What's the weather where you are?

Hurricane Isaias is blowing through, and we're under a tornado watch. The lights are occasionally flickering. We aren't letting anyone in the front rooms, which have big picture windows, and closed those curtains tightly; the cats and the small child are annoyed at being kept from their usual spaces. We're on the second floor, and it's a tornado watch, not a warning, but best to be careful.

About five years ago, a little redwood tree was planted in front of our house, and it's now a medium-size tree about the height of our two-storey house. The wind is bending it over at nearly a 45-degree angle. We're hoping it survives. Behind the house there's a much bigger tree that sheds leaves all over the garage in the fall. The garage is currently covered in bright green leaves that have been stripped from it, and when the wind blows the tree back and forth, it sounds like the surf. When branches started tapping on my window, I closed that curtain too.

Last night we got the front edge of the storm, which is where all the rain is. Now it's just wind. It's weird to see such strong wind without rain—not a thing that happens here much. No freight train noise yet, and hopefully there won't be.

EDIT, an hour later: The wind has mostly stopped, with occasional gusts, and there are patches of blue sky. I'm already hearing a chainsaw. I'm guessing there's a downed tree or large branch somewhere. Friends near us reported that a tree branch landed on power lines and split the pole in the corner of their yard. The tree behind the house is tangled in some data cables, but nothing broke. Hopefully other damage around the city is minimal.

It's been beastly hot here, and the air quality is atrocious. In the late afternoon I took a short walk to the store, no more than a mile there and back, in one of my most lightweight masks and a cotton t-shirt and shorts, and by the time I was home I was short of breath and had literal rivulets of sweat running down my back. It wouldn't feel so bad in the shade, even a little breezy, and then I'd step out into full sun and feel the heat of it smack me in the chest like a physical force. Our air conditioners are struggling and we have a family policy of only running the washer/dryer and dishwasher overnight so we don't add to the daytime load on the power grid. Really looking forward to Thursday's promised thunderstorms.

We're stuck in the spring pattern of a few cooler days, a warm front, a rainstorm, and cooling back down (to 60s F during the day and 50s at night). I'm looking forward to getting into the summer pattern of a few warmer days, a cold front, a rainstorm, and warming back up. The other night it was warm and humid and just starting to rain, and I was in a t-shirt and sandals, and it made me hungry for June and July, when it's basically like that all the time. I love getting rained on in the summer and would much rather pack a towel than carry an umbrella.

I've been mostly stuck inside but I'm getting out to my front steps on sunny days, and there are a lot of those. It's just odd to have to wear a light jacket in full sun in mid-May.

Spring allergies are absolutely horrendous this year. Horrendous. My sneezes can be heard from space.

Thanks to tozka and mific for posting here while I've been off in the lands of Real Life. I hope to get back to posting more and I encourage others to do the same! Even if the only weather you're enjoying right now is through your window.

We had a very warm February and all the trees are blooming much earlier than usual, even though March weather has felt much more traditionally Marchish with a lot of chilly rain. Brooklyn has many cherry and magnolia trees as well as the Callery pears that are common throughout NYC. I love them all (even the invasive species). I took a couple of photos of pear trees last week on a bright sunny day. The enormous puffs of white flowers are dramatic, but I like them better when they've leafed out and some of the petals have fallen and they're a beautiful mix of white and fresh green.

This weekend J and I are hoping to walk down to the Brooklyn Museum—a long walk from our house—and see the cherry trees out front. There are two different species of cherries there and I think the early bloomers will be just past their peak and the late bloomers still just budding, but it's our 14th wedding anniversary and we always celebrate with cherry trees, whatever state they're in. (We honeymooned in Japan in cherry blossom season.) Ideally we'll have decent weather for the walk; highs are in the mid-50s, which feels cool for this time of year, and the 10-day forecast shows a lot of cloud cover and at least a chance of showers every day. I don't mind being rained on, but I'm not fond of being cold. In a few months we'll get warm summer rain, which is my favorite.

I keep meaning to post here and then getting sidetracked. It's been a very wet December, with snow now and then, but the past week has been clearer. I get some time in the sun almost every day, which is great for my mood.

It rains at night sometimes, so during the day the sidewalks are wet and the air is chilly but damp. This combines to make it feel like late February or early March with snow melting and spring just around the corner. I know we've got two months to go—two probably very snowy months—but I keep looking for buds on the trees.