Blue Duck Weather News, September 2012

September 2012 Weather News!

Welcome to another exciting edition of Blue Duck Weather. I would like to take a moment to show gratitude to the brilliance of the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck. It is she (not me of course) who set up this fantastic weather blog! To date there have been 5,119 page views of this incredible blog worldwide! From the United States to the Netherlands and Russia folks around the world are discovering the real truth in weather journalism. Please pass the torch and share Blue Duck Weather with your friends, enemies, uncles and aunts. Post a comment and I promise you will receive a reply from your brilliant Editor in Chief of this fine publication. Thank you so much for your support and readership.


In this exciting edition of Blue Duck Weather you will read the following:
Eighty three thousand dollars to treat a woman for scorpion stings in Chandler, Arizona, the long lasting effects and damage of even a “minor” hurricane, thousands of dead, huge swamp rats wash onto shore after Issac, worldwide health alert for visitors this summer at Yosemite National Park, west Sedona, Arizona bear encounter, the actual place the hottest temperature on the planet was recorded and when, the last roaring gasp of Arizona’s monsoon season (not by the official calendar date), where we can get enough energy to power the world, BP makes the news again with more oil turning up on Gulf Coast beaches, a little known fact about the distinction between hurricanes and typhoons, a wildfire churning up radiation from old mines, bizarre fire tornadoes, a half billion dollar weather tracking satellite fails for “no reason”, a man who jumps into a tiger cage to “become one” with the beast, a town of one hundred thousand in Texas about to impose water restrictions so severe they will ban the use of fresh water to fill swimming pools and more news you never knew or cared about.

The average temperature on The Land in September was 81.68 degrees and it was twelve degrees cooler at the end of the month than the beginning. Hallelujah! The average temperature at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill was 60.89 degrees. Summer is ending!

The Land received 1.47” of rain in September. We have had enough rain this monsoon season to sprout real, live dense patches of grass despite the heat. For the last several years the desert has looked like a moonscape except for the ever present mesquite, palo verde and creosote. For the year The Land has received 5.24” of rain, most of it during this monsoon. To date Phoenix has received 3.36” of rain.

You will read more in this edition about the effects of the monsoon runoff and the surrounding lakes but it ain’t pretty for my beloved Roosevelt Lake; 51% full, Pleasant is 55% full, Mead 50% and Powell 58%. Now let’s get on with the Weather News!


9-1- Residents of St. Tammany Parish north of New Orleans on Lake Pontchartrain are ordered today to evacuate immediately. According to authorities the failure of a lock along a canal is “imminent.” Three hundred and sixty thousand people are still without power from Issac.

Drought stricken Missouri and Illinois receive some much needed rain relief from the remnants of Issac.

Most of Montana has had a dry, scorched summer. There are ten uncontained fires burning in the state. The 19 Mile wildfire has destroyed a dozen homes.
This is Billings hottest summer on record with 47 days with temperatures above ninety degrees. The normal is 29.

Three people in Idaho are electrocuted in a ditch trying to rescue a dog.

Some Cape Cod beaches are closed this Labor Day weekend due to shark sightings.

9-3- Two rescued on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix by helicopter due to dehydration.

Wildfires in Nebraska and South Dakota triple in size from three days ago.

4,000 acres on fire in the Angelis National Forest. Twelve thousand people, including campers for the holiday weekend, are forced to evacuate.

Six days after Issac first hit 125,000 still without power in Louisiana. 2500 still in shelters. 65,000 people have applied for Disaster relief.

9-4- One inch of rain last night in a brief amount of time in Apache Junction, Arizona. Flooding in San Carlos and Kearny.

9-5- St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix has sent 41,000 pounds of emergency food and baby formula to a New Orleans food bank. This was done despite supplies down 50% compared with last year.

La Place, Louisiana is blaming fortified New Orleans levees for pushing flood waters into outlying areas. 17,000 homes are damaged from Issac.

Heavy rain, up to three inches hit’s the East Coast from Issac.

Tropical Storm Michael, continues to grow in the Atlantic.

Leslie, the 6th named storm forms in the Atlantic. It is 465 miles south west of Bermuda.

Twenty thousand dead swamp rats wash up on the beaches of Mississippi. The surge of water from Issac drowned them. They are a giant rodent introduced from South Africa. Most are glad to see the giant fuckers dead! (Mrs. Blueduck would like to know why anyone would want to see them alive and why would you introduce giant swamp rats to our country?)

9-6- At approximately five p.m. this afternoon .60’’ of rain fell on The Land in about twenty minutes. As your official weather spotter it was my duty to report it to the National Weather Service. Their guidelines are to report anything over one half inch of rain in thirty minutes. Needless to say it flooded with water making the desert look like a lake and the streets turned into torrential rain runoff. I can always tell when it is “no man’s land” and for how long. Until the lights of cars crawling their way down the road, hours after flooding, do I know it is time to give the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck the “green light” to come on home when she is caught north of this mess.
There was also a fifteen degree drop in temperature in fifteen minutes.

Thirteenth Dust Storm Warning in Phoenix this summer. A wall of dirt twenty miles wide overtakes the Valley like a crawling halocaust. Flights from Sky Harbor conduct “ground stops” and are not allowed to take off.

Rain helps with the 4180 acre wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains north east of Los Angeles.

9-7- A wild weather morning in the east Valley and Tucson, Arizona! Three inches of rain in Mesa at Broadway and Higley. Sixty five nursing home patients had to be moved out of flooded rooms. One school cancels football game. A fifty two year old woman was swept to her death in a flooded wash in Tucson. Her husband managed to escaped the car with a broken pelvis and was rescued alive.

2.91 inches of rain recorded at Sky Harbor Airport for the monsoon season so far, above the normal average of 2.77”.

Last night’s “massive dust cloud billows over Phoenix skies” makes national news.

A family hiking in west Sedona encounters an “aggressive” black bear and her cubs within twenty feet. The woman was terrified and used “moutain lion roars’’ to scare the poor bears away.

A world wide alert is issued for visitors to Yosemite National Park this summer. 29,000 people are at risk of contracting the Hanti Virus and two have died so far. The infections have been located to park cabins and tents.

9-8- High dew points in Arizona have persisted lately and according to one meteorologist they may persist through the winter. “Our dew points have stayed elevated as we are transitioning into El Nino condition could mean a wetter winter.”

Hurricane Leslie downgraded to a tropical storm in the Atlantic on a path toward Bermuda.

A rare tornado swept out of the ocean hit’s a beach front neighborhood in New York City today causing damage.

Two adults and an infant died in their mobile home after it was blown into a ravine in Nowata County, Oklahoma. Another man was killed when straight line winds flipped his semi onto a cement barrier trapping him inside. 17,790 people without power.

A cussing cockatoo violates noise law in Warwick, Rhode Island. Neighbors complain that the bird constantly cusses them out. But the neighbor’s just happen to be the woman who owns the cockatoo’s ex husband and his girl friend.

9-9- Flooding kills 132 folks in Nigeria and has displaced 36,331 people since July. (And we think our monsoon season gets rough.)

9-10- Sixty power poles down from high winds in Yuma, Arizona thousands without power.

There are 110 fires burning in central Washington state.

Idaho’s 408 square mile Mustang Complex fires are still burning after being started by lightning in July. Just yesterday hundreds evacuated.

9-11- NEVER FORGET THIS FATEFUL DATE!

A cool high of 77 degrees at The Land today with .64 inches of rain in the last twenty four hours. The total this month is 1.47 inches. Let’s try and kill the fucking drought we have been in for twelve years.

So far 2012 is the hottest on record for the United States.

Two women arrested in Pima County, Arizona flood rescues. Both, in separate incidents, are charged with reckless driving with children on board into flooded washes. They are also being charged for child abuse.

A new study claims there is enough energy in the wind to satisfy the world’s energy needs.

9-12- Flash flooding in Vegas with 45 homes damaged in the south east part of the town. 1.75 inches was recorded downtown, the wettest day on record.
The California deserts, Utah and Navajo Land near Tuba City also hit hard. Highway 260 near Tuba City is closed. One hundred and fifty miles south east of Los Angeles in Coachella Valley one storm dumped 5.51’’ of rain in one night, more than their annual average rainfall.
A dike breaches in Santa Clara, Utah and thirty homes are evacuated.

BP wants to “aggressively” clean up oil exposed on Louisianna beaches by Hurricane Issac. This is remnants of buried oil from the massive well blow on April 20th, 2010. ( They have been spending millions of dollars on ad campaings on National news welcoming all of us to the Gulf Coast and how pristine it is. Someone once told me “the Devil is in the details.” Well, let me tell you the Devil is buried deep in the water and sand polluting every living thing is it exposed to.)

A nineteen year old fisherman in Sitka, Alaska spends the night in a four foot by four foot plastic fish bin after his boat was hit by waves, overturned and sank. A Coast Guard helicopter rescued him twenty four hours after his “chilly” ordeal.

Leslie moves out to sea after pounding Newfoundland with wind and rain. Thousands are without power and all flights at the island’s main airport are cancelled.

9-13- The Hopi Tribe in Tuba City, Arizona declare a State of Emergency from flooding.

Nearly one hundred years later, California’s Death Valley has been recognized as having the hottest all time record high on the planet. It was 134 degrees on July 10th, 1913.

National health officials are convinced this is the worst year on record for West Nile virus deaths in the U.S. since it hit in 1999. 1405 serious illnesses and 118 deaths have been reported across the country, mainly in Texas.

As the tourist season winds down eight people have died visiting the Grand Canyon this year. Most deaths are accidental, including falls, heat strokes and drowning. Suicides are also recorded every year. Last year there were twenty one fatalities, the highest in ten years.

