What an exciting day yesterday! The forecast was accurate, and we received the much-needed rain we had hoped for. Between the heavy downpours, and strong winds, it was an unusual sight for our area. Then again, we are spoiled by what others would consider perfect weather for most of the year. The total was 1.05 inches here at the farm, which was enough to keep the ground wet, and keep the plants happy. We haven’t watered in weeks!

Santa Barbara has measured just over 6.5 inches of rain this year to date. Unfortunately, that is nowhere near what we actually need. The majority of that rain fell in a three day period at the beginning of the month. The streets were flooded and water was pouring into the grow beds on the sides of the property. The flood carried away more than half of the soil, and replaced it with sand. There will be some repair work in the coming weeks, and some brainstorming on what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.

For more information on El Niño and the effects it is having on California, as well as accurate and scientific weather info pertaining specifically to our state and climate, check out meteorology’s new superstar, Daniel Swain. His blog can be found at www.weatherwest.com.