Tag Archives: Texas drought

local news, State news

Warning: The drought ain't over!

I noticed recently that Amarillo’s year-to-date rainfall total is slightly ahead of normal.

That gives some folks comfort. It gives others the mistaken notion that the drought that has grabbed the High Plains by the throat for the past four or five years has abated.

Nothing of the sort has happened.

The Amarillo rainfall total likely will finish around normal by the end of the year. I cannot predict that with any certainty, but it seems like a pretty good bet.

The problem with these droughts is that the depletion of water requires a lot of rainfall and snowfall to make it up in a brief period of time. When I say “a lot,” I mean epic proportions.

I had the pleasure of taking part in a statewide public television reporting project on the state of water in Texas. “Texas Perspective: Water” covered the condition of our water supply from the Panhandle to the Rio Grand Valley, from Deep East Texas to the Trans-Pecos. Everyone interviewed said the same thing: We’re in a drought.

It’s worse in some areas than in others, but statewide the condition of our water supply is at varying levels of precariousness.

http://video.klru.tv/video/2365345995/

It is my fervent hope that Amarillo residents and business owners keep the drought in mind as they go about their day. We can hope for continued rain. Maybe we ought to pray for it.

Let us not be tricked into believing the drought is over just because this year has brought us “normal” amounts of precipitation — which in this part of the world isn’t very much.

 

Uncategorized

Let it flow from Lake Meredith?

News that the Texas Panhandle’s leading water authority is going to resume pumping water from Lake Meredith leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings.

http://www.kcbd.com/story/25982194/crmwa-to-resume-pumping-from-lake-meredith

The lake is up to 41 feet, about 15 feet higher than its lowest ebb during the late winter months. Lake Meredith now measures 2 percent full, according to state water planners, compared to the zero percent it was registering.

The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority is going to blend lake water with well water underground. The idea is to relieve pressure on the Ogallala Aquifer.

OK. So is it time to tap the lake?

Two percent capacity still isn’t very much, correct? What’s more, the drought that has held in this chokehold for the past four to five years isn’t letting up. Amarillo remains right about at normal precipitation to date for the year. A few weeks of prolonged dryness in these parts and we’ll see counties resuming burn bans.

The water planners at CRMWA are smarter than I am about these things, so I guess I should accept that they know what they’re doing by deciding to pump water from Lake Meredith.

As a layperson who’s watched the lake evaporate over the nearly two decades my wife and I have lived here, it’s a bit troubling to see CRMWA acting so quickly to tap into a water supply that — as we have learned to our dismay — is a finite resource.

Then again, if it relieves pressure on the aquifer, which is another finite resource, then the region’s thirst for water will remain quenched.

Oh, these conflicting emotions about water.

Uncategorized

Lake Meredith returning to glory?

What’s with some of this open speculation about the possibility of pumping water out of Lake Meredith, just north of Amarillo?

Don’t even think about it.

http://www.myhighplains.com/story/d/story/-/6Nfc49XbsEGTy7nFlICU3A

The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority, which used to pump water from the once-full lake, says it’s risen several feet because of recent rain that’s drenched the Texas Panhandle. Why, it’s up to 36 feet, about 10 feet higher than when it hit its lowest point.

Yeah, that’s a big deal. It’s not such a big deal, though, to signal a return to pumping water from the lake to cities up and down West Texas.

The drought that remains — yes, we’re still in a drought around here — has reduced the quality of the water. Pumping it would require expensive treatment to make the water fully potable.

Besides, let’s remember also that Lake Meredith — even in its replenished state — is still far below its historic high and is unlikely to return to that level any time soon, if ever.

The recent rain has been welcome and well could signal a dramatic turn for the better in our weather pattern. Then again, it might not mean anything at all.

Do we pump water once again from Lake Meredith? Perish the thought.

Uncategorized

Fourth night, more rain

For as much I used to bitch about the weather while growing up in rainy, damp, dank, dark, Portland, Ore., I’m really loving this rainy, damp, dank, dark weather here on the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle.

You see, this is not normal here.

Normal weather bores me to tears. I got bored and disgusted with all that rain back in my hometown. In my current hometown, Amarillo, I’ve grown bored and disgusted with the incessant, relentless sunshine.

Oh, have I mentioned the wind that blows constantly around here?

