August 2012 Weather News! Special Anniversary Edition !
In this year of a presidential campaign, weather finally hit’s the political stage and what the president offers for drought assistance. So many raging wildfires raging in the Western mountains so late in the season when normally rain would have diminished the fire threat. A very active monsoon in southern and central Arizona.
More ominous drought news, another possible arson caused wildfire, 5.01” of rain in Anthem, Arizona in ninety minutes, later to be called the “Storm of a Century”, a silver lining to the drought, 3.8 million acres of wetlands opened up to grazing due to the drought (Edward Abbey is rolling in his grave), “Hoot-Owl restrictions”, Hottest July on record in the U.S., “Fido Bags” used to resuscitate animals, Arizona Game & Fish commissioner busted for hunting out of season, four bears trash a cabin and drink one hundred beers (pure rock star fashion), the largest python ever captured in Florida (the size and weight will amaze you!), another fallen firefighter in the West, The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck Flooded from home, Maricopa declares a State of Emergency due to flooding, Hayduke Lives!, a surge of rattlesnake bites in Arizona, the 20th anniversary of one of the most devastating hurricanes ever to hit the U.S., George Hayduke Lives!, and finally Hurricane Isaac ends the month with flooding misery.
But what really began this exercise in misery and boredom five years ago was to study the average yearly temperature on The Land and the properties in New Mexico. The purpose was just to give us a glimpse of warming or cooling on a yearly basis. The average monthly temperature, splitting the daily highs and lows for an entire year, on The Land was 72.33 degrees this year. This is up almost three degrees from last year but the high average was 77.21 degrees in 2008.
The average temperature for the entire year at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill for this year was 51.35 degrees. The temperature has warmed every year since 2008 when the average was 48.33 degrees. Why would the temperature in the desert cool while the temperature at 7400 feet warm in this short amount of time. Three degrees may not sound like much but you have seen time and time again the effects of gradual warming.
The average temperature on The Land for this month was 91.32 “pleasant” degrees. New Mexico Land had an average of 68.36 degrees.
The rainfall for the Land in August was .99’’ bringing the yearly total to 3.77”, two thirds of the total during this monsoon. Phoenix stands at 2.77”.
It has been tropical here this month so I thought it would be noteworthy to give you the monthly humidity and dew point averages; 40% and 62.88 degrees averaged every day for the entire month. Fucking miserable.
The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck told me that NOAA predicts a monsoon that may very well last until October with the amount of moisture and wind patterns for the deserts of Arizona. Never again, after this summer, will I make fun of the new monsoon season timeframe established a few years ago for Arizona.
Unfortunately, your Editor in Chief has no lake levels to report this month. The reporting station used the printed report for toilet paper.
8-1- Last night’s “freak storm” dumped an inch and a quarter of rain in
Anthem, Arizona in forty minutes. Some reports indicate there may have been as much as five inches of rain. Homes and walls knocked off foundations by flooding, three water rescues, two homes totally destroyed, supermarket closed due to potential roof collapse and trees downed. Red Cross on the scene and some homeowners have no flood insurance
Half of all counties in the U.S. are now labeled natural disaster areas due to the drought. With drying food crops the USDA is allowing grazing on 3.8 million acres, many wetlands. Insurance companies agree to a thirty day grace period for farmer insurance premiums. (How fucking kind of them!)
8-2- Unofficial rain total in Anthem 5.01’’ in 90 minutes two nights ago.
“Drought’s silver lining”- Fewest July tornadoes on record. With 24 in the U.S. last month that shatters the record low of 42 in July, 1960.
8-3- Mississippi River closed to barge traffic in Minnesota because the river is too low. Sixty percent of grain, twenty two percent of oil and gas, and twenty percent of coal goes down the river normally.
Tropical Storm Ernesto forms and headed for the Caribbean. It may strengthen into a hurricane.
One hundred mile stretch of the Platte River is dried up.
Typhoon Saola dumps five feet of rain on Taipei, Taiwan on an island populated by 23 million drenched souls.
House okays drought aid to help livestock producers with cost of aid.
8-4- “Storm of the Century” last week in Anthem, Arizona. Community joins residents effected by a massive cleanup today. In some homes anything not four feet above the floor of a home ruined by rain.
Flash floods in Iowa and Chicago with 80mph winds. 150,000 without power. Tornado warnings and thousands evacuated.
