June 2011 Weather News!
According to one geologist “Recent wildfires could be at least as severe and maybe worse than anything we’ve seen since the last Ice Age.” June in Arizona produced the largest wildfire on record. At over 550,000 acre the Wallow Fire began on Memorial Day Weekend by an abandoned campfire.
There has been considerable debate why some of Arizona’s forests did not have fire bans that weekend. Some say it is because it had snowed the prior week in many areas. But only in Blue Duck Weather will you read the other reason. Even though it had snowed there were strong winds that blew almost daily during the month of June. It has baffled me as May and June have all been windy months, usually they are not. The humidity in June was also extremely low, and to coin a wore out saying, the perfect storm was brewing.
There were actually three major fires in Arizona in June, sadly all in the beloved Coronado Mountain range. One of the fires only burned itself out because it wiped out an entire mountain top forest. Officials are so concerned that two breeding pairs of endangered Mount Graham red squirrels will be captured and transported to the Phoenix Zoo in the hope of saving the species. Mount Graham is closed to all visitors and campers. I have never heard of this before, fire restrictions yes. There are other international interests on that mountain that must be saved at all costs but that is a different story.
This special “hot” edition of Blue Duck Weather is so intense and historical your fine staff has agreed not to include the usual boring local weather stats for the month. But there is much more to read than the blow by blow fire reporting from the staff on the road choking to death from smoke.
In this special edition you will also read about a rare white buffalo birth that has drawn Native Americans from the entire country to Texas, baggy pants that actually saved a young man from an alligator attack, a first hand account of flooding in Montana that has been overshadowed by other weather news, the flooded Souris River and the overwhelmed town of Minot North Dakota, a fact to remember when perceiving the amount of land consumed by fire, a dream home overrun by snakes, Hayduke Lives in Flagstaff!, three U.S. nuclear facilities threatened by flooding or fires, a town that will offer free food on cloudy days, a Buddhist retreat in Arizona that was left in the dark by the fires and why, the first elk crossing in the world constructed near Payson, Arizona, a scorpion sting that nearly kills a six month old girl in Arizona, a rare black bear attack on a human in eastern Arizona and turtles that bring a major U.S. airport to a standstill. And now award winning journalism awaits you.
6-1- Red Flag Warnings posted for northern Arizona. A new fire erupted in Coconino County today.
Flames jump the containment line of the Horseshoe Two Fire in south east Arizona. 73,000 acres have burned.
A powerful tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts killing three and damaging hundreds of homes. Tornadoes are rare in this region. The National Guard has been activated and 12,000 are without power.
The official first day of Hurricane Season. (just what we need!)
Ten thousand residents of Minot, North Dakota are told to evacuate along the Souris River, a tributary of the Red River.
Worldwide carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels reached a record 30.6 billion tons in 2010. China and India’s growth added 5% of the increase.
A 200 pound bear on the loose has a Portland, Oregon school in lockdown.
A rare white buffalo is born in Texas. Native Americans from around the country are converging to find the message. Black eyes and a black tip on the tail is considered the most powerful medicine of an albino buffalo.
6-2- This morning the Wallow Fire had burned 18,000 acres, by noon 40,000 acres with no containment. Big Lake is evacuated in eastern Arizona. Fire lines are built around Hannigan’s Meadow Lodge. U.S. 191 is closed and Alpine residents have two hours to evacuate.
There are eight fires burning around the state. The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 80,000 acres and is the sixth largest fire in Arizona history.
The Engineer Fire west of Flagstaff began today at noon.
It has not been this dry since the 1970s.
A woman has been rescued after spending three days in the Mingus Mountain area near Prescott. She was extremely dehydrated, sunburned and had cuts all over her legs. The woman and her boyfriend broke down in a pickup truck and began arguing. The boyfriend hitched a ride and the woman started hiking toward Mingus Mountain (?)
It has been confirmed that three tornadoes struck in central and western Massachusetts last week. 18 cities and village were damaged, 40 hospitalized in Springfield, 3 confirmed dead and 250 displaced. One tornado was ten miles high!
In Yosemite National Park Bridal Veils and Yosemite Falls are flowing fast enough to fill a gas tanker in two seconds! The photographs are stunning.
