Happy Quacking New Year my faithful readers from around the state, the country and the globe. I have noticed by the blog summary of reader location many of you are our friends in Canada. Understandable as so many of you make a second home in sunny Arizona. I am sure as you read the temperatures and averages for the month of January in Phoenix and surrounding areas you are blue with envy and wish to get right back here to the blissful winters we enjoy. And then get your asses home when the first glint of a hundred degree day is on the horizon.
So I asked myself in my state of weather reflectivity for the past year, what was the biggest weather event or the one that had the most impact on me? Tragically and sadly enough it was the Yarnell Hill Fire that killed 19 young men. A perfect, monster killer weather phenomenon if there ever was. The news is nonexistent in most of the country about that terrible day in June but the aftermath is just beginning here in Arizona. Law suites, who was wrong, wrongful death claims, land claims calling out for negligence in predicting and fighting the fires and the terrible property and home loss folks took on that hot day in June, OSHA safety investigations, independent investigations and the list goes on. And how the tragedy of the fire is blamed on climate change, unchecked land clearing of combustible fuels, too many people building in areas that shouldn’t be built in, unchecked growth and on and on it goes.
I feel so sorry for the families of these men. Young mothers and children orphaned by the loss of their husbands and fathers. If any good comes out of it perhaps it will be the study of why this happened and it may help it from not ever happening again. Perhaps the families of these men will benefit with some peace knowing the boys died loving what they were doing. And perhaps the investigation will lead to better communication, fire science, commander preparedness and air support. The bottom line, in the ever changing weather, it happened because of the “perfect storm.”
It is a brand new year as far as calendars go. And by the months in our years we generally know what to expect with weather. When it will be autumn, winter and spring we gauge the approaching weather generally. Mother Nature has a different calendar she loosely adheres to but often scoffs, kicks at, ignores and basically does what she wants to. Her calendar is based on the rotation of earth, the temperatures of the oceans and seas and the firestorms that happen on the sun. She is her own Queen answering to no one except the gravitational pulls on the axis of this planet. She can love us, hate us and kill us.
In this brand new edition of Blue Duck Weather, the month of January leashed record cold and snow in parts of the U.S. A “polar vortex”, a term I had never heard of, was in effect a high level frigid hurricane originating out of the Arctic. It played havoc on millions and as it moved farther south it brought two states on their knees. Two and a half inches of snow in Alabama and Georgia seems like nothing to you hardy folks used to dealing with feet of snow but I can completely understand how it brought two big cities to a standstill. It all depends on what you are used to.
And then there is California dealing with summer like wildfires and a drought so unprecedented in modern times it is going to result in drastic actions. Water cut offs lead to water wars, even if it means in these modern times attorneys and not guns (I hope.) “Liquid Gold” as water was named hundreds of years ago in the arid southwest. I just hope this type of gold doesn’t rise to a thousand dollars an ounce.
Your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather has been methodical in reporting monthly water levels in the biggest of lakes in Arizona and the South West. We have seen for some time “the writing on the wall.” Lake Powell is at its lowest level since it began filling. Water rationing or ridiculously high water prices are on the way. And believe me they will not just affect California.
Enough New Year’s preaching. Before we get on to all the weather news that fits let us get the boring but necessary weather statistics out of the way.
A very cool average temperature on Land for the month of January at 52.06 degrees. (We will be longing for this in a few months!) Talking Trees and Antelope Hill did not have the usual twenty degree spread in temperature due to the elevation difference between the mountains and here. The average temperature was 43.32 degrees.
There was no rain for the month on The Land as well as Phoenix. Not a good start.
The lake levels are Mead at 48%, Pleasant at 71%, Powell at 41% and Roosevelt at 48%.
1-1- Blizzard Warning for Long Island and Albany, New York. Heavy snow in the Great Lakes with six inches on the ground. Six hundred flights cancelled in Chicago.
