The best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry. 18 researchers, students, and others with hundreds of hours and countless dollars invested in this experiment and it rains. Just a bit of rain, 30 short minutes at about 9:30 this morning. But enough to soak the forest and put our experiment on hold. At this point the weather in the coming days is unclear. Unfortunately it can be difficult to predict weather in this remote corner of Brazil, and what's more, it can change from hour to hour. This morning our fate looked grim, the forecast was for rain all week and it looked like we might complete our time here without a chance to burn the plot. But our luck may be changing. It cleared this afternoon and the sun is baking the forest. If this keeps up through tomorrow, we may be able to carry out the burn on Thursday. If not, we have covered a very small plot with a tarp where I and one other researcher may be able to carry out some limited experiments. However, most of the researchers may be delayed in their work until next year when the dry season returns. It is frustrating, but everyone is trying to stay optimistic. Of course, while the rain throws a kink in our plans, it is welcome by other residents of the forest...
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