July 2012 Weather News!
“There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, insuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals…. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.”
Edward Abbey
And then when it does rain in the desert and in the city it comes down hard and fast. And with cities “stupid motorist” rules have to be made up as if to keep people from driving into flooded washes and having to be rescued (if they are lucky).Sadly you will read some did not make it through flooded washes alive. And people decide to build “master planned” communities in the desert and wonder after four inches of rain in an hour while their community looks like a bomb went off with flooding, ruined homes, walls and trees knocked over and a stinking mess of carpet and damaged goods. The first thing they want to do is sue someone; planners, developers, builders, inspectors and I guess even God. Accept your choice and your fate.
This exciting issue of Blue Duck Weather is jammed packed with all the news that does and does not fit. Cigarettes, lightning, trains and guns blamed for wildfires, two fires in the steep and rugged canyons near my sanctuary, Riggs Lake on Mount Graham, arrest made in the aftermath of the Sunflower Fire in Arizona last month, another hiker lost in the Superstition Mountains and his fate, the coolest Fourth of July in the Arizona desert in one hundred years, a landslide so massive it registers as an earthquake in Alaska, the worst drought in the Heartland in one hundred years, a Bobcat breaks into a prison, Fishing on the Kenai River in Alaska suspended, a man dressed in a goat’s suit wandering amongst wild goats (we don’t make this shit up), a woman killed by lightning on her due date, animal suicide?, a whale advisory, “if you are halfway through with your water you are halfway through with your hike”, confirmed tornado at 11,900 feet in Colorado! And so much more.
The Land had flash flooding of its own and a very impressive amount of rain for the month, 2.29’’is more than we have received all year! To date Phoenix has had 1.32’’ of rain.
The average temperature at the Land was 92 degrees, fucking hot. But we only had one day that the average was a miserable 100 degrees and the end of the month actually finished 9 degrees cooler than the beginning. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had an average temperature of 67.14 degrees.
Roosevelt Lake worries me at 53% capacity. At the beginning of the year it was nearly 100% full. Pleasant is 69% full, Mead is 50% and the Mighty Powell at 62%.
7-1- The Grapevine Fire near Safford, Arizona caused by lightning has burned 4800 acres.
Highway 87 closed near Winslow, Arizona from the Canyon Wildfire. Lightning caused it has burned 5,000 acres.
Denver, Colorado had its hottest June on record. The average temperature was 75 degrees, 7.6 degrees above normal.
The Eastern U.S. continues to bake and power outages from recent storms could last for days. People are throwing out spoiled food by the tons. There are 23 states with temperatures above one hundred degrees.
“Experts are investigating the deaths of 15 cattle in Central Texas that had grazed on toxic grass this past spring.” It is the first documented case of cyanide poisoning linked to a common Bermuda grass hybrid found in grazing lands across Texas. The problem appears to be isolated.
7-2- A search is on for a missing hiker in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. An avid hiker who knew the area well set out for a four hour hike with one gallon of water. (Editor’s Note: What is the lure of this vast wilderness? It looks so peaceful and serene from any vantage point in the east valley. But it is hot and formidable. One rescuer said it best. “It will claim you every time if you are not prepared, especially during the summer.” Time and time again we read of lost souls in this mysterious mountain range. Unlike the heavily used and marked trails of local parks and mountains such as South Mountain and Camelback Mountain enter the “Sups” at your own risk. And as the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck has advised me many times don’t do it alone.)
The Canyon Fire near the Jack’s Canyon area near Highway 87 in Arizona has grown to 5,000 acres overnight.
The Grapevine Fire near Safford has grown to 8,000 acres.
Twenty two dead and 1.9 million still without power in the East after the fierce storm three days ago. Hurricane Katrina affected three million people. This one, five million.
7-3- The search is still on for the missing hiker in the Superstition Mountains with horses, dogs and a Pinal County helicopter. Search called off at one p.m. due to heat and high humidity.
50 mph winds and a half inch of rain from Wilcox to Safford, Arizona.
