January 2010 Weather News!
Just as December’s weather was largely based on Arizona weather, January weather was headline news. Some say the three back-to-back storms in the third week of January were the worst since 1993, some say the worst ever. In one week Phoenix received two thirds of the amount of rainfall seen all of last year. So are we in for the mysterious wet spring and pattern of storms known as El Nino? When this pattern sets up it seems like the rain can be timed weekly almost.
I have never been a serious student of barometric pressure. I know that generally low pressure means rain or wind. High pressure generally means calm weather and out here in the desert where no duck should live, it means ass blistering heat in the summer. But what struck me happened on January 21st. Phoenix recorded an all time low barometric pressure reading of 29.20. It was said this low of pressure is in “hurricane territory.” Interestingly enough there was an unofficial tornado sighting on this day in Scottsdale. The Lovely Mrs. Blueduck swears that the pressure affects her agonizing migraine headaches. (I personally feel editing shit gives her headaches beyond belief.) I will continue to monitor pressure reading but will not bore my loyal readers with averages, etc. I will only report when the pressure drops and our house is swept away to Oz.
So, thinking ahead what does all of this rain mean? It certainly is needed however I have only to look forward to severe allergies and weeds up to my waist. If I don’t mow them, come June it will be a tinder box. Life ain’t easy for a duck “named Rue”and it seems I ain’t ever satisfied. No rain, too much rain. No desert grass and forage for quail and other critters. Too much grass and rattle snakes are hiding in wait and the wild fires are waiting to be kindled in my nightmares. Too cold, too hot and blah, blah, blah.
I think the aftermath of the storm in January will linger on much later, well into February. Your fine staff at Blueduck Weather will monitor the reports long after the “prize winning” news sharks attack their next carrion. You have my promise as your humble Editor in Chief. No weather stone is left unturned if it is not blown or washed away. If you read nothing else in this weather report you must glue your eyes the weather events in Arizona beginning January 17th through the end of the month. You will see the climactic changes that happened before, during and after the storms. This is fine piece of weather journalism that truly will be awarded another Duckitzer award. But beyond that you will see how much weather affects our daily lives beyond our existences in our little warm homes and our little warm cars. There are people you will read about that have endured as harsh of conditions as the settlers hundreds of years ago.
The average temperature at the Land for January was 1.5 degrees warmer than the beginning of the month. This is a sign of things to come and in June you will be crying when you read this. The average temperature for the month was 52.37 degrees.
The average temperature for Talking Trees and Antelope Hill at 7400’ in New Mexico was 6.50 degrees warmer at the end of the month. The average temperature was an ooshy 35.92 degrees.
The average humidity at The Land was a wet 52.37 percent and the average dew point was 39.97 degrees. There was even dense fog on January 29th. It is worth reporting since it is such a rare occurrence in the desert. I saw it coming with my vast weather knowledge and asked BeckPeck to check with her bus driver as to what they do when the fog sets in. She had no idea what fog was or what to ask the driver so she told me the driver “sprays something on his windshield but hadn’t had to do it yet.” I think the bus driver thought she was talking about ice. She got her first immersion into fog that morning and now will never forget what it is. I was amazed by her excitement and impressed the bus showed up to pick her up with all the other ducklings ready for school.
The average wind speed on The Land was 3.78mph.
The rain for the month, and the new year, on The Land was an impressive 2.28 inches.
These lake level report for Arizona will be blown away by next month’s readings from all of the rain. I read that Lake Pleasant rose thirteen feet in a week after all of the rain we received. I would not have wanted to be staked to the beach near water by some vicious Blue Duck during those days, a slow and cruel death indeed.
Lake Pleasant is at 83% and Roosevelt at 76%. Without heavy Rocky Mountain snow pack runoff Lake Meade will continue to dwindle and stands at 41%. The mighty Powell by its one hundred and forty mile length is 58%.
