Pitter Patter on my windowsill

Not exactly! More like a constant pounding swishhhh and roar as the heavens growl and explode! Some say the skies are falling; they literally are doing just that. Last year we suffered from the lack of rain triggers, that is, no lowered pressure spikes to raise the water that is almost always present in the atmosphere here in Southeast Texas, from the Gulf of Mexico. Now the soil is saturated, and the moisture is abundant in the atmosphere, AND we are consistently getting low pressure spikes carried in by the jet stream. We clap our hands. No need for further rain dances. Take our feathers off and just enjoy, like the natives did in this place decades ago. No one has complained (yet) that I have heard. Lack of rain is scary. Folks around here would rather have their outdoor activities interrupted by these almost forgotten sounds than worry whether their plants and trees were going to die, or watching helplessly while the trees were starved by thirst. Then too, they worried about their home foundations in the worse drought ever recorded in this part of Texas. Pitter patter... swishhhhh ...boom ..... yeah for nature coming back! Goodbye drought, hello to nature.

Rain Rain come again another day

A FULL Panther Creek after the rain

In The Woodlands Texas, we had some substantial rain this morning!!! Finally we have a real drencher, one to fill up the lake, to fill up the creeks and river, to replenish the ponds and reservoir and still have enough left over to filter down to underground reservoirs. Sure, we have had several one-inch rains after the scorching summer, but this one is definitively different. It is a drought breaker. Some places in Montgomery County received as much as 5 inches of rain. Such a general rain throughout the county that makes it so great! Here in The Woodlands, I recorded more than two inches and observed water runoff that I have not seen for over a year.

Typical backyard - saturated earth

Typical runoff - as designed to reach street drains

Paradox of drought quenched by huge quantity of rain in the middle of winter

Fall beauty remains at hand much later than usual after the worse drought on record. Here it is near the middle of January and we can still enjoy the beauty of the Fall, and this is like a warm fall rain, not like a cold wintry drizzle, which is the norm for this time of year. So the creek is flooding as the tree smiles in its splendor.

Extremes - now the cold and probably snow

The Houston Texas area has escaped, on the most part, extreme cold this year. Yes, here north of the big city, The Woodlands has experienced three freezes, but we have not had the type of freeze that bursts pipes yet. Today, it looks like that good luck has run out. Over the next few days, we can expect the wind to drive subfreezing weather into pipes and plants. We need to take precautions. I am providing one useful online article that has plenty of information from FEMA on cold weather preparedness. Basically, we must wrap pipes and cover plants. But to cover them, we have to wrap them also. The wind will likely be our enemy this time. Therefore we need to secure the covering with rope or string. Cover the root system to minimize the damage to the plants, especially the sub-tropicals. Since we are likely to have snow showers also this week, the information provided on driving is also pertinent to our situation.  I find local drivers completely ignorant of driving safety and inept in handling vehicles in snow. Should we experience snow and ice on the roads, I would quite frankly recommend everyone to just stay at home. It is dangerous on the roads, especially in areas which do not normally experience frozen precipitation.  Otherwise, enjoy the change of scenery and get out in it with the family. I like to go to the parks here when it snows.

FEMA - READY AMERICA - Winter Storms and Extreme Cold 

When it freezes in the South

Here in The Woodlands Texas, it WILL freeze in the winter. In Southeast Texas, often people ask what measures should be taken to protect property and vegetation here, especially if they have not lived here long. First, the natural native plants do not need protection. They will take zero degree weather. However, we must concern ourselves with decorative plants that are usually tropical or semitropical natively. Most can tolerate near freezing temperatures but must be protected when the thermometer drops below 32 degrees. We have several things to worry about. A frost will kill tropicals even above 32 degrees, so we must cover sensitive plants to keep the frost off of them. When the temperature dips below freezing, tropicals must be tightly protected. It is best if the soil is moist. I like to spray my garden with water on severe nights. That helps insulate the root system. Wrapping the plant in a sheet and securing it with string helps to keep warmth around the leaves and branches. However, in a hard freeze that places the temperature at or below about 25 degrees for more than about 6 hours, that often becomes an exercise in futility as well. In those cases, cover the ground and wrap the roots. You have a shot at saving the plant but it may be dead  above the ground until summer. This past year, I had almost all my plants come back in the summer after a very hard freeze last year (18 degrees and below freezing for an entire day). The plants were not even covered, because we were out of town. This year, the same plants had living leaves on them after a 25-degree freeze lasting some 9 hours. Covering and insulating make a big difference to the survival and revival of the plant in the Spring.But you do not want the plants covered for an extended period of time. They need the sun. Depriving them of light for a long time will often damage them.