9-14- Typhoon Sanba heading for Okinawa and South Korea with 145 mph winds, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. Earlier this week 178 mph winds made it a Super Typhoon. (Interesting fact: Named storms west of the International dateline in the Pacific north west ocean are called typhoons, not hurricanes.)


Highway 264 east of Tuba City, Arizona has been reopened after flooding washed over a bluff and washed out six feet of dirt below the road closing it.

Tropical Storm Kristy causing life threatening surf and rip currents off the coast of southern Baja, California and south west Mexico. (Surfers, grab your boards!)

9-15- Typhoon Sanba unleashes torrential rains in Manila and Okinawa with streets under six feet of water.

The eighth hurricane of the season, Nadine is born in the Atlantic east of Bermuda.

9-17- Typhoon Sanba pounds North and South Korea with heavy rain. One dead, 170 homeless and 67,000 without power.

9-18- Tornado alerts issued for the East Coast. Winds and rain have left 4,000 without power on Long Island, 15,000 in Connecticut and 28,000 in Washington and Baltimore. This same weather system caused flooding in parts of Tennessee when five inches of rain fell resulting in eight water rescues.

9-19- Ocean temperatures off the North East U.S. coasts reach record highs for the first half of 2012. According to NOAA the average water temperature from North Carolina to Canada is 50.50.

A Tornado Watch is issued for most of Maryland and a foot of rain has fallen in some areas.

Arctic sea ice reaches new low levels breaking a record set three weeks ago. “We are now in unchartered territory”, said the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The record low of 1.32 million square miles and nearly half the average extent from 1979 to 2010.

And wouldn’t this sight make you shit your pants?; fire torandoes in Australia have swirling winds that mix with wildfires taking flames thousands of feet into the sky.

9-20- Wind blown chunks of flaming bark forcing new evacuations in Washington wildfires. The evacuations happen as the burning bark falls on Mission Ridge, blown in by the Table Mountain Complex fires six miles away. One fire incident commander called the combination of conditions so late in September unprecedented in twenty eight years of fire fighting. 30,000 acres have burned with 4% containment.

Deadly storm kills five and injures 81 in Paraguay, South Africa.

9-21- The massive wildfire in Idaho has burned through three old mining sites containing “traces” of radioactive thorium and uranium. Environmental authorities plan to take air samples in North Folk. “This is new ground for us, but we are dealing with the issue at this time.” The risk of human exposure stems from the potential for radioactive material consumed by fire to become airborne. (Mix this with the fire tornadoes in Australia and you have Hell at your door!)

A large cargo of marble stonework that sank to the bottom of Poland’s Vistula River four centuries ago has appeared after drought and record low water levels.

9-22- First day or autumn and the high on the Land was 102 degrees with a dew point of 49 degrees. (Feel the “cool” in the breeze?)

The recent monsoon and seasonal rains have reduced the drought conditions in Arizona. 32% of the state is in severe or extreme conditions compared to 94% a month ago. But our desert lakes have not recovered. Roosevelt is down to 48% capacity from nearly full two years ago. Bartlett has shrunk to 50% down from 92% and Horseshoe Lake is dry.

On August 30th the Associated Press published a photo of a soaked, bearded man being helped by two rescuers in Slidell, Florida after he nearly drowned in flooding from Hurricane Isaac. The homeless man’s identity was not known. Because of the photo the man has been reunited with his daughters that he has not seen in 16 years.

A visitor at the Bronx Zoo in New York jumped from an elevated monorail and landed in an exhibit were he was mauled by a four hundred pound tiger. His injuries are serious.

9-23- The man mauled by a tiger at the Bronx Zoo said he wanted “to be one” with the four hundred pound animal. He claimed despite serious bites and punctures he got to “pet” the tiger. (This dude should be locked up for his own safety.)

Tropical Storm Miriam forms over the eastern Pacific 640 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California.

9-24- A brush fire near San Diego destroys and damages 30 homes. The fire began yesterday in a densely populated area and has burned 2,000 acres. It is 10% contained.

A record 154 water spouts this year recorded over the Great Lakes. The old record is 94 set in 2003. The cause is a hot summer with very warm water.

Floods in India have displaced one million people and left 33 dead.

An avalanche has killed nine climbers on a Himalayan peak in Nepal with six missing.

Hurricane Miriam is a Category 3 storm.

9-25- Smoke from the San Diego fires settles over the Phoenix area.

Miriam weakens to a Category 1 hurricane.

A one half billion dollar satellite that tracks worldwide weather has failed for no apparent reason. Future forecasts may be less accurate. (?)

9-26- Tornadoes and golf ball size hail pound towns in southern Illinois. Three confirmed tornadoes.

A police officer shoots a pit bull in a Mesa, Arizona Target store. Employees had asked the dog’s owner to leave because he was sitting in the middle of an aisle with his dog for “quite some time.” When cops tried to speak to the dog’s owner he ignored them and was speaking on the phone asking his grandmother to pray with him. The dog attacked and bit an officer after an attempt to arrest the man. The man was tazed, the pooch was killed.

Ninety four thousand people in San Angelo, Texas are running out of water due to the prolonged drought. The city says it only has enough water to last one more year. On October 16th the city will enforce the highest levels of emergency measures; banning water of lawns, golf courses, gardens, close car washes and ban fresh water to be used to fill swimming pools. ( I recall in the early seventies Fountain Hills, Arizona banned the construction and filling of pools due to severe water shortages in the town. Ironic since the Verde River is only a few miles away.)

Residents in Globe, Arizona are urged to boil water for drinking due to the presence of E-Coli bacteria.

Arizona Game and Fish is on the look out for “serial” elk poachers in northern Arizona. It seems the bastard’s only goal is trophy antlers. Witnesses are urge to call “Silent Witness.”

9-29- Seven killed and hundreds evacuated after flash floods roared in Malaga, Spain.

9-30- The last “official” date heralding the end of the monsoon season in Arizona. (But due to the brilliant record keeping of your Editor in Chief the last blast was 9-11 or the day after, depending where you lived in this state.)

The ever important song of the month (and I hope you add all the songs we share with you to your vast song libraries) is Backwater Blues by the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band.

And the quote of the month may seem dark and mysterious but it is eloquent and beautiful in its own right. “Here in the last minutes, the very end of the world, someone’s tightening a screw thinner than an eyelash, someone with slim wrists is straightening flowers…….’’
James Richardson

Until next month always remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took Land.
The Distinguished, Honorable, PHD MR. Blue Duck.

August 2012 Blue Duck Weather News

August 2012 Weather News! Special Anniversary Edition !

In this year of a presidential campaign, weather finally hit’s the political stage and what the president offers for drought assistance. So many raging wildfires raging in the Western mountains so late in the season when normally rain would have diminished the fire threat. A very active monsoon in southern and central Arizona.
More ominous drought news, another possible arson caused wildfire, 5.01” of rain in Anthem, Arizona in ninety minutes, later to be called the “Storm of a Century”, a silver lining to the drought, 3.8 million acres of wetlands opened up to grazing due to the drought (Edward Abbey is rolling in his grave), “Hoot-Owl restrictions”, Hottest July on record in the U.S., “Fido Bags” used to resuscitate animals, Arizona Game & Fish commissioner busted for hunting out of season, four bears trash a cabin and drink one hundred beers (pure rock star fashion), the largest python ever captured in Florida (the size and weight will amaze you!), another fallen firefighter in the West, The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck Flooded from home, Maricopa declares a State of Emergency due to flooding, Hayduke Lives!, a surge of rattlesnake bites in Arizona, the 20th anniversary of one of the most devastating hurricanes ever to hit the U.S., George Hayduke Lives!, and finally Hurricane Isaac ends the month with flooding misery.

But what really began this exercise in misery and boredom five years ago was to study the average yearly temperature on The Land and the properties in New Mexico. The purpose was just to give us a glimpse of warming or cooling on a yearly basis. The average monthly temperature, splitting the daily highs and lows for an entire year, on The Land was 72.33 degrees this year. This is up almost three degrees from last year but the high average was 77.21 degrees in 2008.

The average temperature for the entire year at Talking Trees and Antelope Hill for this year was 51.35 degrees. The temperature has warmed every year since 2008 when the average was 48.33 degrees. Why would the temperature in the desert cool while the temperature at 7400 feet warm in this short amount of time. Three degrees may not sound like much but you have seen time and time again the effects of gradual warming.

The average temperature on The Land for this month was 91.32 “pleasant” degrees. New Mexico Land had an average of 68.36 degrees.

The rainfall for the Land in August was .99’’ bringing the yearly total to 3.77”, two thirds of the total during this monsoon. Phoenix stands at 2.77”.

It has been tropical here this month so I thought it would be noteworthy to give you the monthly humidity and dew point averages; 40% and 62.88 degrees averaged every day for the entire month. Fucking miserable.

The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck told me that NOAA predicts a monsoon that may very well last until October with the amount of moisture and wind patterns for the deserts of Arizona. Never again, after this summer, will I make fun of the new monsoon season timeframe established a few years ago for Arizona.

Unfortunately, your Editor in Chief has no lake levels to report this month. The reporting station used the printed report for toilet paper.


8-1- Last night’s “freak storm” dumped an inch and a quarter of rain in
Anthem, Arizona in forty minutes. Some reports indicate there may have been as much as five inches of rain. Homes and walls knocked off foundations by flooding, three water rescues, two homes totally destroyed, supermarket closed due to potential roof collapse and trees downed. Red Cross on the scene and some homeowners have no flood insurance

Half of all counties in the U.S. are now labeled natural disaster areas due to the drought. With drying food crops the USDA is allowing grazing on 3.8 million acres, many wetlands. Insurance companies agree to a thirty day grace period for farmer insurance premiums. (How fucking kind of them!)

