Winter coats and hats were the norm yesterday morning at the Lawrence Farmers Market, where a remarkable number of hardy farmers and customers shivered their way through a morning. Temperature at opening was 43 degrees with 17 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service. The sun was out, but it couldn’t do enough to make up for those cold north winds. At 9 a.m., the wind was blowing a steady 22 mph with 29 mph gusts. Brrr!
Nevertheless, by the time I got there around 9 a.m., all the asparagus was sold out, but there was an array of cut flowers, herbs, spinach, mixed greens (mesclun) and green onions in addition to the less weather-dependent baked goods, meats, honey and the like. Morel hunters were selling their goodies, if I heard correctly, for $30 a pound. It’s been a good year for morels.
What a strange year for weather. Although I don’t think we had frost in my neighborhood last night, widespread frost was forecast, and the temperature hit 32, at least briefly, at the Lawrence airport. I’m hoping farmers in low-lying areas didn’t get zapped again.
I know I carp about the weather a lot, but just to give you out-of-region readers an idea, let me recap:
- Thursday, seeming out of nowhere, hail and a high temperature of 85 degrees.
- Friday, in the wee hours: 80 mph straight winds and a short-lived tornado, with overcast and winds over 20 mph most of the day.
- Saturday windy and sunny, supposedly hit 63 degrees, but that must have been for about two seconds.
- Today, gorgeous after the frost-level a.m. temps: breezy, sunny with a forecasted high of 73.
Above, that’s hail on my deck from Thursday. The largest hailstone there is about 1.25 inches. Sheesh.
Joanne // May 5, 2008 at 8:07 am
I’ll be wishing you better weather! This year’s good spring weather is a surprise for us in KY. Last year, we had terrible spring frosts that killed all the fruit (apples, pears, peaches and even strawberry blossoms) and then a killer drought. So, it’s almost as if I’d forgotten what a nice spring was like! Don’t worry though, we are suffering for it- My husband is having terribly bad allergies.
It sounds like, food wise, you are just a few weeks behind us. You’ll be eating strawberries in no time at all! :)