July 2013 Blue Duck Weather News

July 2013 Weather News!



The Wind! April is the wind month for Arizona. But I have noticed the afternoons have been windy for months. Ten, fifteen and twenty mph wind gusts in the afternoons straight out of the west. Not winds that have anything to do with storms or the monsoon that is upon us but just gradients between low and high pressure systems moving through. I wish in my weather recordings I kept a closer eye on this so there would be a baseline to compare to but I haven’t. And it wouldn’t have mattered. Wind just doesn’t seem that important until it advances storms or causes damage when it becomes to strong or mixes with fire to cause death and destruction.

On June 29th I walked out of the nest in the late afternoon. The temperature was 115 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 20mph. It was like walking into a blast furnace. I immediately went to the east side of our house to get out of the wind. Doing that did no good in making me any cooler but the wind was just oppressive! Walking out of the nest in February when it is forty degrees with a 20 mph wind is cold, but being bundled up, getting out of the wind is more comfortable if not comforting. When I compare the two I would rather be able to get out of a cold wind than a hot one, especially for prolonged periods of time. But given the right conditions and too much time in the elements both can kill you.

The Winds! The next day I am sure it was the winds, first the hot dry winds from the west and then unexpected outflow of monsoon winds from the north and east colliding, and a fire that blew up in a matter of minutes that killed nineteen of the finest battling the fire on Yarnell Hill. The last text photo of one of the firefighters to his wife that afternoon showed part of the team to be in a safe distance and location from the fire. What happened in the following hours must have been a fire tornado that no math, education, training, radio contact, weather reports or safety protocol could have prevented. The fire became a living breathing monster with its own uncontrollable intentions.

That day, June 30th disaster struck after 4:00 p.m. for the nineteen men battling the Yarnell Fire. Between 4:00p.m. and 5:00 p.m. the winds shifted 180 degrees and nearly doubled in strength to 40 mph. The fire’s huge mushroom cloud collapsed on itself, sending smoke and heat into the canyon.

At 4:47 p.m. the Granite Mountain Hotshots deployed their emergency fire shelters received from a calm two way radio communication to a fire commander. These shelters look like large sleeping bags. Simply put they are placed on the ground cleared of immediate fire or hot embers and are opened partially away from the flames and heat. There is an air intake for cooler air near the ground. The shelters are built to deflect the heat and can withstand temperatures of 300 degrees. At 500 degrees they begin to melt. They have been mandatory personal protective equipment since 1977. One veteran firefighter later said “When you deploy these you either make it or you don’t.”

Some firefighters believe that a fire is a living, breathing animal. One firefighter said after the fire had taken these men it got what it wanted and would probably lay down. All of the men and women battling urban, forest or desert firefighters are soldiers. They have a bond and a brotherhood that cannot be comprehended for those of us who simply don’t understand what they go through on a “routine” basis. One of the fallen in the Yarnell fire had posted a prayer that Sunday morning before he went into the field. He simply asked God to protect them as they went into battle.

The men lost that day are the most first responders lost at one time since 9-11. They fought a good fight and deserve to rest in peace. Sleep peacefully soldiers.

For this month your staff at Blue Duck Weather will place the usual boring weather stats at the end of this weather journal. Let’s get right to the weather as it unfolds for the month of July and hope it ends not nearly as sadly as June.

7-1- At times yesterday the Yarnell Hill Fire was moving 22’ per second. It has blown up from 400 acres to over 8,000 acres in twenty four hours. It has been classified as a Type 1 fire and now the federal government is involved with fighting the fire. There is no estimate yet on the amount of homes and structures damaged or lost.

The Dean Peak Fire near Kingman has burned 1000 acres.

Death Valley, California reaches 129 degrees, an all time record for this date.

7-2- The Yarnell Hill Fire is 0 percent contained and fifty homes have been damaged or destroyed.

The Dean Park Fire has grown to 2500 acres with no containment.

.02” of rain at The Land. It doesn’t sound like much but we haven’t had a drop since April!

7-3- Estimate of homes damaged or destroyed in the Yarnell Hill Fire is 127. Folks will not be allowed to return to their homes for at least a week. Heavy rains have helped the cause and the fire is at 49% containment.

Mandatory evacuations as the Dean Peak Fire near Kingman has burned 4400 acres. It grew 1000 acres overnight.

There are three new wildfires burning in Oregon started by lightning. One fire has burned 30,000 acres. Campers at the Owyhee Dam were evacuated when the fire jumped the river below the dam.

The NWS has confirmed a tornado hit New Jersey two days ago. Extensive damage in Berkeley Heights.

7-4- With average dew points 55 degrees or higher for the third day the monsoon season began at The Land on July 2nd.

The Yarnell Hill Fire may be 85% contained by tonight.

The Dean Park Fire has blown up to 5400 acres.

Nearly one foot of hail falls in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, enough to bring out snow plows.

Ripcurrents in Florida and Georgia are so strong beaches are closed.

Twelve to twenty inches of rain falls in the Florida Pan Handle.

The Statue of Liberty is reopened today after being closed for repairs from Hurricane Sandy last October.

7-5- The Yarnell Hill Fire is 80% contained.

7-6- The Yarnell Hill Fire is 90% contained.

The Dean Park Fire is Fire is 37% contained at 5500 acres and 550 homes under mandatory evacuations.

7-7- Hopefully some of the Yarnell Hill Fire evacuees will return home tomorrow.

Dean Park Fire evacuation order lifted and the fire is 65% contained.

Storm damage last night in San Tan Valley, Arizona and a microburst has been confirmed.

1300 treated for heat related problems at a country music relief concert at the University of Oklahoma Stadium in Norman. 60,000 attended and when the concert began it 93 degrees.

What is defined as a Heat Wave in the East? Three consecutive days with temperatures in the 90s or higher. The NWS issues a heat advisory of parts of New York and Massachusetts with the heat and humidity index causing temperatures as high as 105 degrees.

7-8- Record high low of 91 degrees in Phoenix this morning.

7-9- The Shipman Fire near Kearney, Arizona started yesterday with two structures burned and evacuations. It started by the San Pedro River and has burned 500 acres.

A new out of control wildfire is burning in Southern California and has burned 8 structures.

7-10- 100 mountain cabins destroyed and 120 homes in peril in San Diego County from a masive wildfire.

Wildfire update for Arizona: The Doce Fire, human caused started on June 18th is 96% contained at 6,732 acres. The Yarnell Hill Fire, started on June 28th has burned 8400 acres and 90% contained. The Dean Park Fire, lightning caused began on June 29th is 90% contained at 5200 acres.

A Mesa, Arizona woman is dead after being struck in the head by a tree branch in high winds. She was sitting near a camp table playing cards with friends at the bottom of Supai Canyon, Grand Canyon.

Two major fires are raging in Nevada. One north of Las Vegas is within a quarter mile of homes. In northern Nevada 25,700 acres have burned in the Pine Nut Mountains south west of Reno.

Tropical Storm Chantal threatens Puerto Rico.

3.5’’ of rain in Toronto, Canada in as many hours. 1500 stranded in a commuter train. A month’s worth of rain in a matter of a few hours and 300,000 without power!

Worst flooding in westerrn China in 50 years. Landslide buries 40 people. A bridge collapses sending five vehicles into floow waters with twelve missing.

The hottest temperature on the planet was recorded 100 years ago in Death Valley, California at 134 degrees.

7-11- Death Valley Park rangers tell tourists to quit trying to fry eggs on the pavement and sidewalks. They are leaving sticky gooey messes that are difficult to cleanup and stink. (Who the fuck would want to go to Death Valley in July, or anytime for that matter?)

The fire near Vegas (I haven’t heard a name yet) destroys six structures at a desert ranch. Crews are trying to protect homes in Rainbow, Echo and Old Town areas.

Two and a half inches of rain causes a huge mudslide today that swept a car away and stranded 21 vehicles west of Manitou Springs in Colorado. U.S. Highway 24 closed for three hours. Thankfully there were no injuries. Flooding and erosion a result of the Waldo Canyon Fire last year and the Black Forest Fire this year.

Flooding in western China has destroyed a memorial to the 2008 Sichuan province that left 90,000 dead or missing from an earthquake.
An iceberg larger than Chicago broke free from Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier two days ago and is now floating freely in the Amundsen Sea. It covers 278 square miles!

7-12- The wildfire near Vegas is the top priority fire in the United States as this is written.

THE YARNELL HILL FIRE IS 100 PERCENT CONTAINED!

A pregnant New Mexico woman and her husband watching fireworks on their front porch were struck by lightning in Albuquerque. She was just weeks from her due date. She was rushed to the hospital, an emergency Cesarian section was performed and mom, dad and baby are doing fine.

7-13- Charallete, North Carolina has had rain for twenty days in a row. (Why don’t you send some our way?)

There has been a rise in bear sightings that has closed Forest Road 171 just south of Arizona 260 in the Apache Sitgrieves National Forest. No road access allowed or “dispersed” camping until the area is cleared of bears. There have been no reports of bear attacks.

7-14- The 34th annual Calgary Folk Music Festival on July 25th-28th remains at its historical home, Prince’s Island Park after weeks of uncertainty due to significant damage from the great flood…..the island has been repaired and is ready.

7-15- Three inches of rain near Gila Bend, Arizona last night!

Pea sized hail near 30th St. and Chandler Blvd. Large trees are down, one inch of rain in a brief amount of time, new homes being built in the framing stage blown over with 45-55mph winds.