6-3- The Wallow Fire has blown up to 100,000 acres. Four summer homes have burned south of Alpine. Alpine residents are still evacuated and Nutriosa is evacuated. The rapid speed of this fire’s growth is being described to the 2002 Rodeo- Chediski Fire that burned 460,000 acres. There is no containment and residents of Springerville and Eager have been placed on evacuation notice.
The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 86,140 acres and is 50% contained
The Engineer Fire has burned 800 acres and containment is hopeful soon.
A Show Low man told police he started four eastern Arizona fires recently because it was his “duty to God.” Two of the fires were in brush piles and the other two under juniper trees. All were contained. Biblical literature was found in the vicinity of the fires. ( No word at all if these fires are connected to the big one but kind of ironic or fitting I should say.)
Three thousand people in low lying areas of Pierre and Fort Pierre, South Dakota are leaving ahead of upstream dam releases. The swollen Missouri River has to be relieved immediately.
6-4- From this morning to noon the Wallow Fire grew from 100,00 acres to 140,000 acres with no containment. It is now the third largest fire in Arizona history. The smoke is blowing all the way to Denver. Dry lightning is expected tomorrow in the region and erratic winds have not helped firefighters in the least.
The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 90,000 acres and is 50% contained.
A sixty five year old woman rafting the Colorado River drowns at the Needle’s Eye rapids.
A seventeen year old in Florida says his baggy pants saved him from an alligator. The boy was walking beside a pond when the bastard lurched out of the water. When the teen ran his pants ripped leaving the gator with nothing but a piece of cloth in its mouth.
The Mighty Mississippi flood begins to drop today.
6-5- The Greer Lodge and cabins are evacuated today as the Wallow Fire grows to 144,102 acres. It has jumped Highway 180. 40mph winds, low humidity and dry lightning are making it travel faster. There is a Red Flag Warning posted for tomorrow in north eastern Arizona. The fire is out of control and there are 1300 fire fighters on site. Folks east of Alpine are told to evacuate.
The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 100,200 acres and is 55% contained.
The Murphy Fire, south of Tucson has burned 23,000 acres and is 15% contained.
As the Missouri River rises in North Dakota the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased Oahe Dam releases to historic levels for the first time since the dam was completed in the late 1950s.
600 south west Iowa residents ordered to evacuate after the Missouri breached a levee.
A woman in Duluth, Minnesota was jogging alongside a road with something slammed into her. She found herself in a ditch with whiplash and extensive bruises. A pickup truck struck a deer which then collided with her. The deer is dead, the woman will survive her injuries.
6-6- The Wallow Fire in southeastern Arizona today; 6:15 a.m., 192,000 acres. By noon it had grown to 200,000 acres. At 2:00 p.m. 233,000 acres. It is now the second largest fire in Arizona’s history. Winds have blown it in every direction except south thus far. With 50mph winds it is still at zero containment. Smoke has blown a thousand miles east into Iowa. Sunrise and Greer are being evacuated. Eager and Springerville have been placed on notice. The governor of Arizona has signed an emergency declaration.
The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 100,075 acres and is 55% contained. There are 1,000firefighters on sight. This fire in southern Arizona has been burning nearly a month.
Six reservoirs along the Missouri River are filled to capacity. Seven states are on flood watch. 20,000 have been evacuated in the Dakotas.
Three more have died from their injuries from the Joplin, Missouri tornado. The death toll is now up to one hundred and forty one.
6-7- The Wallow Fire has burned 322,000 acres with no containment. Ash is falling on Springerville.
Beginning in two days the Coronado National Forest will be closed to all visitors. (I’ve heard of not allowing camp fires but I have not heard of this. Is this a reaction and safety precaution by the U.S. Forest Service?)
10,000 people are still homeless after the earthquake in Japan last March.
Flooding from heavy rains in southwestern China leaves 21 dead, 37 missing, 45,000 evacuated, 800 homes destroyed, 5,000 damaged and 13,000 acres of farmland under water.
Heavy rain for the seventh straight day in Haiti kills 23 from mudslides.
6-8- The Wallow Fire is now the number one U.S. priority fire. It has burned almost 400,000 acres. The fire jumps firelines and residents of Springerville and Eager are told to get out immediately. The size of the fire is now larger than Phoenix.