It’ll take some time for me to grow bored with this moisture. Heaven knows we’ve all prayed our brains out for it to arrive.

I’ve heard some good news about Lake Meredith, about how the Canadian River is actually flowing and that it’s dumping water into the lake. I see the playas — particularly McDonald Lake up the street from our home — filling with water almost to overflowing.

How can I complain about that? Given the drought we’ve had for seemingly forever, you won’t hear a discouraging word from me.

It’ll take some time for me to become bored with this rain.

Keep it coming.

Uncategorized

Flames bring out kindness

A gentleman and I crossed paths this week.

He’s 82 years old. He lives in Fritch. At least he lived in Fritch until a few days ago, when fire destroyed his home near (what’s left of) Lake Meredith.

I didn’t get his name. We talked for some time at the car dealership where I work part time. He and his wife have moved for the time being to their daughter’s home in Amarillo.

He doesn’t yet know what he’s going to do, whether to rebuild at the site of his now-burned-out home or move somewhere else permanently. He said the fire took everything, except his motor vehicles.

This gentleman appears to be a man of great faith. As we spoke, he kept talking about how Scripture has helped guide him through the heartache, how God doesn’t give his children more than they can handle. This fine gentleman is quite sure he’ll get through his crisis.

He talked some more about the incredible strength that the victims of the wildfire have exhibited.

This fellow also talked about the equally incredible random acts of kindness others are showing daily to help these victims.

My acquaintance held up pretty well as we spoke. He didn’t get emotional until he told me of someone who handed him $100 as he was sharing with friends and others about the difficulties that so many folks are enduring.

“I don’t know if I can get through this,” he said as he told the story of the unexpected gift.

He did, more or less, get through it. He finished telling his story and he concluded it by telling me something I already knew: Most folks are inherently kind and compassionate when they witness their neighbors endure such struggle.

Such kindness is the single most important positive result of this recent round of tragedy.

My heart breaks for this man’s suffering. It’s also filled with joy at the kindness he has received.

Uncategorized

Why don't storm drains work?

This one creates a serious head-scratcher for me.

It’s been raining in Amarillo the past couple of days, with more steady rainfall expected through the weekend. The rain hasn’t exactly been in torrents, although it has rained harder in some locations than in others. Don’t get me wrong: I am among the many thousands of Texas Panhandle residents happy to see the moisture finally arrive.

However, what’s the story with the storm drains backing up?

I heard a city engineer say something today about “silt build-up” restricting the flow of rainwater into the storm drains. City officials were cautioning motorists to stay away from underpasses along Interstate 40 because of high water.

Good grief. We haven’t had any substantial rainfall since, oh, perhaps The Flood. At least it seems to have been that long. Where did the build-up of crud come from? Doesn’t the city monitor these drains to ensure that when the rain does arrive, that they’ll move the water efficiently to prevent large volumes of standing water that strands motorists — and puts them in jeopardy?

I saw social media pictures today of vehicles stalled out because of standing water. We have the usual suspect sites with which we have to contend. Fortunately, my wife and I have been able to avoid the trouble areas.

But they’re the same places that create havoc every time.

What in the world is up with that?

Uncategorized

Rain becomes talking point

We’ve been mired here along the Texas Panhandle Caprock in this hideous drought.

Dry land farmers can’t grow crops, given that they depend on rainfall to irrigate their land.

It’s been tough around here for, oh, about four years.

So, when the weather forecasters keep harping on the prospects for rain, well, we want to believe them. Heaven knows they keep saying it’ll change, that moisture will return eventually. We want to believe them, but the longer we went without any relief, the harder it has become to put faith in their words.

That has changed in the past day or two.

Wednesday produced the first actual thunderstorm I can remember in a good while in our Amarillo neighborhood. More of it came today. The rain gauge hasn’t moved much yet, but it’s gotten pretty wet out there.

I ran some errands today, visited with folks and overheard others talking about, that’s right, the rain. Nothing else. No politics. I didn’t hear much about the VA scandal, or the upcoming Texas elections, or whether Hillary Clinton will run for president in two years.

Rain. That was the topic.

I ventured out this morning and so help me I thought the birds were chattering with more gusto than I’ve heard them for as long as I can remember.

