September 2011 Weather News!
What’s a poor duck to do and what can I say? Record heat, record drought, flooding, typhoons, hurricanes and it just seems to be the same old weather shit.
But if you read between the lines and go farther around the world than “our back yard” there are some serious weather woes. Take Pakistan for example. The amount of lives lost this summer, let alone millions of acres of farm land due to flooding is unfathomable. If this happened in the United States it would be twenty four news coverage seven days a week. And so it goes.
In this exciting feature of Blue Duck Weather you will read about record heat in Phoenix for August, heartless utility company in Maricopa Arizona, the “guard” of JFK’s grave destroyed by Hurricane Irene, pot plant farm spared by massive wildfire, a man that attacks and bites a python (we don’t make this shit up), continuing Texas wildfires, when I recorded the date for the last gasp of the monsoon season not the “official” end, bees kill a thousand pound hog in Arizona, a grizzly kills a hunter in Montana (or so it seemed at first), 9-11 recording released of another fatal bear attack, record numbers of scorpion stings in Phoenix due to the heat and a stinky problem in Illinois.
The average temperature on the Land for the month was 84.87 degrees. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill saw 61.91 degrees.
The Land received .60” of rain for the month bringing the yearly total to 3.31”. Phoenix has recorded 2.64” for the year.
Lake Pleasant is drying up from nearly 100% full last spring to 36% and my beloved Roosevelt Lake is at 70%. Powell is getting impressive at 73% and even the piss hole Mead is recovering at 50%
9-1- Phoenix had the hottest August on record. One day had an average temperature of 109 degrees, the highest average low temperature of 87.5 degrees, and the highest August temperature of 117 degrees.
Although the dew points were high during the month there just wasn’t enough moisture to bring the storms that generate rain cooled air.
Thirty nine homes are destroyed in a north Texas fire with 6200 acres burned.
Central Oklahoma is under a Red Flag Warning.
Katia becomes the second hurricane of the season.
“Scientist is speechless” at the scale of ice melt in two years at the Peterman Glacier in Greenland.
Yesterday your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather reported about the mysterious chest wounds of brown pelicans in California. Game wardens now say sea lions attacked the birds as they were both competing for bait fish.
Almost a week has passed since Hurricane Irene and almost a million people are still without power. In Connecticut police are protecting utility workers from angry residents. Crews have been brought in from several states to help restore power. The problem is old, outdated snapped power poles.
9-2- Two lightning caused fires near Globe, Arizona are growing. The Frio Fire has burned 1,000 acres in the Pinal Mountains and 650 acres have burned in the Superstition Mountains. The fires are not being fought but “managed” as natural burns as long as the wind remains favorable.
A small independent electric company serves Maricopa, Stanfield and Hidden Valley (us). They shut off the power to 96 customers in this heat for non payment of electric bills. This power company is not regulated by the Corporation Commission. The Commission prohibits utilities from cutting off power to delinquent customers when weather is “especially dangerous to health.”
The general manager of the utility company said “It's difficult out there but we have a fiduciary responsibility and ultimately have to do what is in the best interests of the utility.”
Tropical Storm Lee approaches and flood warnings are issued from Mississippi to Texas. Heavy rain, not wind, this time is the main concern. One half of all oil production in the Gulf is closed. The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi issue emergency declarations.
Hurricane Irene destroyed a two hundred year old oak tree in Arlington National Cemetary. The tree “guarded” JFK’s grave.
595,000 acres have burned by wildfires in Brazil since June.
9-3- This summer’s Los Conchas Fire was the largest in New Mexico history but somehow spared 9,000 pot plants. It is a sophisticated growing operation in a remote area of the Bandelier National Monument. No arrests have been made.
There are 100,000 “silent” nuclear refugees in Japan after the tsunami and earthquake disaster on March 11th. One town that had a population of 16,000 now has a population of one who refuses to leave. Tokyo was quick to establish evacuation zones but slow to relocate refugees.
In Sacramento, California a python underwent emergency surgery after a man took two bites out of his “pet.” The man later said he had a drinking problem.
9-4- With heavy rains Tropical Storm Lee knocked out power to thousands in Louisiana and Mississippi yesterday and prompted evacuations in low lying bayou towns. Thirteen inches of rain fell in New Orleans.
President Obama visits New Jersey in the aftermath of Irene.
Hurricane Katia has sustained winds of 105 mph.
9-5- Despite drought and wildfires Arizona eagles produce record number of young this year.
The Skinner Fire near the Grand Canyon has burned 3500 acres and fall archery elk hunters in Arizona are warned.
