April Almanac
The Weather So Far Has Not Been Normal
By Clinton S. Powell, Naturalist

I would like to have the February and March almanacs of this year back. Why? All the weather data did not apply, not even close. Perhaps I chose the wrong latitude or longitude.

My primary weather reference is The Weather Channel, which is basically the most appropriate and most commonly used reference not only for the public, but also by some government agencies. However, the historical temperatures recorded, such as the high, low, average and record temperatures and rainfall as noted, were not even close to what occurred these past two months.

So, let's press on with all possible dispatch and see the historical weather and other essentials for April. Once again, The Weather Channel notes for every day of April, a record low of below 32 degrees.

For the commercial grower with hundreds of acres of apples, peaches, plums, cherries and grapes, a complete loss from freezing can occur in two out of seven years.

When Julian was first founded, in 1869, it was gold that stopped travel. Why travel all the way to northern California for gold, when it was right here?

However, as you look into the history of Julian, you notice that gold vanished as fast as the stunning coniferous forests of this 40-acre town. Gold was gone in the small creeks. So with big money, the gold diggers went underground, down, down until they were flooded out.

Frustrated miners and their families in 1870 gathered around a large coast live oak in Wynola called the Council Oak, and realized that gold was played out, but the climate was not. The climate, the soil and water was very similar to so many thousands of acres of prime fruit-growing land back east.

So, many dedicated horticulturists humbly returned back home, but proudly returned with the fruit trees, ornamental trees and shrubs that you see thriving today in this country town. A town now famous for gold not striped from the ground, but gold on the limbs, vines and flowers.

Low temperatures in April are also of prime interest to the home gardener and specifically to Julian's most famous flower, lilacs.

Lilacs are a true magnet for folks from back east. Almost anyone from the northeastern states simply falls in love with Julian because of lilacs. Without question, everyone wants a bouquet of lilacs. Lilacs of any color - blue, burgundy, pink or white lilacs - whatever has not been damaged by frost and is fragrant commands top dollar.

The fragrant, fresh lilacs almost bring tears to the eyes of the average visitor to Julian. Basically, it's an order to return home with a huge bundle of lilacs, or don't come home. And, where is the apple pie?

In addition to the many species of fruit these farmers brought back with them, they also brought back the wonder of not only grafted exotic fruit, they also selected rootstock that produced fruit trees that were half as tall, yet produced as much fruit as the original stock.

And what would an orchard be without hundreds of imported European honeybees? This was another important introduction, as the local bees did not concentrate so heavily on this imported fruit.

Beyond the harvest of crops is the harvest of song and color of birds. Julian is located on the Pacific Flyway, one of the four major migration routes of birds.

What compliments huge oak trees and conifers better than western tanagers, Bullock's orioles, a flock of cedar waxwings or uncountable species of Warblers? Steller's jays are the signature species of these mountains and band-tailed pigeons complement any setting.

What can balance the level sea of huge meadows than soaring northern harriers, western bluebirds and singing western meadowlarks? Lake Cuyamaca is the headquarters for waterfowl either nesting or migrating and is a small gem of a lake just 9 miles south of Julian.

Other important events of April is the full moon on the 2nd, Easter Sunday on the 8th, the last quarter of the moon on the 10th, the new moon on the 17th and Earth Day on the 22nd.

Now that I'm close to the end of this April Almanac, I feel brave enough to, yes, note the weather.

What is the old fisherman's quote, "Once bitten, twice shy?" I am an old fisherman, so I consider myself safe in now stating in the fewest words the temperatures and rainfall.

The average high for April is 60 degrees the average low is 35 degrees. The record high is 85 degrees; the record low is 20 degrees. Once again the rainfall is a typical southern California extreme of only 2.58 inches. Last year, yes, only one year ago in March, we received a dandy snow cover of over two feet that slowly sank into the soil and filled our ponds and lakes.

Will we see this occur again? No. This is April, not March. But who knows what wonders will occur this month. We will just have to be patient, observe, see and celebrate the sweet interval called April.