Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Lakes filling

Posted on June 16, 2007 | Comments Off on Lakes filling

LCRA site shows Lake Travis has risen about 12 inches since last night’s rain, as flow rates rise in the Llano and Pedernales rivers. Indeed:

"Inflows from overnight rains are slowly filling the Highland Lakes. Flood operations are not anticipated at this time. However the chances of flood operations this weekend have become more likely as the lakes fill."

They’ll start later this afternoon with hydrogeneration at Mansfield Dam, and likely stick with that if the predicted more rain in the watershed doesn’t start driving the level up too fast. Opening flood gates always seems to be the last resort, given it’s a reservoir, and opening too many can flood people living along Lake Austin farther downstream. Those folks are sure to be watching LCRA’s balancing act.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Luminous, blue-white tendrils

Posted on June 15, 2007 | Comments Off on Luminous, blue-white tendrils

An outbreak of neon-blue, noctilucent clouds over Europe’s and the U.S.’s northern tier. Also visible from the space station.

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Posted in Space, Weather/Climate

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Wet weekend

Posted on June 15, 2007 | Comments Off on Wet weekend

The sunken car in Tulsa might not look so strange around here by Monday. The weather service is calling for likely rain, possibly heavy, tonight, Saturday and Sunday. Looks like our wet spring isn’t over yet. We have had some big floods in June. Are we about to repeat? Just spotty green amoebas on the radar so far. Can’t last. They’ve been wrong before, but not this wrong. Bob Rose has more.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate

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The girl child

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on The girl child

The Climate Prediction Center says that old, misnamed reprobate and hurricane-pusher La Nina could be close at hand.

"Some forecast models, especially the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS), continue to predict a rapid transition to La Niña by July 2007. However, for the past few months the CFS forecasts have been predicting a stronger and more rapid cooling than has actually occurred. Historically, the next few months are a favorable period for the development of La Niña."

It could make for a busy hurricane season, with some storms, inevitably, rolling our way from the Gulf. 

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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It’s a boat, 2

Posted on June 8, 2007 | Comments Off on It’s a boat, 2

Meteorologist Troy Kimmel emails that we can expect scattered showers this afternoon from a cold front making its way southeast across Texas. Thought I saw a surprising amount of dark clouds over Lake Travis this morning when I was out there working on the sloop. Got the cabin cleaned out, finally, and all cushions vacuumed and the surfaces wiped down with Lysol. Next I want to paint the interior teak, before starting work on the teak bin boards and doghouse trim. Next big problem to solve is getting the outboard overhauled. The one place that works on Suzukis is swamped with work. Meanwhile I’ve a re-rigging planned for the 18th at Yacht Harbor marina, a few miles away, but can’t get there easily without a motor. Not in a hurry, anyway. I could sail back, after the rigging’s completed, but still got to get there.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing, Weather/Climate

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Goodbye to storms

Posted on June 4, 2007 | Comments Off on Goodbye to storms

More clusters of severe thunderstorms moving in from the northwest, just like last evening. Bob Rose says we might as well enjoy the thunder and lightning, as these cells may be the last we see or a while:

"This may be the beginning of our typical summer weather pattern. If today’s long-range solutions are correct, today’s storm activity could be the last of the spring-like storms our region will see this month."

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Goodbye to dry

Posted on June 3, 2007 | Comments Off on Goodbye to dry

droughtmonitor.jpg

This, compared with this from last December, shows how our south central part of Texas (and the  rest of the state) has come out of a big drought in the past six months. In the last two hours, we added another inch or so of rain as some big storms swept through from the northwest. Lowered the temperature about 20 degrees, into the upper 60s. Some urban and small stream flooding, and enough lightning to leave about 7,000 people without power. We weren’t affected. Mr. B. got a little excited by a few close lightning strikes, however. Lot of hail reported. Probably see the damage from that tomorrow.

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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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