Wow! It's raining

[rbarata]

A few drops at the end of afternoon...
My country has been, in the last few months, under what is classified in meteorology as extreme drought, last step of the scale.
See this link to have a better understanding of what's going on (precipitation/day for 2017).
Some cities have been supplied by tankers (trucks, not ships) and the government is considering to apply measures to save water (cut it by night time, for ex).
Some of our main rivers comes from Spain but, as they have the same problem, the rivers are dry in their source so we risk a lack of water also in our rivers.

Tomorrow the forecast is rain but the next day is expected to start the kind of weather we usually have on Jan/Fev: cold (near frezzing) and dry (Laelias weather).

So, until next year no more rain, at least not enough to take us out of drought.

[camille1585]

Wow, I didn't realize that it was still so bad... Portugal disappeared off the news once the big fires were out. I hope for you that you get a long period of nice gentle rains to help ease the drought. Farmers must be hit pretty hard if it's so dry. Unfortunately, the effects of climate change are only going to get worse and worse.

Do the water restrictions ever reach the point where watering plants (like your orchids) is not allowed?

Meanwhile, up here in the Netherlands we are nearly drowning, as is typical for autumn/winter (and spring/summer to a slightly lesser extent). It seems unfair that we are getting so much rain, when it is cruelly lacking in southern Europe. If only it was easy to transport...

[fishmom]

You have my sympathy, rbarata, for what it is worth. Our state, California, is just now trying to bounce back from 5 years of drought. We seem like things will be better this year, but still everytime it rains I feel like going out in it and doing a happy dance!

[rbarata]

Do the water restrictions ever reach the point where watering plants (like your orchids) is not allowed?

So far, no. I think the government is still hoping that it rains soon. They prefer to wait instead of taking decisions.
Also because of the fires there have been some proposals to replace eucalyptus plantations (a plage around here) by cultures of natice species like Quercus suber (cork tree) and olive trees.

But, so far, our agriculture is highly dependant of irrigation water...I think the goverment will be waiting also on this one.

---------- Post added at 07:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------

Originally Posted by fishmom

You have my sympathy, rbarata, for what it is worth. Our state, California, is just now trying to bounce back from 5 years of drought. We seem like things will be better this year, but still everytime it rains I feel like going out in it and doing a happy dance!

Thanks fishmom! I hope things get better for you too.

[estación seca]

We have gone 95 days in Phoenix without measurable rain. Normally there would have been a few storms beginning in mid to late October. The next few weeks look to be very dry, as well.

There might be a little snow tonight in Flagstaff, in the north of the state. They usually have about 10"+ / 26cm of snow by now, but have had none.

[Fernando]

We still had no rain - so, please, once you had your share in Portugal, send a bit down to the Canaries. Right now 29ºC and 29% RH.