Protecting the home has other considerations.For light freezes, we do nothing. If the temperature gets below 26, then we take measures to protect non-insulated pipes. Many homes have no protection for their plastic pipes in the attic here. It is best if they are insulated, then you are less likely to have any pipes burst in the case of a hard freeze (below 25 degrees and the freeze lasting for 6+ hours). For a hard freeze, your automatic outdoor watering system is most at risk, along with the more obvious watering hoses. Your watering system has a back flow valve which protects your water supply from water flowing back from they yard. This valve is usually located close to the home and is quite vulnerable to a hard freeze. In the freeze of 2009, many homes had water flowing out from their backflow pipes after the freeze. Residents had to shut off the intake valve upstream of the backflow valve until they could get a replacement part. To protect this in a hard freeze, you can wrap it in insulated material. I use a small oiled tarp and completely wrap the exposed pipe and valve, tying it down with string to keep the wind from pushing air inside the insulation.

Finally, if the temperature drops severely for an extended time, the best course of action is to cut off your water to the house and open all the valves and facets to drain all water from the devices. Don't forget the hot water heater. Turn it off as well before going out of town. If you stay at home, you need not turn it off. We had a full week in a frozen state in the 1980's when the temperature never got above freezing outside. The ground froze that year! The temperature hovered just a few degrees above zero degrees F. for two nights and in the teens and low 20's the remainder of the week. Everyone should be aware that this could suddenly happen any year during the winter months. We usually have a four day warning that a hard freeze situation is possible. Cutting off the water supply should be done if you are traveling out of town for Christmas for more than three days every year you travel, regardless of the forecast. In fact, do it when you plan to be away for a week or more between November and March. Mid-December to the end of January is usually the worst of the winter here.

Winter likely to be mild

The weather forecast for Montgomery County and generally Southeast Texas by our friendly national weathermen is dismal and threatening to our forests. We should have little rain and mild temperatures, but we will receive those dry northers. All of this is caused by La Niña strengthening and holding for the winter. El Niño produces west coast rain that travels here along the lower jet stream. It will not be active, so the prediction. If it holds out, we will again be in a severe drought until next summer when La Niña (if active will affect our summer rains) again brings the rain. So look for continued warm weather with clear skies, but occasional very cold dry air, similar to what we have experienced in October. Of course, the dominating factors cannot be reliably forecast and could change at about any time, so we shall see.

Huntsville Snow 2010

For the entire Houston area, this was the second to the latest snowfall in our history. March 12th is the latest on the record books. 2010 ties the record for most snowfalls in any one year - three in 1973 when 1.4 inches was measured. That means it is not out of the question to have another snow in this remarkable winter.

There was significant snow in Huntsville on Tuesday. I went to Huntsville State Park to photograph what I thought was going to be three inches on the ground. That did not happen, but there was more than three inches that fell there! At first rain drop, it looked like there was going to be no snow at all.

Then the slush started. Nothing was sticking until about 3pm. Then the snow became pure and fell rigorously for about almost two hours before it slowed to flurries. Then about 530pm, the intensity again increased to a moderate+ level. It was beautiful and stuck to the ground.  

I took a hike for three hours in the falling snow there in the park, surrounded by birds and the forest. Late in the evening, I heard a couple of deer crash through the brush but never saw them. 

For the most part, I stayed dry with all the gear I was wearing. Keeping the equipment dry was a challenge in the wayward snow flakes that sometimes even traveled upward in the wind.

Although disappointed that the big snowfall did not occur, I was delighted with the beauty that the limited snowfall did provide. Snow lines cropped up in various areas of the forest, causing interesting effects.

