RE: Rains

[Lew Hodgett]

Looks like the folks in South Texas are getting hammered pretty good by rain storm "Erin".

If you can, stay dry you rascals.

Lew

[nailshooter41]

We aren't getting the worst of it, but the rain continues as I type. This afternoon in a space of about 5 hours the south end of town got almost 8". Farther north where I am we got away with about 4 1/2 -

5".

We received a significant amount over our normal annual rainfall by the first part of July, and we have barely had two short weeks without rain. Our ground is so flooded that the rains shut down the city. Schools closed, businesses closed, SA International Airport closed, many companies, etc.

4 deaths, over 400 accidents and about 60 high water emergency car rescues. Miles and miles of traffic jams from the wrecks and closed roads. The monetary loss to business and regular wage earners is estimated in so many millions from the first two months we had of this I won't quote the number.. no one would believe it.

But I can tell you I have two different companies that do repairs/ remodeling like I do that are closing. They haven't had solid work (read: paychecks) in over two months, so they can't hang on anymore. I won't put a pencil to what the last 2 1/2 months have cost me, nor will I sit and calculate what another month of bad weather will do to my company. Since I don't really drink like I used to, it is too unpleasant to face without self medication.

It is MORE than miserable. And to top it off, depending on the path of the next hurricane we will be back in this in about a week, if not worse. In all my memory of living here in Texas I don't ever remember a weather pattern like this.

I for one appreciate the postive thoughts, Lew.

Robert

[Lew Hodgett]

without

Spent some time in San Angelo back in the 60s.

Coming from a place where if you don't get about 1/4" rain a week during the growing season, you have a drought, I found the following to be just a little different.

Finding swales cut in the streets at intersections and the temps getting down to 90F at 04:00AM aand the low humidity were certainly new to me; however, when I was told they had built a water reservoir a few years previous and were waiting for a good rain to fill it, I thought "wow".

Guess that reservoir must be filled by now.

Hang in there, as the old saying goes, ".... and this to shall pass".

Lew

[dpb]

Been similar all the way up to C and SE KS and MO, this spring and early summer, too. Much wheat was left in the fields as complete loss. Meanwhile, in the SW, we're burning up and can't even get a sprinkle despite the highest dewpoints (for us) I can recall consistently ever.

Blow hard, maybe it'll push far enough west and eventually around north to get us at least a sprinkle -- starting to see some of the high level cloud drift and noticed there's a leading line around Amarillo. Maybe it can push out some of this high but they're not giving us much of a chance this far west -- 10% is all I've seen so far from NWS...

Hang in down there, though...other side of the family is scattered from Pharr/McAllen area northward out The Valley. Hasn't been kind to their citrus, etc., either...

[Dave in Houston]

The ranchers that lease our Karnes County, Texas place are struggling to get the remaining 80+ acres of corn combined; that's roughly half to go. Last year the pastures were toast and this year it's hard to get equipment into the fields on a timely basis. They were more than a month late getting the corn planted and are now some six weeks past their normal harvest date. Spring rains caused some loss of the winter wheat crop to boot. The joke used to be that when the forty days and nights of rain flooded the earth (think Noah's ark) that Karnes County got two tenths. If there is any upside it might be that there may be enough residual corn on the ground when the south zone dove season opens (third weekend in September) tp hold more birds than in most years. Not that I could hit them if there were.