Last year's weather

You know I keep track. Maybe it's an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) thing, but every day I record the low and high temperatures as well as any rainfall (measured in our rain gauge). We have an electronic thermometer with a remote sensor outside. I write the daily highs and lows on a little piece of paper that I keep next to the thermometer. Every month I transcribe the data into a spreadsheet.

2013 monthly rainfall in our back yard.

I've done this since 2005, so that's about eight years. It's a habit now. Something retired people find to do to occupy their time. Ahem. So, anyway, what have we learned? That 2013 was the wettest year we've had since I've been keeping track. We got more than 33 inches of rain during the year; more than twice what we got in 2005, our driest year.

Our daily outdoor temperatures.

Coté températures (on the temperature side), it was not a spectacular year, just about average from what I can tell. We had a wet and cold spring last year and that really put a damper on the growing of vegetables and grapes. I hope that 2014 is warmer and a bit drier. We shall see.