1-2- Winter Storm Hercules is a brute! New York declares a State of Emergency with approaching blizzard. Wind gusts up to 50 mph. International Falls 42 below zero this morning! First major winter storm is being called a “monster” affecting one hundred million in twenty states. “This is the big one.” Coastal flooding in Boston. Thirteen hundred miles of highways are littered with stalled trucks. Four inches of snow fell in Indianapolis in four hours.
A Russian research and “cruise “ship ice bound and stuck in Antarctica. Fifty-two scientists and tourists are on board.
1-3- Nine deaths are blamed in the North East on winter storm Hercules. One was a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s who froze to death when she wandered away from her rural New York home. JFK airport in New York closed this morning at six a.m. I-14 in New York and Long Island closed at midnight. Twenty inches of snow in Massachusetts, fourteen inches in Boston. Winter Wind Chill Warnings issued for 22 states. Cold predicted behind this storm not seen since 1980. Twenty-five below zero in Antigo, Wisconsin. All schools in Minnesota will be closed Monday.
1-4- What at least 25 states are experiencing is known as a “Polar Vortex”, literally a high level arctic hurricane. Forty three below zero in Bismarck, one below zero in Oklahoma City.
1-5- With the wind chill is forty below in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Minneapolis schools closed for the first time in seventeen years. Two train engines freeze on a track from Detroit to Chicago. Wind chill warnings posted from Montana to Alabama. Raw steak and hamburger left outside freeze solid in fifteen minutes demonstrating what exposure of skin to the cold will do. (I guess this is the opposite of frying an egg on the sidewalk like we demonstrate when it is over one hundred and fifteen degrees.
Schools in Atlanta, Georgia closed tomorrow. Eleven inches of snow in Nashville and the temperature dropped fifty degrees in twenty four hours. Every state except Hawaii will have freezing temperatures.
50-50 chance of water shortages in Arizona by 2015. Water rationing possible.
1-6- Seven of Phoenix’s hottest years have happened since 2000. “Heat island effect and climate change” the culprits.
One hundred and eighteen year old record shattered with five degrees in Central Park, New York. Thirty one below zero in Chicago with wind chill. 45 below zero near the U.S. and Canadian border. Minnesota is colder than Antarctica today. Nine below zero as far as south As Atlanta, Georgia. Trains headed for Chicago are delayed overnight. Blizzard Warning with Lake effect snow with 40mph winds causing three foot drifts.
Waves up to seventeen feet high slam Britain’s southwest coast of Land’s End.
Fatal avalanched near Vail, Colorado kills one.
1-7- This week’s arctic cold has brought the highest ice coverage in 20 years.
1-8- Arizona Game & Fish seize two young tigers from backyard in Phoenix and Gilbert. The tiger’s appear to be siblings owned by the same man. They have been transferred to Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde, Arizona.
1-9- Five people killed in U.S. avalanches this winter.
1-10- The Southern Hemisphere is experiencing the hottest temperatures on record and temperatures in Australia 122 degrees. Since December 27th records set in 34 locations. 50,000 bats have been killed by heat. Heat stressed baby bats are being hand fed in the Australian Bat Clinic in Queensland.
Three hundred thousand people are ordered not to drink, bath or wash with tap water in West Virginia. A chemical spill in the Elk River has contaminated water supplies. FEMA on way with emergency water.
1-11- Just days after the Arctic blast warm air spawns thunderstorms and isolated tornados in the South East. Strong winds from Eastern Alabama to North Carolina. 86mph winds at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. 45,000 without power.
Charleston, West Virginia has declared a State of Emergency due to contaminated water. 787 complaints of nausea, sweating. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board sending teams to investigate.
1-12- Fewest lightning deaths in the U.S. on record for 2013. Twenty three fatalities with Florida and Arizona leading with four each. Over the past 30 years approx. 52 on average died each year. From 2006 to 2012 males accounted for 82% of the fatalities. (Tells you what dumb asses we are as we don’t have the sense to get out of the weather.)
1-13- A one hundred pound tortoise has been reunited with its previous owner after wandering away over a year ago. It was found thirty miles away from Casa Grande in Hidden, Valley Arizona. A resident there cared for it until its microchip was checked to find the original owner.