A new blaze near Flagstaff is burning. Seven to nine spot fires have been reported.
Roundup, Montana has flooded for the second time in two weeks just after cleanup efforts had begun. The Musselshell River came rolling in submerging cars and covering the ground floors of homes.
As the Missouri River continues to rise 260 miles have been closed to recreational boat traffic to protect newly constructed levees.
52 are dead in China flooding, 32 missing and 100,000 evacuated.
The first Tropical Storm of the season develops in the Pacific. Adrian is 345 miles south of Acapulco.
6-9- On the 12th day of the Wallow Fire it is only 5% contained. It has moved into Greer. 22 homes have burned. 11,000 people have been displaced and 200 miles of roadway closed. Power supply lines are threatened in eastern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The President is sending 2500 National Forest Service firefighters.
A man has been arrested for setting the spot fires near Flagstaff yesterday. 50 people were evacuated and one mobile home burned. The man said he got into an argument with his girlfriend and that is why he set the fires. Thankfully they have been contained.
In one day Adrian has turned into a hurricane. A Storm Watch has been issued for parts of the Mexican Coast including Acapulco.
On a rampage in southern India two wild elephants have killed one man and injured others in the city of Mysore.
The Lovely Mrs. BlueDuck has a sister who is a long time resident on a huge spread in Montana. Here is a first hand account of the severe flooding that is taking place: “The Winter from Hell to flood season. It’s been raining for months. We’re rained in…. all the people whos homes are under water now, or going to be, toward Agusta and along the Sun River toward Great Falls, along the Missouri River and many other parts of Montana are now under water. The end of the rain is nowhere in sight, and there’s still 5’ of snow in the mountains to melt. When it does it’s going to worsen along all the river corridors. So many places in Montana are now under water, roads closed and destroyed, etc. Unreal.
6-10- The Wallow Fire has burned 410,000 acres and is 5% contained. Twenty seven homes have been lost. There is a no fly zone over the fire due to the massive air attack. It began with an abandoned campfire on May 29th. There were 70mph winds that day.
A total of 600,00 acres of forest, grasslands and deserts have burned so far in Arizona. The Horshoe Two Fire is up to 116,000 acres and 40% contained. The Murphy Complex Fire has burned 67,000 acres.
A Phoenix Landscaper has been rushed to a local hospital with life threatening bee stings. He was working at a Phoenix home.
An undocumented but interesting tale: Some people believe the skeleton of a whale ws found along the Salt River in the Phoenix area in 1850s. Presumably the whale traveled up the Salt from the Gulf of Mexico during a major flood. It took a right turn at the Gila River and wound up dead in the Salt River.
In a strange weather phenomenon I don’t understand just after midnight last night Wichita, Kansas went from 85 degrees to 102 degrees in twenty minutes!, something about a collapsing storm. (I bet those folks thought it was the beginning of the end.)
The latest death toll from the hurricane in Joplin, Missouri has gone up to 151 with more dying from their injuries.
Hurricane Adrian has already strengthened to a Category 4 storm but is expected to remain off the coast of Mexico.
Forecasters say the cooling La Nina weather phenomenon from the tropical Pacific ocean is over. It may have boosted last year’s hurricane season and this spring’s tornadoes.
100 domestic animals have been killed by a pack of dogs in Washington State. The latest is a 350 pund llama. Law enforcement officials have not been able to capture or kill the mangy bastards. (Just turn loose TiptoDuck with his arsenal!)
6-11- The Wallow Fire has gorged 430,000 acres and is 6% contained. Thirty homes have been lost. The air quality is so bad it exceeds the National standard by seven times. 31mph winds in Greer today and the southern end of the fire is a huge concern. There is a Red Flag Warning for the fire area tomorrow.
“Despite windy conditions officials for the Apache Sitgrives National Forest decided not to impose campfire restrictions over the Memorial Day weekend because late spring snowfall provided moisture and because closing the forest would have created a hardship for the local tourism industry.
Emergency workers have ferried supplies to 300 people cut off yesterday by new flooding that has overwhelmed Montana towns. There is no way to get in or out of Roundup, Montana.
Hurricane Adrian has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm.