Do we want the kind of rain that has flooded other parts of the state or the country? No thanks, of course. But some more of this moisture surely gives us something more pleasant to discuss with our friends and neighbors than what we’re getting out of Austin or Washington.

Uncategorized

Weather need not be boring

When I was a kid, I’d gripe incessantly about the weather.

It rained seemingly forever in my hometown of Portland, Ore. I’d whine to my parents. “I hate the raaiiin,” I’d say in the whiniest voice I could muster.

Dad’s response was usually the same: “Go talk to God.”

Gee, thanks Dad.

Over the years, I moved away from home. I went into the Army, traveling to Virginia, to Vietnam, then back to the Pacific Northwest to finish my two-year hitch. ‘Nam produced some interesting weather: buckets of rain, followed by stifling heat, then more buckets.

Years after that, my career took me to the Texas Gulf Coast. It rained a lot there, in heavy quantities all at once. Then the clouds would break, the sun would come out. The humidity was, shall we say, stifling.

Then we came to the Texas Panhandle.

Unlike the Gulf Coast, where the weather routinely changes day to day, the weather patterns here have fallen into the same kind of sameness that the rain did when I was a kid.

Then it occurred to me some years ago: It wasn’t the rain that bothered me in Portland, it was the monotony of it. A similar monotony has settled over the Panhandle in recent years. All that damn sunshine is making me whine, “I wish it would raaiiin.”

Fortunately, my wife hasn’t told me to talk to the Almighty, at least not yet.

Well, today the weather turned. It’s pouring rain as I write this. The TV weather folks say it’ll be raining for the next few days.

Bring it! Our farmers and ranchers need it. My neighbors and I need for our lawns and gardens. A brief downpour, followed by sunshine, followed by more rain … that would be heaven for us.

Uncategorized

Rain isn't heading off water-use restriction

They’re talking openly now in Tarrant County about imposing mandatory water-use restrictions.

And this is in light of recent rainfall that has damped the ground and lifted spirits in the Metroplex.

Meanwhile, way up yonder — here in the Texas Panhandle — we’re still bone dry and there’s no serious talk about mandatory restrictions.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/05/14/5818770/rain-does-little-to-lift-north.html?rh=1

Are we in that good of shape regarding our water resources?

Amarillo city officials keep talking about us having 200 to 300 years of water available. They have some voluntary plans in place. Gosh, I don’t mean to be a spoil-sport, but these voluntary measures aren’t getting the job done.

City water use is still exceeding the goals set by the Utilities Department. That means Amarillo residents aren’t taking the hint: Don’t use so much water, because we’re draining our aquifer much more quickly than it can recharge.

I am willing to adhere to mandatory restrictions. My yard already is looking pretty dismal compared to most of our neighbors, given that I don’t own an automatic irrigation system. Frankly, I’m not that competitive about appearances.

So, bring on the mandate, City Hall.

By the way, I’m still praying for rain.

Uncategorized

If you don't like the weather …

“I cannot believe I’m getting cold.”

So said my wife just a little while ago as she plunged deeply into the back of her closet for her winter bathrobe. She had donned a lighter summer robe that had been moved to the front of her closet.

Why the change in wardrobe planning?

Well, those record highs the Texas Panhandle was experiencing a few days ago — when temps soared into the high 80s and low 90s — have now been overtaken by what’s forecast tonight as a possible record low.

We’re proud of the saying here on what I like to call the Texas Tundra: If you don’t like the weather, just wait 20 minutes, it’ll change.

OK, so the weather didn’t change in 20 minutes, but it surely has changed rather, um, dramatically just in the past few days.

Oh, have I mentioned that damn wind and the dirt it picks up as it roars in from almost any direction on our vast horizon?

The drought is projected to stay with us for a while. Some doom-and-gloomers think it will stay well past the foreseeable future. I have no clue as to when it will break. As of today, we’ve received a little more than an inch of rain all year recorded at the National Weather Service station at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. At this pace, we’ll finish the year with, oh, about 3 inches total.

The drastic change in temperature is quite another story. It’s approaching the middle of May, for crying out loud. Summer is just around the corner. The weather guys are calling for possible snow just a bit west of us in Union County, N.M.

Does any of this make you think of the issue that some folks seemingly refuse to accept as a reality? You know … climate change?

Bundle up, folks.