February 2013 Weather News!
Find out what defines a “clipper pattern” storm, a tsunami when an ice dam breaks loose in Montana, and from the "We knew it was coming" file, for the first time in history the federal government says it can no longer bail cities and states our for natural disasters, blizzard warning for the Phoenix metro area that proved not to be so far fetched and so much more to read!
This may be the shortest Blue Duck Weather edition you have ever bored yourself to death with. On the big level not much was happening around the world, but what did happen for the U.S. was snow. Even the Phoenix area was one of the most active spots in the United States for wild weather and snow in the desert, as rare as “tits on a boar hog” as my dad used to say.
The average temperature at The Land in February was 52.81 degrees. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had an “ooshy’ average of just 29.75 degrees. February saw cooler than average temperatures by four degrees below normal in Phoenix and three degrees cooler in Tucson.( This is actually a big deal in the weather geek world. Remember swings should only vary in the tenths. If these temperatures were warmer than normal they would be preaching doomsday and hell fire!)
The rain total for The Land to date this year is 1.30’’. Phoenix has 1.70’’.
Lake Mead is 53% full, Powell is 49%, Pleasant 71% and Roosevelt rose some this month and is 47% full. And now, sit back and read yourself to sleep for this month’s amazing issue of Blue Duck Weather.
2-1- The feds want to list the “mountain devil” or wolverine on the endangered species list. Due to lack of habitat there are only 250-300 left, primarily in the northern Rockies of Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming. ( They are fierce little fuckers! They can hold their own against a mountain lion and even take down a deer given the right opportunity.)
2-2- Camelback Mountain and Squaw Peak in the Phoenix area log the most calls for mountain rescues. Together last year they totaled 149 calls for help. Camelback is one of the most dangerous technical rescues because its angle of inclination is more than 40 degrees. This often involves special equipment including helicopters.
2-4- The first sign of spring on The Land? Being a duck call me a slave owner. I “own” chickens. They are not free ranging chickens because coyotes and dogs would eat them alive. They “live” in a pen and I feed and water the mindless fuckers. The little bitches have not laid an egg in months. I gave up on them and swore to myself once they died out I would get out of the chicken business. Lo and Behold the eggs are coming again. The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck pointed out to me that this means spring is coming. Pux or whatever Phil aint got nothing on the “little laying ladies” on The Land.
2-6- Blizzard Watch issued for the East Coast while many are still waiting for help almost one hundred days after Sandy.
Great Lakes Huron and Michigan have reached all time record lows since record keeping began in 1918.
“National Weather Person’s Day” (you have got to be kidding me. How about Weather Duck Day?)
2-7- Blizzard Warning on the Eastern Seaboard may affect fifty million people in the North East. With hurricane force winds “Potentially history making storm” as two weather systems merge known as a “clipper pattern.”
2-8- Snow Advisory above seven thousand feet in Arizona. 41mph winds in Winslow.
Due to the pending blizzard the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut order all non essential vehicles off the road today by four p.m. People should be prepared to be snowed in for at least two days.
New York airports are closed with 1800 flights cancelled. Amtrak rails closed from New York to Boston. Gas stations in New York already out of fuel.
2-9- Twenty one inches of new snow at the Snow Bowl, north of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Nine deaths blamed on the blizzard in the Northeast. Portland, Maine received thirty two inches of snow, a new record. 83 mph winds in parts of Massachusetts.
And this just in from our contributing reporter, GilleonDuck, from snowy Montana! “Gallatin River Tsunami”- Between Bozeman and West Yellowstone an ice dam breaks loose sending a torrent of water, ice and felled trees down the Gallatin. One person said “This is why you don’t want to go wading the rivers in winter when an ice dam can break loose. Everybody pay attention to your river this winter and be safe out there. Wading mid river downstream of a tight bend, with hearing dampened by warm winter headgear could be damned interesting when this wave popped around the corner.” ( My question is why anyone would be “wading” in freezing water? I would rather be caught in a summer flash flood in Arizona. At least I wouldn’t freeze to death before I drowned.)
2-10- Eighteen inches of new snow in Williams, Arizona.
Almost three hundred thousand people without power after the blizzard in the North East. President declares a state of emergency for Connecticut.
Blizzard Warnings for North and South Dakota.
