass. I dug a ditch around my garden a few years ago and filled it with mulch. I don't permit the Bermuda to cross the mulch, and if I have a problem keeping up with it. I just spray it before it gets into the garden.

I went out into the rain and tried to dig 2 hills of sweet potatoes. I will HAVE to dig them with the tractor because I can't get a fork into the soil.

The two on the left look nomoral and are from the south garden. The three on the right don't look normal,are black and are from the north garden . They are the same kind of potato, but the black ones have been the soil much longer, none relieved much water.

What went wrong ?

Larry, On the sweet potatoes that are black, is the black only skin deep or does it go down into the flesh? I think it might be a fungal disease called black rot. I'm just guessing though because I've never had black spots like that on sweet potatoes, so I've only heard of black rot and never seen it myself. It used to be a major sweet potato disease, but now that they treat commercial sweet potato slips with fungicide before selling them, it is a lot less common.

The rain has been teasing us, as usual, and raining all around us but missing us. We finally have a thunderstorm moving in, so perhaps our current rain gauge total of 0.03" will go up substantially. They have our county under a Flash Flood Advisory until 4 p.m. so obviously it is raining much heavier somewhere else in the county. I just had to laugh when they issued the Flash Flood Advisory because I'm certainly not expecting our 3/100s of an inch of rain to cause any flash flooding here around our place. Up in Pontotoc County, the rainfall has been astonishing all day long---with amounts near 11" in some areas already (Fittstown mesonet station), and rain expected to continue falling for another 24+ hours. I feel sorry for them---that much rain in one day inevitably causes flooding and other trouble. They've been under Flash Flood Warnings and such all day long.

It is much cooler today, with or without the rain, but it would be more fun with a lot more rain.

*Edited to correct Tishomingo/Johnston County to Fittstown/Pontotoc County.

Dawn

well, I had a flood out front. first picture around 10, next about 12:30

I'm quite sure my street looks just like Moni's. I had a text earlier this morning from a friend that my street was flooding. I've been watching the radar like a hawk over Dawn's neighborhood. HOW is that tiny hole possible? Rain everywhere but over her!

Moni, That's a lot of water running down the street. I bet the ride around the lake was pleasant despite the rain. At least the temperatures are nice today. Maybe on the cool side up there?

We are up over an inch of rain here now with more expected. In fact, I just went out in the light rain to check and we are at about 1.25", so not drought-busting rainfall but every drop is appreciated and I hear thunder so another heavier band of rain likely is approaching.

I corrected my statement in the previous post. It is the Fittstown mesonet station that now is over 11" (not Tishomingo), and there is a Flash Flood Emergency/Particularly Dangerous Situation ongoing in the area, especially near Fittstown, Stonewall and Ada. Fittstown is about 28 miles north of Tishomino, so perhaps Tish is in bad shape too, but I haven't found any info on that. I missed the noon news, and they probably did talk about it then. Ada, in particular, is cut off by flood waters---they (the NWS) say downtown Ada is in bad shape with virtually no access via roadway and structures taking on water. Roadways have washed out in the Fittstown and Stonewall areas. It is mind-boggling to think that they could get rain for another 2 days. Chris checked the Euro model and said it was showing 10-20" of rain for some portions of OK and he thought that was insane, but then Fittstown already is over 11", so it doesn't seem so crazy now.

Most often we gardeners think of rainfall as beneficial unless it is keeping us out of our gardens at planting time, but I'd say that the rain in Pontotoc County now has gone beyond beneficial. I hope everyone in the Ada-Fittstown-Stonewall area got their sweet potatoes dug before this rainfall arrived. I would imagine that, while gardens are not even on their minds now if their homes are flooding, but still....after the water goes down, the gardens will be a washed out, soggy mess too. I was thinking too (because this would be a problem here in 11" of rain based on past experience) that we have to remember that animals that burrow in the ground---including bunnies, skunks, some rodents and many snakes, also will be out and about seeking higher ground as their underground burrows and holes flood. So will all kinds of ants.....

Lillie's scouting event at Camp Simpson (the camp is between Fittstown and Tishomingo, I think) for tomorrow has been rained out and cancelled, so Chris may bring her down here to spend the night with us and her little sister after he gets home from the pet vet in Dallas. (His bird, Sunny, has a broken foot and possibly an infection in the foot.) Usually both granddaughters are here together and I imagine the one who isn't here is going to feel left out if she doesn't get to come join the fun here (unless she and a school friend already have cooked up a plan to do something else). Ardmore has had over 3" of rain in one part and 4" in another, so it also depends on whether the roads are drivable by the time Chris gets home from Dallas. Tim has a meeting that will last until at least 5 pm, so he'll be driving home in heavy rain in the dark. Yuck.

By the way, it already is about as dark as night here with all these heavy, low clouds. Are the rest of y'all very dark today? Normally we go out to eat on Friday nights, but this seems like a good night to stay in. I wish I could see the garden, but there's lightning so I won't walk out to it to look at it and see how it is doing. I bet the plants are relieved to get some rain. They looked pretty awful yesterday.

I hear heavy rain falling now....I mean buckets and buckets of it, so we're well on our way to getting our 2nd inch of rain and possibly our third. I'm feeling better now that the rain is not totally missing us. My fire radio is quiet, so I think that is a really good sign that there's not a major flooding issue in any part of our county yet. Or, maybe the power is out in town and I just don't know it. Otherwise, I'd hear firefighters going out to put up barricades to close down roads. We were under a Flash Flood Warning through 4 pm but it was recently extended to 7 pm, so it is likely to be a long night again. I'm betting it will be extended beyond 7 pm. One thing we all have to remember is which direction the creeks and rivers flow. Here in southern OK, they mostly head south towards the Red River and towards Lake Texoma, so we could see a lot of trouble here once that runoff starts coming downstream.