Just south of there, on the Gila Indian Reservation Rawhide will be shut down for repairs until August. Old wagons flipped over and the 150,000 square foot pavillion is blown apart.

Rare, high elevation tornado touched down near Pike’s Peak, Colorado at the 14,140’ summit. The highest elevation on record was photographed by a hiker in Sequoia National Park, California on July 7th, 2004 at 12,000’

7-16- A Heat Emergency is declared for 140 million people in the East. There are 90 degree sustained temperatures in 43 states. Low temps in some North East cities that won’t drop below 80 degrees. A huge heat dome is contributing to the misery and the heat/ humidity index will feel like 105 degrees in many places.

The NWS has confirmed winds that hit the Ahwautee area in Phoenix two nights ago exceeded 90mph.

Almost all of the buildings in the Yarnell Hill burn zone that had been adequately cleared with a “defensible space” survived the fire. Of 63, 60 were unscathed.

The Yarnell Hill Fire was more intense in speed than ever witnessed by Arizona firefighters. 22’ per second or 15 miles per hour.

14,200 monster of a fire in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California began two days ago. It blew up 50% overnight and is 10% contained. Six homes destroyed and mandatory evacuations for Camp Ronald McDonald, a camp for children with cancer. This fire is now a top priority blaze.

7-18- 6,000 forced to evacuate when the winds changed fire direction in Idyllwild, California. Residents, tourists, 22,000 homes and condos. The Mountain Fire has grown to 19,600 acres with almost 3,000 firefighters. Thirty miles of the Pacific Coast Trail that runs from Mexico to Canada destroyed. It is raining ash in Palm Springs. The cause of this fire is not known. (In 2006 five firefighters lost their lives fighting a blaze in Idyllwild.)

New heat records being set and emergency rooms are filling up in 24 states. One hundred degrees a new record in New York City. 50% of rescue calls in the Bronx are due to heat.

A man is found dead near Parker Canyon Lake in south eastern Arizona with two state protected rattlesnakes in his backpack. The two ridge nose rattlers were dead when the man was found. “It’s a very coveted rattlesnake on the Black Market. People are always trying to poach them out here. Autopsy reports are pending as to the cause of death. ( Yours truly has in the past had rattlesnakes in his backpack although they were not protected and I was not poaching. I was rabbit or bird hunting and had the “opportunity” to kill a few for skins. Even with the heads cut off it is a very uncomfortable feeling to have snakes squirming against my back.)

7-19- Three charged in heat death of migrant found in U-Haul truck with eight others at a gas station near Picacho Peak and Interstate 10 in Arizona. Charges include second degree murder in a human smuggling operation.

Flames from the Mountain Fire are within sight of Palm Springs, California. The air attack is going on twenty four hours a deay and the fire is 15% contained.

With the heat/humidity index it is 110 degrees in Washington, D.C.

7-20- Powerful thunderstorms beat up Los Vegas last night snapping trees and utility poles flooding part of the famous Strip. Peak wind gusts of 70mph and a new daily rainfall record of .22”. ( If this is a daily record one can certainly tell Vegas doesn’t get much rain. After all it is barren outside of the city, more like a bomb was dropped fifty years ago.)

Twenty three of New Jersey firefighters overcome with heat wave and heat exhaustion battling a huge structure fire. Heat is suspected in 13 deaths across the country.

The Heat Wave in the N.E. is in it’s 7th day from D.C. to Boston. 100,000 without power in Detroit to add to the misery. Thankfully the wind pattern is beginning to shift from east to west and cool air drops temps in Minnestota into the forties.

The Mountain Fire in California has gulped up 27,000 acres with 2,000 still evacuated in Idyllwild. The monster is 25% contained.

7-21- Drenching monsoon rain closes U.S. 60 in Tempe, Arizona in both directions at the Mill Avenue underpass. Water rescues for two men in Apache Junction and some areas report up to 2’’ of rain. And at The Land we received .48’’ of land with a tropical high of only 85 degrees.

The Carpenter Fire on Mount Charleston, Nevada ia 95% contained at 28,000 staggering acres.

7-22- Flash Flood Warning issued for Eloy, Arizona and they received 3’’ of rain! Yours truly was driving west of Eloy when rain came in from the west. It was raining so hard visibility dropped to a few feet, just as bad as dust or fog. I had to pull over when it was safe and wait about thirty minutes for the brunt of the storm to blow over. There was even a brief period of hail pounding the roof of my truck.

Idyllwild evacuations lifted as heavy rain helps fire conditions mercifully. Forty two fucking square miles have burned!

A farmer is suing the City of Chandler, Arizona claiming that an abundance of rabbits are eating his crops. He wants a fence built around a park. According to him four acres of his forty acres was damaged causing him about four thousand dollars. ( You know, air rifles don’t make any sound, I’m just saying.)

7-24- Baseball size hail in several counties in Kansas breaks out windshields.

7-25- And from the It’s your time file: A husband and his wife were killed by lightning at a highway scenic overlook along Arizona 89 A, eight miles south of Jacob’s Lake. A boy with them was struck but not killed.
A pregnant Maine woman and her friend got lost hiking in the woods and were rescued. But they died later that evening when they drove their car into the ocean in fog. They presumabley drowned when their car went down a boat ramp at the end of a dead end road.

A third hiker, this one from Arizona, dies at The Wave while exploring near the Arizona-Utah border. The three have died because of brutal heat in open arid country with no marked trails showing the way. Only twenty permits are issued per day. It seems to be okay until on the way out when people get lost and run out of water.

Tropical Storm Dorian gathering strenght in the Atlantic.

7-26- How hot is it? The Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck told me she had a bag of potatoes in her car. The potatoes in the sun were half baked when she took them out. (That beats the fucking frying an egg on the sidewalk worn out story all to hell.)

The incredibly massive wildfire still burning in the San Jacinto Mountains in California was sparked by failed electrical equipment on private property. According to the utility company it happened on the “customer’s side of the meter.” ( What this means is they take no responsibility at all.) The fire has burned 42 square miles and is 92% contained.

Tropical Storm Flossie may hit Hawaii.

7-27- Sate of Emergency declared in North Carolina after six to ten inches of rain has fallen.

Flood Alerts issued for Hawaii as Flossie is tracking to make a direct hit on the island.

7-28- 89mph winds and flash flooding in southern Utah.

5’’ of rain in Philadelphia. And the temps are coming down, get on your sweaters! Stanley, Iowa, 34 degrees. 41 degrees in Heron, South Dakota. It was warmer in Alaska yesterday than Chicago.

Flash Flood Warnings in northern Arizona. 7.15 inches of rain in Flagstaff this month. Six feet of rushing water in washes in Supai Village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Tropical Storm Warning issued for Hawaii County and Maui County as Flossie gets ready for a greeting.

A swarm of about 30,000 bees attacks a Texas couple exercising their miniature horses. The woman was stung over 200 times ,the boyfriend 50 times, and the horses were stung so badly they died.

7-29- A tour bus on the way to Vegas yesterday swept by flooding as deep as eight feet and rolls on its side. The driver is credited for helping 33 passengers crawl out of windows with no injuries. The bus driver was suddenly hit by a wall of water crossing a paved wash, the bus stalled and floated three hundred yards before it rolled over. He may be a hero to the passengers but he may be charged with the “Stupid Motorist Law” for crossing a flooded wash.

An out of control wildfire is burning in Mallocra, Spain. It is a popular tourist destination. Seven hundred are evacuated.

Record all time daily rain of 8.26’’ in Philadelphia . Seven inches fell in four hours and all American Flights are cancelled.

7-30- Flossie is downgraded to a Tropical Depression but the Big Island is still expecting six inches of rain. This is the first Tropical Storm to make direct contact with Hawaii since 1958!

Tropical Storm Gil forms in the Mexican Baja.

Farms in the South East are receiving too much rain. In Fort Valley, Georgia crops are drowning. The largest peach crop in the nation has lost one thire of its peaches. The ground is too wet to cut wheat. Corn, tomatoes and peas are drowned.

An eleven year old boy hiking with his family fell down a 200’ sliding rock fall in Utah in Provo Canyon. He is recovering and will be released from a local hospital.

7-31- Anchorage broke a record for hitting highs above 70 degrees for the 14th straight day.

Before we give our final observation about the Tragedy on Yarnell Hill on June 30th that unfolded in details throughout the month of July please join me in my misery of a full blown summary of the monsoon moisture on the Land (and other boring stats.)

The average temperature on the Land for July was 91.60 degrees. (No wonder fucking electric bills are three hundred dollars a month!) The average humidity was 43.84 percent. The average dew point was 62.84 degrees, well into monsoon territory the entire month. The Land received some much needed rainfall to the tune of .74’’ bringing the total to 2.81’’ of rain for the year. There were four days it was over 110 degrees, eight days over 105, and eleven over 100.

Talking Trees and Antelope Hills in New Mexico usually runs about twenty degrees cooler than the Land but this month it was almost thirty degreees cooler with an average temperature of 64.48 degrees.

And what is Blue Duck weather without a mud puddle report for the lakes that effect Arizona and the “great” South West? Lake Mead is 47% full, Powell 47%, Pleasant 55% and Roosevelt 46%.

