Yesterday the temperature here topped out at 55 at 12:45, then plummeted to 40 by 2:30 (normal highs are around 75). The forecast for next Thursday calls for high temperatures to be 92-97 (depending on the forecast model), with lows in the 60's (excessive heat advisories may need to be posted).
I love weather (armature meteorologist). What I don’t like is being wrong (surprises?) when forecasting low temperatures. I expected thunderstorms yesterday. In fact, I knew they were coming last Friday (when it was sunny and warm). On that day, I gathered everything I'd need to cover my garden to protect it from hail and set it in the garden (even did a dry run). Yesterday morning around 10 as the warm May sun was breaking through the low overcast, I carefully covered each plant in my garden (even used a 32-gallon garbage can), and rolled out a tarp across my peppers. I weighted everything down with jugs of water, rocks and garden statues. At 1:35, the nearly clear sky suddenly clouded over and at 1:45 the sky opened up. Rain fell at the rate of 4”/hr, pea-sized hail rapidly piled up, and strong winds buffeted the area. Beautiful! The road in front of my house turned into a river - complete with cascading waves of hail (I’m on the side of a hill). The house gutters were so full of water and hail that the water poured over them like a waterfall all around the house (the gutters are 6” deep), and a lake formed at the bottom of the hill (both the road and the neighbors yard were under feet of water). Weather at its best!!! However, what I didn’t expect (but should have) was such a drastic temperature drop. 40 is a bit cold for this time of year (and it didn’t get much warmer the rest of the day). My begonias and cacti are not happy (I hope they survive).
my2cents 