In general, the accumulated snow acted as the icing on the cake for the forest. It dressed the forest floor up considerably, providing white where it once was brown, revealing birds that were difficult to see, adding colors to dead tree limbs and providing a variety of added color richness to the forest.

In some cases, the snow accumulated on trees, especially the Holly trees and on some of the smaller pines.

There were few cars in the park, but this one revealed to me the amount of snow that had actually fallen. The temperature was above freezing, so the snow that did stick to the ground was slowly melting.  I did see cars with more snow than this on them, coming into the park at about 6pm.

This dead tree has rusty colored lichens growing on it. Although that is colorful on its own, adding the white to the mix proved to be beautiful. I have several photos of this and will share them in other articles or via Twitter or Facebook.

A birdhouse in the park looked much better than normal with the added snow backdrop.

I would suggest looking at the photos a little closer to get the effects. Just click on them for a full sized view.

So what is the heaviest snowfall on record here? hint - it was a long time ago.

The snow line on Wednesday, indicating the remaining snow on the ground can be seen on the map at this location, courtesy of ABC13 news. Huntsville showed nothing but I bet there was remaining snow on the ground there, not visible from satellite. Huntsville reported 3 inches of snow officially.    

Texas Snow that could have been

This past week, we experienced a long cold day that dumped more than 1.5 inches of rain. The temperature was a little above freezing but not much.  Almost a week earlier, the weather bureau predicted we could see ice or sleet on Thursday. Upon arrival of the western-originated storm, a frigid arctic mass of air was to arrive. We weren't the only ones watching the event. This was a large Texas event and some snow was predicted for the northeast parts of Texas. We've seen these situations over and again. Two things have to be occurring simultaneously.  (1) A cold winter in the deep south, and (2) El Niño in the West. The southern jet stream carries the storms aloft, and the arctic air mass at the surface is pushed by the northern jet stream.

Indeed in this "winter of winters", Texas got a surprise. All snowfall records known to modern day weather forecasters were broken. In Tyler Texas, several inches of snow accumulated when they thought they may see some ice and flurries. In Dallas, more than 12 inches of snow fell, bringing the city to a standstill for a while. An interesting phenomena occurred there. The snow caused the roads to be safer. What might have been an ice storm turned into a a melting snow scene on the streets. Weather forecasters were off the mark on this one - significantly off the mark! For a more detailed view investigation for the reason why, I suggest you read the Dallas Morning article:  Forecasters tell how they miscalled Snowstorm of the Century

This could have been us. All the ingredients have the potential to collide here instead of Dallas. I wonder what we would do with twelve inches of snow. It could even be worse. The speed of the storm was slow but from our past experiences, we know a storm can just squat here and dump and dump. This winter could be the first of a series like this.  My trees are budding, but winter is not over. Migratory birds are passing through, but it remains winter.  Berries are ripening and falling off of the Yaupon, but it is near freezing.  Two more weeks of winter is still predicted.

And if you wonder how cold this winter really is, Lake Eerie is frozen over for the first time in 14 years. A full article on that subject can be found on the Go Eerie website. Also see:   Map of the Great Lakes and frozen status as of Feb 9th. 

Winter of winters

Our furry little weather forecaster probably got it right this year. Six more weeks of winter, in the north, that is... not to say however that we Southerners are out of the woods, so to speak. We can expect to be right in the middle of it. This weekend, after a full week of dismal weather, but wet, which we know we still need, our neck of the woods will be enjoying some sunshine. That will not last long, as another rain pulse accompanied by cold weather will be upon us quickly next week. Some folks are predicting that we will see snow in Houston again before Spring, even in the middle of next week! That is a far reach, but Old Man Winter has been reaching beyond our expectations for most of this season. As my backyard plants would tell you if they could talk, "it's been horrible out here".

Let's keep an eye on what Washington D.C is expecting tonight and tomorrow. A winter storm warning tonight and then an outright blizzard warning until late tomorrow night will be the talk of the nation tomorrow. I will be watching the news being published from Washington. Unlike the great snowstorm of our forefathers and the anguish that our army suffered to free our nation, we have fast electronics and warm houses to observe possible record breaking snowfall in our nation's capital. There could be more than 30 inches of snow falling in some areas around that city.

ABC news of Washington D.C can be found at this site.