8-2- Unofficial rain total in Anthem 5.01’’ in 90 minutes two nights ago.

“Drought’s silver lining”- Fewest July tornadoes on record. With 24 in the U.S. last month that shatters the record low of 42 in July, 1960.

8-3- Mississippi River closed to barge traffic in Minnesota because the river is too low. Sixty percent of grain, twenty two percent of oil and gas, and twenty percent of coal goes down the river normally.

Tropical Storm Ernesto forms and headed for the Caribbean. It may strengthen into a hurricane.

One hundred mile stretch of the Platte River is dried up.

Typhoon Saola dumps five feet of rain on Taipei, Taiwan on an island populated by 23 million drenched souls.

House okays drought aid to help livestock producers with cost of aid.

8-4- “Storm of the Century” last week in Anthem, Arizona. Community joins residents effected by a massive cleanup today. In some homes anything not four feet above the floor of a home ruined by rain.

Flash floods in Iowa and Chicago with 80mph winds. 150,000 without power. Tornado warnings and thousands evacuated.

One hundred and twenty one structures, many of them homes, have been destroyed by fires in Oklahoma. Temperatures over one hundred degrees for the 19th straight day.
A 2600 acre grassfire near Luther may have been arson. A man was seen throwing a burning newspaper out of a black pickup truck into the grass.

Tropical Storm Florence forms off Africa and joins Ernesto in the Atlantic.

A man, presumed to have been attacked by a Great White, earlier this week is released from the hospital unable to walk. He is suffering from deep puncture wounds to both legs. He and his son were swimming toward a sand bar in the Atlantic off Ballston Beach.

8-5- Nineteen year old hiker injured from a rock fall in the Grand Canyon during a thunderstorm. His fellow hikers took him to Phantom Ranch for treatment but he had to be flown out by helicopter to Flagstaff.

Lollapalooza music festival suspended in Chicago due to extreme winds and stormy conditions. Ten of thousands were evacuated yesterday to underground garages.

Six separate fires burning in Oklahoma.

8-6- Medical examiner trying to identify body burned beyond recognition in rural, Norman, Oklahoma home after wildfires.

Fish & Game officials in parts of Montana impose “hoot owl “ restrictions on the Smith, Dearborn and Sun Rivers. Fishing isn’t allowed in the afternoons and evenings when the water temperatures are too high. Yellowstone National Park has done the same thing. Trout become distressed in warm water.

8-7- No relief for Arizona deserts with high pressure from New Mexico settled in over the state. 108 degrees with a dew point of 61 at The Land! Absolutely fucking miserable! 90 degree record low in Phoenix.

Ernesto is now a Category 1 hurricane. 1500 evacuated in Mexico’s Quintan Rue. Two cruise ships are diverted from its projected path.

Heavy rains cause 270,000 to evacuate in Manila with flooding as high as 15’.

8-8- Rare snow fall across much of South Africa.

111 degrees with a dew point of 61 degrees at The Land. Average temperature 102.5, the hottest day of the summer. New record of 116 degrees in Phoenix with a record low of 93 degrees. Bull Head City 119 degrees.

25 year old hiker rescued at top of Camelback Mountain after getting lost and running out of water. Dehydration resulted in being airlifted off the mountain.

July was the hottest month on record for the “contiguious” U.S. Drought now covers 63% of the lower 48 states. Average temperature 77.6 degree. 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average.

Two million rescued as Typhoon Haikui hits China.

8-9- Record low high of 93 degrees and a record high of 114 in Phoenix.

Massive cleanup in the Philippines today after monsoon floods kill ninety one and 300,000 folks remain in shelters.

Arizona Game & Fish Commissioner busted for shooting a prairie dog out of season. He said on April 9th he was hunting rabbits with a son of a family friend. With no rabbits found apparently the kid popped a dog. The animals cannot be hunted after April 1st. The kind Commissioner reported himself and will not lose his job, be severely punished or lose his hunting license. He has been accredited for turning himself in as the responsible thing to do. (Get a rope!)

“Fido Bags” created by Glendale fire officials are used to resuscitate dogs and other muzzle animals injured in fires. They are specialized oxygen masks. The bags have now been introduced to other cities by the Fetch Foundation.

A black bear went in and out of a Colorado candy store multiple times to steal and eat chocolate. Surveillance video showed the bear prying open the door and grabbing some candy near the register. He took the candy outside to eat and made seven trips in fifteen minutes. The only evidence he left behind was some dirt on a counter and paper on the ground. “He was very clean and careful. He ate a lot of candy” the store owner said.

8-10- A Micro Burst reported at Oregon Pipe National Park in Arizona. A roof was ripped off an auditorium and garbage cans strewn about like empty beer cans.

Severe weather delays across the East Coast’s busiest airports. A tornado reported in Long Island, New York.

According to the USDA this will be the worst nation wide corn production due to drought in seventeen years. Corn prices are at record highs and this drought is proclaimed by some as te worst since 1956.

Death toll rises to six from bad ass Ernesto in Mexico. Three were killed when a tree fell on their pickup.

Two wildfires are coming close to an ammunition factory in Bosnia. The efforts to extinguish one are hampered by a minefield. (Shit, and we think we have it rough out here in the West with fires.)

8-11- At two p.m this afternoon TwinkieDuck emailed with a weather report from Happy Jack; 59 degrees and pouring rain.

Folks hit hard by the damaging rain in Anthem, Arizona on July 31st are informed by their insurance company they have no flood insurance. One owner sustained 60,000 dollars in damage to her home in the “Master Planned” community of Anthem Parkside.

The Tonto National Forest reduces camping restrictions in the area of three June bear attacks on people.

And this in from the Lovely Mrs. Blueduck: A mother bear and her three cubs broke into a Norwegian cabin drinking one hundred beers, eating all the food and knocking over a wall. “They had a hell of a party in there.” the owner said. “The entire cabin was destroyed.” With paw prints and shit everywhere there is little doubt the bears were responsible. “Your average criminals don’t typically break down a wall when a front door will work just fine.”

A young male mountain lion in Oregon has been trapped and killed for killing two domestic sheep. Wildlife biologists say the animal had a fractured right leg and signs of an earlier gunshot wound. Both injuries impaired the animal’s ability to hunt and likely caused it to kill easy prey.

8-12- Forty homes in Fresno, California evacuated due to a wildfire.

“Drought’s Wrath felt across U.S…… Farmers go town to town to buy water. Nurseries hold “heat stroke” sales. Tap water emerges at 84 degrees.” (Try living in the desert with a well and your holding tank is black. No need to use hot water all summer. “Go Green.”)

80-100 mph winds in parts of Connecticut are confirmed as micro bursts and not a tornado.

8-13- Record high of 115 in Phoenix. Seventh straight day of morning low temperatures not below 90 degrees.

A new fire in the Tonto National Forest blankets the Valley of the Sun with smoke and haze on top of this miserable heat.

The President announces that the Department of Agriculture intends to buy 170 million pounds of pork, lamb, chicken and catfish to “help farmers” suffering from the drought. The food purchases will go toward “food nutrition assistance.” One official said “This is a win-win. Farmers and ranchers will have an opportunity to sell more of their products at this critical time and tax payers will get a better price on food that wouul have to be purchased later.” (There are several ways to interpret this; more control over the masses, trying to really prepare for what may be the worst of this drought or just plain politicking before an election. To me the whole thing “smells funny.” Wonder why there is no mention of beef? I suppose it does not fit into dietary guidelines for this health conscious administration?)

8-14- There are 62 wildfires burning in eight western states.

A 20 year old firefighter is killed by a falling tree near Irofino, Idaho while working a fire there. The rest of her crew made it to a safety zone and were pulled away from the fire. 653 square miles have burned and five ranches evacuated.

The Taylor Bridge Fire in Central Washington has grown from 2800 acres to 20,000 acres in hours. 70 homes destroyed and 450 homes evacuated.

3700 farmers and ranchers in Missouri have been approved for emergency well drilling by the state’s government. 95% the Show Me state is parched.

693 West Nile Virus cases in Texas considered an epidemic. Night time spraying will occur for the first time since the 1960’s.

Firefighters rescue a 17 year old girl three quarters up Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. She was so dehydrated she was passing out.


8-15-The Mistake Peak Fire has grown to 3500 acres near Pumpkin Center in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona and is 10% contained.

Booming, rolling thunder at midnight above The Land. High winds and not much rain but the power was out for seven hours. It was a hot night and a bucket bath morning.

Prison inmates help fire crews fight the massive fire in Washington. The Taylor Bridge Fire has grown to 28,000 acres and destroyed 70 homes.

The Trinity Ridge Fire in Idaho has grown to 63,000 acres.

The lower Mississippi River has dropped another five feet and halted essential barge traffic once again.

8-16- An inch and a half of rain and hail falls in Flagstaff, Arizona in 45 minutes.

Two heat related deaths in Yuma County, Arizona. One was a “transient” found dead in a field. The other was an 80 year old woman found in her 105 degree apartment with the air conditioner off.

A jury in San Bernandino has found a man guilty five counts of murder after five folks sustained heart attacks durning a massive wildfire. The man has been convicted of starting the 91,000 acre fire that that destroyed 100 homes in 1993 in the foothills above San Bernandino.