Almost every day this month there has been some kind of published report about the Yarnell Hill Fire, causes and speculations of the 19 brave young men that died. There was a beautiful and moving ceremonial and buriel for the crew. There have been relief concerts, donations and the kindness of Arizona and the world has shown through such a tragic time. The community of Yarnell has pulled together and will rebuild. The unity is incredible and even the most hard and untouched person has to have been touched.

Out of respect to the firefighters and the families, your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather did not give you day by day accounts of speculation by people or the media as to what happened or why. There are at least two major national and local investigations going on and the results will probably be posted in September. But does it matter for the boys, the families and the community? They will never get them back. I only hope the investigations help fire science, protcol and training to help future firefighters out of a terrible situation with no way out. The most basic conclusion is nature killed these men and no amount of science will ever tame her.

The most important long lasting tribute to these men was a proposal I read earlier this month. “The land where the firefighters died may be set aside for a permanent memorial. The State Land Comission has ordered 320 acres closed to public access. A fence has also been built around the site where the men died.” The only exception for access is for families of the fallen and other firefighters.

As I looked at photos of the American and Arizona flag on a pole at the site the ground is barren, the boulders surreal, the vegetation burnt away and I realized what would look like normally an easy hike became a boxed in inferno with no way out. But the thing that struck me the most profoundly, is it appears not to be that far off the road. Preserve that site for all to remember and feel for generations. It would be an honor to all soldiers of fire fighting.

I came across the following quote by total accident. It was unrelated to anything about the fire and tragedy I had read. But I thought how true and symbolic it was. “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” Kurt Vonnegut.

As I conclude this month’s edition of Blue Duck Weather there are rain drops on my office window, there is no smell of wood smoke outside and there is no wind.



MR Blue Duck

June 2013, Blue Duck Weather News

June 2013 Weather News!



Before you knew it the time has come for a brand new edition of Blue Duck Weather. Just in time for miserable heat in the desert of Arizona with plenty of weather misery (and bliss I’m sure somewhere.) In Arizona this is the month where desert temperatures soar and records are not set until temps reach the 110s, 115’s and the all time Phoenix record of 122 degrees set back in 1990.This is the month of killer heat that has to occur to start drawing in the Gulf of Mexico moisture that finally ushers in the monsoon and our only chance for summer rain. But this is the month that catches some off guard, young and old, fit and unfit, the homeless and even people who think they are accustomed to the heat. This is the month that being outdoors too long with not enough water can kill you!

It seems murders rise when the weather gets to unbearable also. A friend of mine told me when she lived in Baltimore the weather stations would stop reporting the temperature and humidity when both were over 90%. ( I don’t quite understand the logic in that, maybe it’s just bad karma. But when it gets that miserable you don’t need to be told to know when being miserable turns to deadly rage.

And the misery began for so many again in Oklahoma as the El Reno Tornado set a new world record and the front page headline today was “Oklahoma hit again.” And for the first time three storm chasers lost their lives due to this massive tornado. These were not thrill chasers but dedicated scientists and professional trying to help all of us understand these violent weather events and eventually avoid them when possible.

Half a world away the weather bliss that Hawaii may be changing if not disappearing. The trade winds are declining for unknown reasons and more humidity has set in. Residents unaccustomed to the heat are complaining and using their air conditioners more. The winds are also becoming too weak to blow away volcanic smog.

And certainly don’t forget we are just now entering Hurricane season. Hopefully it won’t be a bad one but no one knows until it plays out in the pages of Blue Duck Weather in the months to come.

Blue Duck Weather is jam packed with useful information to share with your coworkers, aunts, uncles and anyone else you want to see run screaming from your lunacy such as; What recent tragic weather event set the record for the most rain ever for one hour ?, the most destructive wildfire ever in Colorado, more intentionally set brush fires this month, a tiny tidbit of information about terrorist threats to blow up dams in an already flooded region, what is the ideal warning window for a tornado, BP finally “concludes” its billions of dollar effort to clean up the Gulf Coast, the first massive wildfire this season erupts in northern Arizona, India’s tragic monsoon landslides, from the longest snow season in history to the hottest in parts of Alaska, find out what has caused the only two evacuation orders in New York City’s history, find out what a teotsunami is, pot fed pigs (?), and a disabled duck gets a new foot. (I swear, we don’t make this shit up.) And then on June 30th the unbelievable and tragic breaking news of nineteen Arizona firefighters losing their lives fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire near Prescott, Arizona. (Sadly we all will be reading and watching in the early part of July to find out just what happened. )

June was hot as I suppose they all are in the desert. Mercifully, every year in the winter, you forget how miserable it is or no one would live here in the Summer. There were 18 days it was 105 degrees or hotter, 2 days 110 or hotter and one day it hit 115 degrees on the Land. The average temperature on the Land was 87.23 degrees.

Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had an average June temperature of 66.40 degrees.

There has been no rain on The Land since April 8th.

Fortunately the lakes that matter to Arizona and the South West are holding their own. Mead is 47% full, Pleasant is 50%, Powell is 49% and Roosevelt 50%.

Before we begin June’s blistering weather journal we will introduce the quote of the month. “I’m miserable when it’s cold. I’m miserable when it’s hot. I’m a human being, never satisfied.

And as so much seems to be burning up in the South West the song of the month is “The Fields Have Turned Brown” by Seldom Scene.


6-1- At first five were reported dead in the tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma. But as the aftermath unfolded a total of sixteen perished. Some had drowned in flash flooding and were not found until days later. Eight inches or rain fell in some areas.

106 degrees at The Land today and in Phoenix five urban mountain rescues due to the hot weather.

Eight square miles have burned near Santa Fe, New Mexico and out of control along with another fire in the state.

The Powerhouse fire north of Los Angeles is out of control.

Three unconfirmed tornadoes near St. Louis, Missouri with 150mph winds.

Mountain lion sighting on the West Fork Trail in the Catalina Mountains near Tucson. The area has been closed to people until June 7th.

6-2- The body of a man has been recovered in Mount Vernon, Missouri after he tried to cross a low water bridge in a flash flood. His pickup was swept away.

Children dying in hot cars doubled the national average in May during a sixteen day period in four states. All but four were left by a family member.

The Powerhouse Fire north of Los Angeles has grown four times over night to 19,500 acres. It is only 20% contained and three firefighters are injured fighting this dragon’s breath.

The Phoenix mountain trails rescues yesterday included a 66 year old man who suffered a medical condition, a 45 year old woman who broke an ankle, a 56 year old man who blacked out and fell into a cholla cactus (ouch!), and a 31 year old that became severely dehydrated.

6-3- Three young men were four hours into a ten mile hike yesterday in the White Tank Mountains west of Phoenix. A 21 year old man in the group started complaining his legs wouldn’t work. He died and collapsed on the trail. Heat is probably the main contributing factor. ( I don’t think you could carry enough water for a ten mile strenuous hike in the desert in this heat.)

Arizona forest visitors are cautioned on target practicing. In fact it is illegal in the Tonto National Forest along with the ban on camp fires. So far eight fires have occurred in that forest this year. With extremely dry conditions all it takes is a spark from bullets striking rocks.

The Powerhouse Fire has blown up to 30,000 acres with 2,000 evacuations and is 40% contained.

As the massive storm system heads east the death toll in Oklahoma and Missouri has grown to 21 souls. Five are still missing and being searched for near the Oklahoma River.

The worst flooding in seventy years hits Passau, Germany. 8 are dead and 9 missing in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

6-4- The El Reno Tornado sets the world record for the widest tornado at 2.6 miles wide and confirmed winds of over 300 mph.

Emergency officials went door to door this afternoon urging residents of a small farming town near St. Louis to evacuate after a levee pounded by flood waters breached. The break opened on the Mississippi River and is cresting at 34.4 feet, the third highest on record.

6-5- The first tropical storm, Andrea forms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Death toll in European flooding up to 10 with 9 missing.

6-6- Andrea makes landfall in Big Bend, Florida with heavy rain. By eight a.m. this morning 4.5” of rain and 60 mph winds. But the biggest fear is tornadoes with 8 confirmed across the state.

Where has the most rainfall in one hour and in minutes ever occurred? Wiley Airport in Oklahoma City picked up 3.10’’ in one hour and 2” in thirty five minutes during the El Reno Tornado on May 31st.

The first 110 degree day in Phoenix. The average is June 20th.
115 fucking degrees in Bullhead City!

6-7- Fire fears in the White Mountains of Arizona as a low pressure system creates dry lightning and 45mph winds.

Tropical Storm Andrea struts up the East Coast after dumping heavy rains in Georgia and the Carolinas. Flash flooding a major problem in New York City with 3.8’’.

A few Arizona fire departments may not send crews to help with wild fires this summer because they are still waiting to get paid for fires they fought last summer. Issues with the federal government are to blame (isn’t that surprising?). Payments normally issued in 30-90 days are a year overdue.

6-8- Record 91 degrees in Flagstaff, 103 in Winslow.!

Tropical Storm Andrea is a mean bitch! Gale force winds, heavy rain and flooding on the East Coast.

The rare, but ever increasing Haboobs are back. A tsunami of dust blankets Albuquerque yesterday evening. Thunderstorms in the mountains near Los Alamos and Santa Fe produced the powerful outflow winds that caused the massive wall of dirt.

A 63 year old man is charged in March, Javelina shooting near Prescott. He said he was just “defending himself” when he shot and killed a stinky pig that was part of a herd outside his front door. Arizona Game & Fish don’t see it that way: He has been charged with disorderly conduct with a deadly weapon, four other felony charges and a misdemeanor.

