Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Through the floodgates

Posted on July 10, 2007 | Comments Off on Through the floodgates

Two teenage girls and a canoe. Pulled under and through the floodgates at Longhorn Dam. Whoa.

"Paramedics evaluated the victims at the scene, and then transported both to Brackenridge Hospital. Neither of the girls appeared to have life-threatening injuries, however paramedics report one victim did swallow a significant amount of water."

I’d imagine so. This is why Lake Travis is closed. You can bet it would happen there, too.

UPDATE  One of them tells KVUE: "My whole body hurts. I spent the better half of today in a neck brace, stuck with needles, and strapped to a hospital bed. We are both very thankful to be alive."

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Posted in Scribbles, Weather/Climate

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Howdy dry

Posted on July 10, 2007 | Comments Off on Howdy dry

After weeks of soaking rains, it’s a treat to see the sun and a near-empty weather radar screen. It was getting so bad there for a while I could hear the grass growing a couple of inches a day. Of course Lake Travis is still flooded, though it’s declining about a foot a day and at this hour is a mere 697.04. At this rate it’ll be about two weeks until I can get the family sloop a few miles uplake for a replacement of the 22-year-old standing rigging–about 12 years more than it should be for safety’s sake, even on a freshwater lake. ‘Course I’ll probably have to start over again cleaning the mildew in the cabin, which I expect will be renewed after almost a month of being closed up. Still it’s good to be dry for a change. Howdy dry, sit down and stay a spell, if you please. You will? Great!

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Fourth from the left

Posted on July 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Fourth from the left

SloopAtDock.JPG

The family sloop. So near and yet so far. Beyond reach for the moment, with Lake Travis apparently peaked at 701.2 feet msl. That’s 20 feet above normal, sort of normal. Full, anyway, although it’s normally lower than 681 this time of year. The radar is mercifully clear and the lake is actually falling a tiny bit, now at 700.97, though it looks like another week, maybe two, before I can get back to work on the cabin. Probably be full of mildew by then, and I’ll have to start over. It’s the outboard I worry about most. Not good for it to sit out there without being run every few days.

UPDATE  Fresh Bilge reminds me, via this link, how easy we have it compared to Lake Texoma. 

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Drought will return

Posted on July 6, 2007 | Comments Off on Drought will return

After 44 days and nights of almost constant rain, it’s wise to remember that Noah’s Ark this ain’t:

"We need to keep in mind that these rains will stop, the earth will get parched and cracked, the grasses will wither, all will return to what it was last year. Drought and flood are a cycle. If we don’t bank the water we’re getting now, we won’t have any to withdraw in the next drought."

Indeed, LCRA meterologist Bob Rose predicts a drier, if not quite dry, week ahead.

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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Canoe exit

Posted on July 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Canoe exit

CanoeExit.JPG

The reflections in the water in the foreground make this a little artsy. The point of it is the way the dock extension at Anderson Mill marina leads into the water, with a canoe strategically placed presumably to help one get to shore. It’s probably worse than this by now, Lake Travis having risen about 3 more feet since July 1 with two more to go according to the latest LCRA forecast. More rain forecast today. It might be Monday before we see the sun again.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Up she rises

Posted on July 4, 2007 | Comments Off on Up she rises

Lake Travis, still taking in water from the rains in the western Hill Country, isn’t satisifed with 700 feet above msl:

"LCRA now forecasts that Lake Travis will peak between 701 and 702 feet msl based on rain that has already fallen. However, more rain is expected today throughout the region. Be advised: If there is much additional rain, at a time when the lakes and river are already full, more floodgates may be opened with little or no notice."

Radar’s almost clear at this hour, but that’s expected to change by dawn. Wait and see.

UPDATE By late Wednesday, the forecast was 703 feet msl. Not much on radar, except some really powerful storms around Bay City, southwest of Galveston. 

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Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

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TRSA

Posted on July 3, 2007 | Comments Off on TRSA

That’s weather-speak for thunderstorms, with rain, which is what we’re expecting today through Thursday. Heavy at times. A recent one was a gusher, but without thunder, and it stopped after a few minutes. Lots more on the radar, little green blobs everywhere, with a few yellow and red ones mixed in, all flowing northwest. The weather service in New Braunfels says tonight through noon tomorrow the blobs will coalesce and the rain could be heavy. By then the jetstream will have settled in east of here, to interact with the damn low pressure trough that seems to have been here forever. At least we missed our June layer of Saharan dust. Some years it’s ash from the Chiapan farmers of southern Mexico burning their fields before the planting. But the dust from the African desert is more regular, June to August. Washed out of the air so far.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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