A man is arrested for starting the 18,000 acre Sunflower Fire near Payson, Arizona last month. According to authorities he fired an incendiary shotgun shell into dry grass that ignited the blaze.
7-4- Simply amazing and so unpredicted! At ten thirty this morning on The Land is was 71 degrees and .30’’ of rain fell. Cloudy and cool all day it never got over 78 degrees with a .54” of rain. It felt like one my camping trips when you are rained out and do nothing but set around, tinker and smell the wet beauty of the Land. Later I found out it was the coolest Fourth of July in 100 years.
Arizona City didn’t get off so easy. Major street and house flooding with twelve to sixteen inches of water. 1.57’’ of rain fell. And in Tucson a funnel cloud was reported today.
Parts of Montana and Wyoming reached 100 degrees today.
“Just like 1778”. No electricity or fireworks for million in the East. Ten states still have not electricity from storms 5 days ago.
A hippo in Nigeria has been shot to death after killing two people.
7-5- So much moisture in the air there was fog this morning on The Land and it registered as .01’’ of rain. Yesterday there was four inches of rain in portions of Pinal County and 3.44” of rain in Pima County. In that county the rain fell so hard and fast passengers abandoned a pickup that water had carried into a wash.
The missing hiker in the Superstitions still has not been found.
Drought affects 56% of the U.S. and a toll is being taken on food supplies. 22% of corn and soybean crops in poor condition and 43% of nation’s pastures and grasslands.
It is so hot in Chicago heat buckles pavement and three heat related deaths.
7-6- Two fires in the Coronado National Forest are being monitored with “minimal resources.” Crews have set up a perimeter around the Pinnacle and Trap Peak Fires. Both are burning in rugged canyons near RIGGS LAKE! (Please don’t burn down my church.) 400 acres have burned with 40% containment.
The poor soul missing in the Superstition Mountains has been found dead five days after he set out for his hike. Authorities believe he died the same day he left.
A storm in Tennessee has killed four people, tossing boats and tipping over trailers at a campground with 70mph winds. A child and grandmother died when their pontoon boat capsized on Chattanooga Lake. One man was killed in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park when his motorcycle was hit by a tree limb. A woman was crushed to death by a falling tree.
Forty-three deaths have occurred from the heat wave in the last two weeks in the Mid West. Following last week’s storms 406,000 people still without power in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.
7-7- The Beeline Highway and 87 are closed due to a new brush fire in Arizona.
An outbreak of golden algae has killed thousands of fish this week in a twenty mile stretch of the Salt River in Arizona. The reported area is east of Roosevelt Lake to Horseshoe Bend.
Dispatch recording indicate that Clorado’s deadly Waldo Canyon Fire started near a popular hiking trail west of Colorado Springs.
Forty three deaths tied to the heat wave in last two weeks in the Mid West following last week’s storms. 406,000 still without power in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.
Smoke from the wildfires in the West have blown to the East Coast causing “code orange” air quality alerts in Maryland.
High temperatures have killed ten thousand bluegill in a lake in Knoxville, Tennessee. “It’s really putrid” one resident says.
Across South Dakota fishermen have reported thousands of fish kills in various lakes and rivers.
One lake in Delaware has six thousand dead gizzard shad and six hundred perch.
One hundred and thirty four dead and thousands of homes flooded after torrential rains, landslides and a wave of water twenty feet high hit southern Russia. Two months of rain in twenty four hours.
Five hundred dead trees need to be cut down in Texas due to drought and beetle infestation.
Swimming ban at Cape Cod as the Great White sharks return chasing gray seals.
Record rain in Great Britain three weeks before the Olympics begin.
7-8- Sixty-six lives lost from the heat wave since June. Ten states are under excessive heat warnings.
Baby girl dies and a toddler in critical condition after they were left in separate vehicles in Indiana on a day when temperatures hit a record 104 degrees.
Rain and cooler temperatures prompt Colorado governor to lift statewide fire ban.
Southern Russia flooding kills 153 people in one town. Most were sleeping when the water hit.