One hundred and twenty one structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed by fires in Oklahoma. Temperatures over one hundred degrees for the 19th straight day.
A 2600 acre grassfire near Luther may have been arson. A man was seen throwing a burning newspaper out of a black pickup truck into the grass.
Tropical Storm Florence forms off Africa and joins Ernesto in the Atlantic.
A man, presumed to have been attacked by a Great White, earlier this week is released from the hospital unable to walk. He is suffering from deep puncture wounds to both legs. He and his son were swimming toward a sand bar in the Atlantic off Ballston Beach.
8-5- Nineteen year old hiker injured from a rock fall in the Grand Canyon during a thunderstorm. His fellow hikers took him to Phantom Ranch for treatment but he had to be flown out by helicopter to Flagstaff.
Lollapalooza music festival suspended in Chicago due to extreme winds and stormy conditions. Ten of thousands were evacuated yesterday to underground garages.
Six separate fires burning in Oklahoma.
8-6- Medical examiner trying to identify body burned beyond recognition in rural, Norman, Oklahoma home after wildfires.
Fish & Game officials in parts of Montana impose “hoot owl “ restrictions on the Smith, Dearborn and Sun Rivers. Fishing isn’t allowed in the afternoons and evenings when the water temperatures are too high. Yellowstone National Park has done the same thing. Trout become distressed in warm water.
8-7- No relief for Arizona deserts with high pressure from New Mexico settled in over the state. 108 degrees with a dew point of 61 at The Land! Absolutely fucking miserable! 90 degree record low in Phoenix.
Ernesto is now a Category 1 hurricane. 1500 evacuated in Mexico’s Quintan Rue. Two cruise ships are diverted from its projected path.
Heavy rains cause 270,000 to evacuate in Manila with flooding as high as 15’.
8-8- Rare snow fall across much of South Africa.
111 degrees with a dew point of 61 degrees at The Land. Average temperature 102.5, the hottest day of the summer. New record of 116 degrees in Phoenix with a record low of 93 degrees. Bull Head City 119 degrees.
25 year old hiker rescued at top of Camelback Mountain after getting lost and running out of water. Dehydration resulted in being airlifted off the mountain.
July was the hottest month on record for the “contiguious” U.S. Drought now covers 63% of the lower 48 states. Average temperature 77.6 degree. 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average.
Two million rescued as Typhoon Haikui hits China.
8-9- Record low high of 93 degrees and a record high of 114 in Phoenix.
Massive cleanup in the Philippines today after monsoon floods kill ninety one and 300,000 folks remain in shelters.
Arizona Game & Fish Commissioner busted for shooting a prairie dog out of season. He said on April 9th he was hunting rabbits with a son of a family friend. With no rabbits found apparently the kid popped a dog. The animals cannot be hunted after April 1st. The kind Commissioner reported himself and will not lose his job, be severely punished or lose his hunting license. He has been accredited for turning himself in as the responsible thing to do. (Get a rope!)
“Fido Bags” created by Glendale fire officials are used to resuscitate dogs and other muzzle animals injured in fires. They are specialized oxygen masks. The bags have now been introduced to other cities by the Fetch Foundation.
A black bear went in and out of a Colorado candy store multiple times to steal and eat chocolate. Surveillance video showed the bear prying open the door and grabbing some candy near the register. He took the candy outside to eat and made seven trips in fifteen minutes. The only evidence he left behind was some dirt on a counter and paper on the ground. “He was very clean and careful. He ate a lot of candy” the store owner said.
8-10- A Micro Burst reported at Oregon Pipe National Park in Arizona. A roof was ripped off an auditorium and garbage cans strewn about like empty beer cans.
Severe weather delays across the East Coast’s busiest airports. A tornado reported in Long Island, New York.
According to the USDA this will be the worst nation wide corn production due to drought in seventeen years. Corn prices are at record highs and this drought is proclaimed by some as te worst since 1956.
Death toll rises to six from bad ass Ernesto in Mexico. Three were killed when a tree fell on their pickup.
Two wildfires are coming close to an ammunition factory in Bosnia. The efforts to extinguish one are hampered by a minefield. (Shit, and we think we have it rough out here in the West with fires.)
8-11- At two p.m this afternoon TwinkieDuck emailed with a weather report from Happy Jack; 59 degrees and pouring rain.
Folks hit hard by the damaging rain in Anthem, Arizona on July 31st are informed by their insurance company they have no flood insurance. One owner sustained 60,000 dollars in damage to her home in the “Master Planned” community of Anthem Parkside.