8-17- A Flash Flood Warning issued for the town of Maricopa, Arizona form noon to three p.m. They were right. Although I only had a few sprinkles on the way home, heavy rain in the hills around us sent torrents of flash flooding down into the desert and the roads around our home. I could not drive home the normal way and had to drive fifteen miles east and south to come home on higher ground.

Three inches of rain fell last night in Surprise, Arizona. There were 8 high water rescues on paved roads! Flooded homes and 1500 without power.

Fifty two out of control fires burning in the West.

Tropical Storm Helene forms in the Gulf of Mexico. Flood Warnings are issued for the coast.

8-18-The mop up begins in Surprise, Arizona after three inches of rain fell in a short period of time and flooded homes and streets.

Heat wave with 104 degree temperatures in France. The government is determined to prevent what happened in the summer of 2003 when 15,000 people died during a heat wave.

Tropical Storm Helene strikes land off the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Gordon headed for Azores.

8-19- The Mistake Peak Fire in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona has burned 5,260 acres and is 65% contained.

Hurricane Gordon is now a Category 2 storm.

8-20- The first two weeks in Phoenix are the hottest on record. Average temperature 111.2 degrees. Average lows were 88.8 degrees. This is the first time in history the daily average temperature was over 100 degrees for two weeks.

Maricopa County, Arizona has stopped investigating how a rainstorm severly flooded parts of the Anthem community last month. They are saying is was a one in one thousand year catastrophe. “No one was at fault because it was an act of God.”

Eight on a sailboat on Lake Superior injured by a lightning strike. One boy later died of his injuries.

8-21- Poor Mrs. Blue Duck could not get home due to flash flooding on The Land until two thirty in the morning. Thank God she was not stranded by high water and was able to get back to Maricopa to wait it out. What a long night it was for both of us. Me worried and not getting much sleep. Her worried about not being able to get home until morning.

There was heavy flooding in east Mesa last night. Two homes damaged, trees down and one thousand without power.

A Glendale, Arizona neighborhood on lockdown after bees attack. A four year old saved the life of his grandmother by pushing a panic button the woman wore. The woman was stung many times and the four year old covered her with a blanket. ( A remarkable child!)

Tropical Storm Issac formed in the Atlantic yesterday. It may grow into a hurricane and threaten next week’s Republican National convention.

8-22- A State of Emergency is declared by the governor of the Town of Maricopa after 1.97 inches of rain has fallen in two days. Localized heavy flooding this afternoon. Sandbags are being passed out and firefighters are going door to door in flooded neighborhoods. Maricopa Meadow’s golf course is under fifteen feet of water. (Let me guess. This golf course must be in the normally dry Santa Rosa wash?)

After E-Coli bacteria is found in the water supply, San Tan, Arizona residents are urged to boil water before drinking it. Folks are outraged!

The West Nile virus this year is the largest in U.S. history. With 1100 cases reported and 41 dead it has doubled in the past week. Twenty eight of the dead are in Texas. Every state has reported cases. “Never this far and this fast.”

Wildfires have burned nearly seven million acres in the United States destroying more land in the first eight months of any year since accurate record keeping began in the early sixties. Twelve firefighters have died this season and Colorado hit especially hard.

A State of Emergency is declared in Bosnia as a heat wave fuels wildfires and leaves people suffering from heat exhaustion.

A crocodile attacks a homeless man near a lagoon in Cancun and bites off his hand. (If it wasn’t enough misery to be homeless.)

8-23- .80’’ of rain today in Phoenix a new record for this date. A brief shelf cloud was photographed over Tempe last night, a very rare event for this region. Mudslides on I-10 and 75th Avenue from a retention area leaves a huge sinkhole and three lanes of east bound traffic closed. A seventy five year old man in a wheelchair and his driver are rescued from a flooded Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale. Apparently the medical transport driver ignored barricades and drove into the wash.

“Drought makes green marijuana crops more visible for police in Indiana.” Cornfields across the state are dry and brown and pot crops “stand out like a sore thumb”. Trained troopers fly over the land to look for the green crop. (Give me a fucking break! A family has to make a living doing something if the corn won’t grow.)

Tropical Storm Issac threatens Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

A Queen Creek, Arizona man is in critical condition after he was found covered with bees after mowing his yard.

8-24- The driver of a medical transport van that drove through roadblocks into the flooded Indian Bend Wash yesterday will face criminal charges for endangerment.

The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck sent me photos and a story of two people very lucky to be alive. They were driving through Oak Creek Canyon when a huge boulder fell through their windshield. The photo of the boulder in the passenger seat had enough weight and size to take off the head of one of the occupants.

This is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew in Florida. It was a Category 5 storm with 212 mph winds. 126,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and twenty six dead.

Tropical Storm Issac is building strength as it bears down on Haiti. A Tropical Storm Watch is issued for the Florida Keys.

8-25- One inch of rain fell in a brief amount of time in Flagstaff today.

This spooky contribution is from DarDuck: A recent surge of rattlesnake bites have occurred in Arizona. Fourteen bites are reported in Tucson in a six day period. Young rattlers are just as lethal as adults if not more so. They are born with fangs and extremely potent venom to help them hunt while they are small. They are harder to see and don’t rattle as loudly as an adult rattlesnake. The average cost of a snakebite is twenty five thusand dollars for the anti venom alone. August and September are the most active months due to breeding, and recently, the surge in moisture and flooding.

Tropical Storm Issac is on the northern coastline of eastern Cuba after claiming three lives in Haiti. Waves in Cuba are as high as twenty feet and flights are cancelled. The water temperature is 87 degrees which helps produce a hurricane.

Several thousand villages evacuated in Serbia as wildfires burn out of control. Heat wave, drought and dried up corn fueling the fires.

Green Peace activists storm a Russian oil rig to protest drilling in the Arctic. They were first offered hot soup and then blasted with cold water and pieces of metal by crew members. The brave fuckers managed to erect climbing tents on the vessel before being “evacuated.” Before leaving they managed to leave a banner on the rig saying “Don’t kill the Arctic.”

8-26- The GOP delays convention for one day due to Issac as high winds and rain hit Florida ahead of the storm. Gulf oil platforms evacuated. A Hurricane Warning is issued for New Orleans.

85,000 folks have fled monsoon flooding in Myanmar. 600,000 acres of rice fields are under water.

And this grizzly (in more ways than one) from the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck: A hiker in Alaska’s Denali National Park was photographing a grizzly bear for at least eight minutes before the bear mauled and killed the man. The hiker was alone along the Toklat River two days ago when he came within 50 yards of the bear. Parts of his bloody backpack and clothing were found later by other hikers. The bear was found guarding his “cashe” of food later. The bear was destroyed.
Park rules require a quarter mile separation between people and animals and actually conduct a training class for hikere prepared to set forth in Denali. Because of strict rules this is the first known fatal mauling in one hundred years.

8-27- Residents in unprotected low lying areas outside of New Orleans evacuated as Issac grows closer to hurricane status. It is on the same storm track as the monster Katrina seven years ago to the day.

8-28- Now Hurricane Issac makes landfall in south east Louisiana. One inch of rain per hour falling and one hundred thousand without power.
Orange Beach, Alabama has twelve to fifteen foot waves.

8-29- Issac is only a Category 1 hurricane but moving very slowly and dumping massive amounts of rain. Storm surges passes eight foot levees and second floor house rescues are taking place. One foot of rain so far in and near New Orleans and 500,000 without power.

Yosemite officials have notified 1700 past visitors they may have been exposed to a rodent borne disease blamed for two deaths of people who stayed in cabins at the national park. Four others have contacted the hantivirus disease.

8-30- With fifteen billion dollars in levee improvements since Katrina New Orleans escapes worst of storm but rural areas are inundated with flooding. Some feel the ‘’improvements” simply diverted the water to lower elevations. Slidell, Louisiana has areas that have never flooded with up to five feet of water. 50,000 ordered to evacuate immediately in Tangipahoa Parish as heavy rains threaten to cause a dam to fail across the Mississippi State line. Up to sixteen inches or rain has fallen and 850,000 across Louisiana and Mississippi are without power.

8-31- Up to twenty inches of rain from Issac has fallen with damage to Arkansas and Mississippi. Five deaths attributed to the storm. Half million people are without power in oppressive heat and humidity.

Four thousand evacuated from Ojen, in southern Spain from a wildfire out of control.

A black bear was having fun in Sierra Vista, Arizona jumping into residents’ yards. Police herded the bear into open desert and mountains so he could terrorize someone or something else.

And there you have it my fine readers around the world! Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather tried especially hard to make this anniversary issue the longest and most tiresome reading ever!

Before we leave you a new feature this edition is the fact of the month. More people each year are killed by storm surges than high wind.

The quote of the month is from a citizen in Louisiana during this recent hurricane. “Mother Nature is a tricky dame. Don’t care what you do. If she wants to get you she will come and get you.” Amen, Brother.

Appropriately the song of the month is “Weatherbeaten Soul” by Reckless Kelly.

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

The Distinguished, Honorable, Master of Bullshit, Professor MR Blue Duck.

July 2012 Weather News!

“There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, of water to sand, insuring that wide, free, open, generous spacing among plants and animals…. There is no lack of water here, unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.”
Edward Abbey

And then when it does rain in the desert and in the city it comes down hard and fast. And with cities “stupid motorist” rules have to be made up as if to keep people from driving into flooded washes and having to be rescued (if they are lucky).Sadly you will read some did not make it through flooded washes alive. And people decide to build “master planned” communities in the desert and wonder after four inches of rain in an hour while their community looks like a bomb went off with flooding, ruined homes, walls and trees knocked over and a stinking mess of carpet and damaged goods. The first thing they want to do is sue someone; planners, developers, builders, inspectors and I guess even God. Accept your choice and your fate.


