Extreme weather on the homestead

Is your ,homestead experiencing extreme weather this summer? It would appear that much of the country is experiencing whether that would make the homesteading lifestyle quite challenging, whether it be drought, extreme smoke, wildfires or floods.
It seems that this year the country is getting plenty of all of the above.
Where I am located in Minnesota we've had extreme smoke for a couple of weeks back in July, that really wasn't so much of a difficulty except for visibility and maybe a little runny nose.
The real problem that most of Minnesota is experiencing is drought, Central Minnesota is currently in what the Drought Monitor classifies as D2 drought or severe drought. Where we normally get about 4"  or more of rain per month we're getting little more than two or three and so far this month only a half an inch .
Because of the lack of rainfall the garden and apple trees must be watered regularly, that is merely more work, but what is concerning is the fact that the cistern which I draw water from is located in a water table that used to take one day to recharge to the full level after watering and now it takes 4 days to recharge and is still about 4 inches below the normal level. That means that at best I can only water every 4 days or so and with no rain in between that allows the garden to get somewhat dry between waterings.
Hopefully this area and much of Minnesota will get some rain before Wells start going dry due to dropping of the water tables.
The only bright side to all of this if there is one is that there have been almost no mosquitoes, horse flies and the other usual summer pests that can drive you crazy. You can be out a good bit of the day with only shorts on and  almost nothing will bother you as far as biting insects, even the ticks have disappeared.

Well that's pretty much what it looks like in Central Minnesota.  If you're getting some " interesting" extreme weather let us know what it is and what if anything you're doing to ameliorate the problem.

I think this is what developing a really resilient homestead is all about.

Reading examples such as your makes me really want one of those really large rainwater tanks. Nine years out of ten, we wouldn't need it, but what if the drought *isn't* just one year?
Storing water in the soil by improving soil so the water infiltrates further down, then planting trees with roots that reach that far down, would be better than a tank. But soil water doesn't give you a glass of water to drink.

Resilience is all about multiple strategies that solve one identified risk. Many areas that were under drought conditions, flood once the rain comes. Good soil might help that, but so would that big tank!

Another example relates to what food you grow and store. Some foods store much longer than others. Some squash store multiple years (those ones I'd need a clean ax to break into!) Some squash are barely good until Christmas. Some foods dry easily and last years once dried. Others are much harder to dry or don't last as long. However, most humans like a variety of foods, and nutritionally that can be important, so again, I think it's important to choose the variety route and not become dependent on a single crop such as caused Ireland's potato famine.

As for the OP's question: I consider my Island has been very lucky this year. We've had slightly weird weather, but not the extremes many have suffered. We've avoided most of both the wildfires *and* the smoke (permies, please wear a quality mask - that smoke is very nasty to human lungs) But I am very aware that some other year it could be my homestead under threat!

Sometimes, though, the simplest of actions, can dramatically improve the level of resilience, so observe during the near-misses, so you can better cope when the main event happens.

Where I live in the Northeast, I feel the extreme weather that effected my homestead the most came in the early spring with an unusually warm period followed by a cold snap which destroyed nearly my entire fruit harvest for the year. While I get no fruit, it seems that the trees and shrubs have put that extra energy in growing! I consider this a good thing as my fruiting trees/bushes are on the young side still. This is now an investment in future fruit production!

It has, however, been one of the wettest summers the area I live in has had in a while. With the natural slope of my property, I have not had issues with excess water luckily.