Only in BlueDuck Weather will you read about more fucking poachers, the only in Maricopa report, wild hogs (not javelina) in Arizona, the Sunshine State in the news for record cold, a winter statistic not usually found, Chihuahua in the news again, Olympic committee concerned over lack of snow, the woes of Lake Mead continue, good and bad news about bark beetles, only the second time I have ever heard of a one hundred percent chance of rain, heart breaking flood tragedy near Dewey, Arizona, the cruel fate of a hamster, the strongest wind gust recorded in the world and about a very lucky dog and a very unlucky one. (I swear, we don’t make this shit up.)
1-1-10. A mudslide kills fifteen at a Brazilian resort lodge after New Year’s celebration. The hillside lodge and houses collapsed after being struck by mud and boulders two hundred yards wide. (Happy fucking New Year.)
Prescott, Arizona Police shoot and kill a bobcat suspected of having rabies. It was attacking vehicles in the Prescott Lake subdivision. (?)
Arizona Game and Fish is seeking information on two wildlife poaching cases. A spike bull Elk was shot and left to waste during the evening of December 10th near Williams. The kill was during a cow elk only hunt.
Another poacher killed a large antlered mule deer sometime during the week of December 14th along the Arizona Strip. This deer was shot in the head, which was removed and hidden in a tree. The poacher removed some of the meat and left the rest to waste. There was not a deer hunt when the poaching happened.
Cancer is wiping out the Tasmanian Devil population. Their numbers are down seventy percent and they are on the Endangered Species List. They spread a fast killing cancer when they bite each other’s faces. (No wonder they are called devils. I wonder if the term “don’t bite my face off” came from these bastards?)
Police discover 450 dead animals in a home in Philadelphia. The animals were used in some kind of religious ritual.
1-2-10. Seventy degree high at The Land and the warmest temperature in a month. The record high in Phoenix was 81 degrees in 1981.
Northern New England receiving heavy snow and strong winds with a foot of snow and 45mph gusts.
36 degrees below zero in International Falls and 35 below in Grand Forks, Idaho, are new records for this day. There is a saying amongst weather geeks. “There is nothing between Canada and Texas except barbed wire fence when it comes to winter cold dropping south.”
The death toll from the mudslide in Brazil climbs to 26. It was prompted by ten inches of rain that have fallen since December 30th.
Four trains collide in northern India caused by dense fog. Ten people are killed and forty seven injured.
1-3-10. Arctic cold pours into New England and the Midwest with temperatures as low as thirty seven degrees below zero. Massachusetts receives ten inches of snow and huge waves. Forecasters say the storm locations makes it unusual since most systems come in from the south (see RyDucks nature weather observation in last month’s exciting issue of BluDuck Weather) and push their way north gathering strength as they get to the Gulf of Maine.
Three hundred thousand people are deployed ( I assume this means ordered by the government) to shovel unusually heavy snow falls in Beijing, China. In this country a “yellow alert” means that snowfall will become heavier. (To me a yellow alert means pissing in the snow.) Beijing winters are usually cold and bone dry.
2009 had more rabies cases than any other year in Arizona history. Two hundred and sixty one animals tested positive. Avoid wildlife that appears sick or aggressive.
An entire pack of wolves will be eliminated near Butte, Montana. Montana wildlife officials approve plan after at least four wolf attacks on cattle.
1-4-10. 2009 was the second driest year in Phoenix in thirty years. The driest on record is 2002.
Record cold temperatures in the East and Midwest. Lows are in the twenties in Florida with a threat to citrus crops. The high in Atlanta, Georgia is thirty two degrees. The Northern Plains reaches a high of ten degrees. The Mid Plains drop to forty below zero.
Burlington, Vermont sets a single day snow record with 32.50 inches of snow over the weekend.
The death toll from the mudslides in Brazil are up to seventy five. A nuclear power plant is closed as a precaution.
With ten inches of snow in Seoul, South Korea is experiencing the heaviest snowfall in seventy years.
Four skiers are killed by avalanches in the Swiss Alps. The search is on for three more missing.
Wildlife managers are keeping a close eye on the wild hog population in Arizona after seeing what the pigs can do in other parts of the country. They are adaptable and will eat just about anything. These hogs are descendents of domestic pigs brought here by the Spanish in 1539. There are five hundred to a thousand hogs located in Cochise, Pima, Yavapai and La Paz counties.
