Category Archives: Weather/Climate

The quiet before the storm

Posted on August 10, 2008 | Comments Off on The quiet before the storm

Not referring to the Russian-Georgian deal, or even Baby Barry’s vacation before his presumed coronation two weeks away, but the two three tropical waves from the African coast which seem likely to become hurricanes before the week is out. It’s selfish to wish one of them on the Gulf of Mexico, just so we might get a little more rain, given the chance of death and destruction. So we won’t go there.

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Snookered by Edouard

Posted on August 6, 2008 | Comments Off on Snookered by Edouard

Sprinkles, mainly sprinkles. We got a quarter inch overnight, most places around here got much less. So much for the hotshot tropical storm. The LCRA’s Bob Rose (whose employers don’t provide him with a permalink) says forecasts of much more didn’t come true because the computer models failed to accurately predict the eastward shift of a high pressure ridge, which drew Edouard’s rain well north of us.

Rose: "This will definitely be a research project to see why almost all of the computer and human solutions missed this forecast track."

Fat lot of good it will do us in the meantime. Although the radar showed a good deal of it went south, as well. At least we had a relatively cool evening last night. Felt cool, anyhow, as the temps dropped into the mid-seventies by dawn. But the drought continues.

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Waiting for Edouard

Posted on August 5, 2008 | Comments Off on Waiting for Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall with maximum sixty-five mph winds this morning on the upper Texas coast, between High Island and Sabine Pass, but did little more than soak the beaches on Galveston Island. Right now, it’s rapidly falling apart as it moves inland, headed our way. We await its outer rain bands this afternoon amid a flash flood watch and predictions of up to six inches of rain by tomorrow morning. Sky’s still clear, but radar shows patches of green and yellow still formed in a loosening ball that’s rolling towards us. Promises to cool us down to about ninety degrees for a high on Wednesday.

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Reducing electric usage

Posted on August 4, 2008 | Comments Off on Reducing electric usage

I’ve set the air-conditioning thermostat at eighty degrees at the rancho and am closing curtains and blinds on the south and west sides. Reason being, the state’s electric grid operator, ERCOT, is asking Texans to do so to avoid afternoon brownouts in the extreme hundred-degree heat. Demand is just really high, due mainly to population increases in recent years. No problems are expected if everyone cooperates. It’s nice having your own state grid.

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Tropical Storm Edouard

Posted on August 3, 2008 | Comments Off on Tropical Storm Edouard

Edouard.JPG

Finally, a good chance for some good rain and at least a day or so relief from the heat, after what seems like months of hundred degree days, though it’s actually been only forty-one days in Austin since May. But there’ve been a lot of ninety-nines mixed in there as well. More from Weather Underground’s  Jeff Masters and the Lower Colorado River Authority’s Bob Rose if this is a permalink.

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Zugspitze weather station

Posted on July 24, 2008 | Comments Off on Zugspitze weather station

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This thing fascinated me the first time I saw it at Creaky Pavillion, where it was art for a post on Warmism. No explanation there (which is not meant as a criticism, Tatyana), but there was a link to the Flickr account where it originated. There it was identified as the Zugspitze weather station, atop the Zugspitze, the highest spot in Germany, at a little under ten thousand feet. Looks like a defensive outpost of some kind in the Lord of the Rings, or else a flour sifter turned on its side. Can’t find an explanation for why it looks the way it does, but it certainly is cool. The peak in the distance has a Christian cross atop it, viewable in the image as posted at Flickr.

UPDATE:  Tatyana, at Creaky Pavillion, added this link to a larger photo of the station, which isn’t as dramatic looking, but gives a better idea of what it actually looks like. I’d still like to know what’s in there.

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Brownsville radar

Posted on July 23, 2008 | Comments Off on Brownsville radar

Here’s the very best view of Hurricane Dolly to watch today, and local stations to check on for news and weather. The Brownsville Herald is updating quickly.

UPDATE:  By 9:30 a.m., tornadoes were already popping up on radar west of Corpus Christi. By 1 p.m., Dolly had grown to a category 2 hurricane, its eyewall was moving ashore a bit north of Brownsville and it was pounding the coastline with hundred mph winds.

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