September Blue Duck Weather News 2013

September 2013 Weather News!

The Labor Day Flood of 1970 in Arizona has been described as the “the greatest natural disaster in the history of the state.” It happened on September 5th when more rain fell in one day than any other in the state’s recorded weather history.

By the time it was over 23 lives were lost. Most of the fatalities occurred about fifteen miles east of Payson when a wall of water four to five feet high swept cars down stream and drowning five campers that were trying to escape.

The tragedy unfolded when warm, moist air from Tropical Storm Norma collided with a cold front coming from the Northwest. The resulting weather slammed into the Payson area before midnight, September 4th. By the next day washes and creeks were overflowing and floods were sweeping cabins in the Christopher Creek area off their foundations.

The storm set a twenty four hour record with 11.4’’ of rain, crushing the old record by more than five inches. Mount Lemmon near Tucson recorded 8.74’’ and Crown King received 7.01”. (Mind you, Phoenix average annual rainfall is about eight inches.)

Some descriptions of the flood’s power are hard to believe. Bark had been stripped off of Ponderosa Pines twenty four feet above the ground. Rock fragments were imbedded in pine logs as if they had been shot out of a gigantic gun. Water rolled a boulder, approximately 9 feet by 7 feet by four feet up on top of a log jam. That boulder was sixteen feet above the bottom of a wash!

In 1976 the Big Thompson River in Colorado caused the deadliest flash flood in Colorado history when a foot of rain fell in four hours! A 144 people were killed. And now 37 years later the flooding you will read about in the latest edition of Blue Duck Weather is being called the worst since 1976 of “Biblical” proportions causing the most helicopter rescues since Hurricane Katrina! Read why later why this storm system qualified as a one in one thousand year flood.

Welcome to another amazing edition of Blue Duck Weather! I have lived here all of my life and was completely aware of my surroundings in 1970, although at times I may have been incoherent. I do not remember the historic flood of that summer and maybe it is best I didn’t. But this is the kind of amazing information you will get from no other place but Blue Duck weather, combined with all of the other fascinating tidbits we search high and low for!

In this edition you read startling news of the Moose decline in the North East, the cause of the Rim Fire near Yosemite, the fate of a New Mexico firefighter missing for a week, the safest metro city from Natural disasters, a fraternity that gets fined for turkey abuse, resourceful goat thieves and the city that had the hottest summer on record.

The average temperature on The Land this month (finally “cooling down”) was 83.05 degrees. The average temperature at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill was 59 degrees.

The Land received .59” of rain for the month making the yearly total 5.05”. We need about three inches more rain before the end of the year to bring us up to normal yearly averages.

Lake Mead is 47% full, Pleasant in 45%, Pleasant 45% and Roosevelt 41%.


9-2- Although the Rim Fire near Yosemite is “still growing’’ it is 49% contained. 111 structures and 11 homes lost.

Tornado Warnings issued in the Chicago area.

Heavy snowstorms in Peru kills six and 30,000 domestic animals! Twelve thousand people stranded with three feet of snow.

The largest Alligator ever caught in Alabama has been shot. Thirteen feet long and weighing 727 pounds!

Moose in Minnesota experiencing a dramatic decline. They are gone from the northwest part of the state. The populations are down 35% from last year and 55% since 2010. Some are extremely malnourished. Warmer weather and parasites are suspected of being part of the cause for the decline.

9-3- Three men in Miami hid under a tractor to get out of a lightning storm. Lightning struck the tractor with enough energy all three were electrified and one died.

9-5- Tropical Storm Lorena in the Gulf of Mexico may affect Arizona weather later this week.

The cause of the Rim Fire near Yosemite has been determined an illegal camp fire by a archery hunter. All camp fires had been banned a week before his apparently got out of hand.

The NFL season opener between the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos delayed because of lightning. ( Interesting. They don’t let the players on the field but what about the eighty thousand “spark plugs” in their seats?

9-6- Severe Weather Alert issued late this afternoon in Phoenix. Planes diverted because of potential wind sheer. A Flood Advisory has been issued until 7:00 p.m. 111 degrees in Phoenix today ties the record set in 1986.

Tropical Storm Gabrielle kicks Puerto Rico in the ass with heavy rain. The capitol of San Juan already has two feet of rain above normal for the year!

A New Mexico firefighter missing for a week is found dead in rugged mountains on top of a mesa after he apparently crashed his SUV. He apparently went out to check on smoke that he had spotted.

Golf ball size hail in Oregon and Idaho. Two funnel clouds reported in Idaho also.