Twenty tornadoes are spawned by Lee in Mississippi, one foot of rain in Jackson and 16,000 without power this afternoon. One man was swept away trying to cross a rain swollen creek in his car. He is presumed dead.
Sixty three new fires reported across Texas today. Fires destroy 470 homes in Austin with zero containment, five thousand families evacuated. Texans hoped Lee would bring some much needed rain but only delivered 40mph winds.
A twenty year old woman and her infant are killed in their home by a fast moving wildfire in east Texas.
Hurricane Katia is now a Category 3 storm.
Three fires are burning out of control in Southern California. The largest is the Wagon Fire.
9-6- One thousand homes have burned in central Texas near and in the town of Bastrop. 25,000 acres have burned and 5,000 people evacuated.
3.5 million acres of land have burned in Texas this year.
9-7- An eighty nine year old woman in Phoenix has gone all summer without a working air conditioner. She has even slept outside at nights to try and stay cool. Neighbors and a local air conditioning company have chipped in to replace her ducting and swamp cooler with a brand new air conditioner. (What a tough woman!)
In one of the many fires burning in Texas police are looking for four teens after a wildfire caused 1.4 million dollars of damage to an Austin suburb.
The Bastrop Fire is 33% contained but is twenty four miles wide and twenty miles long.
Remnants of Lee bring welcome relief to farmers in the Southeast but flooding to an already soaked Northeast.
Tropical Storm Maria forms, the 13th named storm of the season.
Endangered rattlesnakes and copperheads stall the expansion of a Quincy, Massachusetts cemetery. The over crowded cemetery wants 18 acres of woodland that is home to the serpants and the state must grant permission.
9-8- Since June 10th, Phoenix has had only one day with a high temperature under one hundred degrees.
A strong storm in Yuma two days ago lifted a chapel off of its foundation and slammed it onto the ground sixty feet away.
The massive fire burning near Austin has destroyed 1386 homes, more than any other fire in Texas history. Five thousand have been evacuated and the fire is 30% contained.
A fire near Tehachapi, California began five days ago when a single engine Cessna crashed, killing both occupants. It has burned 14,802 acres and is now 83% contained. Twelve homes have been destroyed and 200 evacuees are allowed to return home.
Lee has washed up tar balls thought to be left over from the BP oil spill off Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
From New York to Maryland 100,000 people are told to evacuate as the Susquehanna River is flooding to an expected crest of 41’. It is from the rain Lee brought. In Binghampton, New York the river broke a flood record and flowed over retaining walls after eight inches of rain fell. People are told to get out NOW!
Tropical Storm Nate develops off of Mexico’s coast while Maria is in the Atlantic with 40 mph winds.
Katia is a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic moving north between the U.S. and Bermuda.
9-9- One dead and two others hurt after a bee attack at a home south of Prescott, Arizona. The men were working on the home and aware a beehive was in the area.
Pennsylvania levees are in “extreme stress’’ after the Susquchanna River crested at 42.66’, beyond the design capacity and higher than the record set in historic flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in 1972. 350 homes are damaged.
The Bastrop Fire in Texas is 30% contained with 1400 homes damaged.
Ten oil rig workers are being searched for when they evacuated a platform in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Nate. The missing were aboard a life raft.
A Hurricane Watch is issued for parts of Mexico as Nate increases in strength.
Mudslides from heavy rain south of Sedona, Arizona. Highway 89A closed.
9-10- Tornado Warning issued north of Apache Junction, Arizona with 70 mph winds and quarter inch hail.
A wildfire has burned 64 buildings near Goldendale, Washington with tinder dry conditions.
Fifteen deaths have been associated with Tropical Storm Lee. President Obama declares States of Emergency in Pennsylvania and New York.
With the massive fires in Texas Pesident Obama signs a declaration declaring a major disaster exists in this state.
9-11- Severe Thunderstorm Warning near Wickenburg, Arizona. Pea size to silver dollar size hail.
The Bastrop Fire in Texas has destroyed 1554 homes and 34,000 acres.
Air and sea search teams intensified their hunt yesterday for ten missing oil rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico as Nate intensifies.
9-12- Two thirty year old male hikers from Missouri ran out of water on South Mountain yesterday. One died and the other had to be airlifted out. It is believed they became lost. ( Relatively speaking it wasn’t that hot yesterday but the oppressive humidity does little to help the skin cool through sweating.)
A Tornado Warning is issued south of Tuba City, Arizona.
The Comanche Complex Fire in central California was sparked by lightning this past weekend. It has grown to 23, 866 acres in a few days and is 30% contained.
Tropical Storm Katia strikes Ireland and the United Kingdom packing 80 mph winds. One dead, roads closed and 10,000 without power.
Most of the missing oil rig workers in the Gulf of Mexico have been rescued. Three are dead and one is still missing.