Baby Golden eagle recovering after it miraculously survived Utah’s Dump Fire. A volunteer rescuer found the burned bird on June 28th behind a charred tree twenty five feet below the nest that had been burned to a crisp.
7-9- Second 110 degree temperature on The Land of the season. The average temperature from low to high was a miserable 93 degrees. (When you wake up in the morning and the low is in the nineties you know it’s going to be a rough day.)
A wind blown wildfire west of Twin Falls, Idaho was first spotted two days ago and has grown to 75,000 acres in twenty four hours.
The National Oceanic & Atomospheric Administration reports the first six months of 2012 have been the hottest on record in the U.S. The average temperature was 52.9 degrees, 4.5 degrees above the long term average.
Russia’s president has ordered an investigation into whether enough warning had been issued to prevent 171 deaths from severe flooding in the Black Sea region. There have been overwhelming angry protests since the flood killed many while they were sleeping.
7-10- The first average temperature from high to low was 100 degrees on The Land.
Emilia becomes a powerful Category 4 hurricane off Mexico “out of the blue” with a 140mph winds. The storm is 680 miles southwest of Baja, California.
7-11- An Arizona state investigation discovers a 67 year old man who was left outside a Tucson long term care home in one hundred degree plus heat for over an hour last month had a cord body temperature of 107 degrees when he died.
A ten foot alligator bites off the arm of a teenager swimming in a river in Moore Haven, Florida. The alligator was killed and the boy’s arm was retrieved but doctors were unable to reattach it.
7-12- Four fires have flared up in the last two days in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. The Bartlett, Cooks Fire, New River Fire and the Squaw Fire are burning in the Cave Creek District. Rough terrain is prohibiting fire relief and 310 acres have burned.
Since June in Arizona there have been 109 calls for children and pets left in hot cars.
A DPS K-9 is taken in life threatening condition to a vet after his handler accidentally left the dog in his car for about an hour while the officer responded to an emergency call in Tucson.
A baby sitter is held in a Mesa, Arizona baby’s heat related death. The sitter was arrested by police on aggravated driving under the influence. The Sitter said he was not from the area and was driving around lost for four hours without air conditioning. He noticed as some point the baby was sick and sought help at a convenience store.
A house is destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning near 36th Street and Thomas in Phoenix.
7-13- The DPS K-9 is put down after heat stress.
4,000 APS customers lost power for nearly forty five minutes yesterday after a squirrel got into an north Phoenix substation on Cave Creek Road. “It is unlikely the squirrel survived.”
A trial is set for the 23 year old Mesa, Arizona man accused of starting the Sunflower Fire near Payson. The fire burned 17, 446 acres from May 12th to July 5th. He was camping with four friends for his bachelor’s party when he fired what he called a “flame throwing shotgun round” at a soda box near the Sycamore Creek area. He and his friends tried to stomp the fire out, couldn’t and called 9-11. They were told to leave the area immediately.
With a drought so bad the USDA designates 1,016 counties in twenty six states as natural disaster areas.
A five mile long landslide in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park is so big it registered on earthquake monitors as a magnitude 3.4 on the Richter Scale.
Two goats named Goatee and Pismo were taught by their owner to surf because he loves it so much. The goats stand on surfboards in cruise the waves in front of onlookers in Southern California.
7-14- Three quarters of an inch of rain in a short period of time on The Land! Flash flooding, dogs loving it, the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck playing in it, me photographing the street flooding and stuck cars and just general weather havoc. It was so exciting!
From Gilbert TwinkyDuck reported heavy street flooding and possible hail damage to DooderDuck’s truck. Planes grounded for twenty minutes at Sky Harbor International Airport. U.S. 60 and Val Vista closed due to flooding, all lanes. 72mph winds in the east valley, 6000 SRP customers without power and in Lake Havasu City one man swept away from his truck in a wash and discovered dead.
7-15- A sixty five year old driver near Wickenburg, Arizona is swept away by flash flooding and has perished. He was almost home and told witnesses he had seen worse flooding before he entered the wash.
