Late May Rain
With nearly an inch in the gauge at daylight, I can’t ever recall this much rain at the end of May. As low pressure circulates from Nevada’s Great Basin, rain has been sliding into the Central Valley and south along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. Snow was forecast above 6,500 feet, but cloaked in clouds, we can only see the near hillsides below 1,000 feet this morning.
Though the temperature change is delightful, the impact of this much moisture will likely leach the nutrients from the dry feed that we’ve so judicious saved to get our cows through the coming fall. It may even start the grass again, however short lived in our typically 100-degree days this time of year.
In 1948, according to stories from my father, he had to ship his steers at the first of April after a dry spring following the drought year prior. But he shipped them in the rain, and it continued raining through May, germinating the grass again, green feed through June. This year’s weather has been strange and unusual, but not unprecedented for California where anything can happen. We’ll wait and see what tomorrow brings.