Gone With the Wind?

The Inspector and Soup have had the right idea the past several days.  They've found whatever spot they can where there is shelter from the wind and they've just stayed there.  That just happens to be on the back porch to the farmhouse on Monday.  

Normally, one or both felines will get up and follow the human as he goes to do chores or other projects if we happen to cross paths.  Today?  Nothing doing.  They were both still there - probably amused by my very disheveled appearance after I fought the wind to go water plants in Valhalla (one of our high tunnels).

It isn't at all uncommon for us to see dust from the gravel roads get kicked up when a car or truck goes by.  But, if you look at the picture just above this text, you will see gravel dust that was NOT kicked up by a vehicle.  This is simply gravel dust that is being kicked up by the wind around here.

And if you look at the photo below, you will see how hazy everything has been with all of the dust particulates in the air.  This was during one of the "clearer" moment on Monday.  I never seem to grab the camera at the moment that will give me the optimal photo op.  But, the one time I did have the camera in hand, I lost my balance a bit as the wind hit me.

And, no, I am not joking.  I actually wish I were.

According to the Iowa State University Mesonet, Waterloo had one day in May... ONE... that had a top wind gust UNDER 20 miles per hour.  That top wind gust on March 4 only reached 19 mph.  Yep, that's a real break from the wind, dontcha know?  The top windgusts for March 28 through 30 were 43, 59 and 52 mph.  We're pretty sure we hit the 50s March 31 as well (edit, we hit 52 mph).

The average windspeed for March 29 was 17.1 mph and 20.1 mph for March 30.  And, I'd like to remind you that the wind typically slows in the evening around sunset and is often slower around the dawn hours.  According to my observations we were seeing windspeeds in the low single digits at that time.  Winds from the south typically are strongest during the daylight hours.  It makes me wonder what those numbers would be for average daylight windspeeds.

We were already talking about the winds in our area this year in April.  Mark Schnackenberg's blog illustrated clearly the exceptional winds we had in April of 2022, reaching levels that were last seen in 1984. I wonder if there will be a blog about May winds forthcoming?

In fact, it was just this past year that we got to learn a new (to us) weather term - haboob, which ends up being a good, old-fashioned dust storm.  Having experienced one of these myself, while I was outside, I'm not sure I have a desire to see another one in person.

Several of us who do this small-scale, diversified farming thing have been discussing how it feels like things have been getting windier over the past five to eight years.  It turns out that we are not just imagining things, with average windspeeds increasing around the globe after several decades where those windspeeds had been declining (global terrestrial stilling).  

While we might be comforted that we are not making things up, Tammy and I are finding this to be a small comfort.  There are two conditions that make doing work at the Genuine Faux Farm incredibly difficult - perfectly still days with lots of biting insects and days like these - with the howling winds.  Sadly, when you've got the bugs, you're wishing for even the tiniest breath of a breeze.  When the wind is blowing hard enough that your hens have to lay the same egg three times, you're wondering why you think bugs are so bad (note, it doesn't take much imagination for us to remember).

Oh, and we don't like it when it rains so much that we can't do anything on the farm too.  I guess we're just picky.

Still, this year's winds, combined with the early cold soil temperatures have really set us back at the Genuine Faux Farm.  We could have transplanted some crops over the weekend, but we also know how badly they would be beaten with the dry, hot winds.  We've tried laying drip tape in winds like this before too - and that's not recommended either.

It's sad, because our motivation to get things in the ground isn't there this year.  I suppose you could say it is gone with the wind.