July, 2008 Blue Duck Weather News

July, 2008 Weather News



With past reports of the Blue Duck Weather News you have read about heavy snow warnings, tornado warnings, typhoon warnings, flash flood warnings, red flag warnings, hurricane warnings, typhoon warnings, black ice warnings, avalanche warnings, heavy flood advisories, and even low flying duck warnings. However, you will NEVER SEE “severe heat alerts.” Come on people, we live in a stinking desert. It has always been hot and it will always be (maybe.) Why have some idiot on the news tell us to drink plenty of water, wear light colored clothing, hats and lather ourselves down with enough sunscreen to baste a fat pig! We already new that. I guess it applies to the mindless idiots who jog in the afternoon wearing black clothing and the Bubbas who drink beer all day instead of water.

One more time the good old media is there to protect us from the dangers of our own stupid actions. I wonder what the media spin on temperatures over one hundred and ten degrees would be if we had limited electrical use. In other words if we were required to set our air conditioning units to say, eighty five degrees or certain hours of the day we were not allowed to use electricity at all. You can bet your blistered tail feathers it would be a whole different take. “Today’s high will be a DRY one hundred and ten degrees with a cooling (sweat) breeze of three mph out of the south west. Find a large mesquite tree and have a picnic in the shade of its branches. Remain there until the sun sets.”

Beginning with this exciting edition of Blue Duck Weather you will see a different format of reporting the daily weather events. Instead of writing in the order my beady little brain (about the size of a walnut) received weather information there will be concise reporting. You will read local weather news fist, followed by National and world weather. After that you will read animal interest news and last, and certainly least, human behavior as it relates or is affected by the weather.
Now let us get right to the amazing weather data of the month of July. The brilliance of this weather report is the fact that we report after the fact. No guesswork on the part of your brilliant Editor in Chief;

The average temperature on The Land at the beginning of the month was 96 degrees. The average temperature at the end of the month was 94 degrees. (Don’t let the slight cooling fool you. The humidity and dew point was much higher also. I don’t know what is worse, 115 degrees with three percent humidity or one hundred degrees with thirty percent humidity and a dew point of 60 degrees.) The average overall temperature for the month was 91.44 degrees.

The average temperature for Talking Trees and Antelope Hill at a cool seventy four hundred feet was 67.74 degrees. The average temperature at the beginning of the month was 69 degrees. The average at the end of the month was 68.50 degrees.

There was one day in July where the temperature reached 110 degrees at The Land. Phoenix reported four days. The warmest July on record was in 2003.

The average humidity on The Land was 42.72 percent. The average dew point was 62.11 sticky degrees.

The average wind speed on The Land was 4.79 mph.

Rain for the month on The Land was 1.59 inches. Total to date for the year is 5.09 inches.

Lake Powell stands at sixty two percent full. Lake Mead is at forty three percent. Roosevelt Lake remains at an impressive ninety four percent and Lake Pleasant is at seventy five percent full.

July 1st. The Crown King fire in the Bradshaw mountains makes national news; five percent containment at five hundred acres burned. Sixteenth day of one hundred and ten degrees or greater in Phoenix.

July 2nd. Seventeenth day of one hundred and ten degrees in Phoenix. The Lane 2 fire moves away from Crown King; ten percent contained at seven hundred and fifty eight acres. Fire burning near Santa Barbara County, California. Officials tell all residents of Big Sur as fire jumps fire line. Sage grouse decline in the West. Mid West a “mosquito magnet” as flood waters recede.

July 3rd. Lane 2 fire still at ten percent containment with nine hundred and fifty acres burned. Flood warnings east of Tucson. San Bernadino , Ca. fire at two hundred and fifty acres.

July 4th. Third day of dew points above fifty five degrees at The Land. So, the UNOFFICIAL first monsoon day was July second. Lane 2 fire has consumed eleven thousand acres and eleven structures. Six hundred fire fighters are at the scene. All of Bg Sur, Ca. evacuated.

July 5th. Residents in Crown King allowed to go home. The Lane 2 fire is at fifty percent containment with heavy rain helping. UNOFFICIAL beginning of monsoon season in Phoenix. California wildfires have consumed four hundred and sixty two thousand acres of land. Twenty three hundred people evacuated in Santa Barbara and Big Sur. Twenty homes in Big Sur destroyed. Mississippi River reopened to barge traffic after flood waters recede. Tornado watch in Bismark, North Dakota.

July 6th. Lane 2 fire at seventy five percent containment. Flood advisory issued for Yavapai and Graham Counties. The record high temperature in Phoenix for this date was 116 degrees in 1942. The record low was 65 degrees in 1902.

July 7th. The Crown King fire fully extinguished by heavy rains. Fire restrictions will be lifted in Coconino and Yavapai Counties this week due to rain. For the first time since the 1970s the National Guard has been called on to help with Southern California fires. The fire near Santa Barbara is thirty five percent contained. Black bear caught in Fargo, North Dakota wandering near freeway.

July 8th. A new fire is burning south east of Prescott, Az.; five homes lost and ninety five percent containment. High pollution advisory for Phoenix. Flash flood warning for Pima County. U.S. coral reefs suffering from warming waters, trash and over fishing. Mount. Shasta has growing glaciers, not receding. Hurricane Bertha weakens to a category one storm.

July 9th. The record high in Phoenix was 116 degrees in 1966. The record low was 66 degrees in 1928. Butte fire in Northern California consumes forty homes. One thousand evacuated along with hospital. Environmentalists sue to keep polar bears and walruses from harassment by oil companies.

