May 12-19, 2025: trace amounts of rain measured on May 13-14, otherwise dry since April 23. May 12th had a record-breaking 96°F daily high followed by cooling days and nights. Soil is very dry. Yards and gardens are being irrigated about every other day. Drying winds with gusts up to about 45 mph midweek.  Cool temps overnight and cooling daytime temps but forecasts show warming into uper 80's by Memorial Day weekend (no significant rain since mid-April). Birds are very hungry at feeders. Black chinned hummingbirds are back. Anna's have left until late this summer/eary fall. Tree flowering has been out of sequence compared to normal weather years. Syringa are flowering but linden and catalpa still are not blooming. Sycamore are just now showing a little green at the ends of branches, otherwise bare. Japanese maple, trumpet vine, ginko, and grapes are recovering after the mid-April hard freeze (28°F). Many iris have not bloomed this spring, and blooms are not lasting more than a few days after the May 12th extreme heat. Except on the coolest days, pollen counts have been in the extreme range. Air quality has, at times, been in mid- to upper yellow categories from blowing dust. Rye and cheat grass are lush and very tall in the foothills and in the valley. When brush fires are started, they are burning fast in the dry conditions and heat. Snow remains on highest peaks in SW and central Idaho mountains, but the snow is rapidly melting. Upper Boise River reservoirs are nearly full but are being drawn down to make room for the last of the snowmelt. Crazy weather year continues.