In Lincoln, Nebraska a twenty two year old man has been charged with animal cruelty for running a cat through the spin cycle of a washing machine. The thing lived. (Editor’s note; at least he didn’t run the poor thing through the wash cycle.)
1-5-10. Twelve degrees in Nashville.
The search continues in Maine for an eighteen year old riding a snow mobile who disappeared in a storm four days ago.
1-6-10. From his secluded location in the mountains of Colorado, RyDuck reports nine degrees with light snow at two forty five in the afternoon.
Hard Freeze Warning issued along the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle with temperatures in the low teens. Many homes in the South weren’t built for extreme cold. They have un-insulated pipes and heat pumps that run continuously, barely keeping up.
Two inches of snow in northern Ohio with six inches yesterday. West Virginia receives eight inches of snow and Kentucky five inches.
The U.K. is experiencing the worst cold in decades. Some areas received sixteen inches of snow. There were so many rescues in southern England the Coast Guard had to be brought in to help.
Only in the “new” Maricopa: “A report of animal noise was called in after a coyote was in a backyard making unusual loud noises.”
1-7-10. Across Florida oranges and strawberries are freezing, icicles are hanging from palm trees, and iguanas paralyzed by the cold are falling out of trees.
With the wind chill it is fifty two degrees below zero in North Dakota.
A lone elephant charged out of the brush near Mount Kenya and trampled to death an American hiker and her one year old.
A dozen Chihuahuas are flying from San Francisco to New York human style, in the main cabin of the plane. The homeless dogs helped by the American Society For The Prevention Of The Cruelty To Animals. The little pooches are still in high demand in New York.
1-8-10. Cold continues to grip the Mid West, South and the East with no end in sight. As accidents increase, people are told to stay home if possible. One crash in snowy Ohio kills four people. Snow is the heaviest in Minnesota and South Dakota. Snow has fallen as far south as Alabama and Georgia. Schools are closed in ten states.
In Florida giant Eagle rays, Spinner sharks and two hundred Manatees have sought refuge from the cold in a warm canal outside of a power plant.
1-9-10. With eight inches of snow in Chicago one Amtrak passenger train is delayed by eighteen hours.
In Pittsburgh and surrounding areas it has snowed every day since New Year’s Day.
Portland, Oregon has sustained winds of one hundred mph.
A Hard Freeze Warning has been issued for the South with fifteen to twenty five degree lows.
Britain is in the midst of the longest cold snap in thirty years. Seven degrees reported in Scotland and northern England.
Thirty Pronghorn antelope will be released south east of Safford, Arizona.
1-10-10. Four hundred million dollars of strawberries and nine hundred million dollars of citrus at risk in Florida due to hard freezes recently. Tonight to be the coldest with twenty five degrees.
Three people, all in the same family, in Vermont die when their snowmobile goes through the ice in a lake. They were only one hundred yards from shore.
A Javelina that bit a Marana, Arizona man tested positive for rabies. The man was hiking when he was bitten on the right arm and leg. The pig was shot and killed by a Marana police officer.
1-11-10. One hundred thousand tropical fish raised on a fish farm in South Florida couldn’t bear the cold and died. There was ice o n the farmers seventy six ponds. The loss represents five hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.
And here my faithful readers is a rare winter statistic. Ninety eight percent of Americans say “Oh shit” before going in the ditch off a slippery road. The other two percent are from Kentucky (and probably Ohio) and they say “Hold my beer and watch this!”
1-12-10. Nine new record low temperatures are recorded in Florida cities. Miami broke a record previously set in 1927. It was thirty six degrees today. The coldest was Tallahassee at fourteen degrees.
Giraffes once owner by Michael Jackson are found dead in an animal sanctuary in Page, Arizona. Foul play or abuse is suspected.
1-13-10. A Wind Advisory is posted for Yuma and La Paz counties with 45mph winds expected.
A Hippo escaped from a flooded zoo in Montenegro shocking villagers as she strolled past houses.
A man who had hundreds of live and dead Chihuahuas in his Detroit home has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges. The man was hording dogs and some dead dogs were in freezers. The dogs may have been killed with an injection. (Sick fucking Bastard!)