July 10th. Severe thunderstorm warning for north west Maricopa County. Fire threatens four thousand homes in Paradise, Calfornia.

July 11th. Last night Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix recorded three inches of rain; the strongest storm in nine years. Flights delayed. Heavy urban flooding in Phoenix. Flood advisories for Graham and Cochise Counties. Homes flooded in Queen Creek and mayor declares “one hundred year flood. (Editors note; What a joke. I don’t think the mayor of Queen Creek has really witnessed a one hundred year flood in Arizona. There aren’t just homes flooded, but entire freeway bridges washed away separating the Metro valley area. If it were a hundred year flood there would have been much more news about this than a Mayor probably crying out for Federal funding for some project.) One hundred and ten Federal helicopters help with the fires in California. Tornados reported in central Minnesota.

July 12th. The record high in Phoenix was 115 degrees in 2005. The record low was 69 degrees in 1944. Flash flood warning for Cochise County. There are three hundred and twenty active fires burning in California; the most in recorded history. International help arrives. Tornados spotted in Indiana and Oklahoma.

July 13th. Severe thunderstorm warning posted in Cochise County. U. S. Sixty in Tempe closed at Mill Avenue due to flooding. Flights delayed at Sky Harbor International airport. Severe flooding in Nogales; portions of border crossing closed. Nogales Mayor declares state of emergency.

July 14th. Three and a half inches of rain for the year at the official rain station, Sky Harbor. The record high in Phoenix was 116 degrees in 2003. The record low was 68 degrees in 1962. Two bodies recovered from Nogales wash due to flooding yesterday.

July 15th. No one hundred and ten degree days in Phoenix since July second. Flash flood waters threaten Nogales and major sewer line. Bear breaks into Colorado electronics store. Bee blamed for crop duster pilot to crash in Wisconson.

July 16th. Wild fire in southern Washington is at nine thousand acres, worst in fifteen years. Bee colony losses continue to happen in the United States. Lack of pollination threatens food crops. Tasmanian Devils are breeding earlier because of an epidemic of cancer.

July 17th. One hundred and ten degrees in Phoenix today. The record was 116 degrees in 2005. The record low was 65 degrees in 1908.

July 18th. One hundred and eleven degrees in Phoenix today. Typhoon in Taiwan. Wolves in northern Rockies placed back on endangered species list.

July 19th. The record high in Phoenix was 116 degrees in 1989. The record low was 68 degrees in 1913.

July 20th; campfire restrictions lifted in all of Arizona’s National forests due to rain and high humidity. Hundreds of baby penguins wash up dead on Brazil’s beaches.

July 21st; a micro burst hits Mesa with sixty mph winds, toppling power poles and dumping one inch of rain. Flooding reported in portions of Queen Creek. Two inches of rain per hour falling near Globe, Arizona. Parts of Mexico and Texas post hurricane watches as tropical storm Dolly gains momentum.

July 22nd; search for Tucson man swept away in wash called off. Dolly upgraded to hurricane. Twenty inches of rain is expected in parts of Texas and Mexico. There are fears the Rio Grande River levees won’t hold. Bear attacks woman hiking near Bakersfield, Ca. The woman was seriously injured and one of her two dogs was killed.

July 23rd; one hundred mph winds as Dolly is upgraded to a category one hurricane. Scientists say Mid West flooding is resulted in a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

July 24th; Verde River lakes at ninety five percent capacity. This time last year they were at fifty six percent. We are on track for the second wettest monsoon season in nine years. Alaskan bear attacks twenty one year old worker near lodge. Two golfers struck by lightning near Flagstaff when they tried to seek shelter from storm by standing under a tree. Both are expected to survive.

July 25th. Flash flood watch posted for all of south east Arizona for the entire weekend. One inch of rain in Globe with three quarter inch hail. Rare tornado in central New Hampshire.

July 26th. Wildfire threatens dozens of homes near Yosemite Valley in Ca. Twenty eight thousand acres consumed and one fire fighter dies. Dozens of sea turtles found dead on Mexico beaches.

July 27th. Northern California fire out of control and burns eight homes.


There is a sad summary to this report. The Golden State is burning up. They could use some drenching rain that has blessed Arizona and New Mexico this month. But I guess it is just Nature’s way.

The quote of the month from the Mighty Broaduck comes in two parts and is quite a paradox. I think the second quote is a plea of redemption from Mrs. Broaduck. “When you have been hanging around the pond with the same piece of duck tail long enough you learn that shopping is a no win situation. Case in point; flowers look pretty but only last for a week. Chocolate tastes good but a big duck butt lasts forever. Clothes that are fashionable now go out of style next season.” Thankfully tequila makes everyone happy (at least for the moment).”
“Cherish your loved ones, both near and far. The future is uncertain.

The song of the month is “Nature’s Way” by Spirit. Thank you for reading this splendid edition of Blue Duck Weather News! Remember, as always, Pioneers took bullets, Settlers took land.

Your brilliant Editor in Chief,
MR Blueduck

PS....Sorry for the delay in this months Blue Duck News. Our internet provider decided to leave us high and dry with crappy service! We are switching over shortly and hoping that in the future, all the duck droppings will be on time.

For those who are too excited to sleep with anticipation of the Blue Duck Tshirts, they are on the way! Expect yours shortly if you are a loyal reader.