This morning I stuck to my decision to leave the chickens in the coop all day. It is a large coop and they have plenty of floor space and places to roost and all that, plus a feeder and a waterer indoors that I filled up. I didn't even open up their door to let them out into the fenced chicken run because I didn't want them to stay out too long and get wet. The chickens were unhappy, but now I'm really glad I left them in. Between the cold rain and the temperatures in the lower 70s, they're better off indoors dry and relatively warm.

Dawn

Whereas here at our home, we have a half inch! I don't that we'll even get an inch today. It has been raining all day, but not hard. Light, then good, then off, then on. I can see lots of areas that have really been hit hard.

We're up to 2.5" now, and Fittstown was up to 11.99" the last time I checked a few minutes ago.

Virtually everyone in our county has had more rain than us because we were under a dry slot all morning while they were getting rain. In areas that got more rain than us, flash flooding is occurring, so they're shutting down flooded intersections, the police are working accidents, the tow truck drivers are out pulling folks out of bar ditches and highway medians (I guess folks are hydroplaning right off the roads), etc. It is sort of a soggy mess. I know everyone doesn't love it the way I do, but we were without meaningful rainfall for such a large portion of the year that I love every drop that is falling. I don't care if it means we'll have flooding with balls of floating fire ants. Rain is rain is rain and it all is good when you've been in drought. Maybe it will be enough to bring us out of drought. I'm feeling hopeful. Or, maybe it will at least take us back to being only Abnormally Dry.

From watching the radar, it seems the bands of rain are circulating over the state, so I would think everyone will get more rain than they have received so far. Some areas don't need more.

Nancy, You're pretty far north so maybe the bands just haven't made it that far north yet?

I'm so grateful to finally be getting decent rainfall for once. We have waited so long for this.

Here's the OKMesonet map of rainfall recorded since midnight:

Rainfall Since Midnight

Dawn

Dawn, the black can be scratched off with my fingernails, the potato seems normal after that. There are so many variables this year it is hard for me to guess what happened. These are from Covington slips, this is my first " no till " year, its been very hot and dry, and I have watered very little, plus they were planted much later than I normally plant . The potatoes seem too hard and dry for my taste. I am really judging these potatoes too soon.

Debating the wisdom in leaving tomatoes on the plants. I have a bunch still green so they should be ok, but the cherry tomatoes seem to split with the least water. I did pick all that had color, so they're safe at least.

Larry, That sounds like black rot but I cannot imagine why it would hit your plants. It doesn't seem like it would have been wet enough for fungi to thrive?

Jen, That's such a hard decision to make. I'd leave them personally---we have tons of growing season left and I think the green ones ought to mature fine sometime between now and the first freeze/first frost, unless the first freeze/frost comes abnormally early. Depending on how much rain you got, the rain might simply give you larger tomatoes, or it might cause concentric or radial cracking...but, then again, it might not. I didn't harvest any tomatoes before the rain hit here, so the SunGolds likely will crack and split, but I expect the large fruit will be okay because none of those larger-fruited fall tomatoes are close to their mature size yet.

Speaking of first frost or first freeze of the season, the OK Panhandle came a little close this morning. I wonder if the lows in the 30s were in their forecast or if they got cooler than expected?

Low Temperatures Since Midnight

We had 3.55" of rain in the rain gauge last night when I poured out the water in case heavy rain fell overnight (I don't think it did). The sporadic rainfall overnight and ongoing this morning will add up to a little more, but it was clear by dinnertime last night that the bulk of the heavy rain was shifting eastward and southward (which I was relieved to see). Unfortunately, parts of the DFW metro took a hard hit (generally 5-10" of rain fell in a few hours, and rain continues to fall now) after the rain shifted its direction a bit and there was a lot of flooding, including some that shut down several interstate highways and many other roadways. It was like Oklahoma, only about 12 hours later than it happened up here.

After the rain shifted further south and east last evening, the updated QPF looks a lot better today---with the 7-day rainfall amounts reduced several inches this morning compared to what they were showing last night. While it is nice to get some good heavy rainfall, enough is enough and we don't need flooding or washed-out roads.

Here's the updated QPF:

7-Day QPF

I hope everyone got beneficial rainfall and not the damaging sort. It is unfortunate that some areas received far too much rain and flooded.

Dawn

Ya, I decided to leave any that were still solid green. A bunch of the tigerellas split so I sliced them and put them in the oven with some peppers and herbs. And I picked a lot of the full size sungold & snow whites. Otherwise they tend to turn inside out with heavy water.

We're up to 5.8" of rain here. Will it bust the drought? I think it probably will, but even if it doesn't, that amount should put us back to being only abnormally dry.

We have had relentless light rain all day long. No break in the rain, at all, no matter what. Since the rain is light, it isn't a big deal, but had the rain been heavier and had it fallen all night and all day like this, then we'd have flooding all over our county. So, while the heavier rain was nicer when it fell for a while, I'm glad it did not continue falling at that rate for 2 days.

I checked your location on Mesonet when I checked what ours said, Dawn. . . was guessing you had 5+ inches. I'm so HAPPY you got it! We got just a hair over 2 at our house, and that's plenty good for now.

I ended up with 4 inches and 4/10th. I am glad, it was cool, and dry today, as the Redmen Triathlon was going on today.

Dawn you got more rain than me, I am glad for you.

The rain was almost perfect, I had a little erosion, but that is what you get when you till. I have seeds lying on top of the soil sprouting, but that's okay. with the overcast skies and damp weather I will have a good stand of cover/manure crop in a week.