Crown King, Arizona cut off from I-17 by flooding and rock slides.
Quarzite, Arizona has no power for sixteen hours.
Wildfires burning in a steep canyon in Placer County, California has destroyed one home and threatens 170 others. The fire has burned 1950 acres since it began three days ago.
Two men dead and a third injured when lightning strikes a tree that the three had taken shelter under. They had been playing soccer in Houston when the storm hit.
7-16- Colorado City, Arizona is flooded from heavy rain run off.
Now official; the worst drought in one hundred years. One third of the U.S. crops are in trouble. Some areas of the Mighty Mississippi River are so low barges cannot navigate.
In southern Japan 25 people have died and thousands cutoff by floods and mudslides.
Two more climbers have died on Mont Blame near Rome following the deaths of nine last week in a massive avalanche.
7-17- Another wave of heat breaking temperatures in the Mid West and North East.
India’s monsoon has taken 109 lives since June and 400,000 are homeless. Experts say the tragedy is worse because of corruption and poor management of the Brahmaputra River. Millions meant for flood control have been taken by state water officials in the last five years. (Greedy Bastards!)
7-18- Even with the latest storms Phoenix is 2.73” in the hole.
A bobcat is shot with a tranquilizer gun after breaking into a Washington State prison. It climbed a razor wire fence and onto a roof. The cat is being treated for cuts and will be released into the wild.
A black cat name Oli walked six miles in three days to find his way back home in New Hampshire. Once home he ate three cans of food and slept for 24 hours.
7-19- Hundreds of elk photographed drinking water in puddles at dried up Mormon Lake near Flagstaff.
Fishing for King Salmon in the Kenai River in Alaska is closed. So few kings are returning to the river, the lowest on record since the 1980s.
7-20- The largest of 13 lightning caused wildfires near the Arizona- Utah border are close to full containment. The blazes began on July 11th. The Hobble Complex Fire has burned 31,000 acres on the Arizona Strip. ( Kind of strange no mention of this fire before especially how large it is. Is that because it is not a “glamerous” fire near towns or resorts?)
7-21- Another major dust storm with heavy rain hit’s the Valley of the Sun with 60mph winds, seven thousand without power and air traffic at Sky Harbor International Airport suspended.
Mudslides caused by torrential rains have killed one man, damaged homes and cut off villages in Austria.
A man has been spotted in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in northern Utah. Wildlife officials are worried the man could be in danger as hunting season approaches. (Hell, they should be worried about his mental condition and the goats!)
7-22- 33mph winds in Casa Grande.
Indiana residents are being urged to protect themselves and pets from water in some of the state’s lakes. Two dogs that swam in a lake are dead from being exposed to toxic algae.
Eighteen people in India die after a bus slammed by boulders during a landslide is knocked into a 150’ canyon.
Heaviest rain in Beijing in sixty years kills 37 people, 25 of them drowned. 80,000 are stranded at main airport. One township deluged by 18.1’’ of rain.
7-23- The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck’s sister report from near Cascade, Montana eight days in a row of temperatures over a hundred degrees. The Mission Road Fire has gone from a few acres to over a thousand in a day.
Firefighters are working eight fires on the west side of the Kaibab Plateau that all started by from lightning strikes two days ago. The largest is the Tank Fire at 1100 acres.
The first West Nile virus death reported in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The Fairfield Creek Fire sparked by lightning four days ago in Springview, Nebraska has grown to 50,000 acres.
7-25- “Sudden massive ice melt hits Greenland.” All of Greenland’s ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, “ a freak event that even surprised scientists.”
In Pennsylvania a pregnant Amish woman picking berries in the woods killed by lightning. Her unborn child also died.
7-26- Headline of the New York Times: “Melting asphalt, kinking rail tracks. Weather extremes buckle U.S. infrastructure”
Tornadoes are rare in New York but one may have struck Elmira, New York today with damaged buildings and thousands without power. Unsettled weather causing air port delays along the East Coast.
