Tag Archives: barometer bush

The Purple Sage does it again

Posted on August 12, 2009 | Comments Off on The Purple Sage does it again

It’s only been a week since the area’s Purple Sage bushes began blooming, forecasting a rain event within a week to ten days. Bingo. The rain cameth today. The ol’ Barometer Bush is a winner. Again. Plant a few and you won’t need the Weather Channel.

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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Purple Sage rain alert

Posted on July 14, 2009 | Comments Off on Purple Sage rain alert

LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose has noticed the area’s Purple Sage bushes are in timely bloom:

"As I’ve mentioned previously, these plants, also known as a ‘barometer bush’ often bloom about a week to ten days before there’s rain in the local area. They seem to have a fairly good track record. Unfortunately, the blooms don’t say anything about the quantity of rain. The last time they bloomed, rain amounts were fairly low.  But they did bloom about a week before we got some rain. Could the plants [be] sensing [a] pattern change?"

We can sure hope so. Slight chances of rain, after all, are forecast this weekend through next week.

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Posted in Texana

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“Traitor to the Earth”

Posted on July 3, 2009 | Comments Off on “Traitor to the Earth”

The NYTime’s shrill economist Paul Krugman is the latest shouter to accuse AGW critics of insufficient fealty to the planet. As if we had any place else to go, thanks to our greedy pols who effectively killed the space travel program after Apollo. Henceforth, we got low orbit "travel," and no more.

Here’s an easy-reading answer to Krugman, et al. Reminds me of a chat I had with a local meteorologist friend not long ago. He’s often told me how the best computer forecast models struggle with predicting Texas weather more than a few days out. The atmosphere is just too complicated.

Yet he believes in AGW predictions out to fifty years because "those arBut they did bloom about a week before we got some rain. Could the plants [be] sensing [a] pattern change?"

We can sure hope so. Slight chances of rain, after all, are forecast this weekend through next week.

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