This exciting issue of Blue Duck Weather is jammed packed with all the news that does and does not fit. Cigarettes, lightning, trains and guns blamed for wildfires, two fires in the steep and rugged canyons near my sanctuary, Riggs Lake on Mount Graham, arrest made in the aftermath of the Sunflower Fire in Arizona last month, another hiker lost in the Superstition Mountains and his fate, the coolest Fourth of July in the Arizona desert in one hundred years, a landslide so massive it registers as an earthquake in Alaska, the worst drought in the Heartland in one hundred years, a Bobcat breaks into a prison, Fishing on the Kenai River in Alaska suspended, a man dressed in a goat’s suit wandering amongst wild goats (we don’t make this shit up), a woman killed by lightning on her due date, animal suicide?, a whale advisory, “if you are halfway through with your water you are halfway through with your hike”, confirmed tornado at 11,900 feet in Colorado! And so much more.

The Land had flash flooding of its own and a very impressive amount of rain for the month, 2.29’’is more than we have received all year! To date Phoenix has had 1.32’’ of rain.

The average temperature at the Land was 92 degrees, fucking hot. But we only had one day that the average was a miserable 100 degrees and the end of the month actually finished 9 degrees cooler than the beginning. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had an average temperature of 67.14 degrees.

Roosevelt Lake worries me at 53% capacity. At the beginning of the year it was nearly 100% full. Pleasant is 69% full, Mead is 50% and the Mighty Powell at 62%.

7-1- The Grapevine Fire near Safford, Arizona caused by lightning has burned 4800 acres.

Highway 87 closed near Winslow, Arizona from the Canyon Wildfire. Lightning caused it has burned 5,000 acres.

Denver, Colorado had its hottest June on record. The average temperature was 75 degrees, 7.6 degrees above normal.

The Eastern U.S. continues to bake and power outages from recent storms could last for days. People are throwing out spoiled food by the tons. There are 23 states with temperatures above one hundred degrees.

“Experts are investigating the deaths of 15 cattle in Central Texas that had grazed on toxic grass this past spring.” It is the first documented case of cyanide poisoning linked to a common Bermuda grass hybrid found in grazing lands across Texas. The problem appears to be isolated.

7-2- A search is on for a missing hiker in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. An avid hiker who knew the area well set out for a four hour hike with one gallon of water. (Editor’s Note: What is the lure of this vast wilderness? It looks so peaceful and serene from any vantage point in the east valley. But it is hot and formidable. One rescuer said it best. “It will claim you every time if you are not prepared, especially during the summer.” Time and time again we read of lost souls in this mysterious mountain range. Unlike the heavily used and marked trails of local parks and mountains such as South Mountain and Camelback Mountain enter the “Sups” at your own risk. And as the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck has advised me many times don’t do it alone.)

The Canyon Fire near the Jack’s Canyon area near Highway 87 in Arizona has grown to 5,000 acres overnight.

The Grapevine Fire near Safford has grown to 8,000 acres.

Twenty two dead and 1.9 million still without power in the East after the fierce storm three days ago. Hurricane Katrina affected three million people. This one, five million.

7-3- The search is still on for the missing hiker in the Superstition Mountains with horses, dogs and a Pinal County helicopter. Search called off at one p.m. due to heat and high humidity.

50 mph winds and a half inch of rain from Wilcox to Safford, Arizona.

A man is arrested for starting the 18,000 acre Sunflower Fire near Payson, Arizona last month. According to authorities he fired an incendiary shotgun shell into dry grass that ignited the blaze.

7-4- Simply amazing and so unpredicted! At ten thirty this morning on The Land is was 71 degrees and .30’’ of rain fell. Cloudy and cool all day it never got over 78 degrees with a .54” of rain. It felt like one my camping trips when you are rained out and do nothing but set around, tinker and smell the wet beauty of the Land. Later I found out it was the coolest Fourth of July in 100 years.

Arizona City didn’t get off so easy. Major street and house flooding with twelve to sixteen inches of water. 1.57’’ of rain fell. And in Tucson a funnel cloud was reported today.

Parts of Montana and Wyoming reached 100 degrees today.

“Just like 1778”. No electricity or fireworks for million in the East. Ten states still have not electricity from storms 5 days ago.

A hippo in Nigeria has been shot to death after killing two people.

7-5- So much moisture in the air there was fog this morning on The Land and it registered as .01’’ of rain. Yesterday there was four inches of rain in portions of Pinal County and 3.44” of rain in Pima County. In that county the rain fell so hard and fast passengers abandoned a pickup that water had carried into a wash.

The missing hiker in the Superstitions still has not been found.

Drought affects 56% of the U.S. and a toll is being taken on food supplies. 22% of corn and soybean crops in poor condition and 43% of nation’s pastures and grasslands.

It is so hot in Chicago heat buckles pavement and three heat related deaths.

7-6- Two fires in the Coronado National Forest are being monitored with “minimal resources.” Crews have set up a perimeter around the Pinnacle and Trap Peak Fires. Both are burning in rugged canyons near RIGGS LAKE! (Please don’t burn down my church.) 400 acres have burned with 40% containment.

The poor soul missing in the Superstition Mountains has been found dead five days after he set out for his hike. Authorities believe he died the same day he left.

A storm in Tennessee has killed four people, tossing boats and tipping over trailers at a campground with 70mph winds. A child and grandmother died when their pontoon boat capsized on Chattanooga Lake. One man was killed in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park when his motorcycle was hit by a tree limb. A woman was crushed to death by a falling tree.

Forty-three deaths have occurred from the heat wave in the last two weeks in the Mid West. Following last week’s storms 406,000 people still without power in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.

7-7- The Beeline Highway and 87 are closed due to a new brush fire in Arizona.

An outbreak of golden algae has killed thousands of fish this week in a twenty mile stretch of the Salt River in Arizona. The reported area is east of Roosevelt Lake to Horseshoe Bend.

Dispatch recording indicate that Clorado’s deadly Waldo Canyon Fire started near a popular hiking trail west of Colorado Springs.

Forty three deaths tied to the heat wave in last two weeks in the Mid West following last week’s storms. 406,000 still without power in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.

Smoke from the wildfires in the West have blown to the East Coast causing “code orange” air quality alerts in Maryland.

High temperatures have killed ten thousand bluegill in a lake in Knoxville, Tennessee. “It’s really putrid” one resident says.
Across South Dakota fishermen have reported thousands of fish kills in various lakes and rivers.

One lake in Delaware has six thousand dead gizzard shad and six hundred perch.

One hundred and thirty four dead and thousands of homes flooded after torrential rains, landslides and a wave of water twenty feet high hit southern Russia. Two months of rain in twenty four hours.

Five hundred dead trees need to be cut down in Texas due to drought and beetle infestation.

Swimming ban at Cape Cod as the Great White sharks return chasing gray seals.

Record rain in Great Britain three weeks before the Olympics begin.

7-8- Sixty-six lives lost from the heat wave since June. Ten states are under excessive heat warnings.

Baby girl dies and a toddler in critical condition after they were left in separate vehicles in Indiana on a day when temperatures hit a record 104 degrees.

Rain and cooler temperatures prompt Colorado governor to lift statewide fire ban.

Southern Russia flooding kills 153 people in one town. Most were sleeping when the water hit.

Baby Golden eagle recovering after it miraculously survived Utah’s Dump Fire. A volunteer rescuer found the burned bird on June 28th behind a charred tree twenty five feet below the nest that had been burned to a crisp.

7-9- Second 110 degree temperature on The Land of the season. The average temperature from low to high was a miserable 93 degrees. (When you wake up in the morning and the low is in the nineties you know it’s going to be a rough day.)

A wind blown wildfire west of Twin Falls, Idaho was first spotted two days ago and has grown to 75,000 acres in twenty four hours.

The National Oceanic & Atomospheric Administration reports the first six months of 2012 have been the hottest on record in the U.S. The average temperature was 52.9 degrees, 4.5 degrees above the long term average.

Russia’s president has ordered an investigation into whether enough warning had been issued to prevent 171 deaths from severe flooding in the Black Sea region. There have been overwhelming angry protests since the flood killed many while they were sleeping.

7-10- The first average temperature from high to low was 100 degrees on The Land.

Emilia becomes a powerful Category 4 hurricane off Mexico “out of the blue” with a 140mph winds. The storm is 680 miles southwest of Baja, California.

7-11- An Arizona state investigation discovers a 67 year old man who was left outside a Tucson long term care home in one hundred degree plus heat for over an hour last month had a cord body temperature of 107 degrees when he died.

A ten foot alligator bites off the arm of a teenager swimming in a river in Moore Haven, Florida. The alligator was killed and the boy’s arm was retrieved but doctors were unable to reattach it.

7-12- Four fires have flared up in the last two days in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. The Bartlett, Cooks Fire, New River Fire and the Squaw Fire are burning in the Cave Creek District. Rough terrain is prohibiting fire relief and 310 acres have burned.

Since June in Arizona there have been 109 calls for children and pets left in hot cars.

A DPS K-9 is taken in life threatening condition to a vet after his handler accidentally left the dog in his car for about an hour while the officer responded to an emergency call in Tucson.

A baby sitter is held in a Mesa, Arizona baby’s heat related death. The sitter was arrested by police on aggravated driving under the influence. The Sitter said he was not from the area and was driving around lost for four hours without air conditioning. He noticed as some point the baby was sick and sought help at a convenience store.

A house is destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning near 36th Street and Thomas in Phoenix.

7-13- The DPS K-9 is put down after heat stress.

