Haboobs, Tornadoes, Hail, Microbursts - All Kinds of Fun Living Here

      Another tidbit or two about Texas Panhandle weather.  (and another long post) Ever heard of a microburst?  How about a haboob?
      Several years back I was working at the library when a microburst occurred.  A dry microburst, meaning it was not during a rainstorm.  The library parking lot was full of cars.  A patron came in and told us our windshields were shattered.  It was the most unbelievable site I have ever witnessed.  Just unreal.  Staff took turns going outside to look at the parking lot.  We were just stunned.  It looked like a gang had come through with baseball bats and took out some anger on our cars...staff as well as patrons.  Every car in the parking lot had either a shattered rear window, front window or both.  We would not have been so surprised if it had been during a hail storm but we were not having any weather to speak of at all.  No rain, just normal wind.  Lots of sunshine.   Meteorologists reported on TV that it was a microburst.  Evidently it just happened in the blink of an eye.  Amazing. That was the first time I had ever heard of one.

"Illustration of a microburst. The air moves in a downward motion until it hits ground level. It then spreads outward in all directions. The wind regime in a microburst is opposite to that of a tornado."

    Last year in May we had a humdinger of a hail storm.  According to insurancejournal.com hail up to the size of baseballs moved directly through the center of Amarillo causing wind and hail damage to approximately 75 percent of the residential property in the city (population approx 195,000).    “The losses from this hailstorm are comparable to Hurricane Dolly that struck South Padre Island back in 2008” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas.
      That hailstorm totaled my old van (which I still drive, it just isn't pretty) and battered my house.  You don't want to be standing outside when baseball size hail hits.
     Then we have tornadoes.  We also had tornado sirens going off during that big hail storm last May, and Al Roker on The Today Show mentioned us the next day.  They showed the local tv staff in the bathroom.  That is what you do here.  Tornado sirens go off, first you go out to look for the tornado then you go huddle in the bathroom if you think the tornado is real close, hoping the pipes in the walls will keep you safe.  (I know, what ARE we thinkin')  Plus, most bathrooms don't have windows so you won't be hit by flying glass.  Suppose to be the safest place in your house.  Strangely, not too many people here have a basement.  I have lived in this part of the world all my 60 years and never had a basement, don't know anyone with a basement.  And I live in a single wide trailer house.  I want a brick house with a basement but... that's the way it goes.  Besides, living in a trailer during these storms just makes you not too scared of much else.  John Rich, of the country duo Big & Rich, won Celebrity Apprentice in 2011.  Re:talking to Donald Trump Mr. Rich said "I told him that I grew up in a double-wide trailer in Tornado Alley in Amarillo, Tx, so this show doesn't scare me."
Anyway, back to Al Roker and the Today Show mention:

TODAY

May 29, 2013 at 9:47 AM 

Video: (well the video didn't copy here)   "When the news crew from the NBC affiliate in Amarillo, Texas, all went to the bathroom at once on Tuesday, it wasn't because nature called. At least not in the usual way.  When a tornado warning forced the crew from KAMR to take cover in the bathroom on Tuesday, the dedicated group kept the broadcast going in order to keep their viewers informed. Using cell phones and cameras, they huddled together in a tight space and were able to keep the show going, with chief meteorologist John Harris staying on the air to give the latest storm updates. A tornado and baseball-sized hail were spotted in the area late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning."
        I was not in the bathroom.  I was in the living room watching the news people on my TV while they were in their bathroom!  I don't figure a trailer house bathroom is going to protect me much (but if a tornado was close enough I would get in the tub covered with a blanket.  My dogs even jump in the tub by themselves when the sirens go off!!! They know the drill!)

