Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 1:13 AM, InkaUtexas said:

Hey, let's invite more developers to build homes in the aquifer. Case in point. Kyle, with a lot of growth, is asking for water from San Marcos. We are at Stage 4, Canyon Lake is in bad shape, but they (last I saw) are still at stage 3. 

And we need more vineyards. 

Expand  

And more tech companies building stuff, because I'm sure they don't use a lot of water in the manufacturing process.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 12:46 AM, Storm the Field said:

Clocked a total of 11 minutes of rain today in my neck of Houston.

8 minutes of moderate rain around 2:00. 3 minutes of heavy rain around 5:00.

Maybe 1/5 inch total. Still, by far, the most rain I've had in 2 months.

Expand  

The 3 stations surrounding our house averaged 0.65, and that feels about right. Probably going to have to mow tomorrow now. 

Posted

One big pushback during the proposed transition for the U.S. to metric decades ago was that the temperatures were too wide of a gap.  Many centigrade numbers would cover 2 different degrees F, and even up to 3 depending on rounding.  I actually thought that was a valid point.  

Until the last 25 Texas summers.  Does it really fucking matter if it's 107 or 108?  Either way, It's 42* centigrade and it's a bullshit way to run a state.  

Posted

SCW seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

  Quote

 

The end of the worst of the worst summer ever is finally on the horizon

Good morning. After parts of the Houston region received a decent soaking on Labor Day, the region has one more passable chance of rainfall today before the high heat returns through the weekend. And after that? Well, after that I think we’re done with 100-degree temperatures for awhile, and perhaps even for the entirety of 2023, although I’m not ready to stipulate that yet......

.....Hey Eric, didn’t you mention the “end of the worst summer ever” in the post’s title? Well, yes I did. And it wasn’t clickbait, I promise. The reality is that after the surge of heat to end this week, our pattern should shift to a slightly more moderate one that will feel a bit more like late summer. That is to say, for most of next week, we probably will see highs top out in the mid-90s—or even lower if we see the development of some afternoon showers. Which will be possible. The bottom line is that we’re probably looking at a little bit less sunshine, a little bit less heat, and possibly a little bit more rainfall. It’s not fall, but after this week, I think we can close the door on extreme heat for the summer of 2023. Small victories, right?

 

Expand  
Posted

Your mom took my banana in her tailpipe.  Or something.  

I'm seeing the temps coming down 10 degrees, but 10-20% chances of rain on a handful of days is hardly anything to start planning around.  I'm so fucking worried about my trees.  

I was talking with a colleague this weekend about moving myriad manufacturing platforms from China to the United States over the next 20 years.  And we both realized how much freshwater is required to make so many little electronics and plastic crap that we usually get from China.  And Americans likely will pay a bit more for the stuff and all the geopolitical implications of that.  And then I realized, where the fuck are we gonna get all the water to make this shit with?  We barely have enough to drink and water foundations.  Industry/manufacturing/Ag & Livestock/wholesale uses three quarters of our freshwater supply as it stands.  You start making rubber dog shit and kids' electronics over here, we're beyond fucked.  

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 1:35 AM, mdmost said:

It's such a thoroughly depressing place. After we had lunch at a terrible chain restaurant, we drove to the "downtown" area so she could see the old Main Post Office that her dad worked at. It is so dead and depressing. Just a ghost town. There's about a 3 block radius of life but everything else is just abandoned. It reminded me of Amarillo's downtown where there's the dead zone not too far outside of it. I think the mesquite trees and red dirt are really what makes it so damn hot. Just no break in that miserable, desolate plain. All the rotting buildings and former oil refineries probably doesn't help. It's just a bleak place. Those mud falls don't make it any prettier.

I remember the minister who married us  gave me some great advice at one of the pre-marriage counseling sessions we had to do. He was her minister growing up and had moved to DFW.  He knew my wife really well. I got to the session about 20 minutes before her so we had plenty of time to chat about things. He told me to never take her back to Wichita Falls as there's nothing for her there outside of trips to see her parents and that it would be better if I just made her parents come to us. He said she had outgrown that place a long time ago and he could tell she was one of the lucky ones that was going to make it out of there and onto better things. All that was left in WF was depression for her. And boy, he's right. Whenever we go back there to visit her family, she's really down for the next few days. Almost like survivor's guilt. 