Federal officials have issued a whale watch advisory for large ships in the San Francisco Bay. It was issued to avoid killing droves of whales feeding near the northern coast.
7-28- Grass painting a booming business due to the drought for United States ravaged lawns. A turf dye commonly used on golf courses is applied to the withered lawns to make them look like new. (Wonder how they smell?)
A gorills in a zoo in Prague has accidentally hanged himself with a climbing rope. He likely unbraided one of a dozen ropes the gorillas use for climbing and put a strand around his neck. ( Suicide?)
Flash Flood Warning issued for the Payson, Arizona area and Sycamore Wash is flooding homes. There is a blowing dust advisory in the Valley until seven p.m.
Severe winds knock down trees from Michigan to Georgia. 85,000 without power in Pennsylvania, 34,000 in New York and 13,000 in Ohio.
Deadly floods kill 88 in North Korea and 63,000 are homeless.
This contribution is from the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck; From the West Coast to the East Coast insect infestations thanks to record breaking temperatures and warm early spring rains. In Harold, California locusts are devouring peaches, roses and hot peppers. One woman said “If you stand in my by backyard I’ve got about 5,000 locusts per square yard.”
7-29- “If you are halfway through your water you are halfway through with your hike.” Search and rescue teams have gone into the Superstition Mountains in Arizona twenty two times since last July.
A local historian on the Superstitions estmates that between the year 1900 and 2000 50-70 people went into the mountains and never came out.
Searchers have found the bodies of two U.S. mountain climbers who were killed after summting a 20,000’ peak in Peru. The men fell nearly one thousand feet off of a ridge while descening.
Unofficial Micro- burst in Foutain Hills, Arizona with heavy rain and downed trees.
An ominous Wall Cloud spotted near The Land this evening by The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck and me. These can be precursers to tornadoes so I called it in as any dutiful storm watcher would. Thankfully it did not blow us to Kansas.
7-30- A two year old boy is swept to his death in a flooded wash just outside his home in San Tan Valley, Arizona. Since 2006 residents in Bonanza Ranch have been filing complaints with Pinal County.
The Micro Burst in Foutain Hills, Arizona yesterday has been confirmed.
Tornado in Colorado mountains the second highest on record in the U.S. Mount Evans at 11,900 feet. (Who would ever imagine a tornado that high.)
7-31- Funnel Cloud reported in Deer Valley, Arizona. 64mph winds in Anthem and a Flood Advisory posted along with Black Canyon City.
It’s that time of year again sadly. DarrDuck reports that Slide Rock in Sedona, Arizona is closed due to poor water quality. What this means is all the “Bathers” pissing, shitting and leaving their kid’s diapers “hid” in the rocks and water has contaminated the once beautiful stretch of Oak Creek Canyon. I think the whole area should be closed for the summer to swimmers. But, I forgot, what would that do to the tourism industry in Sedona?
“Rabbit fever” confirmed in animals near Dewey, Arizona. It can be passed from animals to humans causing sudden fever, headaches, diarrhea, muscle soreness, progressive weakness, dry cough and pneumonia. It is treatable. ( When hunting and then skinning rabbits for food I was taught at an early age to look for spots on the liver. I was told this is a definite sign of a sick rabbit and not to eat the meat. )
Cattlemen are asking the EPA to give them a break competing with ethanol producers for corn at a time of high prices and drought. The EPA has the power to temporarily reduce the amount of ethanol required to mix into gas when it comes from corn. (This is a sad state of affairs, using much needed feed and food for fuel.)
And there you have it my fine and loyal readers all across the world. I don’t know if it is just me, but as each month rolls by the weather news seems to become more intense on many levels, especially the drought, heat and what is happening on so many levels because of it. Some say we are in the worst times since the Dust Bowl of the thirties. We will see what happens. Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather is committed heart and soul to deliver you the facts as we find them.
With that the song of the month is “Come a Rain” by Kevin Welch.
The Honorable, Indistinguished, Doctor MR Blue Duck.