9-13- A storm with strong winds hit Maricopa, Arizona yesterday damaging 80 trees at the Duke at Rancho El Dorado golf course. Winds were recorded at 40-45 mph but one NWS meteorologist said it would take winds of 60-65mph to do that much damage to trees.
The Comanche Fire Complex is a series of four fires in central California has burned 29,338 acres and is 60% contained. 4100 firefighters are on the ground there.
Tropical Storm Maria prompts a Flood Watch in Bermuda. The storm is bringing heavy rain to Bermuda also.
The latest flooding in Pakistan leaves 300,000 homeless, 1.2 million homes destroyed since August. 800,000 folks still don’t have permanent shelter from the 2010 country wide floods and one million need food assistance. Monsoon rains this year have killed 226 and 4.5 million acres have flooded.
9-14- Due to record breaking heat in August Phoenix Banner hospitals reported treating 1600 scorpion stings, up 40% from the year before. The scorpions sneak in valley homes around windows and under doors trying to seek cooler shelter and eat the bugs who crawl in before them.
Flash Flood Warnings posted for parts of Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties yesterday. Some areas received two inches of rain in an hour. There was heavy rain and flash flooding in Joshua Tree National Forest. Half inch hail fell in the Pine Valley area in San Diego.
Lightning stikes set palm trees on fire in Palm Springs, California.
A massive wildfire in Minnesota has burned 100,000 acres and the smoke blows all the way to Chicago prompting an air pollution warning.
Extreme flooding today in the Schultz Fire burn area near Flagstaff, Arizona.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning posted for Tucson and quarter size hail.
9-15- A two year old boy in Prescott, Arizona is recovering from a rattlesnake bite after he tried to pick up the snake.
“Frostbitz Falls”, International Falls, Minnesota is often referred to as the ice box of the nation has its earliest low temperature on record of 19 degrees this morning.
Minesotta firefighters get a break with sleet and light snow today. The 102, 400 square mile blaze began on August 18th by a lightning strike.
Maria becomes the 3rd named Atlantic hurricane this season. It is headed for Canada’s Newfoundland as a category 1 storm.
South Korean heat wave knocks out power to 820,000 in Seoul and other big cities.
9-16- Thirty two degrees this morning in Alpine, Arizona. The monsoon is over.
Bees attacked several farm animals and even killed a thousand pound hog near Bisbee, Arizona. Farmers were trying to remove a two hundred pound hive when an estimated 250,000 pissed off bees began swarming!
Monsoon floods have killed 98 in Thailand since July. 300,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed, sinking parts of the resort city of Pattaya and prompting the evacuation of 79 elephants. 1.3 million acres of land are underwater.
9-17- A man’s body has been found after being swept away in the normally dry Santa Cruz River in Tucson after heavy rains two days ago. He was last seen alive clinging to a bridge pillar.
A group of hunters in Licoln County, Montana on a black bear hunt mistakenly wound a grizzly. Thinking the bear was dead they went to recover the bear. It attacked and killed one of the men before being shot to death by another in the group. (It is illegal to shoot a grizzly bear and charges may be filed.)
9-18- Today the United Nations pleads for 357 million dollars to help millions affected by Pakistan floods.
9-19- Two cousins in Federal court plead not guilty for starting the massive Arizona Wallow Fire in late May.
Landslides caused by heavy rain destroys two small factories in north west China killing ten with twenty two missing.
9-20- Heavy rain and flooding across southwest China has left fourteen dead.
1.3 million people in central Japan are told to evacuate as Typhoon Roke approaches. A nine year old boy and an eighty four year old man are missing after fallen into flooded rivers.
A Kansas man has died during a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Two men were washed out of their boat at Lava Falls and one was swept away.
9-21- The largest fire in Texas history earlier this month was ignited by sparks from power lines coming into contact with dead tree branches.
Typhoon Roke with 100 mph sustained winds in Tsunami ravaged area of Japan. Six are dead with 200,000 without power.
Tropical Storm Ophelia heads toward the Caribbean and is the 15th named storm of the season.
Recordings of 911 calls from a pair of hikers attacked by a Grizzly in Yellowstone have been released. The couple was screaming before the man was killed. The investigation shows that screaming and running possibly triggered the fatal attack.
9-22- Tropical Storm Hillary forms in the Pacific south of Mexico and may become a hurricane later today.
Two hundred tourists are rescued by helicopters at a temple in Cambodia due to extreme flooding.
9-23- First full day of Fall with a high of 102 degrees at The Land and 108 in Phoenix, tying a record set in 2008.