The Tonto National Forest reduces camping restrictions in the area of three June bear attacks on people.
And this in from the Lovely Mrs. Blueduck: A mother bear and her three cubs broke into a Norwegian cabin drinking one hundred beers, eating all the food and knocking over a wall. “They had a hell of a party in there.” the owner said. “The entire cabin was destroyed.” With paw prints and shit everywhere there is little doubt the bears were responsible. “Your average criminals don’t typically break down a wall when a front door will work just fine.”
A young male mountain lion in Oregon has been trapped and killed for killing two domestic sheep. Wildlife biologists say the animal had a fractured right leg and signs of an earlier gunshot wound. Both injuries impaired the animal’s ability to hunt and likely caused it to kill easy prey.
8-12- Forty homes in Fresno, California evacuated due to a wildfire.
“Drought’s Wrath felt across U.S…… Farmers go town to town to buy water. Nurseries hold “heat stroke” sales. Tap water emerges at 84 degrees.” (Try living in the desert with a well and your holding tank is black. No need to use hot water all summer. “Go Green.”)
80-100 mph winds in parts of Connecticut are confirmed as micro bursts and not a tornado.
8-13- Record high of 115 in Phoenix. Seventh straight day of morning low temperatures not below 90 degrees.
A new fire in the Tonto National Forest blankets the Valley of the Sun with smoke and haze on top of this miserable heat.
The President announces that the Department of Agriculture intends to buy 170 million pounds of pork, lamb, chicken and catfish to “help farmers” suffering from the drought. The food purchases will go toward “food nutrition assistance.” One official said “This is a win-win. Farmers and ranchers will have an opportunity to sell more of their products at this critical time and tax payers will get a better price on food that wouul have to be purchased later.” (There are several ways to interpret this; more control over the masses, trying to really prepare for what may be the worst of this drought or just plain politicking before an election. To me the whole thing “smells funny.” Wonder why there is no mention of beef? I suppose it does not fit into dietary guidelines for this health conscious administration?)
8-14- There are 62 wildfires burning in eight western states.
A 20 year old firefighter is killed by a falling tree near Irofino, Idaho while working a fire there. The rest of her crew made it to a safety zone and were pulled away from the fire. 653 square miles have burned and five ranches evacuated.
The Taylor Bridge Fire in Central Washington has grown from 2800 acres to 20,000 acres in hours. 70 homes destroyed and 450 homes evacuated.
3700 farmers and ranchers in Missouri have been approved for emergency well drilling by the state’s government. 95% the Show Me state is parched.
693 West Nile Virus cases in Texas considered an epidemic. Night time spraying will occur for the first time since the 1960’s.
Firefighters rescue a 17 year old girl three quarters up Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. She was so dehydrated she was passing out.
8-15-The Mistake Peak Fire has grown to 3500 acres near Pumpkin Center in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona and is 10% contained.
Booming, rolling thunder at midnight above The Land. High winds and not much rain but the power was out for seven hours. It was a hot night and a bucket bath morning.
Prison inmates help fire crews fight the massive fire in Washington. The Taylor Bridge Fire has grown to 28,000 acres and destroyed 70 homes.
The Trinity Ridge Fire in Idaho has grown to 63,000 acres.
The lower Mississippi River has dropped another five feet and halted essential barge traffic once again.
8-16- An inch and a half of rain and hail falls in Flagstaff, Arizona in 45 minutes.
Two heat related deaths in Yuma County, Arizona. One was a “transient” found dead in a field. The other was an 80 year old woman found in her 105 degree apartment with the air conditioner off.
A jury in San Bernandino has found a man guilty five counts of murder after five folks sustained heart attacks durning a massive wildfire. The man has been convicted of starting the 91,000 acre fire that that destroyed 100 homes in 1993 in the foothills above San Bernandino.
8-17- A Flash Flood Warning issued for the town of Maricopa, Arizona form noon to three p.m. They were right. Although I only had a few sprinkles on the way home, heavy rain in the hills around us sent torrents of flash flooding down into the desert and the roads around our home. I could not drive home the normal way and had to drive fifteen miles east and south to come home on higher ground.
Three inches of rain fell last night in Surprise, Arizona. There were 8 high water rescues on paved roads! Flooded homes and 1500 without power.
Fifty two out of control fires burning in the West.
