Good luck Houston

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

 

"We're moving it on to Boston" (semi-private joke )

 

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.

 

wow, what caused that?

 

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.

 

sad.

 

i can't deny the extreme weather conditions around here, am i being short sighted with a short memory?

 

thanks bob, you remind me of some of my former teachers.

 

Meanwhile, no snowcap in California

California’s snowpack: Now zero percent of normal—a worst case scenario for the state’s water supply.

 

it's all very sad.