Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Just a little carbon tax

Posted on October 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Just a little carbon tax

The liars in the U.S. Congress snuck plenty of pork into their credit "crisis" giveaway, but none so obnoxious as the one that lays the groundwork for a carbon tax. The global warmists would never be able to get such a thing passed in open discussion, especially not during a recession. So they cheated.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Weather/Climate

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Ike’s Texas dead

Posted on September 26, 2008 | Comments Off on Ike’s Texas dead

Officially, only twenty-seven people died when Hurricane Ike hit Texas on Sept. 13. But hundreds are still missing, at least three-hundred and thirty-one of them, to be exact. Many of the missing could also be dead, if rumors of bodies still being pulled from Galveston Bay are accurate. Some of them may have been trapped on Bolivar Peninsula, but many more also are from Galveston Island.

Via Houblog.

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Sunspot, or not?

Posted on September 22, 2008 | Comments Off on Sunspot, or not?

NASA says observers are seeing the birth of a true sunspot on the sun’s face, the first of its kind since the solar minimum began in January. That should alleviate any concerns about a new Ice Age coming in the years ahead. But some worriers say it’s really too soon to tell if this spot will grow and last or merely fade like others of its class have done.

UPDATE:  The Seablogger prefers to call it a "sun-sputter," and, indeed, the day after the announcement, it’s almost gone. Meanwhile, NASA held a presser to announce the sun’s output of solar wind is at a fifty-year low. What that means for us, they didn’t say, except that more cosmic rays will get into the inner solar system. There is a theory about the rays, however, which calls global warming into question.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Space, Weather/Climate

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Gilchrist is gone

Posted on September 19, 2008 | Comments Off on Gilchrist is gone

large_gilchrist.jpg

They loved the sunsets in Gilchrist, the working-class people in the seashore homes, but the people are just about all gone now. Hurricane Ike wiped most of the little village away. Its collection of mainly homes on stilts, just above the flat ground of the narrowest point on Bolivar Peninsula, was just east of devastated Galveston.

The peninsula in general, and Gilchrist in particular, took the fierce right side of the Category 2 hurricane: the 110-mph winds and a storm surge estimated at 15 feet or more (topped by 20-foot high battering waves). Combined, they swept much of Gilchrist clean, as shown in the Accuweather shot above, and in these before and after photos. No one knows how many residents elected to stay to ride out the storm. Apparently few survived. There isn’t even enough debris to search. Gilchrist was one place whose peril was not overestimated.

Via Jeff Masters.

UPDATE:  The owners of the lone, surviving house above finally return to it. Turns out the photo is not by Accuweather, but by Smiley N. Pool, now at the Houston Chronicle, formerly of the Austin daily.

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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Houston after Ike

Posted on September 18, 2008 | Comments Off on Houston after Ike

The Texas Rainmaker, who did not evacuate, has a good post on the storm, the aftermath, and the continued deprivations in the old (1830s-40s) capital of Texas. His photographs tell the story of downed trees and signage, blocked roads and long lines at gas stations and groceries better than words. Our evacuated friends from Kingwood, on Houston’s northwest side, are still in Austin, but not staying at the rancho as they have two dogs. A wonder they found a hotel that would take the dogs, but they did.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate

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The six-gun tamed the West

Posted on September 17, 2008 | Comments Off on The six-gun tamed the West

Not hardly. It was something a lot bigger, a lot nosier, and still necessary after all these years.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Mosquito repellant

Posted on September 14, 2008 | Comments Off on Mosquito repellant

It’s bad enough to have no air-conditioning on a sticky, hot September night in Houston and Galveston, where most neighborhoods have no power and aren’t likely to get any for some days yet.

But the mosquitoes. Yipes. Especially if you hadn’t stocked up on repellant beforehand. And, now, with all that standing water. Fortunately, a cold front is due through Texas this afternoon. These are the last days of summer. A few nights at sixty degrees should cut back on the mosquito population pretty thoroughly. But getting the electricity back on may take longer. Glad we haven’t lost it in Austin.

UPDATE:  We actually got some rain overnight. Well, a sprinkle or two. Probably due to the impending cold front more than whatever’s left of Ike, which is way far east of here.

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