More flooding in central China kills 41 and 111,000 displaced.
Heavy rain and melting snow causes devastating floods across central Norway.
One thousand gather in Tokyo to protest nuclear power three months after the disaster.
You read it here in Blue Duck Weather when we reported about the out of control chimpanzee that attacked a woman and ripped off her face and hands. She has successfully received a face transplant, only the third of its kind in the U.S.
Six gray seals have been found shot to death on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
6-12- The Wallow has swallowed 445,000 acres and is 6% contained. Alpine, Nutrioso and Greer residents are not allowed to return yet. 7,000 people are allowed to return to Springerville and Eager. The fire has jumped state lines into New Mexico. 4300 firefighters are on site.
The Fort Apache Indian Reservation Tribe credits prayer, wind and fire prevention for dodging the Wallow Fire. They have done vast amounts of thinning and controlled burns after the Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002. 60% of that fire was on Indian land.
A Pinal County, Arizona rancher has been ordered to quarantine 199 rodeo steers after one animal tested positive for bovine tuberculosis. It is the first case of the highly contagious disease since 1978 in Arizona. The rancher must test each animal, expensive and time consuming, or kill the herd.
It has been confirmed that three nuclear reactor cores melted in Japan after the earthquake and subsequent Tsunami in March. Growers are extremely concerned. Farm soil forty miles away is contaminated. Volunteers have supplied some farmers with radiation meters.
A Japanese woman lost in the Nepal mountains for two weeks survived by eating grass, drinking river water, taking shelter in small caves and praying. She left her hotel on May 22nd for a short stroll, left the main road and could not find it again.
6-13- 445,000 acres consumed by the Wallow Fire with 10% containment and 36 homes burned. Three thousand homes and businesses are still at risk and residents of Alpine, Greer and Nutrioso are not expected to be able to return home for five more days.
A new fire near Sierra Vista, Arizona has ignited. The Monument Fire has burned 3,000 acres.
Peak flows in the Missouri are expected in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Tomorrow releases from five of the river’s dams will be at 150,000 cubic feet per second. This is twice the previous record releases. The river will rise 5-7’ above flood stage in Nebraska and Iowa, 10’ in Missouri.
6-14- Now the largest fire in Arizona history the Wallow has consumed 469,000 acres and is 18% contained.
A fire fact to remember, especially now; 640 acres equals one square mile. ( I have a lot easier grasping the magnitude when a fire is reported in acres instead of square miles, but maybe that’s just me.)
The Missouri River has punched a three hundred foot breach in a levee in Hamburg, Iowa. Farmlands are flooding quickly.
One hundred rare pygmy rabbits have been released in Washington State. They were believed to be extinct since mid 2004. It is the smallest rabbit in the United States and an adult can fit into a person’s hand.
An eight year old girl in Sacremento, California is a rare survivor of rabies without having the life saving vaccine. She is only the third person known of in the United States to survive. It is believed she was infected by a wild cat.
6-15- The Wallow Fire keeps marching on its destructive path to Hell. 478,000 acres have gone up in smoke. There is a Red Flag Warning for winds tomorrow and Friday. There is only 20% containment but Nutrioso residents are allowed to come home.
It has been confirmed that the fire began in Bear Canyon and “persons of interest” are being questioned.
The Monument Fire near Sierra Vista is burning out of control with only 10% containment.
Nationwide eleven new fires reported in the United States in the past day. The states with the largest fires are Texas with 13, Florida with 11, Arizona with 4 and New Mexico with 4.
The first new official day of the monsoon season begins for Arizona, of course your fine staff at Blue Duck Weather will let you know when the actual scientific date begins. It all begins with heat and the Land reached the first 105 degree day for the season and Phoenix hit 110.
More flooding in central and south China with 88,000 evacuated. 170 people are dead or missing since the beginning of the month.
6-16- The Wallow Fire total is up to 460,000 acres and a Red Flag Warning is in effect. After recently returning home residents of Gree are told to prepare for another evacuation.
The Monument Fire has burned 10,000 acres south of Sierra Vista and forty homes have been damaged or lost. This fire is more damaging than the Wallow Fire in the first forty eight hours.
The Horseshoe Two fire in Pima County has burnded 200,000 acres. It is so windy in areas of fires winds are causing spot fires out a mile. One resident crys “Pray for rain!”
