We're having a heat wave... except not so much.

[shipperx]

It's been strange seeing the heat wave coverage, because (I guess because we rack up temperatures rather north of 90) they still include this area in the 'heatwave' maps... but it's actually normal for Alabama to be 90+ degrees in July.  Looking up the averages on Weather.com we're sitting almost exactly on 'average' (one degree less actually). 

So, yeah, it's sticky, humid and hot... we live in Alabama!  :)

Actually it has been extremely humid.  It's taken to raining virtually every day.  And the (thermal) windows fog over night.   

At this point it feels (and is beginning to look) like we live in a rain forest.  My shrubs are putting on fresh new growth and so are trees (in July... and that really shouldn't happen.  This is the time of year when things usually try to just hang on to survive.  I worry what August will do to all this fresh new growth that shouldn't be there).

At any rate it's very weird to see the map and to see Minnesota (Minnesota for goodness sakes!) clocking temperatures 15-20 degrees higher than Alabama is posting at the same time (which is what has been happening lately).  That's just weird.  We're designed for months of 90++ temps. 

Minnesota?  Not so much.

And it rained again last night.  All last night.  It's great on the water bill... but I think all plants may soon be growing like kudzu.




(A little history of kudzu:

The following statement appeared in an agricultural bulletin in 1928, about 20 years after it was first introduced in Florida as a forage crop. "Kudzu is not without disadvantages. It is slow and expensive in getting established, is exacting in requiring only moderate grazing and mowing, is deceptive about its real yield, especially to those who do not know it well..."

(The garden gods are laughing their asses off.)
 

Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Countries were invited to build exhibits to celebrate the 100th birthday of the U.S. The Japanese government constructed a beautiful garden filled with plants from their country. The large leaves and sweet-smelling blooms of kudzu captured the imagination of American gardeners who used the plant for ornamental purposes. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields of the vines in the 1940s.

Florida nursery operators, Charles and Lillie Pleas, discovered that animals would eat the plant and promoted its use for forage in the 1920s. Their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley sold kudzu plants through the mail. A historical marker there proudly proclaims "Kudzu Developed Here."

The problem is that it grows too well!  ( Kudzu has been spreading at the rate of 150,000 acres (61,000 ha) annually and currently covers 3 million hectares of land in the southeastern United States).

The climate of the Southeastern U.S. is perfect for kudzu. The vines grow as much as a foot per day during summer months, climbing trees, power poles, and anything else they contact. Under ideal conditions kudzu vines can grow sixty feet each year.

Common names for kudzu include: mile-a-minute vine, foot-a-night vine, and the vine that ate the South.

Kudzu actually grows better in the South than it does in its native lands. Its natural insect enemies were not brought to the U.S. with it.  


 

(It is efficient erosion control, however... albeit, you may never see the ground again!)
 

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're in a similar situation here in TN. Very hot, but I'm used to it and it's to be expected this summer. I'm just amazed at how much rain we've gotten. It's slowed down a bit the past month or two, but everything is still beautifully green here in ways that usually don't last this long into the year--usually by this time everything should be half-dead and half-brown.

[eta] I know just how much of a problem kudzu can be, but I can't help having such an affection for it: it looks like home to me.

[rahirah]

Yeah, we regularly hit 110+ each summer (our 'cool spell' a couple of weeks ago was when it only hit 100-103 for a few days) but... we're used to it. And of course out here, the humidity's considered high if it goes over 20%. I would rather deal with 112 in the shade than 80% humidity any day.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

Kudzu: The Vine That Ate Mississippi.

[chloris.livejournal.com]

Since I live in Massachusetts, I shall take this moment to complain about the weather! *g* There is a reason I don't live in the south. Temperatures near 100F are UNNATURAL and WRONG.

I'm so looking forward to Sunday when we will return to a sane forecast of just a bit above 80F and I can shut off the air conditioning. We're also getting no rain right now but that's normal so I'm fine with that.