1-14-10. Vancouver Olympic planners dismiss worries about melting snow and unusual spring like weather. Rain has been melting snow but officials say they will bring snow down from higher elevations if needed.
Due to drought and the lack of hydro electric production from dams Venezuela begins nation wide energy rationing with rolling blackouts of four hours every other day.
1-16-10. In Florida a twelve foot Anaconda is blamed for missing geese, chickens and ducks at East Lake.
1-17-10. A Winter Storm Advisory is issued for northern Arizona. We are expected to receive the weather system that has battered California with rain and snow. The Sierra Nevada Mountains have received up to ten feet of snow.
1-18-10. A Weather Alert is issued for the entire state of Arizona for the entire week. Heavy rain, flooding and snow expected.
Lake Mead will probably shrink further this year with little help from Lake Powell upstream. Water levels aren’t expected to rise enough this spring for Powell to release extra water to feed Mead. That would leave Lake Mead within two feet of the level to trigger water shortages for Arizona, Nevada and California.
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of one hundred Southern California homes today because of heavy rain and the fear of mud slides. Recent fires have left nothing to support the ground from quick rain erosion, collapse and runoff.
Floods in Israel and Egypt collapsing some homes. Rains of this amount are rare in these mostly arid regions and result in sudden flashfloods. Seven people have been killed.
A Scottish ski center closes because of too much snow. Heavy equipment had to be brought in to clear the deep drifts that had blocked the approach road during two days of a blizzard.
1-19-10. A Winter Storm Warning is issued for Payson and Show Low, Arizona. Ten inches of snow fell in Flagstaff yesterday.
It rained so hard in Southern California Disneyland is closed and power out to thousands because of strong winds. A rare Tornado Watch was issued for south Los Angeles. A 1993 record was broken in Burbank with 1.55’’ of rain.
The Pine beetle infestation may be easing in Colorado and Wyoming. More than two and half million acres of pine have been devastated. After fifteen years the beetles are leaving to find fresh wood to devour.
A hunter has found the remains of a man missing from Tucson for nearly a year. No cause of death has been established.
1-20-10. Another foot of snow fell in Flagstaff last night. I-17 is closed from Camp Verde to Flagstaff. I-40 is closed from between Flagstaff and Williams. I-8 near Highway 85 is closed due to flooding. Oak Creek in Sedona may reach eighteen feet above flood stage and evacuations may be necessary. A High Wind Advisory is issued and 50mph winds are possible. One hundred percent chance of rain tomorrow night into Friday. (The last time I heard a one hundred percent rain forecast RyDuck and yours truly was trapped by a flooded wash for twenty hours. We survived on tamales, beer and whiskey.)
High winds flip a SUV in Huntington Beach, California . A tree crashes through a home killing a woman after a Tornado Warning was issued. Mandatory evacuations are ordered near Los Angeles because of potential mudslides.
According to the National Climate Data Center 2000 through 2009 has been the warmest decade surpassing the pervious hottest decade of the nineties. In 2009 global surface temperatures were 1.01 degrees warmer than normal. “The planet may be warming at a potentially disastrous rate.”
And in the Maricopa Communicator newspaper this happened in Hidden Valley, the home of outlaws, outcasts and one crazy (Lonesome Dove) BlueDuck: “Several dead and mutilated horses were found in the desert.” Sounds like the real Blue Duck has paid an evil visit.
1-21-10. The third Pacific snow this week hits Arizona. Another foot of snow in Flagstaff. But this storm is warmer and flooding is feared as snow melts at lower elevations. A Flash Flood Watch has been issued for northern and central Arizona. A High Wind Advisory is issued for southern Arizona.
A Tornado Watch issued until ten p.m. for all of Maricopa, Pinal and La Paz counties. The governor declares a State of Emergency for the entire state. 5.38 inches of rain have fallen in Black Canyon City. Oak Creek may reach twenty one feet above flood stage. Creek side residents are urged to evacuate. Chains needed for the Salt River Canyon. I-17 still closed north of Sedona. 53mph wind gusts at Sky Harbor International Airport.