4,000 APS customers lost power for nearly forty five minutes yesterday after a squirrel got into an north Phoenix substation on Cave Creek Road. “It is unlikely the squirrel survived.”

A trial is set for the 23 year old Mesa, Arizona man accused of starting the Sunflower Fire near Payson. The fire burned 17, 446 acres from May 12th to July 5th. He was camping with four friends for his bachelor’s party when he fired what he called a “flame throwing shotgun round” at a soda box near the Sycamore Creek area. He and his friends tried to stomp the fire out, couldn’t and called 9-11. They were told to leave the area immediately.

With a drought so bad the USDA designates 1,016 counties in twenty six states as natural disaster areas.

A five mile long landslide in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park is so big it registered on earthquake monitors as a magnitude 3.4 on the Richter Scale.

Two goats named Goatee and Pismo were taught by their owner to surf because he loves it so much. The goats stand on surfboards in cruise the waves in front of onlookers in Southern California.

7-14- Three quarters of an inch of rain in a short period of time on The Land! Flash flooding, dogs loving it, the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck playing in it, me photographing the street flooding and stuck cars and just general weather havoc. It was so exciting!

From Gilbert TwinkyDuck reported heavy street flooding and possible hail damage to DooderDuck’s truck. Planes grounded for twenty minutes at Sky Harbor International Airport. U.S. 60 and Val Vista closed due to flooding, all lanes. 72mph winds in the east valley, 6000 SRP customers without power and in Lake Havasu City one man swept away from his truck in a wash and discovered dead.

7-15- A sixty five year old driver near Wickenburg, Arizona is swept away by flash flooding and has perished. He was almost home and told witnesses he had seen worse flooding before he entered the wash.

Crown King, Arizona cut off from I-17 by flooding and rock slides.
Quarzite, Arizona has no power for sixteen hours.

Wildfires burning in a steep canyon in Placer County, California has destroyed one home and threatens 170 others. The fire has burned 1950 acres since it began three days ago.

Two men dead and a third injured when lightning strikes a tree that the three had taken shelter under. They had been playing soccer in Houston when the storm hit.

7-16- Colorado City, Arizona is flooded from heavy rain run off.

Now official; the worst drought in one hundred years. One third of the U.S. crops are in trouble. Some areas of the Mighty Mississippi River are so low barges cannot navigate.

In southern Japan 25 people have died and thousands cutoff by floods and mudslides.

Two more climbers have died on Mont Blame near Rome following the deaths of nine last week in a massive avalanche.

7-17- Another wave of heat breaking temperatures in the Mid West and North East.

India’s monsoon has taken 109 lives since June and 400,000 are homeless. Experts say the tragedy is worse because of corruption and poor management of the Brahmaputra River. Millions meant for flood control have been taken by state water officials in the last five years. (Greedy Bastards!)

7-18- Even with the latest storms Phoenix is 2.73” in the hole.

A bobcat is shot with a tranquilizer gun after breaking into a Washington State prison. It climbed a razor wire fence and onto a roof. The cat is being treated for cuts and will be released into the wild.

A black cat name Oli walked six miles in three days to find his way back home in New Hampshire. Once home he ate three cans of food and slept for 24 hours.

7-19- Hundreds of elk photographed drinking water in puddles at dried up Mormon Lake near Flagstaff.

Fishing for King Salmon in the Kenai River in Alaska is closed. So few kings are returning to the river, the lowest on record since the 1980s.

7-20- The largest of 13 lightning caused wildfires near the Arizona- Utah border are close to full containment. The blazes began on July 11th. The Hobble Complex Fire has burned 31,000 acres on the Arizona Strip. ( Kind of strange no mention of this fire before especially how large it is. Is that because it is not a “glamerous” fire near towns or resorts?)

7-21- Another major dust storm with heavy rain hit’s the Valley of the Sun with 60mph winds, seven thousand without power and air traffic at Sky Harbor International Airport suspended.

Mudslides caused by torrential rains have killed one man, damaged homes and cut off villages in Austria.

A man has been spotted in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in northern Utah. Wildlife officials are worried the man could be in danger as hunting season approaches. (Hell, they should be worried about his mental condition and the goats!)

7-22- 33mph winds in Casa Grande.

Indiana residents are being urged to protect themselves and pets from water in some of the state’s lakes. Two dogs that swam in a lake are dead from being exposed to toxic algae.

Eighteen people in India die after a bus slammed by boulders during a landslide is knocked into a 150’ canyon.

Heaviest rain in Beijing in sixty years kills 37 people, 25 of them drowned. 80,000 are stranded at main airport. One township deluged by 18.1’’ of rain.

7-23- The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck’s sister report from near Cascade, Montana eight days in a row of temperatures over a hundred degrees. The Mission Road Fire has gone from a few acres to over a thousand in a day.

Firefighters are working eight fires on the west side of the Kaibab Plateau that all started by from lightning strikes two days ago. The largest is the Tank Fire at 1100 acres.

The first West Nile virus death reported in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The Fairfield Creek Fire sparked by lightning four days ago in Springview, Nebraska has grown to 50,000 acres.

7-25- “Sudden massive ice melt hits Greenland.” All of Greenland’s ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, “ a freak event that even surprised scientists.”

In Pennsylvania a pregnant Amish woman picking berries in the woods killed by lightning. Her unborn child also died.

7-26- Headline of the New York Times: “Melting asphalt, kinking rail tracks. Weather extremes buckle U.S. infrastructure”

Tornadoes are rare in New York but one may have struck Elmira, New York today with damaged buildings and thousands without power. Unsettled weather causing air port delays along the East Coast.

Federal officials have issued a whale watch advisory for large ships in the San Francisco Bay. It was issued to avoid killing droves of whales feeding near the northern coast.

7-28- Grass painting a booming business due to the drought for United States ravaged lawns. A turf dye commonly used on golf courses is applied to the withered lawns to make them look like new. (Wonder how they smell?)

A gorills in a zoo in Prague has accidentally hanged himself with a climbing rope. He likely unbraided one of a dozen ropes the gorillas use for climbing and put a strand around his neck. ( Suicide?)

Flash Flood Warning issued for the Payson, Arizona area and Sycamore Wash is flooding homes. There is a blowing dust advisory in the Valley until seven p.m.

Severe winds knock down trees from Michigan to Georgia. 85,000 without power in Pennsylvania, 34,000 in New York and 13,000 in Ohio.

Deadly floods kill 88 in North Korea and 63,000 are homeless.

This contribution is from the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck; From the West Coast to the East Coast insect infestations thanks to record breaking temperatures and warm early spring rains. In Harold, California locusts are devouring peaches, roses and hot peppers. One woman said “If you stand in my by backyard I’ve got about 5,000 locusts per square yard.”

7-29- “If you are halfway through your water you are halfway through with your hike.” Search and rescue teams have gone into the Superstition Mountains in Arizona twenty two times since last July.

A local historian on the Superstitions estmates that between the year 1900 and 2000 50-70 people went into the mountains and never came out.

Searchers have found the bodies of two U.S. mountain climbers who were killed after summting a 20,000’ peak in Peru. The men fell nearly one thousand feet off of a ridge while descening.

Unofficial Micro- burst in Foutain Hills, Arizona with heavy rain and downed trees.
An ominous Wall Cloud spotted near The Land this evening by The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck and me. These can be precursers to tornadoes so I called it in as any dutiful storm watcher would. Thankfully it did not blow us to Kansas.

7-30- A two year old boy is swept to his death in a flooded wash just outside his home in San Tan Valley, Arizona. Since 2006 residents in Bonanza Ranch have been filing complaints with Pinal County.

The Micro Burst in Foutain Hills, Arizona yesterday has been confirmed.

Tornado in Colorado mountains the second highest on record in the U.S. Mount Evans at 11,900 feet. (Who would ever imagine a tornado that high.)

7-31- Funnel Cloud reported in Deer Valley, Arizona. 64mph winds in Anthem and a Flood Advisory posted along with Black Canyon City.

It’s that time of year again sadly. DarrDuck reports that Slide Rock in Sedona, Arizona is closed due to poor water quality. What this means is all the “Bathers” pissing, shitting and leaving their kid’s diapers “hid” in the rocks and water has contaminated the once beautiful stretch of Oak Creek Canyon. I think the whole area should be closed for the summer to swimmers. But, I forgot, what would that do to the tourism industry in Sedona?

“Rabbit fever” confirmed in animals near Dewey, Arizona. It can be passed from animals to humans causing sudden fever, headaches, diarrhea, muscle soreness, progressive weakness, dry cough and pneumonia. It is treatable. ( When hunting and then skinning rabbits for food I was taught at an early age to look for spots on the liver. I was told this is a definite sign of a sick rabbit and not to eat the meat. )

Cattlemen are asking the EPA to give them a break competing with ethanol producers for corn at a time of high prices and drought. The EPA has the power to temporarily reduce the amount of ethanol required to mix into gas when it comes from corn. (This is a sad state of affairs, using much needed feed and food for fuel.)

And there you have it my fine and loyal readers all across the world. I don’t know if it is just me, but as each month rolls by the weather news seems to become more intense on many levels, especially the drought, heat and what is happening on so many levels because of it. Some say we are in the worst times since the Dust Bowl of the thirties. We will see what happens. Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather is committed heart and soul to deliver you the facts as we find them.
With that the song of the month is “Come a Rain” by Kevin Welch.

The Honorable, Indistinguished, Doctor MR Blue Duck.

June 2012 Blue Duck Weather News

June 2012 Weather News!

It seems appropriate to begin this month’s weather journal with a quote.

“Give me silence; water and hope”.
“Give me struggle; iron, volcanoes.”- Pablo Neruda.