9-7- Syracuse, New York has been named the metro area that is the safest from natural disasters. This includes wildfires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Three stranded on an Alaska volcano after their helicopter iced over. They have been rescued.

The Rim Fire is 80% contained at 400 square miles!

9-8- 81 degree high at the Land with .36’’ of rain; beautiful. Flash Flood Watch issued for Phoenix until nine p.m.

And while it was 81 degrees at The Land it was 100 degrees in Kansas City!

Frost Advisories issued in New England for the first time this season.

9-9- Seventy nine beautiful degrees for the high on The Land and .26” of rain. Flooding in Phoenix closes the I-17 and Greenway underpass. Tempe received 2.5’’ of rain and 2’’ in Cave Creek.

9-10- A brand new fire near Redding, California (just what they need.) Dozens of homes threatened.

A 69 year old woman fell a hundred feet in Box Canyon near Tucson and was not discovered until the next day. She was injured but alive before a man spotted her a rescue helicopter lifted her out. The man had returned to the area the second day and notice a parked car there from the day before. Later the man heard calls for help and called authorities. (One lucky woman and one observant man.)

9-11- WE SHALL NEVER FORGET THAT FATEFUL DAY IN 2001!.

So far (knock on plastic since there is no wood around), the quietest hurricane season on record so far. But it is not over until November.

9-12- It is being called a “Five hundred year flood.” Eight inches of rain north of Boulder, Colorado has fallen and three have drowned. It is the same weather system that passed through Arizona three days ago. One firefighter rescued after being trapped in a tree in Left Hand Canyon. He was part of a crew working their way up the canyon to assess the situation when a wall of water came down. The University of Colorado is closed due to flooding and homes have been swept off their foundations.

The body of a man found in a burnt out motor home destroyed by fire near Redding, California. The Clover fire has destroyed thirty homes and forced evacuations of 300 folks. With winds the fire is burning 500 acres per hour. Some residents literally just given minutes to grab their belongings and get the hell out!

9-13- A State of Emergency has been called for central Colorado. Up to ten inches have fallen, six inches in Boulder County in twelve hours. Seven inches in Boulder, shattering a 95 year old record.
Flooding from Boulder Creek has damaged 40 buildings at the University of Colorado. The National Guard is deployed to help with rescues. Hundreds airlifted out today along with 85 fifth graders on a school trip.

The Clover Fire near Redding has destroyed 68 homes.

9-14- 2500 people evacuated from the isolated Colorado mountain community of Lyson by heavy trucks and helicopters.
National Guard troops have airlifted 295 residents from the town of Jamestown, cut off without power or water.
90 miles of I-95 closed from Denver to Cheyenne. Colorado’s heavily populated Front Range has received more than 15’’ of rain this week.
Rocky Mountain National Park is closed.

The Big Thompson River is four feet above flood stage.

The south Platte River is ten times wider than normal.

Although it is not getting much press, parts of New Mexico has had heavy flooding and ruptured dams. One man found dead after being washed into a ravine in his submerged vehicle. He was swept a mile off the road near Elephant Butte dam.
The Gila River near the Cliff Dwellings National Monument rose 15 feet.
Six inches of rain per hour fell in Los Alamos. Three of four bridges in Las Vegas, Nevada closed.
The governor issues a State of Emergency.

Tropical Storm Ingrid in Mexico’s Gulf Coast with 60mph and torrential rains and flooding.

9-15- Flash flooding in the tiny town of Clifton, Arizona causes the San Francisco River to rise 26 feet, closing an RV park.

The Boulder area is reeling after record rainfall with more than a half year’s worth of rain falling over the past three days.
During those three days, twenty four hour rainfalls of eight to ten inches were enough to qualify this storm as a 1 in 1,000 year event, meaning that is has a .01 chance of occurring in a given year.
The NWS director saidn “this is clearly going to be a historic event. The true magnitude is really just becoming obvious now.”
Five are dead, 1500 homes destroyed and 17,000 damaged! Seventeen hundred folks rescued.

Ingrid turns into a hurricane with twelve folks perished. This storm may impact Texas with heavy rain.

9-16- All time record for rain in some of the mountain towns in Colorado. Rescues continue, 3,000 since last week. 19,000 homes damaged and 800 roads washed out.

Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid kill 34 on opposite sides of Mexico from flooding and landslides.

A University of Kansas fraternity agrees to pay a five thousand dollar fine and one thousand hours of community service for abusing a turkey. The turkey had been rented for a party. (How do you “rent” a fucking turkey?) Members broke the bird’s cage, chased and choked the poor bastard. Then they broke its wing and leg.

