Thursday, December 16, 2010

Catching Up

Back home - finally - and just about fully thawed out. When I left St. Louis yesterday it was 24 degrees. When I landed in San Antonio a few hours later it was 74, a 50 degree swing.

Along with the warm weather comes another drought.
The great drought of 2011 may have started two months ago.

Since Tropical Storm Hermine drenched Central Texas in September, the state has been very dry, with large swaths receiving less than 10 percent of normal rainfall levels.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the past two months were the state's eighth-driest October-November period on record and second-driest in 44 years. If Texas doesn't get at least 0.78 inches of rain this month, it would be the driest October-December period since the 1950s.
This follows the drought of 2007-2009, which was the most severe drought to affect the region since the all-time record drought of the 1950s. 
“Continuing dry weather is likely to persist at least into the spring,” said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist and a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. “It's probably going to get worse before it gets better.”

Partly in response to the looming drought, the Texas Forest Service convened a workshop this week in College Station to alert state and federal fire agencies about the threat of wildfires, and to prepare.
“There are important indicators ... that at least an active fire season is at hand,” said Todd Lindley, a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Lubbock.
Our local VFD is already beefing up preparations for 'an active fire season.' We've obtained an additional brush truck, along with some extra firefighter coveralls and gloves. But what we could really use is some rain.
Rainfall late in the state's growing season helped grasslands that are now drying out, which will provide fuel for any fires that get sparked.
Wildfires are common in Texas during these months as strong winter systems bring gusty wind conditions.
The rains last season came at the perfect time for foliage growth. Heavy rains began in Fall 2009 and continued throughout Spring 2010, prepping the ground, germinating seeds, and encouraging growth. Now all that grass is knee to waist high, and dry as last year's hay. Combine that with "gusty wind conditions" and God help us if there's a spark. It's like several thousand acres of tinder right now.
Forecasters expect a dry winter because of strong La Niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific, where sea surface temperatures are cooler than normal.

Warmer daytime highs are also a factor, because they increase the rate of evaporation, further drying the soil.
All things considered, right now I'd trade this warm weather for some rain. We really don't need another prolonged drought so soon after the 2007-2009 one.

Are you listening, Santa...?

2 comments:

Home on the Range said...

The drought in IND this year seemed to through off the deer hunt. Farmer's brought the corn in way early, and the little paths and highways the deer were using last season were empty of traffic.

But it's making up for the lack of water by being godawful COLD this winter.

Better to eat all that tofu because the hunt was lousy.

CenTexTim said...

This is a banner year for deer down here. The springs rains resulted in a bumper crop of shoots and forbs during the summer, which encouraged body and antler growth. We also had a great acron crop, which sustained them in the fall.

Bottom line - lots of healthy, fat deer being harvested, some with impressive racks. Ours is already in the freezer.