Tag Archives: El Nino

environmental news

A harbinger of a harsh winter?

el nino

Dave Oliver, one of Amarillo’s TV meteorologists, predicted the other day that we are in for a long, cold and wet winter.

“Doppler Dave” predicted 44 inches of snow this winter, blaming it on the strength of the El Nino weather current in the Pacific Ocean.

Weather forecasters have called it the “Godzilla” of such events, contending that it’s stronger and more persistent than normal. It’s likely to pelt and pummel the Pacific Coast with much-needed rain, not to mention sending more moisture across the Rocky Mountains and onto the High Plains.

It’s always welcome. But … c’mon!

Whatever the case, I’ll just make this brief plea.

I hope they’re wrong.

Today was not a particularly fun day. We were housebound because the temperature didn’t get above about 25 degrees all day. The ice — and the light coating of snow — that blanketed the city overnight did not melt. Not one bit. There was no drip-drip-drip off the edge of the roof on the south side of the house, which usually occurs in the winter months around here — as the sun’s trajectory dictates.

We didn’t get a lot of snow. I keep hearing some slightly conflicting forecasts for Saturday and Sunday. I do hope, though, to get out of the house at least a little bit over the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my wife’s company and she tells me she enjoys mine, too.

However, we’re both prone to fits of cabin fever.

local news

The river’s a flowin’ once again

canadian river

Take a good look at this picture, which I pulled down from my Facebook feed.

It confirms what a fellow I met Friday told me. It’s not that I disbelieved him, but it’s nice to see visual evidence of what he said.

This is the Canadian River, upstream from Lake Meredith. The fellow I met told me he lives in Keyes, Okla., and he came to Amarillo to take care of some business. He said he’d “hadn’t seen the river flowing like this since, oh, I don’t know when.”

This picture confirms some very good news for the formerly parched Texas Tundra.

That water is flowing rapidly into Lake Meredith, the body of water once derided as “Puddle Meredith.” They built a dam across the river, finishing the job in 1965. The dam backed the water up behind it, forming Lake Meredith about 55 miles north of Amarillo. It rose eventually to more than 100 feet in depth.

Then it receded, ever so slowly, for lots of reasons. Heavy irrigation. Growing urban consumption. Salt cedar trees planted to protect against soil erosion, but which turned out to be thirstier than anyone imagined. Evaporation and a lack of rainfall.

Now the tide is turned, if you’ll pardon the metaphor.

El Nino has been warming the Pacific Ocean currents. The storms have been more frequent coming in from the coast. Snow runoff in the Rocky Mountains has helped as well.

El Nino, of course, is creating serious havoc as well, as our neighbors in Mexico and in downstate Texas are finding out as they’re coping with that monstrous Hurricane Patricia. We all wish them well and pray for their safety.

Lake Meredith, which saw its depth reduced to about 26 feet in 2013, is now back to more than 60 feet. And it’s rising.

Water authorities had stopped pumping from the lake. Now they’re pumping again.

OK. Is there a lesson here?

Sure there is. Let’s not assume that we’ll have this water forever.

I prefer to continue to act as though we’re still in drought conditions.

Many of us got pretty nervous around here when the lake shrunk so badly. Remember that time?

Enjoy the rain and the river flow that comes with it. However, let’s not get smug.

 

local news

El Nino gets a new name

Some weather experts are calling the current version of El Nino “Godzilla.”

It’s meant to suggest that the severity of the weather that could be coming to the Pacific Coast is monumental, historic, unprecedented. El Nino is the name the National Weather Service gives to the ocean currents that deliver stormier-than-normal weather patterns. The opposite of El Nino is La Nina, which has been blamed in large part for the drought that has ravaged the West Coast.

http://sfist.com/2015/07/23/godzilla_el_nino_now_being_called_s.php

Many millions of Californians are hoping El Nino takes on Godzilla-like traits, if they don’t live on or within spitting distance of the beach. They need the moisture out there.

I won’t get into the climate change debate with this post, but there does seem to be some significant change in the weather occurring in the Pacific Ocean. And, oh by the way, it’s having an impact on us way inland, many miles away.

We’ve had a very wet spring and first half of the summer on the Texas Tundra. But those of you who live there know that already.

If we’re going to have a Godzilla-like El Nino current for the rest of this year and perhaps well into the next one, then we’re going to see some tremendous benefit from this change in our climate.

The weather that moves in off the mountains to our west has been bringing a lot of rain over the course of the past few months.

We’ll take it. Anytime.

Welcome to the High Plains, Godzilla.

local news

Clouds = answered prayers

clouds

Those clouds over yonder — I’m quite sure — are the result of answered prayers.

I snapped this picture just a little while ago as I drove home from work. They’re to the southeast of Amarillo. They might be dumping some rain on Palo Duro Canyon.

The prayers? Well, I also am quite sure a lot of folks around here have lifted them up to the Almighty himself.

He listened and he answered them.

How do I know that? Well, I don’t. Faith in prayer allows us to just believe something happens for the better.

We’ve had a lot of things happening for the better around here all year long.

The National Weather Service says we’ve exceeded our annual average precipitation amount for the year, which is about 20 inches; it’s not even mid-July yet. Every drop we get from here until the end of the year is a bonus.

Why the dramatic change? Scientists contend El Nino is out there in the Pacific Ocean, producing warmer currents, resulting in greater storm frequency, which then blow inland — and over this part of the world.

That sounds good.

But what brought about El Nino? Might it have been, oh … some prayer?

We’ve had a lot of violent weather the past few days. The weather gurus are calling for more of it tonight. Our plays already are full. McDonald Lake, just about a mile north of our house, was in danger of spilling onto Coulter Street this morning.

Did prayer make all this happen? I’m not even going to try to disprove it. Because I cannot. Faith does not require proof.

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Was that thunder, lightning and rain that kept me up?

It’s been a good while since we had a night like the one we just experienced.

We were up and down like Yo-Yos all night. The lightning would flash. The thunder would roar. The rain would pound the house.

We awoke this morning and found another half-inch of rain in the gauge.

And it was still raining!

OK. The weather forecasters are all a-flutter over the rain. Amarillo’s year-to-date rainfall — I think — is about double the normal amount. It’s about eight times more than we had a year ago at this time.

Is the drought over? Have we turned the corner? Is it time now to start running our residential irrigation systems flat-out, full bore, with not a worry in the world?

Guess again.

The TV weathermen and women aren’t saying anything of the sort. They’re careful to avoid sending the wrong message, although they do seem to get a big carried away with their joy at the rain that’s come our way. El Nino, that Pacific Ocean current phenomenon, has returned, according to Dave Oliver, KFDA-TV NewsChannel 10’s chief meteorologist, and he thinks it’s going to persist through the summer.

El Nino’s effect is to drive moisture from the coast inland, bringing all that rain we’ve been praying for our way.

Let’s not get too excited about the drought. We’ve got that underground aquifer that doesn’t recharge at nearly the rate we’re drawing it down. It’s still going to take centuries for it to fill back up.

Still, let us be thankful and grateful for what we’re getting.

Do you think those prayers we’ve all sent up have been answered?