We had 1.5 inches of rain this morning, and since it came down hard, there's more runoff than the same amount would have produced had it been slow.
Downstream from #3 gabion, water is clearer
Upstream from gabion, water is more turbid, mosly runoff from construction parking lot
Entrance to crayfish burrow, first seen in years
I was out in rubber boots doing a water quality check of runoff, looking at turbidity (evidence of erosion and/or polluted runoff), velocity, signs of scouring. In the multiple flash floods last fall, we saw more erosion than we had had for years. Extreme rain events following drought always do more damage.
This morning's storm knocked petals off the flowering pear tree, but did not much disturb the Texas buckeye flowering in the shade of other trees:
We also have the scarlet buckeye (both natives) but it flowers just a little later than the Texas buckeye. Only a few florets were open today, and this year it had fewer bloom stalks than the Texas. However:
Today also brought the first Bluebonnet--just barely opening--out in the near meadow, and Indian Paintbrush:
