In 1980, I was with GE on a business trip to see the Ford Aerospace, "A", "B", and "C" channel devices. These devices were early packet processors, wire-wrapped boards, that encoded and decoded NASA 'NASCOM' packet data. But we had arrived hours after a hurricane (Allen?) dumped a boat-load of water. We checked into a motel that had a set of 'sections' built on concrete slabs. There was only 4-5" between the water and the concrete deck and we were on the wrong deck. The guys were 'discussing what to do' and I said,"See ya" and stepped off into about 8-10" of water. Regardless, I splashed over to the other side and into my room where I could take a shower and get some dry clothes. It is a low-lying area. The next day, the parking lot had drained and you could see the concrete pads stood over 12" above the parking lot. After our technical meetings, we tried to reach a popular bar only to find the road flooded and the chain-link fence had worked like a net for the flood debris. But we did make it to Ninfa's. So I understand the 10-11" of rain has flooded Huston, again. Austin has also been flooded. Hopefully these rains have broken the drought. Regardless, GOOD LUCK! Bob Wilson
I have family down there and thankfully they are all safe. Amazing how much rain they received even after being in a drought for years.
sad and scary to hear that houses and people are being swept away by the river. not even something i can conceive of.
Its not all bad. Recently, 3/4 of Texas was experiencing drought conditions....most of Texas is out of any level of drought now. Now if a rainmaker could shift this to California....
Rains That Caused Deadly Texas Floods Also Ended Historic Drought - NBC News But I am still sorry the rains claimed 23 lives in Texas
You know, just like with the hurricanes (or blizzards, for those up north), if you know the area, understand how things work, and have a bit of common sense, you can stay away from trouble and still get around. The TV news loves to play up the drama and make it seem a bit worse than it really is, though there were some sad stories that came out of this. Good summary of Texas geological and water conditions: The Texas Floods Are So Big They Ended the State’s Drought | WIRED Interestingly, Texas is an early leader in creating a detailed water conservation/allocation legal scheme. Lots of population and business growth here, with some uncertainty about whether water resources will keep up. Anyone reminded of California? Of course, Texas being Texas there's still too much of a first come first served, prioritization of commercial and agricultural interests, aspect to the legal scheme. However, there are genuine environmental and habitat considerations built into the scheme.
one more day, and we'll have our driest may on record. you can send some this way, but not too much please.
It does seem like something has changed in El Nino or whatever, our Northeast cold spell of the last 2 years seems suddenly over, but not before we had another late blooming year the Cherry Blossoms
Seriously, I think the weather could be bi-polar....next year it could be back to drought. Last drought, one out of ten trees died in Texas.
Lack of water, plus disease and infestation of weakened trees. Memorial Park, a large forested park lost 50% of its trees, to things like the pine beetle. So bad Houston had to spend millions there and elsewhere in the city, clearing large, amounts of old brush and dead trees, for fear of fire.
I'm taking a course, Denial 101x, and this week we covered effects of climate change: extreme weather: hotter, dryer, wetter, and sometimes colder these are regional climate changes so each is different pests migrations heat stress mass die-offs living things have different, absolute temperature limits that kill them approaching the limits puts them at risks from other pests normal 40 extinctions/year is ~20 times higher now Funny coincidence this week's lecture and your post. Bob Wilson
i can't deny the extreme weather conditions around here, am i being short sighted with a short memory?
Meanwhile, no snowcap in California California’s snowpack: Now zero percent of normal—a worst case scenario for the state’s water supply.