9-18- Eighty people dead from a two storm “punch in the gut” in Mexico. Acapulco is cut off from road transport from Tropical Storm Manuel. 10,000 tourists are trapped with no cash. Emergency rescue flights are being organized. The airport is submerged in flood water.

9-19- And from the “nothing better to do file”, Gilbert, Arizona officials are looking to hatch (wah, wah) a new chicken ordinance that will allow more residents to raise fowl while limiting the number of birds permitted on smaller lots in denser neighborhoods. One resident proclaimed the profound need for chickens. “With chickens there are no scorpions.”

A woman trapped for 16 days in an abandoned well in China said she shouted for help every day and began to lose hope, but she managed to survive on raw corn and rainwater. She was gathering herbs when she fell into the well. Her husband and children searched every day for her. She was found by a person passing by when she was screaming for help.

9-20- Evacuees from Lyons, Colorado have been allowed to return for two hours to check on their homes and then leave immediately. Under tight security and identification checks authorities are concerned about over crowding with heavy equipment operating to clear storm debris and restore electricity.

97 are dead from landslides in the northern state of Sinoloa, Mexico from Tropical Storm Manuel. 68 missing. People in one village reported the terrifying experience of hearing the low roar of tumbling rocks, mud and debris.

9-21- This was the hottest June, July and August since record keeping began in 1895 for Phoenix, Arizona. The average daily temperature was 95.1 degrees.

Colorado is rushing to fix mountain roads destroyed by flooding before the snows arrive. In some cases laying down one lane gravel roads just to reconnect isolated towns.

Typhoon Usagi hits Taiwan and the Philippines with sustained winds of 173mph. Twenty inches of rain in twenty hours! Two souls have drowned.

9-22- Governor Brewer signs a declaration to assist with flood recovery in Apache and Greenlee counties. Powerful storms and flooding struck the regions on September 13th and the 14th. Major flooding and debris flow in the San Francisco Rivers isolated residents.

First day of fall and 87 degrees on the Land.

One inch of snow in the Sierra Nevadas in California.

Typhoon Usagi downgraded but slams southern China today, shutting down flights and shipping and putting a nuclear power plant on alert. The storm is moving through the most densely populated area in the world.

Criticism is flowing out of Mexico City that the government had made worse natural disasters because of poor planning lack of prevention strategy and corruption. 101 folks dead from Ingrid and Manuel. 68 missing in La Pintada where soldiers continue digging after a landslide wiped out half of a town.

9-23- From his secluded location in Colorado RyDuck reports one and a half feet of snow in the high country.

The 8th victim is found dead after flooding in Colorado. A 79 year old woman whose house was washed away by the Big Thompson River was found dead on the river bank. Six folks are still unaccounted for.

9-24- Thieves use duct tape to keep 22 goats quiet when they stole them in Honolulu. These weren’t just any fucking goats mind you, they were pure breeds!

9-26- Severe Dust Storm alert this afternoon. Blowing dust closes fourteen miles of Maricopa Road from I-10 to Casa Blanca Road for three hours. Multiple collisions but fortunately no serious injuries.

Two javelina returned to the desert after a stroll through down town Casa Grande. They were roaming the streets for three hours. “They weren’t nosing into plants or anything. It was kind of like they were jogging.”

9-27- The body of an 81 year old Arizona man found eight miles downstream of his picup truck by hikers along the San Francisco River. The man was staying at an inn near the town of Reserve, New Mexico on September 14th when he was evacuated due to an impending flood. The flood sent a fifteen foot wall of water through town that swept away his truck.

E-coli found in Lyons, Colorado drinking water after the massive flood. It could be two to six months before the town is “livable.” Millions of gallons of sewage has been released around the state because of septic systems ad sewer lines torn out by flood water and flooded waste water treatment plants.

9-28- Rainbow Bridge National Monument reopened yesterday after flooding washed out 150’ of trail next to Lake Powell.

9-29- Forty two souls have drowned and two hundred missing from a ferry boat that broke up in stormy weather on the Niger River.

A nine month old pit bull who saved his family from an early morning fire is burned over 30% of his body but is expected to recover. At two in the morning he began barking so loudly that he awakened the family in time to get out of the upstairs bedrooms.

9-30- A confirmed rare tornado near Seattle this morning.

“Official” end to the monsoon season in Arizona today.

Eight to twelve inches of snow in some parts of Montana.

Before we conclude this month’s fantastic Blue Duck Weather we will leave you with the song of the month titled “Didn’t it Rain?” by the Kennedys.

Until next month remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.

Professor Mr Blue Duck