2-11- At seven this morning I heard a traffic reporter in a plane say they had to land due to ice and snow above Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. At three thirty in the afternoon there was thunder and rain on The Land. Table Top Mountain south of here was dusted in snow. (a very rare desert occurrence.) This weather disturbance was totally unpredicted. That is what I love about weather. Sometimes the science and computer models just can’t get it.
Sixteen degrees below normal in Phoenix.
Flagstaff, Arizona cancels school for the day due to snow.
2-12- Freeze Warning issued for the Casa Grande, Arizona area.
2-14- For the first time in history the Government Accountability Office has announced “climate change” on its 2013 list of items presenting a high risk to the federal government. “Significant financial risks related to extreme weather events, and cities and states can no longer depend on the federal government after such events occur.”
2-16- Rare winter snow in parts of North and South Carolina.
New technology allowed forecasters in Mississippi to quickly confirm the tornado that hit Hattiesburg last week and alert the public. Dual polarization Doppler allowed experts to see shapes and sizes of debris inside a tornado. In the past visual reports were relied on, sometimes impossible to obtain at night.
Warmest day on The Land this year at 75 degrees.
2-17- Recent rain triggers landslides in northern Indonesia killing ten with a thousand homes flooded.
2-18- Red Flag Warning issued for southeast Arizona tomorrow.
Two hikers stranded on Humphrey’s Peak in northern Arizona are lucky to be alive. High winds prevented helicopter rescue but was able to drop them food and warm blankets to get through the night. They were rescued the following morning by snowmobile with a temperature of 16 degrees.
Twenty six injured after snow causes accidents on I-95 in Connecticut. East Maine Blizzard Warnings with wind gusts up to 50 mph causing wind chills of fifty below zero!
Sunken debris from Hurricane Sandy still lingers and is dangerous and threatens summer tourism in the coastal areas of New York and New Jersey. “Swimmers could cut themselves on submerged junk, step on thousands of boardwalk nails ripped loose or suffer severe neck or spine injuries diving into solid objects.” One area cleaned up just three weeks ago and still debris are coming down a wash.
In Southern California thousands of dolphins on surface of water at one time near San Diego. “Mega pods” are probably due to available food sources. Dolphins usually swim in much smaller groups.
2-19- Winter Storm Warnings for northern Arizona and even a Blizzard Warning for the Phoenix metro area.
2-20- Six inches of snow in the White Mountains, snow in north central Phoenix and snow on the 101 and Via De Ventura freeway interchange. Cave Creek golf course covered in snow. White out at Salt River fields baseball park. There are imbedded thunderstorms and lightning. All schools closed in Flagstaff. A mountain rescue takes place at Squaw Peak in Phoenix. (In this weather?)
A fifty one year old hiker has been missing in the Superstition Mountains since last night.
I-5 near Bakersfield, California closed because of ice.
Eighteen states and thirty million in the path of dangerous winter storm from west to east. Rare tornadoes in California.
2-25- Snowstorm with hurricane force winds batters the Great Plains. Authorities are urging people to stay off roads. 75mph winds in Amarillo, Texas and eighteen inches of snow on the ground, the most in 110 years. This is the same weather system the slammed Colorado yesterday with 200 flights cancelled in Denver.
2-26- Heavy snow from the Plains to the Great Lakes. Snow caused a roof to collapse in Woodward, Oklahoma killing one person inside.
February snow totals in Wichita, Kansas twenty one inches, breaking a hundred year old record for the month.
Charlton, South Carolina broke record for the month with 10.48’’ of rain.
Waterspout in Tampa, Florida and 90mph winds in Cedar Key, Florida.
2-27- Snowstorm causes sixty students to spend the night in their Colorado school when a state highway is closed due to dangerous conditions.
Tens of thousands without power in Michigan. In Wisconsin hundreds of cars stranded or in crashes due to snowstorms. The storm reaches from Missouri to Maine.
2-28- Sandstorms push Beijing pollution levels “off the charts” combined with some of the worst smog in the world. ( I think I would rather cover my face with a bandana and endure sand instead of no wind and stinking, shitty polluted smog. I would think the blowing sand would scour the smog and blow the shit somewhere else. The question is where?)
The wisely chosen song for the month is a new ditty by Gary Allen called “Every Storm runs out of rain.” Depending where you live on this planet that is a good thing or a bad thing.
With the end of this relatively short weather journal remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.
Humbly at your service the Distinguished, Honorable, Award Winning MR Blue Duck. (Quack!)
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