Tropical Storm Helene forms in the Gulf of Mexico. Flood Warnings are issued for the coast.
8-18-The mop up begins in Surprise, Arizona after three inches of rain fell in a short period of time and flooded homes and streets.
Heat wave with 104 degree temperatures in France. The government is determined to prevent what happened in the summer of 2003 when 15,000 people died during a heat wave.
Tropical Storm Helene strikes land off the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Gordon headed for Azores.
8-19- The Mistake Peak Fire in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona has burned 5,260 acres and is 65% contained.
Hurricane Gordon is now a Category 2 storm.
8-20- The first two weeks in Phoenix are the hottest on record. Average temperature 111.2 degrees. Average lows were 88.8 degrees. This is the first time in history the daily average temperature was over 100 degrees for two weeks.
Maricopa County, Arizona has stopped investigating how a rainstorm severly flooded parts of the Anthem community last month. They are saying is was a one in one thousand year catastrophe. “No one was at fault because it was an act of God.”
Eight on a sailboat on Lake Superior injured by a lightning strike. One boy later died of his injuries.
8-21- Poor Mrs. Blue Duck could not get home due to flash flooding on The Land until two thirty in the morning. Thank God she was not stranded by high water and was able to get back to Maricopa to wait it out. What a long night it was for both of us. Me worried and not getting much sleep. Her worried about not being able to get home until morning.
There was heavy flooding in east Mesa last night. Two homes damaged, trees down and one thousand without power.
A Glendale, Arizona neighborhood on lockdown after bees attack. A four year old saved the life of his grandmother by pushing a panic button the woman wore. The woman was stung many times and the four year old covered her with a blanket. ( A remarkable child!)
Tropical Storm Issac formed in the Atlantic yesterday. It may grow into a hurricane and threaten next week’s Republican National convention.
8-22- A State of Emergency is declared by the governor of the Town of Maricopa after 1.97 inches of rain has fallen in two days. Localized heavy flooding this afternoon. Sandbags are being passed out and firefighters are going door to door in flooded neighborhoods. Maricopa Meadow’s golf course is under fifteen feet of water. (Let me guess. This golf course must be in the normally dry Santa Rosa wash?)
After E-Coli bacteria is found in the water supply, San Tan, Arizona residents are urged to boil water before drinking it. Folks are outraged!
The West Nile virus this year is the largest in U.S. history. With 1100 cases reported and 41 dead it has doubled in the past week. Twenty eight of the dead are in Texas. Every state has reported cases. “Never this far and this fast.”
Wildfires have burned nearly seven million acres in the United States destroying more land in the first eight months of any year since accurate record keeping began in the early sixties. Twelve firefighters have died this season and Colorado hit especially hard.
A State of Emergency is declared in Bosnia as a heat wave fuels wildfires and leaves people suffering from heat exhaustion.
A crocodile attacks a homeless man near a lagoon in Cancun and bites off his hand. (If it wasn’t enough misery to be homeless.)
8-23- .80’’ of rain today in Phoenix a new record for this date. A brief shelf cloud was photographed over Tempe last night, a very rare event for this region. Mudslides on I-10 and 75th Avenue from a retention area leaves a huge sinkhole and three lanes of east bound traffic closed. A seventy five year old man in a wheelchair and his driver are rescued from a flooded Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale. Apparently the medical transport driver ignored barricades and drove into the wash.
“Drought makes green marijuana crops more visible for police in Indiana.” Cornfields across the state are dry and brown and pot crops “stand out like a sore thumb”. Trained troopers fly over the land to look for the green crop. (Give me a fucking break! A family has to make a living doing something if the corn won’t grow.)
Tropical Storm Issac threatens Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
A Queen Creek, Arizona man is in critical condition after he was found covered with bees after mowing his yard.
8-24- The driver of a medical transport van that drove through roadblocks into the flooded Indian Bend Wash yesterday will face criminal charges for endangerment.
The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck sent me photos and a story of two people very lucky to be alive. They were driving through Oak Creek Canyon when a huge boulder fell through their windshield. The photo of the boulder in the passenger seat had enough weight and size to take off the head of one of the occupants.
This is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. It was a Category 5 storm with 212 mph winds. 126,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and twenty six dead.
Tropical Storm Issac is building strength as it bears down on Haiti. A Tropical Storm Watch is issued for the Florida Keys.
