ForestHillWx

Rain with thunder in Chester

Rumbles approaching...

88/61; hot but bearable while mowing. 

Edit: Stopped for a Kane Head High currently. 

10 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

was mentioned on TWC when they interviewed a beekeeper

 

My own losses were roughly 30% last year; but its due to varroa mites. Every beekeeper has to deal with it. I had just never heard of a queen bee die off  

Something to keep in mind is that honeybees are a non-native species to the Americans. Agreed they are vital for pollination of many crops used, but as important (if not more so) are native bees i.e. bumbles. Everyone should buy houses for them for their own yards.

Personally, in my opinion one of the biggest culprits are manicured lawns. I seed clover in my yard as hit helps with nitrogen fixation and drought tolerance (not to mention my bees love it), but my wife doesn't like it and is concerened my kids will get stung with increased bee presence. Fair points. 

On 7/14/2020 at 2:25 PM, LibertyBell said:

honey bee population is down 44% from last year to this year, from a big queen bee die off during the summer.

honey bees are responsible for over one third of pollination.

Where is this stat from? Just curious  

Jumping in late on this convo, plenty of lighting bugs out this way. Also got my first nesting pair of blue birds, with babies.

I'm looking into nesting boxes for screech and barn owls now. I need something to curb the chipmunk populations. 

That Rutgers map is accurate for my location. Closer to 2.5", still raining. Southwest Morris near Hunterdon/Sometset. 

Getting nice rumbles of thunder. Rain intensity has noticeably increased. 

Started around 11:00 am; perfect rate to let the water saturate. 

Surprised how quiet the threads are with a tropical storm at the door. If this was winter I would expect pages of overnight posts. 

Im looking forward to the deluge. We need it. 

Decent rains in southwest Morris. Not much wind/thunder. 

Dad at work in Maywood texted 1/2-3/4" hail was falling. 

Had that storm hitting Princeton now. Got some good rain, decent lightening/thunder. No hail, no wind. 

8 hours ago, JerseyWx said:

And not to mention the snow we saw last night as well.

And all day today. My 3.5 year old was just running around in it going nuts. Pretty surreal to see with flowers in bloom in the field next to our property. 

30 degrees with full sun, May 9. Incredible. 

Fantastic event, though I was too far west to get in on the good band by the time the cold was established. Oh well. 

Its 30 frickin degrees right now with full sun on May 9. 

Legit car topper here. For an otherwise crappy few weeks, this is cool to see. 

Current temp 34. Progged low of 27. Good thing I haven't planted yet. 

Impressive rain total so far. Well over 2.5". Not much wind, but as the cells continue to hit winds noticeably increase. 

Woke up to snow on roofs/lawns/cars. Close to 1/4"

Light snow continues, dusting on the lawn/trees. 

The snow made my 3.5 year old very happy to see when she woke up. The innocence of youth... As CP said, a nice diversion. 

Woke up to find it briefly snowing with a dusting on all surfaces, including the road. 

2:30 am. Temp is 25 degrees. 

Snow showers and wind. 

Had 6 at 6:00 am. Up to 9 now. 

Spring fever today; put the nail in this winter and let's get outside. I'm itching to start spring clean up. 

1.5" here. Roads were covered. 

Heavy snow in Chester/Randolph. 32. 

Roads are ok, some slush. 1/2" on most other surfaces. 

Woke up to find a surprise dusting of snow.  Pleasant to see on Groundhog Day.