6-9- A 50 year old hiker is rescued on South Mountain in Phoenix by helicopter in 105 degree heat. He was two miles up the Mormon trailhead and was too fatigued to get down.

This weekend’s heat in the Southwest claims two lives. A 69 year old Las Vegas native and boy scout leader was found dead yesterday in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area park. Rescue teams saved four boys and another man that was with him. Also a 15 month old baby boy died of heat exposure in Fresno, California left in a car with an outside temperature of 101 degrees.

The average tornado warning in the 1980s went out only after a twister hit the ground. Over the last five years residents in the U.S. have been given an average lead time of 13 minutes between warning issue and tornado touching down.

“There is a great philosophical discussion about what constitutes the ideal lead time.” When the El Reno tornado touched down on May 31st residents had nearly a half hour to prepare. With the additional lead time and Moore, Oklahoma still on their minds many panicked residents decided to flee their homes, and freeways and roads became gridlocked with people trying to outrun the approaching tornado. (So the point is I guess, if you have too much time to think instead of react immediately to the threat one does not take cover and instead flees.)

23,000 peoole are evacuated in eastern Germany where the Elbe River has flood and breached a dam. There have been 21 flood related deaths in central Europe.

Officials in Saxony- Anhalt are investigating a threat to destroy dams. Several media outlets said they received a letter threatening to blow up dams on the Elbe River. (Never heard another word about this, probably never will.) (Mrs. Blueduck here…also did we ever hear more about the 7 people found on the dam outside Boston at Midnight right after the Marathon bombing?)

6-9- New record high of 112 degrees in Las Vegas breaking 111 set in 1955.

6-10- And if you question the heat island effect of a city with concrete, asphalt, too many fucking cars and people consider this; the morning low at the wide open desert on The Land was 69 degrees. The morning low in Phoenix was 82 degrees.

The rain swollen Danube is approaching Budapest where soldiers and volunteers are building floodwalls. Parts of the Hungarian captial are already under water. One million sandbags have been placed after a week of heavy rain. (Kind of sounds like what is becoming a spring tradition in Fargo to hold back the mighty Red River with one million sandbags.)

A beach in Orleans, Massachusettes is closed due to a Great White sighting by an experienced lifeguard. A dorsal fin was spotted 150 yards off the beach and the bastard was estimated to be twelve to thirteen feet long.

6-11- Wildfires with gusty winds forcing evacuations in three different parts of Colorado. A 300 acre fire has jumped the Arkansas River near Canon County. Another near Colorado Springs and the third in the Rocky Mountain National Forest sparked by lightning. Five trails are closed and a Red Flag Warning is posted for half the state.

Earliest ever one hundred degree day in Denver.

Tornadoes and flooding from Kentucky all the way to Maryland.

An Alabama city closed all of its beaches yesterday after four men drowned in dangerous rip currents in the Gulf. Double red flag posted on all beaches. One of the elusive aspects of rip currents is the calm appearance of the surface water that gives swimmers a false sense of security.

BP has conluded work in three states from the massive oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf waters of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. They have spent 14 billion dollars. ( Now lets hope they “conclude” the massive media ads telling us how fucking pristine the beaches are and all the tourists are back. Go talk to some of the locals down there and find out what the effects really have been and are continuing.)

6-12- Red Flag Warnings and Excessive Heat Warnings posted for much of Arizona. (Perfect ingredients for a hell fire.)

The largest blaze in Colorado right now is the Black Forest Fire in El Paso County. It has grown to 12,000 acres, 92 homes destroyed and 7,000 evacuations.

A sandstorm causes a 26 car pile up with one soul gone in Nevada. Humboldt County Sheriff’s dispatchers called in virtually every medical, law enforcement and fire worker in the sparsely populated area.

The Cubs and Reds play in unusual fog in Chicago.

6-13- Twenty tornadoes in 24 hours in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

The Black Forest Fire has consumed 360 homes!, 39,000 evacuations, 13,000 homes threatened and burned 15,000 acres.

The Arizona Humane Society received a surprise drop off two days ago, two bobcat kittens. The facility is not equipped to handle wildlife so the South West Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale will take them. Hopefully they will be released back into the “wild” in about a year.

6-14- Now that two people have perished in the Black Forest Fire it has turned into a homicide investigation as authorities believe this fire is human caused. The lost souls were found in a garage trying to escape the flames and smoke. Four hundred homes destroyed or damaged, 50,000 acres burned and 40,000 evacuations!

The Wild Bill Fire has erupted near Flagstaff, Arizona and the popular lava tube cave near Flagstaff is closed. (Hell, I’ve lived in Arizona all of my life and don’t even know what the fuck a lava tube cave is!) The fire has burned 30 acres.

The Kingman Fire Department is offering a 10,000 dollar reward for information, the arrest and conviction of person(s) responsible for setting 63 brush fires in open field areas in the past two months.

A Mesa, Arizona woman is arrested on animal cruelty charges accusing her of abandoning two dogs in the desert. She was found by tracing a microchip in one of the dogs. She said she was moving and couldn’t take the pooches with her. She left them in late March with a small amount of food and water. A horseback rider found them earlier this month and gave them food and water. They are now in the care of Maricopa county jail inmates. ( First, it is amazing the dogs are still alive from March to June! Second if any asshole in Maricopa County is caught on animal abuse the mighty Sheriff Joe does not take this lightly and will punish you (rightfully) to the fullest extent of the law!)

6-15- The first “official” day of monsoon season in Arizona. Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather will let you know the actual day it begins by traditional meterological standards.

The Black Forest Fire has damaged or destroyed 475 homes in Colorado and there are 20,000 ‘’refugees”.

Almost a year’s worth of rain in 36 hours with 17.05” in Eagle Pass, Texas near the Mexican border. Average yearly rainfall is 20.31”. 100 water rescues, some from rooftops and 450 evacuations.

Nine inches of rain in southwest Missouri.

6-16- The Black Forest fire has burned 15,500 acres and is 65% contained with 485 homes destroyed.

Ten inches of rain in Springfield, Missouri in a few hours.

The Secret Fire in Sedona caused by a lightning strike has burned 15 acres.

Finding tar balls from the BP oil spill isn’t difficult on some Gulf Coast beaches. But the company and the government say it’s common enough to end cleanup efforts. One tourist disagrees. After going for a walk in the surf last week he came back with dark, oily stains on his feet.

6-17- Helped by some blessed rain the Black Forest Fire is 75% contained.

6-18- The Doce Fire has erupted in Skull Valley, northwest of Prescott. It has burned 2,000 acres and is out of control. It began at noon and 300 homes have been evacuated.

Red Flag Warning for the Rim, Prescott, and southeast Arizona tomorrow.

6-19- The Doce Fire has now consumed 7,000 acres and the same evacuations in effect as yesterday.

Southeast Alaska hit four all time highs yesterday from 88 in Seward to 94 degrees in Talkeetna.

In the months following Hurricane Sandy New York City adds 60,000 more residents to its six evacutation zones totaling 3 million people. There have only been two mandatory evacuation orders in the history of New York, Sandy and 2011’s Irene.

Eighty six souls lost in LuckNow, India from monsoon flooding. 12,000 Hindu pilgrims have been evacuated, 63,000 people cut off, 46 injured and 22 missing.

6-20- At 10:04 p.m. tonight begins the summer solstice in Phoenix and the first day of summer. (Look at the bright side, the days only get shorter from here!)

The Dolce Fire northwest of Prescott, Arizona is 10% contained. With strong dry winds and only 3% humidity an Emergency Declaration is announced by the governor.

There are 19 “large incident fires” burning in the Four Corners states, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

More records set in southern Alaska at 96 degrees and the beaches look like summer Florida tourist attractions.

Tropical Storm Barry makes landfall in Mexico today with life threatening flash floods and landslides. Up to ten inches of rain expected in southern Mexico.

The death toll from monsoon flooding and landslides in India is up to 100.

6-21- At 6,732 acres the Doce Fire is 15% contained.

6-22- Death toll in northern India has rapidly risen to over 600!

Record high waves, measuring 49’ from troughs to peaks during a brutal winter storm in New Zealand. Wellington, receives 69mph wind gusts and heavy snow. Flights are cancelled.

The Doce Fire near Prescott, Arizona is 45% contained and 450 evacuees are allowed to return.

A new fire is burning near White River, Arizona and has burned 800 acres.

Three fires are burning out of control in the Colorado mountains. The White Fork Fire Complex has grown from 12,000 acres to 30,000 acres overnight. Firefighters are reporting 100’ high flames with smoke rising to 30,000 feet. Six hundred residents of South Fork, Colorado are ordered to evacuate.

Four dead from major flooding in western Canada and 100,000 evacuations in Calgary. The Bow River that runs from Calgary crested more than five times its normal flow rate for this time of year.

6-23- There are twelve fires burning in Colorado that have consumed 133 square miles. The West Fork Fire Comples double in size overnight.

A young black bear, weighing between 75-100 pounds has been captured in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The young bruin has been “returned to the wild.”

Six months of rain in Calgary, Canada and the power grid is devastated. (I later read for the music community there it is much like the devastating flooding in Nashville, Tennessee a few years ago.)

6-24- The Doce Fire near Prescott, Arizona is 6800 acres and 50% contained.

A new fire has begun. The Rock Creek Fire near White River has burned 750 acres.