8-25- One inch of rain fell in a brief amount of time in Flagstaff today.
This spooky contribution is from DarDuck: A recent surge of rattlesnake bites have occurred in Arizona. Fourteen bites are reported in Tucson in a six day period. Young rattlers are just as lethal as adults if not more so. They are born with fangs and extremely potent venom to help them hunt while they are small. They are harder to see and don’t rattle as loudly as an adult rattlesnake. The average cost of a snakebite is twenty five thusand dollars for the anti venom alone. August and September are the most active months due to breeding, and recently, the surge in moisture and flooding.
Tropical Storm Issac is on the northern coastline of eastern Cuba after claiming three lives in Haiti. Waves in Cuba are as high as twenty feet and flights are cancelled. The water temperature is 87 degrees which helps produce a hurricane.
Several thousand villages evacuated in Serbia as wildfires burn out of control. Heat wave, drought and dried up corn fueling the fires.
Green Peace activists storm a Russian oil rig to protest drilling in the Arctic. They were first offered hot soup and then blasted with cold water and pieces of metal by crew members. The brave fuckers managed to erect climbing tents on the vessel before being “evacuated.” Before leaving they managed to leave a banner on the rig saying “Don’t kill the Arctic.”
8-26- The GOP delays convention for one day due to Issac as high winds and rain hit Florida ahead of the storm. Gulf oil platforms evacuated. A Hurricane Warning is issued for New Orleans.
85,000 folks have fled monsoon flooding in Myanmar. 600,000 acres of rice fields are under water.
And this grizzly (in more ways than one) from the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck: A hiker in Alaska’s Denali National Park was photographing a grizzly bear for at least eight minutes before the bear mauled and killed the man. The hiker was alone along the Toklat River two days ago when he came within 50 yards of the bear. Parts of his bloody backpack and clothing were found later by other hikers. The bear was found guarding his “cashe” of food later. The bear was destroyed.
Park rules require a quarter mile separation between people and animals and actually conduct a training class for hikere prepared to set forth in Denali. Because of strict rules this is the first known fatal mauling in one hundred years.
8-27- Residents in unprotected low lying areas outside of New Orleans evacuated as Issac grows closer to hurricane status. It is on the same storm track as the monster Katrina seven years ago to the day.
8-28- Now Hurricane Issac makes landfall in south east Louisiana. One inch of rain per hour falling and one hundred thousand without power.
Orange Beach, Alabama has twelve to fifteen foot waves.
8-29- Issac is only a Category 1 hurricane but moving very slowly and dumping massive amounts of rain. Storm surges passes eight foot levees and second floor house rescues are taking place. One foot of rain so far in and near New Orleans and 500,000 without power.
Yosemite officials have notified 1700 past visitors they may have been exposed to a rodent borne disease blamed for two deaths of people who stayed in cabins at the national park. Four others have contacted the hantivirus disease.
8-30- With fifteen billion dollars in levee improvements since Katrina New Orleans escapes worst of storm but rural areas are inundated with flooding. Some feel the ‘’improvements” simply diverted the water to lower elevations. Slidell, Louisiana has areas that have never flooded with up to five feet of water. 50,000 ordered to evacuate immediately in Tangipahoa Parish as heavy rains threaten to cause a dam to fail across the Mississippi State line. Up to sixteen inches or rain has fallen and 850,000 across Louisiana and Mississippi are without power.
8-31- Up to twenty inches of rain from Issac has fallen with damage to Arkansas and Mississippi. Five deaths attributed to the storm. Half million people are without power in oppressive heat and humidity.
Four thousand evacuated from Ojen, in southern Spain from a wildfire out of control.
A black bear was having fun in Sierra Vista, Arizona jumping into residents’ yards. Police herded the bear into open desert and mountains so he could terrorize someone or something else.
And there you have it my fine readers around the world! Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather tried especially hard to make this anniversary issue the longest and most tiresome reading ever!
Before we leave you a new feature this edition is the fact of the month. More people each year are killed by storm surges than high wind.
The quote of the month is from a citizen in Louisiana during this recent hurricane. “Mother Nature is a tricky dame. Don’t care what you do. If she wants to get you she will come and get you.” Amen, Brother.
Appropriately the song of the month is “Weatherbeaten Soul” by Reckless Kelly.
Until next month remember Settlers took land. Pioneers took bullets.
The Distinguished, Honorable, Master of Bullshit, Professor MR Blue Duck.
