December 2012 Weather News!
Before we begin another amazing issue of Blue Duck Weather your fine staff is pleased to announce yet another amazing award for Professor Blue Duck. He has won Honorable Mention for a photograph of flash flooding that he took last summer. The contest was sponsored by the National Weather Service locally to capture weather events and their impact. The Quack never ceases to amaze!
On a much more serious note December had a cyclone in a distant part of the world equal to a Category 5 hurricane. The devastation and death toll was staggering. Had it been the United States it would have been front page print news and around the clock reporting on media outlets for weeks. There would have been fund raisers, concerts, prayer vigils, donations and help from afar. But I would bet that most of you reading this do not even know where this destructive phenomenon happened. The events will unfold in this weather journal. And almost two months after Hurricane Sandy there were news reports (if you looked for them) at least twice a week. The poor souls in New Jersey and New York are still trying to recover.
This month you will read about Hurricane Sandy’s prediction of size and power was underestimated and under predicted, a fire in the mountains of Colorado in December (seems impossible), Typhoon Bopha, hunting grizzly bears may become legal in the not so distant future (?), a rare tornado with major damage in New Zealand, on a not so happy note just in time for Christmas, partridges and turtle doves in sharp decline in Great Britain (aren’t they the birds in that stupid Christmas song?), find out what a “king tide” is, a dog that saves his and other pets lives trapped in a car by honking the horn, circus elephants almost killed by the cold saved by vodka diluted with warm water!, “Sandy Claus”, “find out what a skin slide is, Hurricane domes being constructed in Texas and so much more in this amazing issue of Blue Duck Weather!
The average temperature on The Land for December was 47.90 degrees, a full thirteen degrees colder than the beginning of the month. The average temperature at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill in New Mexico was 32.45 degrees.
The Land received .40” of rain in December. The total for the year was 5.69”, over two inches below “normal”. Phoenix received 4.27’’ or rain for the year.
The lake levels (that matter) continue to reflect this never ending drought. Lake Mead is 52% full, Pleasant 58%, Powell 53% and Roosevelt 42%!
12-1- November was the second warmest on record in Phoenix, Arizona.
The body of a missing seventeen year old hiker has been found in the White Tank Mountain Park west of Phoenix after missing for three days. The young man was a cross country runner. The death “does not appear suspicious.”
Two hundred folks evacuate the Fern Lake Fire in the Rocky Mountain National Park near Denver, Colorado. The fire is being fueled by 70 mph winds and has burned one cabin. The blaze originally began in October by an illegal campfire and was 40% contained until last night. The fire is has burned 1550 acres since it began. Snow is desperately needed. Editor’s note; this fire must be burning in some rugged, inaccessible areas with little “impact” to be left burning since October. God, it must be dry for a fire to burning in December in the mountains of Colorado!
12-2- “What would normally be of interest only to weather Geeks.” The fact that Sandy made landfall last week as a post tropical cyclone rather than a hurricane is feeding controversy among government agencies. The question is why were there no hurricane warnings issued? Two days before the storm the New York City mayor said “with this storm we will likely see a slow pile up of water rather than a sudden surge.” (Man, were they wrong!)
Thousands in Staten Island still waiting for repairs to their homes to restore electricity and heat.
The third storm in a series hits central and northern California last night and today. The rain total in some areas is up to twenty inches! All of San Francisco is under a flash flood and mud slide Warning.
Group of Boy Scout hikers in the Four Peaks area, north east of Phoenix are twenty four hours overdue. They went on a “quick” weekend nine mile hike.
12-3- A dry fall has placed Houston and Fort Worth, Texas back into severe drought conditions.
Record heat in Chicago at 70 degrees, 30 degrees warmer than normal. Two hundred high temperature records broken in forty states. The jet stream is keeping cold weather well to the north and Fairbanks, Alaska had a low temperature today of 52 degrees below zero!
Overdue Boy Scouts located in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona and are safe. A rescue helicopter spotted them at about one in the morning, determined they were fine, and left. They thought they got the “thumbs up” from the weary boys and “leaders.” Some parents are pissed because they thought a rescue should have taken place since the group was low on food and water.
12-4- Typhoon Bopha hit’s the Philippines with 160 mph winds, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, killing eighty one people and 155,000 in shelters.
12-5- The death toll from Bopha has risen to 283 poor souls. 300 missing and “entire families washed away.”
A cargo ship and rescue boat sink in a severe storm in the Black Sea near Turkey. Three killed and ten missing.
Hurricane Sandy victims still looking for vacant apartments. First responders from Katrina have come in to help New York residents. New York was there for the Gulf Coast after the devastation of Katrina. New Orleans is returning the favor. (Honor amongst brothers.)
With bear and human conflicts rising, wildlife managers in the northern Rockies are laying the groundwork for trophy hunts in anticipation of the government lifting the the Grizzly bear’s threatened species status. It will be another two years before six hundred bears around Yellow Stone National Park lose federal protection. But already “officials” say the population has recovered to the point that limited hunting for small numbers could occur. (I am a hunter but this is wrong! They were slaughtered nearly to extinction out of fear. If hunts are to be allowed it should not be “trophy” hunts but extended to the folks who need every part of the bear for survival. Are there any of those people left? We all know who they once were but now Wal Mart and Jack in the Box has replaced every basic, and then some, need.)
12-6- A fifty four year old man has been found alive two days after being swept away by flooding from Typhoon Bopha. He was found clinging to a boulder by a tree in a river. He survived on coconut and water until he was found with a fractured leg. Three hundred and seventy nine folks are gone and hundreds missing.
A rare tornado kills three near the largest city in New Zealand, Aukland, and damages one hundred and fifty homes.
12-7- Typhoon Bopha’s killing spree is over five hundred with four hundred missing. 310,000 are homeless. (One photo I saw really struck me in the heart. It showed six or seven men wading across a swollen muddy river holding a white casket above their heads. They were taking the body home.)
12-8- After killing near six hundred people Typhoon Bopha makes a u-turn and heading back to the northwest Philippines.
Breezy Point, New York faces its greates historical challenge after Hurricane Sandy. Residents have to decide if they can afford to re rebuild and others wondering if their community will ever be the same. The town was built by Irish immigrants around the turn of the 20th century.
Britain’s Royal Society for Protection of Birds reposts that partridges and turtle doves are declining rapidly with numbers down 30%.
A woman ate snow and tomatoes for nearly a week and found shelter in a hollowed out treee after becoming stranded in a snowstorm in California’s Alpine County. Her boyfriend died trying to find help. Their Jeep Cherokee got stuck during on a dirt road near a lake.
12-10- The last significant rain in the Phoenix area was on September 7th, leaving a deficit of almost four inches. But much cooler weather is on the way.
12-11- I didn’t realize “much cooler weather” would mean a 29 degree low at The Land. With a dew point of 6 degrees you can be sure there was no ice.
Rare December tornadoes in southern states. Forty homes damaged and twelve destroyed. Fuel pumps blown over in Alabama.
12-12- Twenty seven degree low on The Land! The lovely Mrs. Blue Duck told me on her way to work she turned on the the windshield wipers and cleaning fluid and it immediately turned into ice!
Hayduke Lives! Four protestors of artificial snowmaking were arrested for interfering with a Coconino National Forest office in Flagstaff. One poured out a clear fluid that later was determined to be reclaimed water. The lobby was closed and fucking Haz-Mat units were called. The protestors wore white suits and masks, chanting and displayed large banners that read “Forest Service kills Native culture.”
The fourth straight day of snow and blizzard in Southeastern Europe. Three feet of snow falls overnight in Montenegro. In Serbia, across the border, heavy snow blocked roads to a dozen villages and schools are closed for the rest of the week. Nine deaths are attributed to the weather with temperatures as low as five degrees.
12-13- Snow level in Arizona expected to drop down to five thousand feet.
Growth in the West is straining the Colorado River. “Population growth and climate change will drain the Colorado River’s ability to supply the West unless there is bold action to conserve fresh water or make more” according to federal officials. ( Let me remind you water cannot be “made." It can be hauled, transported, pumped or stolen but it cannot be made.)
The first significant snow of the season in Anchorage, Alaska.
Winter storm today in Southern California with rain that causes mudslides, flooded streets and a “Kingtide” across the coast. At Sunset Beach, ocean water flooded over streets and parking lots. It is a unusually high tide that only happens a few times a year. One inch of rain was reported in San Diego in three hours.
A pile of trash three story’s high remains from Sandy in Long Beach, New Jersey.
12-14- Fourteen to sixteen inches of snow in the White Mountains in Arizona.
A Tuba City, Arizona man pleads guilty of violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act by selling golden eagle and other bird parts. He faces up to two years in prison and a 250,000 dollar fine. In 2008 he offered a golden eagle feather fan for sale on line. An undercover agent exchanged email and offered to buy it.
More information on the King Tide; it happens when the earth, moon and sun align in a way that increases gravitational pull on the earth’s oceans, raising water levels higher than normal high tides.
Death toll from Bopha in the Philippines is over nine hundred, 80,000 in shelters, nine hundred and thirty four missing and twenty six hundred injured.
12-15- With a Winter Storm Warning still in place twenty one inches of snow north west of Flagstaff, eighteen inches east of Payson, 1.32” of rain in Anthem and 1.35” of rain in Apache Junction.
A dog apparently left and neglected by owners trapped in a vehicle with two other dogs and two cats for days. Apparently one of the dogs alerted Canadian police by honking the horn. ( I swear, we don’t make this shit up.)
12-16- An impressive twenty inches of snow from this latest storm in Flagstaff, Arizona.
“Sandy’s mental health toll emerges.” Project Hope in New York City is reaching out to twenty thousand people. One man lives in a tent in his back yard refusing to leave until his home is demolished. The extent of the problem is difficult to measure, as many people are too anxious to leave their homes, wracked by fears of wind and water or parting from their loved ones. One woman said “You’ve got to get numb. You’ve got to get tough. If I’m not numb I can’t function.
12-17- Tropical Cyclone Eva slams the “tropical paradise’’ of Fiji in the Pacific with winds up to 170 mph. 3500 evacuated to emergency shelters.
12-18- One hundred percent chance of snow in Flagstaff, Arizona today. (A rare prediction as the weather reporters have no excuse if they blow it!)
Northwest mountains receive three feet of snow in the strongest storm of the season. 80 mph winds along the coast knock out power in Seattle and the Portland areas to 28,000. Nineteen states are under Winter Storm Warnings.
12-19- Freeze Warning from two a.m. to ten a.m. for the “Valley of the Sun”.
Blizzard Warnings from the Rockies to the North East including twelve states. Wisconsin governor declares State of Emergency. Chicago may get snow after a record of 92 days without any.
The cold in Siberia almost killed two circus elephants after their trailer caught on fire. A handler bought two cases of vodka and gave it to the beasts with diluted with warm water. “After that they roared as if they were in the jungle.” Apparently they were happy.”
12-20- Holiday travel alert as Central U.S. storm brings flight disruptions, deadly blizzard and even a tornado. Six hundred flights cancelled at Chicago O’Hare, a tornado knocks out power to 400,000 in Mobile, Alabama. Blizzard Warnings are issued for sixteen states. “Thundersnow” in Iowa last night as thunder and lightning mix with falling snow. This same system in west Texas caused a dust storm that caused accidents along I-27. Wisconsin declares State of Emergency and all schools are closed.
12-21- First day of Old Man Winter and the least amount of daylight. It’s uphill from here leading right back to another fucking summer in the desert!
Sandy Claus delivers toys to storm ravaged homes in Queens, New York to awe struck little kids whose play rooms were destroyed by flooding and old toys swept away.
The tornado in Mobile, Alabama has been confirmed as an EF-1 with winds of 86-99 mph. 22,800 still without power.
12-22- 6300 flights delayed and 144 canceled. Winter Storm Warnings for northern California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Ohio and North Carolina. (Merry Christmas from fucking Old Man Winter!)
12-23- Whiteout conditions in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California with three to five feet of snow expected. Heavy rain in San Francisco.
An Amtrack train called the Train of Hope is headed from New Orleans to Sandy victims with one half million shoes, blankets and toys.
12-24- Up to six feet of snow fell in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. As the storm moves east Winter Storm Warnings are issued from Monatana, Idaho, Utah, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
12-25- Seventeen extremely rare winter tornadoes in the South, the worst in Mobile, Alabama.
Snow as far south as Texas all the way to Maine. Denver hasn’t had snow on Christmas day since 2009. 150,000 without power in Arkansas. Thirty one unconfirmed tornadoes spotted from Texas to Alabama.
12-26- Heavy snow from Indiana to New York and a Blizzard Warning that extends for seven hundred and thirty miles from Winter Storm Euclid. (As you may recall, the fine staff at Blue Duck Weather reported in a forgotten edition that the U.S. was going to begin naming major winter storms so people pay more attention to the potential devestation possible. But give me a break. Euclid? )
Twenty one tornadoes sets a record in the South in the last twenty four hours with three deaths. Arkansas sets a record with nine inches of snow on the ground.
12-27- From his secluded location in Colorado RyDuck reports a high temperature of sixteen degrees.
Twenty one inches of snow in the North East with one thousand flights canceled and eight thousand delayed.
12-28- The Arizona ski resort Snowbowl near Flagstaff has received six feet of snow this season in a very short amount of time.
Forty landslides caused by heavy rain since Thanksgiving have disrupted the scenic Amtrack train route between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Passenger service has been completely shut down since December 17th. The worst damage, a “skin slide”, a section of cliff slid into a moving cargo train taking out seven cars. The latest slide occurred yesterday.
“Hurricane Domes” are being built across Texas doubling as a typical high school gym and a hurricane shelter. Twenty eight will be built with double layers of block walls with steel and concrete that penetrate thirty feet below grade. They are designed to withstand winds up to 200mph. New York is looking at a similar plan.
12-29- From the Ohio Valley to New England severe storm causes of to one foot of snow in areas. Twenty million holiday travelers affected.
Three bull elk were illegally poached around December 3rd near Flagstaff, Airzona. Although it was elk season (legally) the three carcasses were found partially field dressed with most of the edible meat left to waste.
A reward is being offered by the Arizona Game & Fish department for information of who illegally killed a javelina on Christmas day near Bisbee. It was shot in the head and dragged down a residential street. The pig was found with an orange extension cord wrapped through its mouth.
12-30- The snow level in Arizona will drop to twenty five hundred feet tonight. Ooshy at The Land and .05’’ of rain.
Snow Emergencies in Wisconsin and Rhode Island.
12-31- Freeze Warning issued for “the Valley of the Sun” from midnight to eight a.m.
Eight inches of snow in Payson from the latest storm that passed by.
And so my faithful readers this ends another exhausting year of weather reporting from your fine Staff at Blue Duck Weather.
Until next year remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.
The Distinguished, Honorable MR. Blue Duck
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