“The worst fire ever known to hit the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado continued to be driven by hot, dry winds yesterday.” In two days the fire has grown from 50 square miles to 108 square miles. Firefighters are focused on protecting South Fork, Wolf Creek ski area and homes along highway 149. They are also trying to save the historic mining town of Creede, established in the late 1800s.

The Rock Creek Fire near White River is now 750 acres.

Tornadoes in Nebraska, 60 mph winds in Minnesota and eight inches of rain in Wisconsin.

Severe weather delays rescue attempts to evacuate thousands stranded in northern India. Despite fog and low visibility two thousand have been transported by helicopter to relief camps.

6-26- Excessive Heat Warning issued for Arizona for the next four days.

Fire officials believe that target shooting caused the Doce Fire near Prescott, Arizona.

A storm that hit the East Coast earlier this month may have caused a rare phenomenon; a tsunami. More than thirty tide gauges along the East Coast, Bermuda and Puerto Rico recorded tsunami like tide conditions. There was a strong outrush of water as the tide went out. Rocks normally 3-4’ deep were exposed. One possibility is a rare teotsunami or it could have been caused by a landslide off the continental shelf.

6-27- 128 degrees in Death Valley, California.

6-28- Excessive Heat Warnings for Arizona, California and Nevada locked below a powerful dome of high pressure. 112 degrees at The Land, 116 degrees in Phoenix and 120 degrees in Goodyear, Arizona.

It is so hot in southern Alaska stores are running out of fans and portable air conditioners.

A new brush fire is burning in San Bernandino, California.

Four inches of rain in parts of New York with flash flooding.

6-29- 115 at The Land with a twenty four hour average temperature of 100 degrees! Phoenix sets a new record of 119 degrees. A new Kingman record of 112 degrees, Salt Lake 105 and Las Vegas 115 two days in a row.

In Las Vegas yesterday 34 people were taken to hospitals for heat related illnesses after attending an afternoon and evening outdoor music festival.

Heat Warnings issued in 8 states with “life threatening temperatures.

A woman is presumed dead after her mobile home was swept away by the flooded Mohawk River in New York. Divers are searching for her body. She was warned by officials to leave her home.

A pig farmer and a butcher in Seattle are offering “pot pig” cuts. Bacon is seventeen dollars a pound, chops sixteen dollars. “It tastes like the best pork chop you’ve ever had.” Pot is legal in Washington State so the two men use the left over seeds and stems, ground up and placed in the pig slop. The cuts are signed on the packing paper with a drawing of a pot leaf. (I swear we don’t make this shit up.)

6-30- Late Sunday afternoon I saw that a new wildfire had started near Prescott. The Yarnell Hill Fire as it had burned one thousand acres and 120 homes evacuated. Fifteen miles of Highway 89 was closed.

Hours later when I was getting ready for bed the Lovely Mrs. Blue Duck came in to tell me that there was breaking news, nineteen fire fighters from the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshot Crew had been lost in this wildfire that a few hours ago didn’t seem that bad as far as wildfires in their early stages go. But then I remembered the weather man saying earlier that strong downdraft winds from a storm in the mountains was heading down Yarnell Hill from the north. There were already strong winds coming in from the south west earlier as the flames grew. He said the wind conditions were “extremely dangerous.”

I told Mrs. Blue Duck I didn’t believe it, it must be premature information and the news media was jumping the gun. How could nineteen firefighters die in a fire that only a few hours ago was a thousand acres? I watched awhile of the unbelievable horror and tragedy unfold.

I woke up late Sunday night or early Monday morning, I didn’t look at the clock but the wind was howling outside. I felt nineteen souls in the sound of the wind and had a hard time going back to sleep. In fact sleep was fitful for me the entire night. I just didn’t want to believe this had happened.

Sadly the new is just unfolding about this devil fire and the devastation it is causing. Until next month your deeply saddened staff of Blue Duck Weather have their hearts at half staff for these nineteen firefighters who gave their lives to protect our forests, our homes and our lives.

With respect and sorrow. Professor Mr. Blue Duck

May 2013 Blue Duck Weather News

May 2013 Weather News!

Welcome to a brand spanking new edition of Blue Duck Weather, the most comprehensive journal on weather news and other tidbits of information to keep you entertained, educated and bored out of your minds for hours. Blue Duck Weather is a perfectly natural sleep aid when you just cannot keep your eye lids open any longer reading the boring statistics and general garbage. But hang on, it’s time to see what happened around the Land, the state, the Country and the world! And your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather is proud and excited to announce a mile stone for this award winning weather journal. Blue Duck Weather has received over seven thousand worldwide views since it began has a fledgling duck journalistic exercise!

Find out what country bans air conditioning for the summer, federal budget cuts affect the NWS, tornado activity in the U.S. to date being mild for this time of year (at the beginning of the month), a string of wildfires intentionally set in northern Arizona, major chicken news in Arizona, the absolutely depressing continuing decline of honeybees, Southern California on fire all the way to the ocean, record snow in parts of the U.S. in May, what the United Nations reports as a world food source that should be used, a mild tornado season turns deadly with an EF-5, “the most powerful winds on earth”, the strongest National Weather Service Warning language I have ever read in front of a tornado, the disappearance of the American frog?, the state that sets the longest amount of snow days on record, and what the prolonged drought is doing to the United States beef industry.

On Sunday, May 19th in the afternoon I was visiting one my weather sites and saw playing out in real time a massive tornado headed for Kansas and Oklahoma. The NWS warning was the most explicit and hard language I have ever heard. With words like “take cover now or you will die” shocked me at the eminence of this monster. Moore, Oklahoma took the brunt of it with 23 lost and 13,000 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. The force of this monster tornado with winds over two hundred miles per hour was greater than the atomic bomb in Japan so many years ago. And then again on May 31st a slow moving storm seventy plus miles wide bears down on Oklahoma City, again with Moore in the possible fire lines. Read the chilling details in this latest feature of Blue Duck Weather!

Meanwhile back at “The Land” May was mild with only three days that the temperature reached one hundred degrees. The average temperature for the month was 79.45 degrees with the highs seven degrees warmer than the beginning of the month. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill at 7400’ in New Mexico had an average temperature of 53.81 degrees with the highs 5.5 degrees higher than the beginning of the month.

There was no rain in May at The Land and the drought brutally carries on and takes its toll in so many ways. Rain for the year 2.07”. The lakes that matter for Arizona and the South West speak of this. Mead is 49% full, Pleasant is 75%, Powell 47% and Roosevelt 54%.

Let us begin with all the news that matters now!

5-1- A five hundred acre fire burning near Chino Valley, Arizona. No cause yet but dry and windy conditions. Red Flag Warnings for western and southern Arizona.

Late spring snow dumps a half foot in the Rockies. A record high low of 27 degrees in Denver. Records set in the Plains and Dakotas for snowfall.

5-2- Rochester, Minnesota has a historic thirteen and a half inches of snow today! The previous record for this date is only two inches.

A bear is found wandering near an Elementary school in east Mesa, Arizona. The bear appears to be in good health and will be released “back into the wild” next week. ( What we call the “wild” is the bear’s home or was. Thirst or hunger probably drove him closer to “humanity”. I bet that poor bear was fucking freaked out near a school, traffic and bear insanity.)

A well known thirty seven year old British adventurer has died and two others with him have suffered extreme frostbite injuries as they tried to cross Greenland’s ice cap for a charity hike. The expedition was caught by a strong, cold wind. A rescue helicopter was not able to reach the men for a day until winds died down.

5-3- A ten thousand acre wildfire is burning out of control in southern California. Flames are approaching Malibu and choppers are using ocean water to douse them. The Spring Fire has placed 4,000 homes in danger.

Record flooding has ended the drought in some parts of the Midwest. The far West is still suffering from a lack of winter rain and snow.

The Chandler, Arizona Planning & Zoning Commission approves a 4-2 vote on allowing urban chickens. As many as five hens will be allowed in a residential back yard. Opponents fear allowing chickens will bring pests and the sounds and smells of a farm to their neighborhoods. (So what the fuck is wrong with that?) If passed the ordinance will not prohibit slaughtering of chickens at a residence just as the city does not prohibit a hunter from butchering a deer at a residence.

5-4- The Spring Fire has burned 28,000 acres and 4,000 homes are threatened in Ventura and Malibu, California.

This is the first time on record Arkansas has had snow in May.

5-5- Firefighters are getting the upper hand on The Spring Fire. 60% containment at 30,000 acres and forty buildings damaged. Cooler temperatures and rain are helping the control immensely.

Ten small fires that broke out in Coconino National Forest in Arizona are under investigation. The fires combined burned three to four acres. All occurred in the same general area near Marshall Lake.

A fifty four year old man dies of heart failure on a hike up Squaw Peak in Phoenix.

And this just in from The Lovely Mrs. BlueDuck: An Alabama man hunting for turkey in the woods was struck by a deadly pit viper rattlesnake in the lower left leg. He was scared and nervous but made a move that doctors agree may have saved his life. The man carried a ten dollar snake bite kit in his pack for years. He pulled it out but didn’t know how to use it at first. He stuck the tip of the extractor over the bite, pushed the plunger down and pulled up creating a suction that brought the venom with it. He was then able to drive himself to a hospital. ( I have carried a snake bite kit in my pack for thirty five years but it is more old fashioned and probably dangerous than the one described above. It has a suction device and a razor blade, no plunger. I think I will upgrade my snake bite kit to a current “model.”)