1-14- Shooting wild buffalo with vaccine laced “bio bullets” to prevent the spread of disease to livestock would be too ineffective and expensive to justify. The capture and slaughter of 2300 bison that migrated into Montana this last decade will continue. The disease is called brucellosis and causes pregnant cows to prematurely abort their young.
1-15- The blast of snow and frigid temperatures of January 5th through 8th have caused “Frost Quakes” known as cryoseisms, a natural phenomenon from a sudden deep freezing of the ground. They open from the surface and result in the freeze thaw cycles which break rock due to high water presence. They have been reported around Toronto, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Witnesses report that they sound like a bomb blast.
Wildlife monitors have accused Myanmar of failing to protect elephants after finding 30 tusks and thousands of pieces of ivory for sale at a market near China. Myanmar has the second largest population of elephants in the world of about 6,000. Laws forbid trade but violations are rampant.
1-16- For the first time since the Clean Air Act went into effect in 1970 the dust levels in Phoenix are down to acceptable federal regulations. Dust has been cut by 5% each year between 2007 and 2013.
Out of control wildfire in Southern California. State of Emergency declared with hot, dry and windy conditions. 3700 homes evacuated near Glendora, California. The Cody Fire is zero percent contained. Three have been arrested for starting an illegal campfire. Two thousand acres have burned.
1-17- State wide Drought Emergency called in California with “summer like conditions”. The Cody fire is 30% contained with five homes and seventeen structures burned.
1-18- Twenty nine days without rain in Phoenix with a .55 departure from normal.
1-19- The Cody Fire has burned 1900 acres and is 61% contained.
1-20- The Cody Fire is 78% contained.
Due to a 1977 law prohibiting the sale of rats and mice has caused a Butte, Montana pet shop owner to quit selling them and a third of his business is gone after seventeen years. He has also quit selling snakes too because rodents are their favorite meal. Animal Control in December told him a child complained of being bitten by one of his rats.
The Polar Vortex returns! An emergency declared for next winter blast from the Upper Midwest to New England. Propane shortages to heat seven million homes certain.
One inch of snow fell on this day in Phoenix in 1933.
1-21- Eighty-one degree high record in Phoenix today, fifteen degrees above normal. The high on The Land was 72 degrees. (Heat island effect in Phoenix in the winter or shitty air and dirt trapping the heat down?)
Twenty-five hundred flights cancelled. Mountains of West Virginia receive six to twelve inches of snow. Bitter cold behind this storm. Federal government shuts down in D.C. State of Emergency declared in nine counties in New York and Long Island. North east Philadelphia gets ten inches of snow, two and a half inches at Reagan International Airport. A “Weather Bomb” is being predicted.
1-22- Yuma, Arizona sets an 82 degree record.
A woman in Papago Park in Scottsdale Arizona stuck in a cave all night after taking a sunset walk.
Thirty-three days in Flagstaff with no snow. The record is thirty nine days.
One half of the U.S. is under Freeze Winter Warnings. Schools are running out of snow days. Twenty below in Fargo, thirty six below in International Falls. Minneapolis schools closed with a wind chill of thirty eight below zero.
Winter storm alerts as far south as Rio Grande, Houston and San Antonio. All are expecting hard ice by tonight.
The expedition of 52 scientists and tourists set foot on dry land for the first time in three weeks since they were rescued from a ship trapped by sea ice. They made the final segment of their rescue journey on an Australian icebreaker. (Some are wondering who is going to foot the bill on the rescue operation that left other vessels trapped in the ice also.)
1-23- 58 degree record high low in Phoenix.
26 degrees in Lake Charles, Louisiana with light snow, sleet and freezing rain. Snow north of I-10 between Houston and San Antonio. Snow and whiteout conditions cause a 46s vehicle pileup on I-94 in Indiana killing three and injuring 22.
Twenty below in Chicago.
1-24- Twenty-five dead pilot whales found in southwest Florida. They came in at high tide and breached, all had empty stomachs and some were emaciated.
1-25- 19 degree low in North Carolina.
