Category Archives: Weather

Sixteen degrees heading for 12

Our share of the arctic cold front finally has arrived. No precip, thank goodness, despite50 percent humidity, or we’d have power outages for sure. Might still with the wind at 13 mph.

Scorpion sting

Bar got stung last night on her big toe by a two inch-long scorpion. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, barefoot as usual, and must have stepped on it. Scorpions usually don’t attack unless provoked. She didn’t see it because it was caramel-colored and blended into the color pattern on the oriental carpet. Probably came in from the back porch, under the sliding glass door, trying to get warm in the 30ish outdoor temperatures of late.

Probably was a Striped Bark scorpion, the most common in Texas and especially here in Central Texas. There are 11 other common scorpions in Texas which pack a varying punch in their sting. Bar said it felt like a bee sting but the pain quickly went away with no noticeable swelling. The venom of the red ones is said to be capable of killing a small dog or a cat. We’ve seen a few of them. Fortunately, the main scorpion predator is another scorpion. They’re cannibals, which helps keep the population down.

Coldest night…

…in six and a half months. Predicted low of 45 degrees. Woo-hoo!

UPDATE: Officially, it got down to 42. On Bar’s Apple Watch, it was 39. But predicted to be back in the 90s by the weekend.

Measurable rain?

Possibly, but not likely, tonight. Better chance tomorrow. We shall see. Haven’t had any for more than a month.

UPDATE: Almost an inch. We’ll take it!

Ian survivors

So far, no more than property loss for our OCS chums in Florida. But several couples are unaccounted for, having evacuated (we hope) from the hard-hit Tampa south to Naples area and apparently without Wi-Fi.

UPDATE: Couples are accounted for. No issues.

Drought to flood

That’s the way Texas droughts usually end, with floods. And with 4.5 inches of rain yesterday, we’re certainly on the way to flooding. Because more is expected today. TV news videos of a roaring Shoal Creek out of its banks reminds of the 1981 flood. Four and a half inches is 22 percent of the average year’s total. In just one day. When it’s flooding down in Texas…all the telephone lines are down. Thank goodness for WiFi.

UPDATE: More didn’t materialize and we stayed at 4.5 inches.

More triple digits

It’s almost enough to make you believe in global warming. Hottest June on record and one of the hottest 4th of July forecast, at 101 degrees with more triple digits to come next week and ahead. Almost. The June record would be more impressive if the record wasn’t so short—only about 170 years. As for the 4th and subsequent triple digits, well, that’s what we normally get starting in July. Probably won’t be much cooling before September. As usual.