5-6- Wind gusts up to 40 mph in central Oregon toppled trees, blocking roads and knocking down power lines. Two small wildfires set off and forty homes evacuated.

New news on the disappearing honey bee that your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather began reporting several years ago; bees pollinate one third of our diet. 42% bee loss this past winter. Mice, weather and pesticides may be the cause. ( This is not headline news anywhere but if the bee were to become extinct so would we. The genius Albert Einstein even commented on it some eighty years ago. He said something to the effect that if bees were gone the human population would have about four years left on this planet.)

More chicken news from Arizona: “Chickens are moving from farms to metropolitan and suburb backyards in growing numbers, a movement inspired by a desire for a more sustainable lifestyle……” Phoenix allows up to twenty chickens in a back yard. One woman said “That at a time when people are interested in eating locally nothing is more local than a person’s backyard.”

(I bet if the grocery stores closed for only one week there would never be another word of protest, like Chandler, about not wanting to bring farm sounds and smells to the city. People would be killing each other for the common variety of “backyard chicken.”)

5-7- Snow falls on the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona today and the snow level drops to 7500’ (in May!)

The Forest Service is spending 160 million dollars for seven new air tankers to fight forest fires. ( It’s obvious this program wasn’t part of the federal budget cuts.)

A suspect has been arrested in setting the string of fires last weekend near Flagstaff.

5-8- An incredible cool high of 79 degrees at The Land with a low of 59 degrees. Parts of Canada and the Pacific Northwest were warmer than Arizona and Florida today. Due to locked in high pressure Edmonton had a high of 88 degrees today.

Two inches of rain fall in parts of New York City this morning resulting with street flooding.

5-10- In the last twelve months the United States has experienced the fewest number of tornadoes since 1954. (That was a good year!) Through yesterday tornadoes have killed three people in 2013. By this time in 2011 543 folks had been killed!

A lightning strike injures 39, eight severely at a Father’s Day party in east Germany.

Automatic federal spending cuts may reduce staff at the National Weather Service. The cutbacks are happening just as hurricane season is approaching. A spokesman said the NWS is worried they will not be able to provide the level of sevice as in the past.

Four to six inches or rain in Houston in twenty four hours results in major flooding.

A man who set a string of fires last weekend near Flagstaff will get a psychological evaluation at the request of his defense lawyer.

5-11- The killer drought is getting worse in New Mexico with no relief in site. The map from federal forecasters show exceptional drought has spread from a quarter of New Mexico to 40% in one week! Snowmelt and runoff are just 5% of average. One water district says it has only enough water for irrigation for thirty to forty days. That will be the shortest season in one hundred years.

Pakistan has banned air conditioners for the summer due to an energy crisis. The country often reaches 104 degrees and above in the summer.

5-12- Powerful winds drive giant blocks of ice toward townhouses on the shore of Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota. In a bizarre photo two foot blocks of wind swept ice is inching across patios at two feet per minute. No injuries but several homes damaged.

5-14- 33mph winds in Show Low, Arizona with rain showers.

Bees sting five hikers on a trail in the Catalina Mountains wilderness area near Tucson, including a six year old boy who had to be hospitalized for signs of shock. He was stung over one hundred times and four men were stung over 150 times.

There are five hundred fewer firefighters in the nation due to Federal budget cuts to face wildfires this summer. 10,500 were employed last summer. 48% of the Continental U.S. under a moderate to severe drought condition.

5-15- Tornado Warnings are issued for Dallas. Severe thunderstorms and two tornadoes reported in north east Texas.

Earth’s global melt has reached Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain. Glaciers have shrunk 13% in fifty years and the snowline haas moved upward 590’.

A boat full of people trying to flee Cyclone Mahansen has capsized near Myanmar. There are fifty souls missing and eight bodies found.

The United Nations proposes a world wide effort to eat more insects for protein sources. Declining world meat sources part of the reason.( I bet there are billions of people over time that have had to rely on this food source and still do. I have no problem with it at all if that is what it came down to. Hell, I would even eat a rattler raw if it came down to it.)

5-16- Six dead, seven missing, one hundred injured and two hundred and fifty homeless after an unconfirmed seven tornadoes strike north Texas. Granbury is one of the hardest hit area with an EF-4 tornado reported with 200 mph winds. Residents had 15-30 minute warnings before the deadly beasts struck.
If the EF-4 is confirmed it will be the first one to hit Texas since 1994.

Red Flag wind warnings in northern Arizona. (This may not mean a tornado but it sure means a fire warning, another deadly beast.)

One million flee as Cyclone Mahansen bears down on the Bangledesh coast. 18 deaths reported and the storm could bring life threatening conditions to 8.2 million people.

(If you saw the picture in the following report it would break your heart although it has a good ending.) A coyote pup covered with cholla clumps and facing an agonizing death was rescued this week by two golf course workers in Sun City, Arizona. The idiot ran headfirst into a cactus and was stumbling around in pain. One man held the pup and the other pulled the cholla out with a pair of pliers. The poor little bastard was then reunited with its mother.

5-17- Sixteen confirmed tornadoes yesterday in northern Texas. The confirmed EF-4 was a half mile wide! The damage in Granbury has most of the town off limits until gas and electric can be safely restored. The seven missing earlier have been found safe. One woman that was killed was in her house that was blown 200 yards.

Thirty five million people in the United States are under threat of severe, imbedded thunderstorms.The largest tornado outbreak is feared from Minnapolis to Kansas City.

Thankfully Cyclone Maharen weakens to a Tropical Storm and causes far less damage in Bangladesh than feared. 45 folks have lost their lives.

The world’s glaciers have lost 260 gigatons of water each year between 2003 and 2009, causing a third of sea level rise. (Hell, I don’t even know what a gigaton is but it sounds like a lot of fucking water!)

5-19- A large and very violent tornado is being monitored this afternoon near Wichita, Kansas. Torando Warnings posted for Oklahoma County in Oklahoma. Baseball size hail is reported in Luther, Oklahoma. National Weather warning at 3:45 p.m. “A confirmed large, violent and extremely dangerous tornado was located on the southwest side of Wichita, moving northeast at 30mph. This is an EXTREMELY dangerous tornado with complete devastation likely. You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter. Do not delay seek shelter now! (It does not get any more ominous or forboding than this!)

Parts of Atlanta, Georgia receives 5.1’’ of rain and severe flooding.

Anchorage sets new record for the longest snow season, 232 days, the old record is 230 days set in 1981-82.

5-20- An unconfirmed EF-5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma south of Oklahoma City. There are fires out of control with thirty square miles of reckage and carnage. Four killed and one school has the walls and roof blown away. Children are being rescued and the Oklahoma governor declares a State of Emergency for sixteen counties. The tornado was up to two miles wide and forty minutes on the ground.

Deadly rainstorm kills 55 in southern China with 14 missing.

5-21- EF-5 tornado confirmed in Moore. Twenty four dead including nine children at Plaza Towers school. Two hundred and thirty seven injured.

5-22- Fortunately no more dead found in Moore but the injured is up to 324 and 13,000 homes damaged or destroyed. An EF- 5 storm has the most powerful winds on earth and the energy this storm exerted was more powerful than the atomic bomb in Japan. (As deadly as Mother Nature can be at least she does not leash out deadly radiation to affect a “war zone” for hundreds if not thousands of years.)

5-23- The Soldier Base Fire near Nogales, Arizona is 15% contained at seven square miles of grass and brush in the Coronado National Forest. It is human caused.

In Miami, Florida Wildlife officials are investigating an online video that shows a man jumping on two manatees. He appears to be doing a cannon ball on top of a manatee and young calf near a dock. The agency is investigating the possible violations of the Endangered Species Act.

An eighty year old Japanese man becomes the oldest Mount Everest climber. He said “It is to challenge my own ultimate limit. It is to honor the great Mother Nature.”

5-24- Above average hurricane season is predicted by NOAA- Part of the determing factors is a continuation of long term atmospheric climate pattern which includes a strong West African monsoon. This has been going on since 1995 and the trend lasts for 25-40 years.
Another contributing factor is warmer than average water temps. In the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
El Nino is not expected to develop and suppress hurricane formation.

Flash Flood Warnings for parts ot Texas up to Massachusetts today.

5-25- Flash flooding near San Antonio, Texas has killed two women, both of who were swept away from their cars in low lying flood areas. A teen also swept away and has not been found. 21-16” of rain fell in twenty four hours.

Rains and (yes) snow knock out power in Vermont to four thousand customers with flooding and up to three inches of snow. Temperatures in the North East ten to thirty degrees below normal.

5-27 Search teams near San Antonio find the body of a missing eighteen year old who tried to swim across a flooded wash two days ago.
Red Cross shelters set up for at least twenty people, some to help people after their apartment complex roof caved in under the weight of heavy rain.

5-28- Red Flag Warnings in south and south east Arizona posted due to high winds and very dry conditions.

Wildfire in Santa Barbara County, California causes 4,000 evacuations in camp grounds and summer homes. 1200 acres have burned.

Thunderstorms with 60 mph winds and half dollar sized hail this morning in parts of Colorado and Kansas.

Tornado Warnings are posted in four states from Oklahoma to Wisconsin.

The Frog Fire in Gila County, Arizona is at 20% containment at six acres near Young. Human caused with one structure lost.

Seven dead after a rain soaked hill has collapsed on a major highway north of Mexico City.

