Theory on weather for the Nebraska Sandhills

[Soapweed]

A week ago the weather was mild, and we had just received a very welcome almost five inches of rain. The grass was popping and prospects looked very bright. Since then it has been cold and windy, with hard freezes every night. Right now, as I write, it is almost the middle of the morning and the temperature is still only 29 degrees. The grass is all hunkered down trying to stay warm.

My weather theory for this area is that April doesn't matter, and the first week of May doesn't matter. The critical two weeks in the Sandhills are the second and third weeks of May. During this time, warmth and moisture are both needed. These are the two weeks that "make or break" the whole summer.

Probably it is for the best that it did cool off, freeze, and slow things down in the growing process. It always does so in this country, sooner or later, and maybe now it is getting it out of its system. Many years the last week of May can be about as chilly, with frosts every night, as this last week of April has been. Looks like on the extended weather, we have two more nights of frost and then it is supposed to get warmer.

Cheers to a good summer!

[Clarence]

Soapweed:

They tell of an old sandhills rancher, who said it isn't time to turn out to pasture until the sweetpeas bloom. Maybe you have heard this too.

As I remember, the sweetpeas didn't bloom until about the time school was out, about the last week of May.

[Cal]

Soapweed, I figured so much dirt from up North blew South this winter you probably weren't really in the Sandhills anymore.