Fires in the West and heat in the East dominate this month’s weather. It may seem boring but it is also startling if nothing else but the burden and stress it places on all biological life dealing with it; not to mention the financial and human toll on fighting wildfires and trying to stay cool. Toward the end of this journal you will note a very brief report that one of the largest fires may have been caused by arson. One woman even spoke of Eco- Terrorism. That was the first and last report I heard of the possibility. The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck has said it many times about bundling up in the winter to stay warm but there is no escape from the heat when you are out in it

But you will read so much more in this exciting issue of Blue Duck Weather.
Read all the rest of the weather news happening in your community, state, country and around the world.

A fatal mistake by a preacher and a rattler, a bear attack on a camper in eastern Arizona, more fucking fires in the West, record breaking spring heat in the U.S. (spooky shit), a record boar tide brings surfers south of Anchorage, (The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck and I had the amazing privilege to witness this with two close friends after the toss of a “magic quarter”, to see which way to go, while we were visiting Alaska), the highest toilet in Arizona, The fucking West is burning up!, How many gallons is one inch of rain on one acre of land?, The sometimes terrible results of target practicing in dead dry grass, another black bear attack in Arizona, You know it’s hot when your piss evaporates as soon as it hit’s the ground, Utah governor proclaims gun shooters are causing too many wildfires, a thirsty coyote on The Land too close for comfort, a new “sophisticated” government system to issue emergency weather alerts and more if needed (Big Brother is watching), A fire so fierce it causes thirty two thousand evacuations in one city and the official start date of the monsoon season on The Land.

The average temperature on The Land for June was 87.50 degrees. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had 70.35 degrees.

To date Phoenix has had .36” of rain. The Land has .49”.

The lake levels are alarming, especially Roosevelt at 57% full. Mead is 51%, Pleasant 82% and Powell 64%

June was the third straight windy month in Arizona, matching April for winds. And all of the wind is accelerating drying and eventually fires.

6-1- National News: “Arizona slammed by sweltering temps, smoky haze” form the massive fire in western New Mexico. The White Water- Baldy fire
Has burned 190,000 acres and is the largest in the United States.

The highest outdoor toilet in Arizona is on top of Mount Baldy in northern Arizona at eleven thousand feet.

A seventy two year old sleeping woman in a tent near Payson attacked by a black bear. It ripped through the tent and clawed the woman while she, her husband and dog were sleeping. There was no food in the tent or immediate area to attract the bear.

A new heat record set in Phoenix of 111 degrees broke the old record set in 1997. 115 degrees in Gila Bend.

Tornado and flood alerts from Washington, D.C. to Florida. Eleven thousand are without power.

In West Virginia a preacher who followed his father’s practice of handling snakes to prove his faith in God died after being bit during an outdoor service. He was bit on the thigh by a timber rattler. His father died from a snakebite in 1983. (Don’t mess with God and snakes. You might piss both of them off.!)

6-2- A tornado in Hampton, Virginia. Downed trees and flooding in Maryland and three teens saved from drowning.

Crews dropped by helicopter into remote terrain to fight the White Water- Baldy Complex fire. (How the hell do they get out if things get bad?) The fire has burned 227,000 acres and is 15% contained.

From his secluded and remote location in Colorado RyDuck reports at two thirty in the afternoon “Storms with great lightning and a mix of rain and small hail. Doors and windows are open with a temperature of 60 degrees. Enjoy the oven.” (The bastard.)

The Gomez Fire has erupted near Silver City, New Mexico.

6-3- The White-Water Baldy Complex Fire has burned 240,000 acres in New Mexico and there are 1200 firefighters. 17% contained.

6-4- Red Flag Warning posted for northern Arizona tomorrow.

Wind driven wildfire burns in the Sequoia National Forest burning 1700 acres in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. All campers and hikers are evacuated. The Gorge Fire is the first blaze in this forest in 140 years!

An air tanker crashes fighting the White Rock wild fire in southern Utah, killing two crew members.

6-5- Complete fire ban begins in Coconino County, Arizona beginning tomorrow morning.

Farms in Iowa are covered with up to four feet of sand after the Mighty Missouri River overflowed its banks and damaged thousands of acres last year. One man has spent the last nine months pushing sand off of his farm and says it will take years.

In British Columbia officers have killed a black bear that ate the remains of a dead murderer whose body was pulled out of a car on a remote road. The bear was guarding a “cache” that contained the remains of the man.

6-6- A man and his two adult sons die after a tornado destroys their home in south east Missouri.

6-7- Six tornadoes reported in north east Colorado. Golf ball sized hail in Colorado Springs. Ten car water rescues.

RyDuck reported rain and hail all night from his secluded location.
A bore tide in Alaska, the largest of the season creates long curling waves several feet high to the joy of surfers. This tide occurred south of Anchorage drawing hundreds of spectators.

According to the NOAA this past spring in the continental U.S. was the warmest on record. There was a five degree temperature difference. This is the largest temperature difference for any season ever recorded.

A coyote kills a dog in a gated community in Phoenix this morning. (Do they actually think the gate should have kept the coyote out?)

A seventy foot long deck from last years Japan tsunami floats ashore in Oregon.

6-8- Red Flag Warning issued in northern Arizona. 50mph gusts expected and all fires are banned at the Grand Canyon.

An unconfirmed tornado cancels a high school graduation in New Jersey. Tornadoes there are extremely rare. (To me the photo of this event looked like a wall cloud, the precurser to a tornado.)

A rare tornado a quarter of a mile wide in Platte County, Wyoming. Seven homes damaged in Elbert County. Four homes damaged in Colorado by this same storm.

6-9- Dozens of home owners are evacuated from a new large fire near Fort Collins, Colorado today.

A fire touched off by lightning yesterday north of Ruidoso, New Mexico has burned ten thousand acres.

The other in the Gila National Forest has burned 275,000 acres.

Eighteen inches of rain has fallen in the past twenty four hours in portions of the Gulf Coast. Pensacola, Florida recorded 11.89 inches today!

6-10- The Comet fire has started between Superior and Apache Junction, Arizona and has burned 200 acres. It may be a stubborn brush fire fueled by winds and rugged terrain.
In one day the fire burning near Fort Collins, Colorado has grown to 22 square miles and destroyed or damaged eighteen buildings and structures. It has grown 14,000 acres in one day!

The latest fire in New Mexico is more concerning to authorities because it is closer to homes. It has grown to 40 square miles.

Flooding with up to four feet of torrential rain in Florida. Pensacole has received twenty inches!

6-11- All of Arizona is declared to be in some stage of drought. .36” of rain for the year at Sky Harbor International Airport. This is 2.85” below the thirty year average.

New Mexico and Colorado fires burn out of control. The fire west of Fort Collins has damaged or destroyed 118 buildings and 60 square miles.
Evacuation notices sent to 1800 “phone numbers.” The Colorado fire is burning 40’ a second!

The new New Mexico fire has burned 54 square miles and the governor has ordered additional National Guard troops to assist in evacuations.

The 257 fire, south of Superior, Arizona has grown to one thousand acres.

Florida declares a State of Emergency due to flooding.

6-12- There are 18 wildfires burning in 9 states.

The fire near Ruidoso, New Mexico has burned 36,000 acres and damaged or destroyed 18 homes.

5% of the High Park Fire is contained at 43,300 acres. Remains of a sixty two year old woman is found in her burned out cabin. She received two evacuation orders but refused to leave her home.

6-13- RyDuck contributes this insightful bit of weather information: One inch of rain on one acre equals 27,000 gallons of water.

The fire near Superior is 40% contained and has burned 2700 acres.

The Gladiator Fire near Crown King if finally contained after more than a month.

A new fire near Williams, Arizona has burned 600 acres.

88,000 without power near Houston, Texas. High winds and hail knocked down tree limbs into power lines.

And now an Editor’s note about June temperatures in the desert. So far, knock on my wood head, temps have not been that extreme. When morning lows are in the low seventies you know the day will not be brutally hot. When you wake up before dawn and the temperature is 90 degrees fucking look out!

6-14- The Grand fire has burned 480 acres near the Grand Canyon.

“A multi-million dollar hail storm” has produced baseball size hail pounding cars and buildings in Dallas yesterday. Hail smashed the marquee of the landmark Lakewood Theatre in East Dallas.

224 homes have been lost near Altos, New Mexico and a State of Emergency is declared due to the fire. 22 million acres of forest are infested by bark beetles.

Acapulco has been placed on a hurricane storm watch as Carlotta forms with 50mph winds.

6-15- Evacuation orders have been issued for 80 homes in northern Colorado.

The Poco fire near Young, Arizona has burned one thousand acres.

The fire near Fort Collins, Colorado has burned 52,000 acres and is 15% contained.

6-16- A few days ago I was lamenting about the relative cool June temperatures and lack of humidity. Well, maybe the NWS had some wisdom in making the official new beginning of the Monsoon season on June 15th. Out of nowhere a surge of moisture from the south raises the dew point to 48 degrees. Lo and Behold we get a severe dust storm and splattering of rain this evening. Heavy rain in Tucson with a thousand lightning strikes. This was not forecasted by anyone (including your brilliant Editor in Chief. Although it felt more humid this morning.)

And now, timely as hell, Tucson received a grant and has one of the first radio controlled boats for swift water rescues. It can travel 40mph and rescue up to six people in swift currents. The boat does not imperil rescueres. (Just hope the rubber “ducky” doesn’t get punctured by floating debris after the rescue.)

One firefighter injured in the Poco Fire near Young, Arizona. 1500 acres have burned.