A Spanish climber dead on the Himalayas after falling and surviving for three nights without food or water. Rescue attempts failed to get him down to an elevation where he could be rescued by helicopter. ( What a strong and brave soul this man was to survive that long presumably injured with no food or water.)

5-29- Strong thunderstorms near Dallas cancels the Diamond Back- Rangers game.

5-30- Tornado spotted in Oklahoma and Arkansas this afternoon. This slow moving system extends from Wisconsin to Texas.

Hurricane Barbara floods Mexico’s southern Pacific coast with two dead and fourteen fishermen missing in the state of Oaxaca. Six to ten inches or rain and three and a half foot storm surges.

A new wildfire has flared up north of Los Angeles. Four hundred acres have burned this afternoon. Power utilities threatened.

5-31- “Take cover now!” A massive slow moving storm with tornadoes touching down in Oklahoma City. All people at Will Rogers International Airport are taken downstairs to a concrete tunnel. This massive sytem is seventy miles wide and Moore, Oklahoma is threatened.

Fast moving wildfire in the New Mexico Santa Fe National Forest prompts evacuations of homes and campgrounds. 1,000 acres have burned west of Santa Fe. The cause is a downed power line on private land.

1400 acre wildfire north of Los Angeles is 15% contained.

And so it goes, a weather merry go round from day to day, month to month, year to year. From gentle and pleasant to terrifying and distrustful and where it hits is anyone’s guess, even for the science we have. With that said we will leave you with a far more gentle quote than dealing with wildfires and tornadoes. “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water” by Loren Eisley.


Until the next weather event slams you around like so many pinballs on a collision course remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.


Always humble, Professor MR Blue Duck

April Blue Duck Weather News 2013

April 2013 Weather News!

Welcome to another exciting edition of Blue Duck Weather. It is almost becoming a spring right of passage for Fargo to deal with major flooding of the Mighty Red River in April. Four out of the past five years the town has come together to sand almost a million bags. Many feel is brings a sense of community and unity (I say just get the hell out of Fargo.)

And for a lot of folks in the Country spring never did arrive in April. Thousands of snow records and low temperatures were broken almost to the end of the month. Many were begging for winter to end. Don’t worry. Before you know it will be hot, muggy and we will be sweating our collective balls off!
Add heavy rains and snowmelt and six Midwestern states have some of the worst flooding in history.

So on a note of eternal optimism and spring in the air your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather has this quote just for its faithful readers. “The best things in life are nearest; breath in your nostrils, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. (ponder the last two sentences.) -Robert Louis Stevenson.

April was mild on The Land. There was only one day it hit a hundred degrees and it only lasted a few minutes. The average temperature was 68.11 degrees, 10.50 degrees warmer than the beginning of the month. Talking Trees and Antelope Hill had average temps of 46.66 degrees.
Welcome rain fell on The Land on April 8th leaving the total for the year at 2.07” To date Phoenix has had 2.67”.

It seems the spring snowmelt and runoff in the high country has helped my beloved Roosevelt Lake but I fear it is short lasting. At 54% capacity it is bound to only shrink from here until next spring. Mead is at 51%, Pleasant 85% and Powell 47%.

In this edition of Blue Duck Weather satisfy your twisted weather craving with the difference one year can make in weather extremes, the scientific definition of a severe thunderstorm, do you know what causes the most weather related deaths in the United States?, the scientific definition of a severe thunderstorm, the name “Sandy” removed from the revolving alphabetical list of tropical storms and hurricanes (bad luck or too painful of a memory to have a named storm after her again I suppose), the heaviest fish caught in Arizona state history on April 12th, tornado chasing begins on April 9th by the NWS, seven rattlesnake bites in seven days in Maricopa County, Arizona (the fuckers are back!), “Winter Storm Waldo” ( I thought it was spring and where is the consistency of naming winter storm as first announced by the NWS months ago?), New Mexico woman charged with child abuse after letting her son cross a protective barrier and “pet” a bob cat, dire warnings about the Arizona river of my boyhood, the beautiful Verde, Which river is called the most endangered river in America though?, an amazing finding of the power of Super Storm Sandy last fall, the deadliest avalanche accident in Colorado since 1962 and debris from the Japan tsunami two years ago finally reaches the West Coast. Read on, there is so much more!

4-1- March 2012 to March 2013; from extreme warmth to cold. On March 17 last year International Falls had a record high of 77 degrees. This year it was 28 degrees below zero. That is a 105 degree temperature swing!

Coldest opening day on record for baseball in Minnesota with a temperature of 35 degrees.

4-3- A record 6.1 inches of rain fell in two hours in Buenos Aires yesterday. Flooding kills five by electrocution and drowning.

4-4 forty six more killed by flooding in Argentina and fifteen hundred evacuated. Water rose so fast it trapped people in their cars and walking on city streets. Twelve to sixteen inches fell in two hours.

It seems like an annual event in Fargo as they stock pile one million sandbags in anticipation of major flooding from spring snow melts.

Two young mountain lion cubs are photographed trapped on a fence by five coyotes in Wyoming’s National Elk Ridge. Eventually one cub ran off with the ‘yotes chasing him and the other dropped down from the fence and hid in the grass. Both cubs were later spotted alive. (I bet if mama was around the fucking coyotes wouldn’t have messed with the cubs.)

4-5 A stranded hiker is rescued in Sedona on a ledge seven hundred feet high after being trapped for twenty four hours. (The photos sure looked like it was near Junipine Resort on Oak Creek.) ((Thank God it wasn't Jesse and Tommy May)

This is the last weekend for skiing at Flagstaff’s Snowbowl. There is a fifty seven inch base and they had an amazing season partly due to the piss water snow blowers they used after a lengthy legal battle.

4-7- Red Flag Warning for central and western New Mexico tomorrow. High wind advisory issued for most of Arizona.

A report by the Natural Resources Conservation Center states that the mountain snow pack in Arizona is 40% of normal. The Southwest is in “tough shape” of water outlook for the rest of the year.

According to a meteorology professor at Plymouth State University the biggest U.S. weather killer by far is car accidents with seven thousand a year. Weather related crashes are those that occur in adverse weather like rain, sleet, snow, fog or on slick pavement. Multi-car pileups get media attention but single or two car accidents on wet roads cause the most deaths. (Dust storms are not mentioned but are deadly also. In my opinion dust can blind you more unexpectedly than fog.)

All people who have free time in Fargo are urged to fill sandbags at “Sandbag Central” as they prepare for the mighty Red River to hit flood stage, expected in ten days.

4-8- What a wild weather day for Arizona, the Phoenix area and The Land! 35mph peak wind gusts at the official weather station on The Land. A totally unexpected and appreciated .19’’ of rain. The pressure fell from 28.05 to 27.88 in a brief amount of time (I was getting worried about tornadoes.)
65mph peak wind gusts recorded at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. I-10 closed in both directions near Pichaceo Peak due to jack knifed rigs in the blowing shit. Forty mile stretch of I-40 closed near Flagstaff. Highway 89 south of Flagstaff closed. Four inches of snow in Lakeside, Arizona. Snow level drops to five thousand feet.

70 mph winds in Southern California and up to two feet of snow in some of the higher mountains in Colorado.

There have been seven reported rattlesnake bites in the last seven days in Maricopa County. One man was bitten getting out of his hot tub. Last year there were two hundred and seventy rattlesnake bites in Arizona, one hundred and sixteen of them in Maricopa County. The last fatality from a snake bite was last October in Chino Valley. The unfortunate 63 year old woman was bitten by a Mohave rattler, the most venomous rattlesnake in the world.

A quiet beginning in March for tornadoes. The fewest number in “decades” were reported. There were ninety eight tornadoes reported in March. Last year there had already been one hundred and fifty four reported with 43 deaths.

A Severe Tunderstorm is defined as “any thunder storm that produces either tornadoes, hail at least one half inch in diameter and wind gusts 58mph or greater.” ( I have had severe thunderstorms at The Land that haven’t met these requirements but the effects of flooding and downed trees and power lines were just as real.)

4-9- The annual tornado hunt begins today by the NWS with an official vehicle and storm chaser assigned to the task. On this first day severe weather was tracked and chased in northwest Kansas and Colorado observing 60mph winds and hail. (sign me up for this job!)
Forrest Lakes, Arizona received seven inches of snow yesterday, described as December weather.

Eighty two degrees in New York City. Seventeen degrees on the west side of the state of Kansas and seventy four degrees on the east side.

4-10-Winter Storm Waldo in the Plains breaks new snow and temperature records. Rapid City, South Dakota records twenty two inches with twenty inches falling in a twenty four hour period, shattering a sixty nine year old record.The foothills of Colorado received eighteen inches of snow. Yesterday in Denver it never got above twenty two degrees, the coldest on record. Cheyenne, Wyoming had a high of twelve degrees, the coldest on record.
71mph winds damaged a a marina at Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming.

In Nebraska searchers on snowmobiles find a nineteen year old man alive after they found the body of his mother in a field near Berea. The woman called her husband to tell him she was stranded by heavy snow and was leaving her car to walk home. Her son left home to meet up with her. Her son was later found holed up in an abandoned farm house with severe hypothermia. ( This struck me not only profoundly sad but tragic in a simple way. Apparently the mom thought she was close enough to home she could make it on foot and her son could meet up with her to makes sure she got home. It must have been blizzard conditions, bearings lost, or the killing cold underestimated. In the worst of weather conditions “home” might as well be a thousand miles away.)