The Murphy Complex Fire in the Coroanado National Forest began on May 30th and is fully contained at 68,078 acres.
Arizona Game and Fish has set up a mobile clinic in Eager to help injured wildlife from the Wallow Fire. So far a young bull elk has been treated for burned hooves and a starving red tailed hawk has been saved.
The Missouri River has flooded parts of Montana, North and South Dakota. So far most levees along the river are holding.
“April’s weather extremes never before seen U.S. experts say. The mix of single disasters in a month, flooding, fires, tornadoes and drought are unprecedented.”
Japanese whalers have found traced of radiation in two animals caught along the country’s northern coast.
A “dream home” bought by a young couple in rural Idaho has been discovered to be infested with hundreds of garter snakes. “The ground surrounding the home appeared to be moving at times, it was so thick with these snakes.” The couple would lie awake at night and listen to snakes slithering inside the walls.
6-17- At 495,000 acres the Wallow Fire is 30% contained.
The Monument Fire has doubled in twenty four hours to 18,000 acres with 50 homes damaged or destroyed. The governor of Arizona has issued a disaster decleration.
Hayduke Lives! “Six people have been arrested after chaining themselves to heavy construction equipment to protest snowmaking plans at the Arizona Snowbowl. All but one are Flagstaff residents.
On a side note water use may be restricted in Flagstaff this summer.
China has issued it’s highest level flood alert. 55,000 people in central and southern China have been evacuated. Although drought has plagued this region lately this is the worst flooding since 1955.
6-18- Residents of Alpine allowed to return home this morning. The Wallow fire is 38% contained with 500,409 acres burned. Luna, New Mexico has been evacuated.
The Monument Fire near Sierra Vista has grown to 20,000 acres and is 15% contained. Fifty homes have been damaged or destroyed.
The worst day for fire control is expected tomorrow as a Red Flag Warning for the entire state of Arizona has been issued. Fifty mph winds expected in the fire areas.
The Horseshoe Two in Pima County is 70% contained with 206,312 acres burned. All three of these major fires are in the Coronado National Forest.
Three people are cited for having an illegal camp fire at Lake Montezuma, Prescott, Arizona.
Floodwaters form the Missouri River have risen close to a nuclear reactor building in Nebraska. The plant is circled by a giant rubber barrier. In preparation for this flood the complex has been shut down since April. It will not be activated until flooding subsides.
Landslides trap 5,000 passengers on four trains overnight in China.
6-19- The Monument Fire has jumped Highway 92 and more emergency evacuations are underway.
There are Red Flag Warnings and Extreme Fire Danger posted for six states.
Levees breach in northern Missouri in Holt and Atchison Counties, flooding farmland, homes and cabins.
The severe flooding in China has displaced two million people, 170 missing or dead and 42,254 acres of farmland covered with water.
Tropical Storm Beatriz forms in the Pacific and may become a hurricane in two days.
6-20- Three thousand more people are evacuated from the Monument Fire. The National Guard is on the way to help and this fire is now a U.S. priorty one fire. Two restaurants in Nicksville destroyed.
A new fire burning near Payson, the Willow began near Bear Canyon Lake. It has burned nearly five hundred acres.
An extremely rare Gila Monster has been caught in a garage in north Scottsdale. The fucker, nearly two feet long was pissed when captured.
6-21- First day of summer and 107 degrees at The Land.
The Wallow Fire is 67% contained at 527,000 acres.
The Horseshoe Two Fire, stubborn as hell and burning for six weeks, is fully contained.
Hundred of evacuees are allowed to return to Greer and Sierra Vista as calming winds help firefighters control the blazes.
There are 67 separate fires burning in several states. Three million acres have burned since January 1st, a new record.
Two forest rangers were killed yesterday fighting a fire in Hamilton County in north Florida. The men died after being trapped by changing winds cutting a fire line.
The Souris River is about to top levees and 12,000 told to evacuate immediately in Minot, North Dakota.
6-22- First 110 degrees at The Land, 114 degrees in Ahwatukee. The first Excessive Heat Advisory is issued. (This may be hell, but it is the only way moisture can be brought up from the south to begin our annual monsoon season, hopefully with some drenching rain to soak this parched state.)