Mandatory evacuations are ordered in the Los Angeles foothill communities below the fire scarred San Gabriel Mountains due to mudslides.
A Mid West ice storm knocks out power to thousands.
Olympic officials say they will be trucking in snow for the free style skiing and snow boarding events on Cyprus Mountain in Vancouver.
A 2007 U.N. report that read Himalayan glaciers were melting so fast they may be gone by 2035 was not backed by scientific fact.
1-22-10. Arizona weather made National news today. There has been five straight days of snow in Flagstaff. This city is cut off from the rest of the state for road traffic. No flights were allowed in or out of Sky Harbor last night due to wind. Highway 60 is closed from Globe to Show Low. 9.25’’ of rain have fallen in Black Canyon City and trailer parks are evacuated. Winter Storm Warnings are still in effect and a Flood Warning is posted until ten fifteen p.m. There was an unofficial report of a tornado in Scottsdale.
My sincere sympathy goes out to a Dewey family who tried to get their sick son to a hospital. They were trapped in a flooded wash in their vehicle. All survived except the six year old boy who was swept away. I think it was an extreme act of bravery to try and get their son to a hospital at any cost, tragically they paid the highest cost of all.
1-23-10. Body of six year old who was swept away is found by hikers.
The Arizona National Guard flies water and medical supplies to residents of Black Canyon City. Wendon’s residents were evacuated and parts of the small community in western Arizona had six feet of water. Forty houses in Arizona City, south of Casa Grande are partially under water. The National Weather Service reports “the biggest weather system to hit Arizona in nearly two decades flooded small towns, caused a train derailment and closed major interstates.”
There is four feet of snow in Flagstaff, the third biggest amount in history, seven inches of rain in Sedona and two inches of rain in Phoenix. Seven counties under States of Emergency.
The Salt River Project is releasing water from its reservoirs. In twenty four hours the storms have added seventy billion gallons of water on the Salt and Verde Rivers.
A Georgia woman is in jail after she forced her son to kill a pet hamster with a hammer. This was punishment for bringing home bad grades.
1-24-10. Four Red Cross shelters are open in Arizona to help flood victims. 89A is still closed from Sedona to Flagstaff. There are ten counties still in State of Emergency.
Six degree low at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill.
California beaches are a mess from garbage washed down from floods. Soggy sofa cushions, rusted shopping carts, dented refrigerators and thousands of cans and food wrappers litter the wasteland.
1-25-10. Residents of Black Canyon City have been cut off by washed out bridge and their water supply pipe is broken. They have been warned if they try to cross the flooded Aqua Fria River they will be arrested. The National Guard is dropping supplies by helicopter. One resident complained about sending millions to Haiti earthquake survivors but she cannot leave her home.
Roosevelt Lake is 92% full and Lake Pleasant has risen thirteen feet since last Saturday.
1-26-10. Upscale home on the Carefree Wash is falling into the wash from flooding. The owner says engineers told him the wash was diverted and his home was on stable ground. (You better listen up, “new” residents of Maricopa.)
Residents of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona are cut off with snow. They are running out of fuel and water. One man is found dead and others are leaving on foot.
The Kachina Peaks Wilderness Area near Flagstaff has been re-opened after extreme potential for avalanches due to last week’s storms.
Winds cause white out conditions in the Dakotas. Thousands are without power due to winds in Nebraska and Iowa.
Two thousand tourists are stranded in Peru due to heavy rain and mudslides.
Transplants are ruled out for a woman attacked by a “pet” Chimpanzee last February. (You read it here first when it happened by Gawd.) She needs face and hands transplants and they all have to be done at the same time by the same donor.
1-27-10. Rescue teams in northern Arizona are fighting mud and six foot snow drifts to reach people isolated by last week’s storms. They have found livestock frozen in their tracks. Four National Guard helicopters have been deployed and medical helicopters have flown forty people out for immediate medical treatment. These efforts have been aimed at rescuing people from the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation in Apache, Coconino and Navajo counties. Fifteen hundred people need assistance.