Flood Watches and Warnings are issued from North Carolina to New England. Many areas on the East Coast have not dried out from Hurricane Irene and later Tropical Storm Lee.
Hurricane Hillary, eighty five miles south west of Acapulco, Mexico, has sustained winds of 135 mph and is a Category 4 storm.
Tropical Storm Ophelia re-strengthens as it heads for the Caribbean.
9-24- Hurricane Hillary moves away from Mexico’s southwest coast but search teams have recovered the bodies of three fishermen caught in the storm. Despite hurricane warnings the men went out to sea in their boat.
A ten year old Idaho boy comes face to face with a mountain lion in rural Boise County. He escaped with minor scratches and Fish & Game tracked down the cat and killed it.
The hunter who was attacked by a wounded grizzly earlier this month in Montana was not killed by the bear. He died from a single gunshot wound to the chest by his companion trying to save him from the charging bear. The autopsy also found bite wounds to the man’s legs by the bear. The bullet that killed the man may have deflected off of the bear. No charges are expected to be filed.
9-25- A micro burst in west Phoenix knocked down 22 power poles.
Moisture from Hurricane Hillary may reach Arizona by end of the week.
“ A dry winter and a weak monsoon fueled record wildfires, record heat and a succession of dust storms that played like a broken record, pushing Arizona deeper into a drought that has persisted since 1999.”
Tropical Storm Phillippe forms over the far eastern Atlantic.
An elk hunter in Idaho came across a bear’s resting spot and was attacked by the bruin. He is hospitalized with a broken right arm, puncture wounds and an injured left hand. The bear is thought to be a grizzly.
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife will kill two wolves after they are “blamed” for a livestock kill. (Seems one has a gps collar for tracking. This does not seem right in the natural order of things to me.)
9-26- Monssoon rains destroy homes and flood wide areas of northern and eastern India. Forty eight folks are dead and hundreds of thousands stranded by flooding. Many take shelter in trees, hills and rooftops. Rescue helicopters drop food to the stranded.
As Typhoon Nerat approaches the Philippines with 106 mph winds 100,000 people are evacuated with 50,000 in shelters and six people missing.
9-27- Nerat isolates the capital of Manilla in the Philippines with major flooding and wind gusts of 106 mph. Sixteen souls are dead.
A Lake Havasu City man in Arizona is recovering after being gored by a seventy five pound “wild” pig. The man apparently approached the pig before it lashed out at him.
The City of Maricopa mayor is interviewed on local news and as asked ED3 not to shut off power to people during extreme weather conditions. (You read it here first in Blue Duck Weather.)
An unexpected dust storm causes a major pile up on I-10 near Pichacio, Arizona. Seventeen are injured.
9-28- Bluebonnet Electric Cooperation in Texas is being sued for the largest fire in Texas history, The Bastrop Fire. It alledges that the utility had the right and responsibility to remove dead trees and branches that came into contact with live wires igniting the blaze.
Tropical Storm Ophelia causes widespread flooding and cuts off communities in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica. 1600 are stranded and twelve cars washed away.
Hurricane Hillary weakens to a Category 1 storm and is not expected to strike Mexico’s coast.
9-29- Flash Flood Warnings are posted for the Catskill Mountains in New York to northeast Pennsylvania. Rivers are swollen with rain and three inches expected today. Rain from Lake Michigan to the Atlantic Coast “parked like a car tire.”
With no signs of weakening Typhoon Nerat hits eastern China with 94 mph winds and heavy rains. 58,000 people are evacuated.
India’s monsoon death toll up to 335 since June and twenty eight more bodies discovered today.
Illinois skunk population rose 46% from February 2009 to January 2010. 6700 of the stinky bastards were removed from the northeastern part of the state last year. Many of them were living under, around or near people’s homes.
9-30- The “official” end of Arizona’ monsoon season is today.
In Chicago today strong winds caused 10-16 foot waves on the popular Lakeshore Drive on Lake Michigan. Bikers and joggers were knocked down by the breached waves. 27,000 without power due to the wind.
Typhoon Nerat now beats the shit out of Vietnam with flooding and 120,000 evacuations.
Typhoon Nalgae forms and heading toward northern Philippines.
The quote of the month comes from a book called Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles. “Droughts come and stay for seven years and in those seven years the weak are driven away; mistakes and miscalculations grow into catastrophes, there is no margin for error. Drought is a lack of something, a vacuum, an empty place in danger of implosion.”
The song of the month is “Before the rains came I was snootin’ sand instead of good corn liquor” by the Blue Duck Harmonica and String Band.”
Until next month when a skunk sticks its ass, tail pointed up, in your horror filled face remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.
The Distinguished, Honorable, Award Winning Professor MR Blue Duck.