The bastard RyDuck knowing the forecast here reported a “cool “73 degrees at midmorning today from his secluded location in Colorado. I could just hear the sneer in his voice.
The Monument Fire is 45% contained with 62 homes burned and 27,000 acres consumed.
The Wallow Fire is 58% contained with 530,000 acres burned.
The Horseshoe Two Fire has burned 222,000 acres and 95% contained.
A man has been charged with setting a brush fire on a hiking trail in north Scottsdale earlier this week. He was hiking with friends and lit “consumer fireworks” he purchased near the area. He thought it was legal. (Where the fuck is common sense?)
Army Corps of Engineers told Minot residents to “Get Out!, a historic flood is coming. The town’s sirens were signaling the emergency and 500 National Guard troops are deployed. One quarter of the town’s population has left.
The drought is so bad in east Texas seventeen fires are burning. One rancher said this is the worst conditions for his cattle business he has seen in his life.
Thunderstorms and heavy rains pound the upper Midwest. Thousands stranded at Chicago’s two major airprorts. Torando warnings issued.
A young penquin apparently took a wrong turn while swimming near Anctartica and ended up two thousand miles away in New Zealand. He is healthy and well fed.
6-23- The Monument Fire is now under control because it has burned through an entire forest in the Chiricahua Mountains. This mountain range is one of the state’s sky islands.
Residents are allowed to return to Luna, New Mexico.
The Wash Fire, ignited by a blown tire, has burned two hundred acres in Heber. (Talk about dry conditions!)
The Willow Fire near Payson is held at one square mile but Bear Canyon Lake and surrounding campgrounds are closed.
The Yuma Visitor’s Bureau has a new promotion. Hotel guests can dine for free on a cloudy day beginning August 1st. It is part of a tribute to Arizona’s centennial. In 1872 a local hotel offered free board every day the sun didn’t shine. Yuma averages fifteen days a year.
“Feeling of dread” as twelve thousand are evacuated in Minot, North Dakota. Nothing can stop the surge of water.
For the first time in 136 years The Kentucky Derby compound has been damaged by a possible tornado knocking down barns and chasing out horses. No injuries to humans or animals reported.
6-24- The Salvation Army’s hydration stations opened up two days ago due to excessive heat warnings in Phoenix for the first time this year.
Thirty nine Buddhists six months into a three year retreat south of Bowie, Arizona have not been told about the Monument Fire. They are in the process of separating themselves from the outside world and taking a vow of silence. Caretakers at the compound say to interrupt this journey would have ruined years of planning and resolve.
The first elk crossing of its kind in the world has been constructed near Payson. There is an electronic sign on Highway 260 that reads “Test Area Elk Crossing 1500’’. If elk are crossing the sign will read “Caution, Elk Detected.” A third sign near the crosswalk will start flashing and motorists will have time to slow down. The project cost was 700,000 dollars but vehicle and elk collisions have decreased from twelve a year to one.
The Souris River rises four feet in one day breaking a record set in 1881. 2500 homes are flooded in Minot, North Dakota.
A half million acres are burning in south Georgia, 380,000 in Florida and 1500 have been evacuated in Oklahoma. All of this is because of severe drought conditions.
6-25- The Horseshoe Two Fire is nearly contained.
The Monument Fire is 57% contained.
The new Watch Fire near Heber is 10% contained with two thousand acres burned.
There is yet another Red Flag Warning posted for northern Arizona tomorrow with 40mph winds.
4.6 million acres have burned in the U.S. this year, twice the annual average.
Flooding overwhelms Burlington, Sawyer and Minot, North Dakota. 11,000 are homeless in Minot with four thousand homes and businesses under water. One official said this is a five hundred year event, off the chart. The Souris River is flowing 170 times its normal rate.
One month after the terrible tornado in Joplin, Missouri hundreds of pets lost or missing have been reunited with their owners. There are still 600 orphans and folks come from around the country to adopt.
According to my National Wildlife Federation calendar today is “Great American Backyard Campout Day.” I’m sure whoever came up with this idea didn’t live in the desert in June. You have got to be kidding me.