1-26- Blizzard conditions across the Dakotas with 54mph winds. Thirty three below in Bismarck.
The only road into Valdez, Alaska is blocked by an avalanche and flooding on the Lower River.
For the first time in one hundred years a new river dolphin species found in the Araguaia River in Brazil’s massive rain forest.
Rescue workers spend the night with an injured hiker in the Lost Dutchman State Park. A sixty-five year old woman fell and dislocated her shoulder. She was located at sundown but could not be airlifted until daybreak. The rescue workers stabilized her and kept her warm and hydrated.
1-27- January proving to be the coldest month this century in the North East. 50 below in the Great Lakes, 36 below in Minneapolis.
A crocodile apparently grabs and kills a twelve year old boy swimming with friends in a river in Australia. Officers are ordered shoot any croc over eight feet long in hoping of finding the boy’s remains. Another boy suffered severe bites to his arms fighting off the beast.
1-28- “Worst snow and ice in a generation threaten an unprepared South.” Snow predicted as far west as Austin, Texas to the Carolinas. This storm will effect fifty million people. Still to the north 24 below in Chicago, 18 below in Pittsburgh, 42 below on the Minnesota, Canadian border. The University of Minnesota shut down for the first time since 1978.
National Guard called to Alabama. Sections of I-10 closed in the south with three thousand flights cancelled or grounded.
And here in Arizona, 16 days in a row at seventy degrees or above in Phoenix.
1-29- Two and a half inches of snow in Atlanta. Children spend the night in schools. Traffic jams so bad that drivers left their vehicles and went to stores and churches to spend the night. Home Depot kept 14 stores open overnight.
Birmingham also hit hard. Thirty hour gridlock with 10,000 kids trapped in 16 communities. Twelve hundred vehicle accidents.” Paralyzed, Genuine Natural Disaster” as the National Guard helps.
Bolivia declares a National State of Emergency to deal with flooding that has killed 30 and left 26,000 out of homes.
And in Phoenix 40 days without rain. Flagstaff usually receive 20 inches of snow in January; so far none.
1-30- What led to snow chaos in Atlanta? Weather forecasts not accurate? State officials had plenty of warning. Storm warnings were issued two days before the storm. Miles of I-75 still have abandoned cars.
State of Emergency declared in California. For the first time in California history an “Exceptional Drought” warning has been issued. Snow pack in the Sierra Nevada’s is almost nonexistent. All people are urged to cut water use by 20%. Ten counties may run out of water in six weeks. January is normally the wettest month in California.
On this day in 1985 it was 66 below in Peter, Utah; the coldest temp ever recorded for the state.
“Urban sprawl, genetically modified crops and illegal logging” are blamed for an alarming decline in the number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico. The plunge had been so dramatic that the annual migration from the U.S. and Canada is in danger of disappearing for good.
BLM is looking for a shooter responsible for killing two wild adult burros. Officers believe the shooting took place about two in the afternoon in the Lake Pleasant herd management area. Burrow and wild horses have been protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971.
Record high low of 58 degrees in Phoenix. 39 mph winds in Winslow, Arizona.
A Las Vegas man is claiming he has killed Big Foot in Texas and said he will be binging the legendary beast to Arizona to show it off.
1-31- The entire month of January has been at or above normal in Phoenix. Blowing Dust Advisory issued in Maricopa and Pinal counties. 52mph winds in Show Low and 49mph winds in Winslow. Flagstaff finally receives snow breaking a 31 day record of no snow.
Motorists left 2,029 cars on frozen, snow covered highways in Georgia from the recent ice storm. Most were picked up by yesterday.
California Water emergency getting worse. 25 million affected if reservoir water is cut off. Never before in history may “liquid gold” be cut off to 710,000 farmers and no rain in January, usually the wettest month.
Until next month when your cracked lips and blackened tongue are begging for water in California and you are begging for a warmer day in the northeast just remember, Pioneers took bullets. Settlers took land.
Your humble weather quack, the distinguished, honorable MR Blue Duck.
