Weekly Observations
Jul 3 - Jul 9, 2005
Both Sunday and Monday we had thunderstorms in the
pre-dawn hours, then high temps in the low 80°s F. Tuesday
there was a tropical storm off the Pacific Coast, and we had
clouds all day with occasional light showers, and high temps in
the mid-70°s F. Tuesday night the rain got a little heavier,
with moderate showers lasting from 10:00 PM to after 1:00 AM.
Some lightning, but not much. Just after 8:00 AM Wednesday morning
it began raining again, and continued on and off all day long. The
only time we get rain during the daytime is when one of these
tropical storms or hurricanes hit either of the Central Mexico
coastlines. We had a good thunderstorm just after midnight, then
Thursday morning it remained cloudy until around noon when the
sun came out and warmed things all the way up to 79° F. by
later afternoon. Thunderstorms Thursday night left over an inch
of rain. No rain Friday night, and temps Saturday in the
low 80%deg;s F., with just a sprinkle of rain Saturday night.
We visited Mazamitla this week, it is in the mountains
south of Lake Chapala, about a two and a half hour drive. There are
pine and oak forests there, and some very nice wildflowers this time
of year. In some places in the mountains the soils seem very thin, but
it Mazamitla itself we saw road cuts that showed four to five feet of
dark black, very rich looking loam.
Back in Chapala, the mountains are now fully green (last
week they were mostly green, probably 85%, but still had some brown spots).
They are most attractive like this, and for some reason the ridges at
different distances seems more apparent, making the entire range seem
larger and more imposing. Oddly, the mountains on the opposite side of
the lake are less green than the ones here on the North side ... they
get just as much rain, I would think, but perhaps the vegation or soils are
different. The lower slopes are farmland, and some of that is green and
some not, depending on which field you look at. But the higher slopes
are still somewhat brown.
On Sunday an environmental group cleaned the lirio off
the beach at Chapala. By Wednesday about half of it was back -- not the same
plants of course, since the beach had huge piles of dead plants they had pulled
out -- but half the original quanitity was back, and by this weekend it is
probably back the way it was before they began. Just look out across the lake and
you can see the plants floating here and there, clumping anywhere there is an
obstacle to catch on. All of the shoreline and bays fill with plants driven by
wind and currents. Trying to remove it is like trying to empty the lake of water
with a teacup. It seems much more likely an effective means of keeping the plant
out could be developed, to keep a small swimming area clear along the beach.
I checked out the trees in La Floresta covered with dodder that
I mentioned back in my message of Jun 12 - Jun 18. The strands of dead dodder
are further withered, but the trees have new leaves, and with them new strands
of healthy dodder. Guess there is just no killing that stuff.
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