6-26- The Horsheshoe Two Fire is fully contained. The Monument is 75% contained and the massive Wallow fire is 80% contained at 540,000 acres.
A fire began on June 18th near the Santa Fe Ski Basin in New Mexico. It has burned 9300 acres and is only 10% contained.
There are evacuations in Gulf Shores, Alabama because of wildfires.
The mighty Souris River finally crested in Minot, North Dakota. Floowaters are nine feet deep in some areas.
A four foot shark is caught on camera jumping over a surfer in Florida. (Talk about being in the right place at the right time.)
6-27- The first 115 degree day in Phoenix this summer. An Excessive Heat Advisory is issued for tomorrow.
Worried that wildfires could wipe out the remaining Mount Graham red squirrel population an emergency declaration will allow government biologists to try and capture two breeding males and two breeding females. The squirrels will be kept at the Phoenix Zoo’s conservative center.
A six month Phoenix girl is fighting for her life after being stung by a bark scorpion behind her ear. She stopped breathing twice and has pneumonia.
Emandatory evacuations are taking place near Los Alamos nuclear weapons facility in New Mexico. A wildfire has grown from six thousand acres to forty four thousand acres in a matter of hours. At zero containment thirty structures have burned.
The Souries River crested four feet above the highest record ever recorded. All city water use is banned due to contamination from the flood.
“Fire and water” threatening three nuclear sites in the U.S. Two reactors threatened by the Missouri River in Nebraska are in “safe, cold shutdown mode.”
6-28- A forty year old Phoenix man was found dead in a hospital parking lot yesterday from heat stroke. He had been outside all day and presumed to be homeless.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued for Springerville and surrounding areas. Flooding is a real concern in burned out areas. Residents are already preparing to sand bag. (I just hope there is no dry lightning.)
This is a “make or break” day for the Los Conchas Fire in New Mexico. The fire burned an additional 10,000 acres overnight and is up to 60,000 acres in two days. The Los Alamos nuclear facility has called in teams to track plutonium and uranium readings in the air as a precaution. The fire is within four miles of the laboratory and twelve thousand people are evacuated.
6-29- An Arizona woman has been attacked and severly injured by a black bear near Pinetop, Arizona. She was walking her dog when she got within sixty yards of a dumpster the bear was foraging in. The bear attacked her repeatedly and she was airlifted to a Scottsdale hospital. It is the 9th attack since 1990 when Arizona Game & Fish began records.
Flash Flood Warnings posted for Greenlee and Cochise counties.
Fire officials “throw everything” at the fire burning near Los Alamos. The nuclear laboratory reports that drums of nulear waste material can withstand the fire. There are 30,000 fifty five gallon drums of plutonium contaminated waste on site. The town of Los Alamos is closed and twelve thousand residents are gone.
The first tropical storm for the Atlantic this season, Arlene forms.
In the Annual State of the Climate Report it has been 25 years since global temperatures have been below average. There are 41 climate indicators used. “There is a clear and unmistakable signal from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean.”
150 crossing turtles brings flights to a halt at JFK Airport. They were moving from a bay to a beach to lay eggs. All of the turtles were picked up and transported to their destination. ( There is humanity and kindness to animals afterall.)
6-30- The Wallow Fire is 93% contained.
Five bodies have been found by the Border Patrol in the Arizona deserts. All died from heat exhaustion recently.
The Los Alamos lab and city appear to be out of danger but a Native American site has burned and the fire is threatening the town of Santa Clara Pueblo. By this morning the fire is 3% contained and has burned 92,735 acres.
Flood destroys schools in Minot, North Dakota. The big question is where 1,000 kids will be sent this fall.
Tropical Storm Arlene pounds central Mexico. Up to FIFTEEN INCHES OF RAIN EXPECTED.
Planning a swim at a beach this summer? Beach closures and advisories rose by 29% in 2010 compared to a year prior due to contamination. 11% of California beaches reported elevated levels of bacterial contamination.
And there you have it my fine readers, an historic yet sad month for Arizona. The song of the month is “Better Run For Cover” by Tony Joe White.
Until next month when there isn’t one single pine tree standing remember Pioneer took bullets. Settlers took land.
Professor MR Blue Duck
Hope you enjoyed Mr. Ducks original photo....yes, he actually has ducks.