Mountain lions have killed three sheep, three cows and attacked a horse in Tuba City. A fire official said he has seen “cattle standing dead in the snow.”
New Hampshire loses the strongest wind gust record in the world to Australia. On Mount Washington in 1934 the winds were recorded at a peak of 231mph. This was topped at Australia’s Barrow Island in 1996 by a wind gust of 243mph. You might ask why this news so long after the fact? Scientists have been arguing and rechecking data to confirm these conclusions. Like Mr. BlueDuck they have nothing better to do.
Tourists are flown out of Machu Piccu in Peru. Rail lines were cut off due to mudslides and U.S. helicopters help with evacuations. Two are killed when mudslides crushed their tents.
More than one hundred Manatees have been found dead in Florida waters since January 1st. They are the victims of a two week cold snap earlier this month. They are already on the Endangered Species List.
1-28-10. Thousands of meals and water bottles have been dropped to the Navajo and Hopi Tribes in northern Arizona. Helicopter drops are suspended today because of snow and dense fog.
The snow total for Flagstaff this season is two hundred and seventeen inches. According to the Flagstaff water manager another foot of snow will fill Lake Mary, supplying Flagstaff with water for two years.
Oregon and Washington waves have grown ten feet since the 1970s. Experts say it is due to global warming and erosion along the coast lines have increased.
Brazil may have to evacuate thousands due to heavy rains and flooding. One hundred people have been killed by mudslides since January 1st. Two dams are near capacity and downstream evacuations are considered. The city of Sao Paulo has had thirty five consecutive days of rain.
1-29-10. A huge ice storm is moving east across the lower U.S. with Texas regions receiving up to a half inch. In Oklahoma every county has declared a State Of Emergency as rain has turned into ice. Hundreds of power poles have snapped under the load and thousands are without power.
Rescuers are hoping to get the remaining tourists out near the Inca citadel in Peru. Hundreds are still stranded by mudslides.
A new report suggests that the slow down in global warming in the last few years appears to have been caused by a decline of water vapor in the stratosphere.
A dog in Poland is rescued after drifting seventy five miles on an ice floe. He was found in the Baltic Sea by a group of ocean research scientists.
1-30-10. Snow in the South as Tennessee digs out from a foot, one foot in Amarillo, Texas and six inches in Nashville. A Federal Disaster Declaration has been issued for all of Oklahoma. There are one hundred and forty thousand without power. This past series of storms have affected thirty million people.
The last backpackers have been rescued in Peru after a week of mudslides.
Twenty six wild Mustangs have died in the controversial roundup in Nevada.
Police accuse a Philadelphia man of pouring alcohol on the family puppy and setting it on fire. The dog may lose sight in one eye. (Mrs. Blue duck says that this along with the hampster murder is cause for a new hunting season on fucking idiots.)
1-31-10. The Polar Bear Plunge has been cancelled in Maryland because it is too cold. The air temperature was twenty three degrees and the water was thirty six degrees. Several idiots tried to take the plunge and had to be treated for hypothermia.
I am sad to announce that one of our contributing editors, The Mighty Broadduck is no longer with the fine staff at BlueDuck Weather. He has flown the coop, taking his quacklings with him to the wilds (I use that word loosely) of Michigan. It is our hopes that he will continue to contribute his insightful, witty, profound, and at times disgusting, monthly words of wisdom. It is also my hope, as your Editor in Chief, he will report weather extremes from his remote location. The Mighty Broadduck was kind enough to send the following coat just before the deadline of this fantastic publication: “Life is a box of chocolates. You try a little but only like some of it.”
From the ever mysterious RyDuck comes his natural revelations about weather phenomenon. “If you can’t see the sharp points on a half moon rain may be on the way.”
And finally from the demure, soft spoken but beautiful TwinkyDuck comes this unworldly weather fact. “A season on Pluto lasts one hundred and twenty years.” Can you imagine one hundred and twenty years of an Arizona desert summer?
The song of the month is “Snow and Rain” by Brandon Rickman.
Until next month, remember, Pioneers too bullets, Settlers took land.
The Distinguished Professor MR BlueDuck