       The year before we also had a dang big hailstorm.  I live a half a block off of highway 287 going through Amarillo, in Potter County.  North of town, just off of 287 someone took this photo of hail piled up and a Potter County Fire Fighter standing next to it.  Yes, that is totally hail.  Really.  You can see the grass growing underneath it.   We had gotten 3 inches of rain in a short period of time and when that happens the dry ground can't soak it fast enough so it causes flooding and when there is a lot of hail as well, it gets piled up from the flowing water.  The hail in this photo is brown because the sand blew after the storm.  Yep, if we get any rain then after the rain stops the wind picks up and blows dirt from somewhere that didn't get rain and therefore we have mud pelted onto our cars.  Yep, folks, it is all kinds of fun living here.   Oh, and 3 inches of rain?  That is how it rains here.  Either we get none or a downpour.  In 2012 we only had 12.33 inches of moisture for the entire year so we got 1/4th of it that day, I'm guessing it all fell within an hours time.  In 2011 our precipitation for the year was 7.01 inches.  For the entire year.  We are in a drought and have been since 2010.  (info from http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ama/?n=yearly_precip

Potter County Fire Department via NWS   This was from NBCnews.com April 12, 2012.

The National Weather Service's office in Amarillo, Texas, posted this photo Wednesday night of a firefighter standing next to deep hail. "I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas," Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the weather service office in Amarillo, told msnbc.com.

"That was 4 feet of ice" that was compacted by rain and floodwater across a wide area, she added.
"It was actually the rain/water that caused the drifts," Scotten said. "Anytime you have hail accumulate 2 to 4 feet high and get over three inches of rain, no matter how it occurs, it's pretty incredible."
       We get snow, usually not a lot.  February, 2013 we got 19 inches at one time though (over a 24 hour period).  You just never know what you are going to wake up to in Amarillo.
       Summers here are always hot.  In 2011 we had 50 days over 100 degrees, 111 degrees being the hottest day.  That was also the year we only had 7.01 inches of precipitation.  My electric bill is unbelievable for my refrigerated A/C in the summer.  I don't know how my ancestors lived without A/C.  I am a wimp, I have to have it. 
       Then the wind sometimes derails trains. Yep, freight trains.   Last year that happened 3 times ... just east of Amarillo, about 100 miles west of us in New Mexico, and at Hereford, a small town 47 miles SW of Amarillo.  Here is a photo & info from the news..... channel 10 KFDA

Posted: Jun 17, 2013 6:35 PM CST 

Photo by Denise Collier

Hereford, Texas - Railroad crews will continue working throughout the evening to cleanup a train derailment near Hereford. High winds from Sunday night's storm are to blame for blowing over the 71 rail cars that were double stacked with shipping containers.

     The dust storm we had this week is called a haboob ... and no, I did not make up that word.  :)  It is Arabic.  You can google it and Wikipedia will tell you they occur frequently in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as well as in the Middle East.  I did not know who took the photo I posted yesterday ... the one taken from an airplane over Amarillo but now I know the man's name is Ryan Scott.  I also read an article by AccuWeather.com staff writer, Kristen Rodman, and was surprised at the height of the dust storm.  They are big ---- I first heard it was a thousand feet high.  She says 10,500 feet.  "Picking up dirt and sand, the winds blew through multiple towns in both states (TX & NM) with the top of the dust storm reaching up to 10,500 feet, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Frank Strait. Along with the dust, the intensity of the storm classified it as a haboob, or an intense dust storm brought about by high winds."
      Even though it was nasty, it wasn't by any means even close to the worst dust storm we have ever had in my lifetime, and I think this photo from yesterday's post is just beautiful.  And yes, it is flat here.
      After writing about our weather even I am beginning to wonder WHY do I live here?  Well,  3 of my kids and all of my grandkids live here or I would move.  My grandkids are the 5th generation on the Campbell side of my family to live here, as best I can figure out.  I can understand why my youngest son moved to Seattle when he had the chance.  And everyone here thought he was crazy to move someplace where it rains all the time.  My son tells me it doesn't seem to storm there like it does here.  They get gentle drizzle, we get rain in violent downpours with lots of lightning.  I think I could handle drizzle.
This aerial view of the haboob over Amarillo, Texas, was captured by Ryan Scott and shared on Twitter by his friend, @RaiderTex52. (Photo/Ryan Scott)