I was on vacation the past couple of weeks and felt that my observations might
be of interests to others, so I decided to share them with the list subscribers.
Just after July 4, I traveled to the Wasatch Front in Utah and then to Star
Valley in Western Wyoming on the Idaho border.  The sweet clover (yellow
legume) was in full bloom  in Utah on the lower mountainsides and mountain
valleys, and there was a greenish yellow caste in many locations.  It looked to
me like it would be great bee forage.  When we returned home 2 weeks later (at
the end of last week) the bloom in Utah was all gone.
 
In Star Valley, Wyoming, I visited with a beekeeper who told me that it had
been cold and raining there constantly up to about two weeks previous, and he
had had to purchase a lot of syrup to feed his bees to keep them from starving.
Because of the weather, his bees had completely missed the Spring nectar flow
and had just barely survived.  He hadn't even put on his supers yet.  There is
still a chance for them to make something from the Summer nectar flow, but
right now the situation is pretty "iffy".  I've never seen Star Valley greener
at this time of year than during this trip.  The season is usually more
advanced and drier by now--it must be the El Nino related rains.  The usually
dry river beds were full of water (Salt River).  I thought it might be
interesting for people to hear these observations and compare them to their own
local conditions.  Best wishes for a successful year.
 
Layne Westover
College Station, Texas