Recent Weather

Rain, rain, rain!

When we first saw our house, almost two years ago now, the stream down below (actually the mighty Tabua River!) was in full flow. Everything was green. And I thought we were moving to a sort of England-but-with-good-summers area. Then, when we finally moved here last February, the land was parched. There'd been no significant rain for a year. And nothing much changed until the late autumn, when we began to have a little rain. By Christmas, the land had recovered to a degree, but it was clear we still needed much more water.

Into the new year, and we've had regular rain. Which fell as snow higher up -- sometimes only a little higher than Tabua. Here's a shot of the Serra da Estrela taken around the end of last month:

As a result of all this precipitation, the Tabua River has recovered. Just down below our house, the stream was looking like this a few weeks ago:

Just today, I went down to the stream and saw that ancient irrigation channels -- leading off the stream above the mill weir -- are full and taking water uselessly into nearby fields. Uselessly, because no one around here grows the corn and other crops that used to be nourished by the water down on the small flood plain.

The wet weather has made everything green. Particuarly spectacular are old terraces, now mostly tree covered, that suffered fire last summer. With the trees partially burnt, the terraces are very visible. And with emerald green grass now growing, they are quite a sight: