Happy New Year! The years go by in a blur no matter how long any given day may seem. And as life is ever changing for the good or the worse, so is the weather. Arizona laid one down for the record books and more diverse weather in one month I have never seen. Five consecutive days of lows below freezing (most of them in the twenties at The Land), two days of record warmth in Phoenix, and then toward the end of the month a record wet air mass over Arizona left The Land with 1.12’’ of rain.
In this new and updated Blue Duck Weather News you will feast your eyes on items such as Disease forecasters examine weather trends and possible causes, “catastrophic” fires in Australia, a new high temperature record for the U.S. and what a one degree rise means, a man that jumps into a mine shaft at Meteor Crater to “appease the gods”, a man’s plea to a charge of trespassing after jumping into a tiger’s den (you read it in Blue Duck Weather when it originally happened.), a python that rides on an airplane wing for two hours (I swear we don’t make this shit up!) a day where it is colder at The Land than Anchorage, Alaska, National Weather Service to use “simpler” language to forecast the chances and severity of storms, Don’t eat the yellow snow at Snow Bowl in Arizona! One week after the deep freeze in the Arizona desert record high temps!, a deer that attacks two men and steals their cigarettes (I swear we don’t make this shit up), a man that goes on an internet quest to remove all pet cats from New Zealand (I swear again, we don’t make this shit up in a cannabis induced or otherwise haze) and a ski resort that is so cold it closes due to unsafe conditions.
But before we get to all the news that fits or not let us get past the ever boring stats that yours truly loves so much.
The average temperature from high to low at the Land for the month of January was a chilly 49.27 degrees. The average temperature at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill in New Mexico was 26.83 degrees.
An impressive 1.12” of rain for the month at The Land, most of it fell over three days. The kind of gentle, soaking rain we desert dwellers love to see.
But I am getting worried about the ever shrinking Roosevelt Lake, down to 42% capacity. This time last year it was nearly full. Mead and Powell remain fairly consistent at 53% and 51% and Pleasant in central Arizona is 63% full.
1-1- Twenty seven degree low on The Land! (Being a desert dweller I might as well have been in Siberia with this kind of cold.)
Coldest beginning to a New Year on record was in Karasjok, Norway in 1886. The low was sixty one degrees below zero!
1-2- Seventy mile per hour Santa Ana winds in Los Angeles County.
A New Year’s Day walk on the beach north of San Francisco proved deadly when a man died after he and his wife were swept out to sea by a “rogue” wave. The man’s wife and dog were able to make it back to shore.
Sixty six days later and still no relief for some victims of Hurricane Sandy.
A Shell oil drilling rig runs aground off Alaska’s Kodiak Island. It is carrying 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 12,000 gallons of oil lubrication. Salvage teams are not able to reach the grounded vessel due to 30mph winds and twelve foot swells.
A Natural Resources Committee member said “Oil companies keep saying they can conquer the Arctic but the Arctic keeps disagreeing with the oil companies.”
1-3- Six salvage experts have been lowered by helicopter to assess the structural damage to the grounded oil rig in the Gulf of Alaska.
1-4- Tucson and Phoenix tied the record for the warmest year since 1989.
“Disease forecasters look to weather trends. Only a 10% chance of showers today but a 70% chance of the flu next month.” In one study two scientists say they could predict seven weeks in advance when the flu season would peak in New York City. Computer models factor in rainfall, temperature and other weather conditions to forecast certain disease outbreaks.
Two teens are rescued clinging to a tree after lake ice cracked below them near Show Low, Arizona. Both were treated for mild hypothermia. A fire fighter in a water proof suit got a rope to them. “Arizona lakes usually don’t get cold enough for ice to freeze solidly. Every once in a while we have kids trying to see how far out they can go. That was pretty foolish. There was probably an inch of ice in the middle of the lake” according to a spokesman.
1-5- Ten below zero in Window Rock, Arizona.
Dry winter casues more concerns for farmers in the Corn Belt after the driest summer in fifty years. Corn production was down 27%.
Worst drought in north east Brazil in fifty years. 30% of sugar cane production, diminished corn and cotton crops and cattle and goats starving to death. The agricultue secretary said “…… consequences that could be compared to a violent earthquake.”
Twenty two dogs and one monkey rescued from a house fire in Phoenix. All are fine and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the blaze.
1-6- Six Russians killed and two seriously injured when their snowmobile and sled ran off an Italian Alpine ski resort at night. It slammed into a barrier and then careened into a ravine.
1-7- “Fire bans go up in smoke.” Maricopa County, Arizona residents continue to violate wood burning restrictions during Christmas and New Year. The county exceeded federal health standards for particulates on the day before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. ( Bah Humbug! Why don’t we fucking ban driving for one day and see how many particulates we save and enjoy the fires for several days?)
“Australia faces catastrophic days as wildfires rage in 5 of country’s 6 states.” 90 fires alone are burning in New South Wales. A record heat wave began in western Australia on December 27th with highs as much as 114 degrees, and lasted for eight days, the worst in 80 years. Combined with record low rainfall and high winds the combination is deadly. (Sounds like fire season in the Arizona deserts.)
1-8- As the wildfires spread across Australia national parks are evacuated. One hundred homes lost in Tasmania.
Last year in the United States there were five record high temperatures for evey one record low temp.; a new record.
A new alpha male gray wolf will be released in eastern Arizona to replace the one illegally killed last July.
Wild burros are crossing a roadway in Bullhead City, Arizona and causing hazardous driving conditions. There have been six recent calls on the fuckers and an accident last month that left a motorcyclist injured and the burro dead.
1-9- The U.S. set an “off the charts heat record for 2012. It was a full degree warmer than the record set in 1989. Breaking records by an entire degree is unprecedented. Normally records are broken by a tenth of a degree or so.
Thirty households return to Jersey Shore for the first time since Hurricane Sandy. 7,000 of 7,400 homes damaged or destroyed. Only residents with restored electricity, gas and water are allowed to return. Others can come in the daytime only as a curfew still exists.
Australia gets some fire relief from the relentless temperatures as it cools down. Two days ago was the hottest day on record since 1972.
A brutal cold winter storm is intensifying the misery of 50,000 Syrian refugees. The camp is a muddy cold mess and 35mph winds have knocked many tents down. Some frustrated refugees have attacked aid workers with sticks and stones.
Mid East storms cause flash flooding and dump a rare foot of snow on the desert in Jordon.
1-10- Chicago breaks a seventy two year old record. 320 days without at least one inch of snowfall. The city usually has 11.5’’ by now, they have a tenth of that amount.
“Southern Soaker” storms bring heavy rain to parts of Texas with some drought relief. Three inches of rain in San Antonio in twelve hours. White Rock Lake in Dallas rose ten feet in one day.
Eleven killer whales trapped under the ice in northern Quebec, coming up for air in a hole the size of a pickup truck. Shifting winds caused the ice to break up just in time to save the beasts.
1-11- Hard Freeze Warnings issued for the Phoenix, Arizona area. Two highways out of Globe and Florence are iced over with some rockslides.
“The Grapevine”, I-5 in California was shut down last night due to snow. Twenty degrees colder in San Diego than Chicago.
Most of Utah is under a Winter Storm Warning with two feet of snow already in some places.
State of Emergency from flash flooding in south east Louisiana with three confirmed tornadoes.
Four Florida cities break records for this month with temperatures 85 degrees or above.
International Falls, North Dakota has a record high of 48 degrees, breaking a previous record by seven degrees.
1-12- Twenty four degree low on The Land. 27 degrees in Anchorage, Alaska.
Twenty one degrees below zero in Bellemont, Arizona. Eleven degrees below zero in Barrow, Alaska.
Freeze Warnings again in San Diego County. Twelve degree record set in the Big Bear Mountain resort east of L.A. Daytime highs are twenty degrees lower than Boston.
A visitor at Meteor Crater in Arizona leaped over a fence at an observation deck. He then came to a tall fence topped with barbed wire that surrounds an old mine in the bottom of the crater. He climbed the fence and jumped feet first into the mine. It took twelve hours to stage his rescue and get him out of the one hundred foot deep shaft. He suffered severe hypothermia, a broken leg and arm. He told deputies later that he wanted to “appease the gods.” (Good God!)
A man who jumped into a tiger den at the Bronx zoo last year has pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing. He said his jump was not a suicide attempt but a “desire to be one with the tiger. (This clown needs to team up with the mine jumper.)
A ten foot python clings to the wing of a plane on a two hour flight in Australia. It fought to stay on the wing despite brutal cold wind by pulling itself forward. It managed to hang on until the plane landed but was dead on arrival. (How the fuck did a ten foot snake go unnoticed on the exterior of a plane before take off?)
1-13- Twenty degree low on The Land with a forty eight degree high. Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska warmer today than Phoenix.
1-14- Twenty eight degree low at The Land with a high, with the wind chill,
of thirty five degrees.
New record low in Los Angeles of 35 degrees. Winds up to 50mph adding misery to the cold.
In Angeles National Forest a hiker was found surviving twenty six hours of temps in the twenties.
One hundred cities on the East Coast break record high temperatures.
One hundred and forty fires burning north and west of South Wales, Australia. The largest fire has burned 100,000 acres and twenty eight homes. Fires have forced the evacuation of a major observatory which has fifteen major telescopes. The site cannot be reached to assess damages.
Father and son arrested after setting a fire to destroy illegal drugs.
1-15- Twenty degree low on The Land with a high of forty five degrees. For Phoenix this is the most consecutive days with temps below freezing since 1988.
It is so cold in Window Rock, Arizona school is closed because the classrooms cannot be adequately heated.
Ice Storm Warning in South East United States.
Smog so bad in Bejing, China it can be seen from space. One building fire burned for hours without being seen due to poor visibility and the amount of shit in the air.
Here is a sad one: An outdoor loving military veteran ventured out with his eight and ten year old sons on the Ozark Trail. Dressed only in light jackets and sweaters they got soaked in freezing rain and died. They had even declined to take a ride back to the lodge where they were staying. The only survivor of the group was the family’s four month old dog. It was the tragic end of a weekend trip that was a surprise anniversary gift for the man’s wife.
1-16-Tennesee declares a State of Emergency as ice storms leave up one half inch. “When you start putting that much ice on roadways and power lines it’s not going to be good” said a spokesman.
Heavy rains in eastern Tennesse causes flooding.
The controversial snow making machine at the Snow Bowl in northern Arizona is producing yellow snow from reclamated water. Environmentalists are outraged and the snow producers say it only rust in the water. (Don’t eat the yellow snow!)
1-17- Heavy rains and severe flooding in the Indonesian capitol Jakarta. Government offices and businessess forced to close because people cannot get to work. The presidential palace is flooded.
1-18- Indonesia army uses rubber boats in the captial’s business district to rescue people trapped by flooding. The president is pictured standing in water up to his shins with his pant legs rolled up. Four are dead and 20,000 evacuated.
Three hundred and twenty six levees in the U.S., covering 2,000 miles are declared deficient by a new inventory conducted by the federal government. The levees are in danger of failing and protect thirty seven states. There are 2487 structures in the U.S. protecting twenty four million people.
In central Alabama hundreds of motorists spent a cold night trapped in their vehicles on I-65 after four inches of snow causes wrecks and stopped traffic. One hundred people made it to shelters in Cullman, Indiana but others were less fortunate.
The National Weather Service will test using simpler language for storm warnings, alerts, watches and advisories. ( I don’t know how one gets any “simpler” than the current “language.”) For example, instead of a winter storm watch ,“The NWS is forecasting the potential for a significant winter storm.” (Don’t these geeks have anything better to do?)
A Tucson based immigrant rights group, “No More Deaths” claim that hidden cameras show a U.S. Border Patrol agent removing food, water and blankets from a trail intended to be used by crossers. This group, and others, leave items for survival along desert trails know to be used by illegals immigrants. Temperatures between January 9th and the 15th dropped to record lows.
1-20- Hundreds of flights canceled in the UK and Paris due to heavy snow.
Four climbers killed when they were engulfed by an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands. Two escaped, one with serious injuries. Scotland has been battered recently by heavy snow and strong winds.
Six “urban” mountain rescues in the Phoenix area today. Due to the warmer weather many were on the trails, and as usual, some were not prepared.
1-21- Fifty fucking degrees below zero in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Highs to remain below zero. Winds knock out power to 120,000 people in Detroit. (And my candy ass complains about twenty degree lows?)
A fifty eight year old hiker dies after falling off a trail near Spur Cross in Cave Creek, Arizona. He tumbled five to ten feet and hit his head on a rock.
A dog in El Mirage, Arizona is recovering slowly after being caught in a coyote trap. The two year old pooch lost seventeen teeth trying to chew the trap off. The dog’s owner claims the neighbor deliberately set the trap because of a feud they were having. After a lengthy investigation police arrested a U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist for charges of animal cruelty and setting the trap for a domestic animal.
1-22- An “Alberta Clipper” drawing arctic air from Canada has brought brutal winds and snow from North Dakota to Maine. Below zero temp in the western Great Lakes. Seventy five degrees colder in Maine, after record highs, last week. Eighty six car pile up in Cincinatti, Ohio in snowy conditions leaves one person dead. Twenty degrees below zero in Chicago.
And here in the deserts eighty one degrees breaks the old record of 79 degrees set in 1994.
Half of the world’s iron ore shippers halted by a tropical storm in Australia.
1-23- Eighty one degree record high in Phoenix, Arizona.
Most snow ever in January for Erie, Pennsylvania.
A seventeen year old from Tempe, Arizona dies during a sledding accident near Flagstaff, Arizona. He and a friend lost control of the sled and slammed into a tree. The young man was in the front and took full impact of the collision.
No running water for two million Chileans after heavy rain and warm weather melts snow in the Andes mountains causing landslides and river flooding. Mud, rocks and trees have forced the temporary closure of three water purification plants.
Two men shaken up after being attacked and robbed in the front of their yard of a East Texas home. The assailant was a white tailed deer. It chased one of the men into a pickup truck and proceeded to poke the man in the ribs. As the man escaped the deer entered the truck and stole a pack of cigs. Once cops arrived it took five men to calm the “nicotine enraged deer. “ No one was seriously hurt. ( I swear, we simply do not make this shit up.)
A man wants all pet cats out of New Zealand because they are threatening native birds. He has set up a web site called Cats To Go showing a tiny kitten with devil’s horns. The caption reads “That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer.” ( My God, please believe your editor in Chief, we do not make this shit up!)
1-24- Victims of Hurricane Sandy hit hard by the cold. Four hundred residences still have no electric. Some who were in “makeshift” homes turn to shelters in tents with propane heaters.
Temps so cold that New Hampshire’s Wildcat Mountain ski resort closed yesterday and today. With a windchill of 48 degrees below zero it was deemed unsafe to be there (you think?)
Salt Lake International Airport closed due to ice.
1-25- Chicago’s no more than an inch of snow in one day streak ended today breaking a record at 335 days. 1.1’’ fell today. The old record of snowless days was set in 1940 of 310 days.
Twenty swift water rescues in Queensland State, Australia from flash flooding. Nearly a foot of rain has fallen since yesterday.
1-26- The wettest air mass in January over Arizona ever recorded. 1.02’’ of rain in Phoenix sets a new daily record. Blizzard conditions in Sunrise, Arizona.
Freezing rain and ice in the Deep South.
1-27- Fifty hikers rescued in Bear Canyon near Tucson, Arizona due to flood waters.
Two water rescues in the Verde River near Pumpkin Center, Arizona.
Flights in and out of Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Louis grounded due to ice.
Churches across Iowa called off Sunday services due to ice. One half inch across the Midwest.
Salt Lake City had the dirtiest air in the United States last week prompting a State of Emergency. (It sure seems to me this term is way overused. You hear it often ahead of hurricanes, tornadoes and other events even when the city or state may dodge the weather bullet.)
Sixty seven dead cats and ninety nine living ones are removed from a filthy, stinking home in upstate New York. The dead cats were packed in plastic bags in a freezer. (Now this is a fucking state of emergency.)
1-28- Four inches of rain in northern Arizona sets a new record and now snow advisories are issued.
Landslides caused by flooding have killed sixteen poor souls and nine are missing in western Indonesia. Twenty homes buried.
1-29- Four feet of new snow at the Snow Bowl in northern Arizona. (And it ain’t man made yellow piss snow.)
Tornadoes in January? Warm air colliding with cold air has prompted Tornado Watches in five states. Kansas City had a high of 68 degrees and Chicago, 63 degrees, thirty degrees above normal.
1-30- Don’t drink the yellow snow. Snowbowl snow making gets the okay and according to ADEQ treated waste water is a “safe source.”
Powerful tornado in Adairsville, Georgia. One person killed and overturned cars closed ten miles of I-75.
Tornado Warnings from Central Tennessee and Kentucky to northern and western Georgia.
Florida warm weather colliding with north colder air. Tornado watches issued for D.C., the first in twenty years. Record 65 degrees yesterday in Cleveland, tonight snow.
The cat killer debate moves to the United States. Cats kill up to 3.7 billion birds annually, part of a three year Fish and Wildlife Service Study . A third of the eight hundred bird species in the U.S. are endangered, threatened or in significant decline.
1-31- Sudden snow white out kills three and injures forty in Michigan on I-75 near Detroit.
What happened to the days when Blue Duck Weather was only a few pages? Was weather less severe or as my maddened mind looked for more news? One of these months, when the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck edits this shit for press she is going to shoot me in the beak and cut my tail feathers (balls) off.
Until next month remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.
The quite Distinguished, weather photograph runner up, honorary award winner of the Quack award in journalism, Honory Professor, Mr. Blue Duck.
No comments:
Post a Comment