Expand  

This makes me want to shoot myself.  Not literally, but holy bejeezus.

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 2:35 PM, CooterBrown said:

They'll be fine until the first freeze and every tree in Austin comes crashing down. 

Expand  

I laughed but that's a legit concern.  Driest/hottest summer in a long fucking while.  Lots of limbs snapping and trees dying.  I can prune for brush pickup later this month but it's gonna traumatize the shit outta some of my trees.  But I gotta do it because they've never been this brittle which will make the downed limbs during the freezes of 2021 and 2023 look like amateur hour.  City of Austin better divert some resources away from bullshit projects and hire temp crews and find temp equipment to trim 6 days a week, 2 7-hour shifts, October through December.  Or we're gonna have power outages that make Uganda look reliable.  As an armchair arborist, I have never seen more cracked/browned/nearly downed limbs around Austin in 27 years as I have in the last few weeks.  This will get ugly with anything more than a 12-hour hard freeze.  Nevermind the weight of precip.  

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 2:43 PM, YGIFS said:

I laughed but that's a legit concern.  Driest/hottest summer in a long fucking while.  Lots of limbs snapping and trees dying.  I can prune for brush pickup later this month but it's gonna traumatize the shit outta some of my trees.  But I gotta do it because they've never been this brittle which will make the downed limbs during the freezes of 2021 and 2023 look like amateur hour.  City of Austin better divert some resources away from bullshit projects and hire temp crews and find temp equipment to trim 6 days a week, 2 7-hour shifts, October through December.  Or we're gonna have power outages that make Uganda look reliable.  As an armchair arborist, I have never seen more cracked/browned/nearly downed limbs around Austin in 27 years as I have in the last few weeks.  This will get ugly with anything more than a 12-hour hard freeze.  Nevermind the weight of precip.  

Expand  

The great irony will be that the first major precipitation of the year will be during a freeze and it destroys what's left of the city's canopy. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

Time for everyone to stock up on a good chainsaw, a few replacement blades, and an extendable/pole saw.  If you have trees that overhand areas that could compromise your house if they fall, have them trimmed or removed.  

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 2:54 PM, BabaYaga said:

Time for everyone to stock up on a good chainsaw, a few replacement blades, and an extendable/pole saw.  If you have trees that overhand areas that could compromise your house if they fall, have them trimmed or removed.  

Expand  

Shit, we've still got to get the tree guys out to remove a few limbs that snapped during the freeze, but didn't fall all the way to the ground.  They've been sitting up in the trees (in our back yard area, where we aren't out under them, so no immediate hazard).  We waited until after all the major tree work would be done....and then still haven't called them.

Fortunately, we did MAJOR tree trimming before the ice storm last year, so we didn't lose much.  Then again, now are trees are super-stressed by the heat and drought, so who knows how they'll fare.

This fucking hellscape, man.  Broil or freeze, pick your poison.

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 3:18 PM, Brisketexan said:

Shit, we've still got to get the tree guys out to remove a few limbs that snapped during the freeze, but didn't fall all the way to the ground.  They've been sitting up in the trees (in our back yard area, where we aren't out under them, so no immediate hazard).  We waited until after all the major tree work would be done....and then still haven't called them.

Fortunately, we did MAJOR tree trimming before the ice storm last year, so we didn't lose much.  Then again, now are trees are super-stressed by the heat and drought, so who knows how they'll fare.

This fucking hellscape, man.  Broil or freeze, pick your poison.

Expand  

If you have larger trees set up a dripline akin to what they set for foundations around the trees to help keep them hydrated and it doesn't have the negative evaporation and runoff of a typical sprinkler.  

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 3:40 PM, BabaYaga said:

If you have larger trees set up a dripline akin to what they set for foundations around the trees to help keep them hydrated and it doesn't have the negative evaporation and runoff of a typical sprinkler.  

Expand  

on your city-approved watering day #rage

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 3:45 PM, texasdago said:

on your city-approved watering day #rage

Expand  

It's a submerged dripline with zero way to tell when you are running and when you are not without inspecting the soil up close.  They also use a fraction of the water a surface sprinkler uses/wastes.  If it keeps decades old oaks alive and you are feeling guilty, cut back your usual sprinkler times by a few minutes to balance out the water use.  