`4-11- Confirmed tornadoes strike Mississippi, Arkansas and Birmingham, Alabama. One person killed, three homes destroyed and fifty damaged. One tornado was on the ground for 56 miles! One hundred mile per hour gusts in northern Arkansas and the governor declares fifteen counties disaster areas.
Hurricane name Sandy will be dropped and will be renamed Sarah. Only the names that have caused the worst damage are “retired.”

4-12- This contribution is from the Lovely Mrs. BlueDuck: A hundred and twenty pound mountain lion is “arrested” after prowling and jumping fences in Los Angeles. The trouble maker is is tranquilized and taken to the hills. (How would you like to be enjoying your back yard tranquility only to see this beast jumping the fence into your yard? I like animal “terrorists” in the city.)

4-13- A Surprise, Arizona man has caught a 75.52 pound flathead catfish at Bartlett Lake north of Scottsdale. Arizona Game & Fish delared it the heaviest record fish of any species in state history. The previous record was a 74 pound flathead caught in 1988.
Winter Storm Xerxes bearing down on the northern Plains. The Red River flood is delayed as parts of South Dakota and Minnesotta may have another ice event this month. Winter Storm Warnings are posted from Montana to North Dakota.

Red Flag Warning issued tomorrow for the Little Colorado River Valley and northern Arizona.

4-14- Winter Storm Xerxes is the fourteenth named storm in the Weather Channel’s alphabetical list of winter storms for 2012-2013. (How come this is only the second named one I’ve read about? Seems like local forecasters haven’t caught on, even the ones on The Weather Channel.)
Sixteen inches of snow in western North Dakota. Tornado Watch issued in the Florida Panhandle.

The Fisher Fire near Flagstaff triples in size to thity five acres and is 40% contained. Wind gusts up to 60mph aren’t helping and the fire is human caused.
A sixty year old hiker is missing in a Washington State avalanche in the Cascade Mountains west of I-90.

A New Mexico woman has been charged with child abuse after the child was mauled by a bob cat at the zoo. She took her son across a protective barrier to get a closer look. His brother said they were petting the cats. One cat grabbed the boy by the head and began pulling him away. It took eight staples to close the head wound. (Mrs. Blueduck thinks they should have just taken that sorry excuse for a mom and tossed her into the pen....)

4-15- More High Wind Warnings are issued for northern Arizona tomorrow.
According to a U.S. Geological Survey report population growth and ground water pumping are taxing the Verde River in Arizona to the point it may dry up in summer months. Area leaders are calling for conservation programs to prevent “an economic and ecological crisis.”

4-16- A Mesa, Arizona man gets two years probation in last summer’s Sunflower fire near Payson. The man has admitted to starting the 18,000 acre fire last May 12th when he was camping with friends at a bachelor party. (I think this was the dude that shot a cardboard box in dry grass with an incendiary shotgun shell. The fire got away from him obviously.)

“Winter Storm Yogi (you have to be kidding me, how fucking fierce does that name sound?) Bears down on the Plains.” A half foot of snow in Nebraska and western South Dakota. Northern Colorado may get two feet of snow.

So far April has been one of the coldest for Fairbanks, Alaska. The average temperature is 9.7 degrees, sixteen degrees below normal and what the weather should be like in early March. On April 11 it was 21 degrees below zero.

4-17- Colorado River named, once again this year, as “the most endangered river” according to the non profit American Rivers. “The current trends are not sustainable” with an ever expanding population, a shrinking Rocky Mountain snowmelt and plans to build new pipelines to carry water away from the river.
Possible unprecedented flooding on the Red River prompts new forecasting plan. Fargo has received double the normal amount of snow in March.
Tornado Watch in Oklahoma.

A thirty four year old man is missing in the Superstition Mountains. Family said he didn’t have much water. ( Thankfully it has been cool and windy and the nights there are probably cold with out the proper clothing. I doubt a man on a casual hike would be prepared for any weather other than what he was blessed with on the day he set out.)

4-18- Up to four inches of rain in parts of the Midwest with major flooding in Chicago.

Severe thunderstorms and damaging winds from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi Valley today and tonight.

Snow and ice have closed roads in Colorado and Wyoming. Flooding rivers in Iowa and Illinois. Tornado damage in Oklahoma. Lightning temporarily knocks out electricity to a nuclear power plant.

Forty one degree low at The Land this morning! I suppose this cool of a temperature is gone until next November. ( The Lovely Mrs. BlueDuck will be cussing me soon for having us live in this hot desert.)

4-20- Missing hiker in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona has been found dead after five days. His body was discovered yesterday near a canyon south of Siphon Draw. A helicopter could not get to the rugged terrain so hikers are going in to recover the body.

Thirty eight counties in Illinois are declared disaster areas due to severe flooding. Floodwaters from the Illinois River are near record levels in Utica, Illinois. Many homes and businesses are flooded and two deaths reported.

Flooding closes roads and schools in northern and central Indiana.

4-21- First 90 degrees at The Land. (Here we go.)

Major river flooding in six Midwestern states have forced evacuations, closed bridges, flooded homes and caused three deaths.
State of Emergency in Clarksville, Missouri. People have been sandbagging for four days to keep water out of town. Last week a months worth of rain was dumped in a few hours.

According to scientists Superstorm Sandy registered on earthquake sensors all the way to the Pacific Northwest. As Sandy hit New Jersey and New York last October the force of waves slamming into each other shook the sea floor. Energy generated by Sandy was equivalent to a magnitude 2 or 3 earthquake.
Yesterday five back country snowboarders were killed in an avalanche near Loveland Pass, Colorado. A sixth man was buried but able to dig out and call for help. The group may have set off the avalanche while hiking up a drainage area. The snow wave was 650 feet wide, 1,000 feet long and 8 feet deep. Four feet of snow had fallen in recent days. This was the deadliest avalanche accident since 1962.

4-22- Earthday 2013. Hayduke Lives!
From his secluded location in Colorado RyDuck reports fifteen degrees with the wind chill and snow. (And here in the desert it is in the nineties but last year on this date had a record high of 105 degrees!)

Two hundred evacuated in the foothills east of Los Angeles due to a brush fire sparked by equipment a gardner was using in a back yard.

The continuing river flooding in the Midwest from a week of rain and winter snowmelt are becoming dangerous in six states.
Missouri governor declares a State of Emergency and deploys the National Guard to help fight flooding. (How the hell do you fight it?)
State of Emergency in Illinois. The Wabash River rose fourteen feet, the highest since1959.
Two drivers killed in Arcadia, Indiana when their cars were swept into flooded Cicero Creek.

4-23- Winter Storm Zeus dumps more than a foot of snow in South Dakota. High temperatures are ten to thirty degrees lower than normal from the Mississippi Valley west to the Plains and Rockies. Low record temperatures in South Dakota and Kansas.

4-24- Floodwaters rising to near record levels along the Illinois River in central Illinois. In Peoria Heights roads and buildings are flooded and riverfront structures completely submerged.

4-25- A tornado leaves a two mile swath of damage near New Orleans.

4-26- The Mighty Red River near Fargo threatens to break records. This poor town has had to prepare with a million sand bags four times in the past five years. (Is this just a spring right of passage for these folks?) The President declares a State of Emergency for South Dakota.
Chicago has experienced the wettest April on record.

4-27- A barnacle covered fishing boat has washed ashore in Crescent City, California. It has been confirmed as the first debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami to reach California.

4-28- First one hundred degree day in Phoenix. Average is May 2nd.
105 degrees in El Centro, California.

“Out of Nowhere.” Severe flash flooding in Texas and parts of the South. Houston received eight inches of rain in a few hours! One hundred and fifty water rescues in five hours. 40,000 without power.

Officials begin bear proofing Payson area campsites after last year’s attacks. Twenty seven of two hundred and sixty campsites have metal storage containers for food and bear proof trash receptacles. ( I have seen bear proof trash containers in south east Arizona, Montana and Alaska but I have never seen metal storage containers for food.)

Federal wildlife managers are releasing two pairs of the endangered Mexican gray wolf in Arizona and New Mexico. The first pair will be released in the Apache National Forest in southe east Arizona. They will be crated and taken into the back country on speciall trained news. Supplemental feed will be provided while the wolves learn to catch prey.

2-29- First one hundred degree day on The Land but it was brief.
The Phoenix Rescue Mission hopes to deliver 400,000 bottles of water to the valley’s homeless population this summer. Instead of focusing on downtown and south Phoenix the non profit organization plans to expand to Guadalupe, Buckeye, east Mesa and Sunnyslope. These areas have high numbers of homeless people but few agencies. Last year there were 106 confirmed heat related deaths.

4-30- April was the snowiest on record for Rapid City, South Dakota, Duluth, Minnesota and Boulder, Colorado. Eleven hundred snow fall records and thirty four hundred cold records have been set across the nation this month. On April 24th, a twenty one degree low in Amarillo, Texas was the coldest on record.
One meterologist said “the weather map lookes like something out of the Twilight Zone” last week.
The third day of heavy rain and flooding in San Antonio, Texas.

A woman has been given rabies vaccines after being bitten by a bobcat behind a store in Show Low, Arizona.

And that my faithful readers concludes another exhausting edition of Blue Duck Weather. But before we sadly leave you until month we will leave you with a very appropriate weather song for this April; “When it’s Springtime in Alaska it’s Forty Below” by Johnny Horton.
Remember Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took Land.

The Honorable, Distinguished Professor MR Blue Duck