Mother nature has announced the arrival of spring with my fig trees having budded and leaves already forming.
Coral trees are showing a spectacular display of orange and the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow shrubs are in full bloom.
Some of my fig trees even have small fruits forming, but alas, I know they will never reach maturity, and I use them to make fig preserve, which pairs perfectly with blue cheese and crackers.
This is because, like clockwork, we always get another cold snap before summer fully kicks in.
This most often occurs around late September to early October.
Though we had a mild cold snap this week, with a teaser of some welcome rain, it was nothing compared to 2024, where areas in the Drakensberg recorded some of the worst snowfalls of recent times just after the spring solstice.
Minimum temperatures here in the Bay dipped well below 10ºC for a good few days during that period.
Even before that (on September 10) the temperature dipped to 3.7ºC, which does not occur too often in any month, especially September.
The good news is that once we hit October, the chances of cold snaps decrease drastically.
This is, however, as long-time residents of the Bay know, the start of the windy season.
Though statistically that is not the case, with December holding the honour of being the windiest month.
I think the reason for this is that though we have beautiful windless days, we do get a few big blows during September and October.
My late mother would know, as she hated the wind, because it blew dust into the house and often ruined her washing.
My avocado tree is the best gauge of the windy season. When the flowers form and start forming fruit, that is when the windy season starts and destroys a lot of the buds.
If this is true, the windy season will be delayed in 2025 as my tree is still full of fruit and not ready to flower yet.
This could be because the rainfall of late has been disastrous.
After a wonderful start to 2025, with the first five months being well above average, there has been little decent rainfall.
Besides the welcome showers over the weekend, followed by a lovelydownpour on Tuesday, the last time we had any mentionable rainfall was 28mm on July 26.
Moving into our dry season along the coast and adjacent interior, that is not good news for our water situation, though our main storage dams are healthy at a combined capacity of just over 60%.
Farmers in the Langkloof, our main catchment, are concerned about the lack of rainfall to replenish their farm dams and reservoirs.
Naturally, they are also concerned about the seasonal rainfall forecast for the upcoming season.
Though the seasonal forecast has changed to show a promising summer season for the rest of the summer rainfall regions along the south-coast and adjacent interior, the models are predicting below average rainfall figures.
Naturally, with reduced cloud cover conditions, the days are expected to be warmer than usual.
This is not good news for farmers and gardeners, as the warmer conditions will require more regular watering regimes.
With reserves running low on water tanks and not much hope of good rains to refill them during the summer months, ardent gardeners will have to resort to bought or municipal water at a high cost, if they want to save their precious petunias.
I do see that the sale of water for gardens and swimming pools is still a lucrative industry with many water trucks with flow bins seen daily in our neighbourhoods.
Unfortunately, this water is not cheap, but with no rain to fill water tanks, many have no other option.
Another often overlooked option for gardeners is the use of recycled water which can amount to significant saving.
This could be as cheap and simple as connecting a pipe to your washing machine to water your garden, to sophisticated but more pricey systems that aerate the water so it can be stored for a few days.
Both systems are money savers in the short- and long-term.
As the adage goes: Waste not, want not.
This week in history:
1979: Hail damage to fruit crops in the Haalem and Misgund areas of the Langkloof.
Dam levels
64.44%, dropping steadily from the previous week’s 65.05%
Impofu slightly down to under 48.97%.
Weather safety tips:
Stay away from fences and railway lines or any steel structure during a thunderstorm as a lightning strike down the line can be dangerous and even fatal.
Now on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: WEATHER GURU
The Herald
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