Saturday, May 24, 2014

We Don't Get Flood Advisories Too Often!

     WOW!  I slept through the news last night but I am guessing this week we may have received a total of 2 or 3 inches, just based on the puddles in my yard and the water I can see in the kiddie pool in my neighbor's yard that was empty a few days ago.  This was on Facebook this morning...
A flood advisory for the Amarillo area is in effect until noon and according to NWS the area may experience thunderstorms this evening.
The Amarillo area is soaking up about .31 inches of rain this morning (31/100s not 31 inches!).“We should see this kind of rain carry through till about noon time until it pushes east,” Nicholas Fenner, National Weather Service Amarillo meteorologist, said.
       The problem with Amarillo and when we do get rain is 1) the ground is so hard it can't soak it all up. 2) the city has a horrible street drainage system and areas like railroad underpasses or highway underpasses flood.  We have some intersections that flood with just a little rain.  Did you know it only takes 24 inches of water for a car to float?  We aren't complaining about the rain for sure but on tv & radio they keep warning us of driving hazards in rain since we seldom have conditions like this. 
      To get out of the drought the Texas panhandle experts say we would have to get about 30 inches of precipitation in the next 18 months.  Well, that would be amazing should it happen, even though from the looks of it outside with all the puddles & flooded streets you would think we are well on the way!
     According to  the weather service  http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ama/?n=yearly_precip in 2011 we received 7.01 inches for the year, 2012 we received 12.3, and in 2013 precipitation was 15.2 ... 34.51 inches over three years. To get 30 inches in a year and a half would just be miraculous.
     For those of us who live here the drought means hot temperatures, dust storms, high A/C bills, brown grass or very high water bills for those who can afford to have a lawn,  worry over the underground  Ogallala Aquifer --- our source of water --- which is being depleted at an alarming rate.
    Guess what?  It does not just effect the people of the Texas panhandle.  Corn, wheat, cotton, sorghum, cattle, dairy production are all major agriculture products in the panhandle. Because the drought is having such an adverse effect on our farmers and ranchers prices of beef, wheat, cotton are going to go up for everyone.
     Meanwhile, for today it is raining, thunder is rumbling, skies are gray, and out my window I can see cars splashing up water on highway 287.   Beautiful sight!
   

8 comments:

  1. Did I know you lived in Texas - I thought you lived in the Midwest?? That is a lot of rain. Do you have your house on slabs there and have to keep the ground watered - I have heard of that.

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    1. Hi Sandie, How are you doing?? I think of you and pray for you and worry over you every day. I have only lived in 2 states in my life... New Mexico and Texas. Born in Tucumcari, NM and moved to Amarillo, Texas the day after high school graduation. About 9 years later I moved back for a couple of years, then lived in Rio Rancho, NM, Albuquerque, NM and then back to Amarillo, Texas. I have been here in Amarillo about 26 years this time and guess I will live here the rest of my life since my grandkids are here. My youngest son moved to Seattle last summer, otherwise my other 3 kids live here. I would rather live in the mountains or someplace where I could grow a lovely garden and flowers a little easier, but not without my family. Heaven will have flowers, trees, and green grass for me. :) I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Here in Amarillo old houses were built on pier & beam, any new home is built on a concrete slab. If you have grass here it has to be watered about 3 times a week to daily if you want to keep it green and alive because the hot wind and hot temperatures dry it out so fast. Almost every new house comes with an in-ground sprinkler system that you can program to water in the wee hours of the morning before the sun is up to make it evaporate before it can get to the ground.

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  2. Water is becoming the new gold. Too bad there isn't a way to stockpile the excess for later. Hope you keep your house safe but ground wet.

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    1. No worries about the house getting wet. I live in a trailer house so it is about 3 feet off the ground. The yard is like a pond. That is ok. Eventually it will soak in. :)

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  3. Water means life. I hope you get more, in manageable amounts.

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    1. Thank you. Me too. Right now we are having a humdinger of a thunderstorm and it is hailing.

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  4. Rain can be a wonderful thing or a powerful force of destruction. Why can't the weather moderate itself a bit better?

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