It is may 9th at 5 PM. I am watching some very strange weather occur. It is 75 degrees out and the wind started up about 20 minutes ago. It was blowing leaves against the window and shaking the trees, so it got my attention. Then I noticed that the sky had gotten much darker quite suddenly. Yesterday, and earlier this morning, it was very overcast, foggy, hot, humid, and drizzly. When the small storm began this afternoon, the sky was much more patchy. Parts of it were completely clear, and parts were lightly raining. Here is a portion of my deck, which shows how uneven the storm was. Half of it is dry is completely dry, but half was rained on.
However, the wind seemed pretty strong despite the fact that the rain was minimal. There was also light thundering every ten minutes or so. There was clearly a sudden drop in temperature as well, and the air felt much less muggy. Since it has been quite humid the past couple of days, and drizzly too, I feel like the weather is very fitting for spring time. Even though Austin can be humid a lot of the time, we seem to only get rain in a small part of the winter and spring. Since it has warmed up lately and rained some, the plants and trees seem very healthy. Here is another picture of the strange storm.
The sun was beginning to sink lower and everything looked yellow and orange. You cannot tell from this image, but the sunset was very orange today, rather than pinkish like it usually is. In this photo, you can see the rain falling out of these clouds in the distance. Other parts of the sky look clear though, which you can tell by the yellow light. Another thing I noticed today, completely by accident, was how much louder than usual the birds seemed. As I watched the storm, they were making noise almost constantly. I don’t know if it was because of the storm, the air pressure, the temperature drop, or what. Before the few muggy, overcast days we have had, there were a couple of days where the temperature approached 90 degrees, and it started to feel like summer. I have tried to be outside much more than usual lately, because it hasn’t been too hot or too cold. However, this week alone, I am starting to think I will not be enjoying the weather as much because my favorite season will soon come to an end. I can still see a lot of wild flowers, but there are less blue bonnets than there were when I wrote last month’s blog. Unfortunately, this month I have had to begin using the air conditioning in my apartment and my car. It’s only a matter of time before Austin sees it’s first 105 degree day of the year.
When I began my blog in January, the weather was cool, but mild enough to take a nice walk in. There didn’t seem to be as many birds or animals out. Some of the plants were dead. I remember noticing all of the pollen. It wasn’t very humid or hot at all. In February, I remember the weather being my main focus because it was so insane. There was a pattern of freezing cold days with rain and ice, then hot days back to back. It was very strange. The sun set much earlier, than it does now, as well. The day I observed at the end of February was gorgeous, but it was rare for that month. March was cooler overall than this month has been. There were some warm days and some temperamental weather events similar to the ones in February; however, for the most part, the air was warm enough for the plants to thrive. Blue Bonnets were the spot light in March. April was the nicest month of all. The temperature was mild, it was generally sunny, and all of the plants were really green. As this month comes to an end, I am beginning to look forward to boiling alive before jumping into Barton Springs. To cherish the end of spring, I will close my entry with a quote from Aldo Leopold, which I think describes the enjoyment of my favorite season.
“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.” -Aldo Leopold
I will add that perhaps in order to perceive quality in nature here in Texas, it must be springtime.