Weird Weather

We seem to be about one month behind weatherwise in the north country this year.  So far this month, May has been mostly a replay of a typical April.  Nighttime temperatures have hovered in the 30s and low 40s.  Daytime highs in the 40s and 50s and abundant rainfall have slowed planting and harvest of perennials like asparagus to virtually nothing.   The soil remains cold and wet with snow showers predicted this evening.  The heavier clay soils in the back garden are saturated and there is standing water on some parts of the lawn.  According to one website, the northeast has become much more likely to have heavy downpours of rain rather than more equally distributed precipitation.  This increases stress on both well and poorly drained soils and the crops planted on them.   While small gardeners can plant raised beds, larger growers and commercial farms don't have that luxury and are increasingly at the mercy of more  and more capricious growing conditions unless they are willing to make massive investments in infrastructure such as plastic tunnels or the kind of drainage systems now employed by high tech golf clubs.  In any case, continued disruption of traditional weather conditions across the nation and the world will in the short run lead to higher prices for food and in the long run shortages of foodstuffs and the social unrest this will bring.  I wish I could say with any degree of confidence that our government was prepared to meet these challenges.  If sheer ignorance and mendacity were a substitute for good judgment and crisis management we would be well served by all the president's men.