Tropical Storm ALEX to become hurricane

This storm after exiting Belize on Sunday is now on a more northerly course and is forecast to strike south of Brownsville. The national weather center has therefore moved its predicted landfall hundreds of miles north in only one day.  Since it remains some five days away, it is worth watching and making initial preparations for a hurricane in southeast Texas. Within the next two days, it is wise to check generators and cut remove dead limbs out of trees. Bulletins are being issues this morning to watch this storm.
One bulletin for Montgomery County

Do you know about sun dawgs?

Here in Texas, we don't refer to something astrological as a dog. Sure, we'll accept dawg! But our special buddies are not astrological. Well, I guess the sun is sort of astrological. At least my ex-wife thought it was.  It is the opposite of moon which reflects the image of the earth. So you can do all sorts of things with that idea. Gone is the man in the moon. Replace that with all sorts of moods and pscyho things of a person. They call those signs.

What in the world are we talking about anyway? A sun dawg is more than one sun on the horizon. No kidding! A sunset might have three suns! That means three worlds to some. Anyway it has to do with weather, so I thought I'd share a bit of this trivia with you since I have to put up with it today.

Look at what someone on the other side of the world says 'bout this dawg on the horizon.


Here is a technical link from the sun doctor himself if you want the details of the ice and refractions off of it causing this phenomenon.

Drought Remains in The Woodlands

After five months into 2010, our water situation looks bleak. Remember 2009? We know that was a bad year. This year promises to be much worse. You are probably tending to your garden like I am. Spot watering in the call for most days now. For 2010, we are 29% behind our normal rainfall, even though we had almost an inch of rain here last night in Indian Springs. At this time last year, we had a deficit rainfall of 16%. Be careful with your use of water. This is the time to be very conscious of waste.

Eyjafjallajökull

That is not an eye test. It is the name of the volcano erupting in Iceland. How do you pronounce that anyway? Phonetically, try this: "EY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul, with "ey" pronounced like the "ey" in "they". Personally, my tongue has a problem with this name. I am not sure I will ever master it.

The volcano will potentially affect the weather in the northern hemisphere. In the last few days, the ash cover has managed to reach over more eastern parts of Europe such as Amsterdam in addition to the British Isles. Airports continue to close and reopen as the ash threat to aviation comes and goes. 

Icelandic Met Office - daily updates

Drought conditions continue

April was a poor month for rain.  Our yards are suffering from it. Worse, May has been almost totally dry. I am already losing trees in reforested areas near my home. Summer is looking very bleak. So far this year, we have received 10.47 inches here in Indian Springs, in the heart of The Woodlands. That is 3.47 inches behind the average, or a 25% deficit.

On June 1st, the Atlantic hurricane season begins. Since we have a warmer Atlantic than usual for this time of the year, we are expected to have eight hurricanes with four of them being major ( cat 3 or 111+ MPH winds) along the coast this year. Colorado State University forecasters are predicting fifteen named storms.

By the time August rolls around, we are usually in the mood to get a small storm. Rarely do we have a "freight train" run over us. It is the water we want, not the wind!

Rain Almost Average So Far

After two months of cold rainy weather, we still did not achieve the average rainfall through February. Lacking almost 0.8 inches compared to the average rainfall for the area. We are doing much better than last year when were falling short 4.4 inches at this time of the year. So maybe we will have more of a normal year though this summer than last. Let's hope so!

Mo AVG rain Avg to date 2009 to  date 2010  to   date Over/ (under) 2009 2010 Over/ (under) average Jan 4.21 4.21 0.49 2.69 2.2 (1.52) Feb 2.97 7.18 2.01 6.41 4.4 (0.77)

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.