6-17- The front page headline of the Arizona Republic; “Weakened by Drought, Insects, Climate Change and Misguided Management, Arizona Forests Could Vanish in a Generation. State’s Forests on the brink of Collapse.”

A Red Flag Warning is issued for northern Arizona tomorrow.

Firefighters in Arizona are focusing on protecting electrical transmission lines near a 3100 acre fire in the Tonto National Forest. The fire is 15% contained.

Crews are dealing with strong winds fighting the High Park Fire in northern Colorado. Now looting has become a problem. A thirty year old man arrested on charges of theft and impersonating a fire fighter. He was driving through the fire zone with phony credentials and a stolen government license plate. His truck was later spotted near a bar and a firearm and stolen property were found inside the truck.

Another fire in Colorado near Pagosa Springs has grown to 11, 617 acres.

The search has ended for four climbers on Mount McKinley in Alaska.

6-18- The greatest danger from Tsunami debris are micro organisms. Invasive non native species can cause an “environmental disaster. “

6-19- You know excessive heat is on the way when the Phoenix area opens water stations. The Salvation Army has opened ten with chilled water and “safety information.”

Eight more homes burned in the High Park Fire in Colorado yesterday. Despite hot windy conditions the fire is 50% contained.

Dangerous riptide currents drown a swimmer in Florida.

Tropical Storm Chris forms over the Atlantic Ocean, the third named storm of the season.

6-20- The first day of summer with a cool low of 69 degrees on The Land. With a low of 82 degrees in Phoenix the forecast high is 112 degrees.

The Poco Fire near Payson has doubled in size and smoky air descends on the entire Valley area. The fire has burned 8100 acers and crews are partly to blame for setting back fires.

The water quality In Pine, Arizona is not fit to drink. One thousand households told not to drink the water because of low water supplies and possible contamination. One woman said “I would rather be without water than electricity”. Are you kidding me? For how long?

The North East begins summer with temperatures in the 90s, some of them records. A new record in New York City with 98 degrees and Newark, New Jersey with 98 degrees.

Animals in the Lake Superior Zoo in Minnesota drowned overnight when heavy rain caused flooding and also swept an eight year old boy into a culvert. He survived but eleven zoo animals have drowned and two thirds of the zoo is under water.

6-21- The Poco Fire near Payson has burned 11,000 acres and is 15% contained.

Boston’s Logan Airport reached 96 degrees, breaking a sixty year old record. The heat wave in the North East is affecting thirty million people.

Three dead after heavy rains wash out a road in Wisconsin. In Minnesota residents around Moose Lake and Willow River are evacuated due to flooding.

Two swimmers drown in rip currents off New Jersey shore.

6-22- A man is attacked while sleeping in an unfinished cabin by black bear near Payson. The door was open to keep the cabin cool. He suffered minor puncture wounds. It may be the same bear that attacked a woman recently.

All forests in Arizona and New Mexico have complete fire restrictions.

“3200 evacuated as Utah fire explodes.” Brush fire triggered by target shooters. The Dump Fire began in Kiowa Valley at a landfill near Saratoga Springs. The fire has grown 1500 acres in one day.

6-23- Rare Crested Saguaro has been vandalized and severly mutilated with its creted top cut off in the Four Peaks Wilderness area in Arizona. The cactus is protected by federal law and only one of every 150,000 of these cactus develop the crest. (Sounds to me like a trophy or religious symbol to someone who already knew this fact, I sure didn’t know it.)

Two weeks old and the High Park Fire has has burned 75,537 acres two hundred homes. It is now the largest fire ever in Colorado.

The Dump Fire in Utah has grown to 5600 acres.

Tropical Storm Debby forms in the Gulf and Louisiana and Texas are placed on warning. Some offshore oil and gas workers are being evacuated. This is the first time in history four named storms have occurred in one month.

6-24- Another bear attack in Arizona near Payson requires a thirty year old man to get emergency surgery for cuts and bites to his head and arms. His girlfriend and oney year old escaped their tent at Ponderosa Campground.

Twenty major wildfires burning in the West with eight of them in Colorado. The Waldo Fire has erupted burning 2000 acres.
Wildfires moved in so some of Colorado’s most popular tourist destinations destroying two dozen homes near Rocky Mountain National Park and emptying hotels at the base of Pikes Peak. The fire near Colorado Springs has grown out of control to three square miles this morning. Yesterday a fire burned 21 structures near the community of Ester Park, Colorado.

Utah’s governor proclaims “Gun shooters cause too many wildfires. “ Twenty blazes have been set off by shooting this year.

Florida and Alabama are placed uner Tropical Storm Warnings today.
60mph winds and eight to ten foot waves in Florida with the worst flooding since 1993. FEMA is urging all residents to heed warnings.

6-25- Two bears hunted down in the Tonto National Forest and shot to death in light of the recent attacks near Payson, Arizona. (Guilty by appearance?)

Arizona’s U of A and the Climate Prediction Center say an above average monsoon season is upon us. “Scientists say the monsoon is tough to pin down because Arizona sits on the northern fringes of the North American monsoon region, which leaves room for other forces to influence conditions.”

Late yesterday afternoon I took some garbage out. Not fifty feet away was a coyote apparently coming in to get a drink of water from the dog buckets under a mesquite tree. I don’t know if the coyote smelled the water but our two dogs were on him like a coon chase. They made a valiant effort to catch up with the fast running yote but he outran my poor dogs. I watched them until they were out of sight. Thankfully my dogs came dragging their asses home before they dropped dead in the heat.

Slow moving Tropical Storm Debby strikes Florida with drenching rain today. Its slow progress means the most pressing threat is from flooding and not wind. A State of Emergency is declared.

6-26- Three illegal immigrants found dead from heat exposure south of Tucson, Arizona.

I have to hand it to local channel 12 and their new storm chaser program. They put an idiot crew of three in a car to chase dust, rain and flooding. One of the members is a veteran from chasing hurricanes in the mid west. (Have fun guys. You have no idea what you may be in store for.)(Mrs. Blueduck however points out that they have to have a cell signal to report….good luck with that one in remote areas during a dust storm!)

108 degree forecast for Denver, Colorado. 1600 homes evacuated from the fire near Colorado Springs and a new fire has erupted near Boulder.

The three thousand acre Pony Fire is burning in Montana with not containment.

Debby makes landfall with twenty inches of rain in portions of Florida. Thirty inches of rain in northern Florida. I-10 is closed both ways. The famous Sky way bridge is closed. Live Oaks, Florida is 80% under water. One river has risen 20 feet in twenty four hours. Entire state under Emergency declaration.

6-27- Massive wall of dust heading from Maricopa, Arizona to Phoenix with two dust storms merging. A Dust Storm Warning is issued until 8:00 p.m.

The fire near Colorado Springs sends “2 mile wall of flame down ridge.” Thirty two thousand evacuated. The fire has doubled in twenty four hours and now has consumed 24 square miles. “Fire Storm of Epic Proportion”. Flames exploding past fire breaks, I-25 jammed with for hours with evacuees. The President will tour the fire zone later this week.

“Extreme heat roasts Central Plains.” One thousand records have been broken.

Debby is gone but four confirmed dead. I-10 in Florida closed for three days and may open tomorrow. Rivers from the flooding will not crest until next month.

One hundred dead in Bangladesh floods and 250,000 people are stranded.

6-28- The Waldo Fire near Colorado Springs has forced 35,000 people to be evacuated, 346 homes and thirty five streets destroyed. It is 10% contained and 29 square miles have burned.

Hill City, Kansas the hottest in the nation at 115 degrees, eight degrees above previous record.

Storm text alerts coming via NWS with new wireless Emergency Alerts. “A sophisticated government system with blanket warnings to mobile devices” of which may include messages from the government other than natural disasters (? )

6-29- The third day in a row with the dew point average of 55 degrees. June 27th was the first day of the monsoon season.

Second body found, 347 homes are gone near Colorado Springs from the Waldo Canyon Fire. Arson may be to blame.

Washington D.C. hits 104 degrees, shattering a 138 year old record.
Indianapolis hits 103 breaking a 78 year old record. Nashville is 109 degrees and hotter than Phoenix.
One third of the country is under a Heat Advisory affecting 113 million people.

Flash floods across Britain and Ireland have submerged homes and roads and cuts off main railway links to England and Scotland. Twelve flood warnings were issued yesterday alone.

Flooding in India has displaced 850,000 homes and 90% of a wildlife sanctuary is submerged in water.

6-30- The Poco Fire near Young, Arizona has burned 12,000 acres and believed to be human caused. It is 85% contained. But now focus has turned to the Cottonwood Fire burning in the Coronado National Forest. Caused by lightning it has burned 10,500 acres.

The Canyon Fire near Winslow, Arizona caused by lightning has burned 1000 acres.

Six fires in Utah threaten hundreds of homes.

The Waldow Canyon Fire is now thirty percent contained with ten thousand still evacuated.

After a major, freak windstorm caused by heat air conditioning units and power out to 1.5 million Washington, D.C. homes. The storm has been described as the largest non hurricane event.18 deaths are tied to the storms and heat. Atlanta hits 106 degrees, breaking an all time record.
1600 heat records are broken this week alone.

Chimps drag a 26 year old lecturer a half mile severly injuring the man at a South African sanctuary. He is in critical condition.

It was exhausting just to write this account of fires and record heat. Can you imagine how thousands of firefighters feel? Please salute them. They put their lives on the line to try and protect our homes and save our forests. Their jobs are every bit as valuable and necessary as soldiers and policeman.

With enough said the song of the month is “Pray for a Cloudy Day” by Gary Primich.

Humbly yours, The Honorable, Distinguished M.R. Blue Duck.