Anybody who has ever spent a few days here can tell you why we have always laughed when we heard Chicago was the "windy city." I have never been to Chicago but I always felt sorry for them if they really were windier than us. Now the Weather Channel makes it official.... Chicago may be the windy city but we are the Windiest. I just saw this facebook post:
"Well, it’s official. The Weather Channel says Amarillo is THE windiest city in America, and Lubbock comes in at #3. This really isn’t a surprise to us West Texans though."
"Well, it’s official. The Weather Channel says Amarillo is THE windiest city in America, and Lubbock comes in at #3. This really isn’t a surprise to us West Texans though."
This is a photo of Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo, that The Weather Channel posted on facebook when they posted the news that we are windiest. Our local millionaire eccentric likes quirky art and funds the Ant Farm (artist group). If you are interested you can read about it here .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch
Amarillo has also been in the national news this month for the drought. On the 18th Forbes reported "Three years of relentless and severe drought has made large parts of
New Mexico, Colorado and Texas are drier than they were during Dust Bowl
in the 1930s. In the Texas panhandle, Amarillo is about 10% drier now than the 42
months that ended April 30, 1936 and drier than the state’s record
drought in the 1950s, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor." The National Weather Service agreed: On May 22nd The National Weather Service says the
past 43 months in our area have been the driest ever on record.
Good news though --- we have had rain this week. Thunderstorms moved in Wednesday night!!! Wed. night I got 20/100s of an inch (I know because I live real close to the tv station I watch and that is what they got at the station). Last night we had more rain causing flooding because the ground is so hard it can't soak it all in. I love to her thunder rumbling, I love to hear rain. Lightning scares me though and Amarillo has a lot of lightning. I really miss my little schnauzer, Gracie, that passed away in February. She was very afraid of loud noises and during thunderstorms she would cuddle with me and we would comfort each other through them.
Had no idea you all were approaching 1936 standards. Scary. I saw where Tx was getting lots of rain and hope some of it soaks in and puts a dent in the drought.
ReplyDeleteWe HAVE received rain! 2 & 1/2 inches at my home over the past 3 days. WooHoooo!
DeleteAwful about the drought. Wind can get very annoying.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder there was a dust bowl, with that wind and dryness. Good thing we learned not to plow the prairie, when it can't sustain a crop anyway.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you had some actual. measurable rain. You might get a flush of green, and it will help with wildfire prevention for a while.
No surprise about Amarillo. I also lived in Altus, OK once which is near the Texas border and never had so much wind before in my life. That combined with the stock yards could make for some real fun times when that wind would shift. YUk! We have been in drought for the last two years and not quite out of it yet, but certainly not as bad as yours. We too have rejoiced on recent rain.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness -- 48 miles SW of Amarillo is a little place called Hereford, named for the cattle breed. Hereford has a LOT of cattle feedyards and when the wind blows from the SW we can smell Hereford as if we were in the middle of the cow poop. I used to work in the office at a feed yard. The boss said that was the smell of money!
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