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 3:49 AM, YGIFS said:

One big pushback during the proposed transition for the U.S. to metric decades ago was that the temperatures were too wide of a gap.  Many centigrade numbers would cover 2 different degrees F, and even up to 3 depending on rounding.  I actually thought that was a valid point.  

Until the last 25 Texas summers.  Does it really fucking matter if it's 107 or 108?  Either way, It's 42* centigrade and it's a bullshit way to run a state.  

Expand  

Fahrenheit is a better scale for measuring earth air temp. If it's over 100 it's really fucking hot. If it's below 0 it's really fucking cold. It's very intuitive. 

Celsius is better for scientific applications and water temp. Since, you know, it's based around freezing and boiling points. 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 2:54 PM, BabaYaga said:

Time for everyone to stock up on a good chainsaw, a few replacement blades, and an extendable/pole saw.  If you have trees that overhand areas that could compromise your house if they fall, have them trimmed or removed.  

Expand  

Have a very large Pecan tree that never leafed out this year. Dropping limbs. It is right over the parking spaces. Have put in multiple requests to have it worked on, but no one is available. Trees are taking a beating. 

 

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 2:43 PM, YGIFS said:
I laughed but that's a legit concern.  Driest/hottest summer in a long fucking while.  Lots of limbs snapping and trees dying.  I can prune for brush pickup later this month but it's gonna traumatize the shit outta some of my trees.  But I gotta do it because they've never been this brittle which will make the downed limbs during the freezes of 2021 and 2023 look like amateur hour.  City of Austin better divert some resources away from bullshit projects and hire temp crews and find temp equipment to trim 6 days a week, 2 7-hour shifts, October through December.  Or we're gonna have power outages that make Uganda look reliable.  As an armchair arborist, I have never seen more cracked/browned/nearly downed limbs around Austin in 27 years as I have in the last few weeks.  This will get ugly with anything more than a 12-hour hard freeze.  Nevermind the weight of precip.  
I'm not too worried about all the downed limbs and dead trees killing power The great late September Wildfires will burn them all up pronto.


Posted

I forgot about the pending wildfires.  

Affiliate Meteorologist, "Here's what those September fires mean for Christmas Hurricane season.  Tornado hail expected on New Year's, so you volcano refugees pay attention to ERCOT warnings.  Those of you not in the boiling ocean water, enjoy your time at the beach---where some bizarre reason, we're keeping an eye out on an northern hemisphere cyclone during this next ice storm.  Back to you, Janet." 

Posted

The long-range forecasts seem to finally be reflecting a slight pattern shift next week, but nothing particularly dramatic, and not really anything that someone would consider a "cold front." Whatever makes it down to Texas looks like it'll have more significant effects on Panhandle and DFW area than Austin or Houston. 

Bunch of 95/74 days listed for Houston starting on 9/12, which, albeit an improvement, is still ~3 degrees above the average high and low for the the time of year. 

7 days away is towards the outer limits of forecast models being worth much of anything, so I won't really start feeling any confidence that it'll happen unless/until the forecast is still looking that way as of around Friday. 

Posted

GFS Model, exactly one week out. If it's not 78 degrees, I'm asking for the manager:

image.thumb.png.ac9c954e9d4bb2300c210abcaf173b21.png

Posted

First time we haven't been in at least the fourth circle of "hotter than average" in months. 

image.thumb.png.21474f649fcbb4077fee461e6a155743.png

Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 8:14 PM, InkaUtexas said:

Something tells me we are going to get fucked this winter. 

Expand  

This timeline.  This timeline is telling you that.  Because we've learned, these are the two temperatures in Texas now:

terminator-atomic.gif

AND

FxJvk.jpg

Those are your choices.  They are the only two choices available.  And guess what?  You don't even get to choose.  They'll just happen when they happen.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
  On 9/5/2023 at 8:30 PM, Brisketexan said:

This timeline.  This timeline is telling you that.  Because we've learned, these are the two temperatures in Texas now:

terminator-atomic.gif

AND

FxJvk.jpg

Those are your choices.  They are the only two choices available.  And guess what?  You don't even get to choose.  They'll just happen when they happen.

Expand  

And sometimes in February you are lucky enough to get both.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted (edited)
  Reveal hidden contents

Good news

Edited by Wilcox Cummingtonite

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...