Texas on fire???

[Trev]

Bird, you okay??

Bob

 

[Bird]

Yeah, Bob, I guess Jim (jinman) would be our closest member to the recent fires. I understand 2005 will go into the record books as the fifth driest year since they started keeping records, and yesterday the temperature at DFW got to 81, which is not only a new record, but 5 degrees warmer than the previous record for December 26. All the lakes are way down, many of boat launching ramps closed, etc. And we've had some pretty windy weather lately so the fire danger is definitely high. We certainly need to be careful. However, much to my surprise, we don't have any water restrictions yet although I've been expecting it. I vacuumed and washed both our vehicles in the driveway yesterday and it was sure warm enough to work up a sweat. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[8NTX]

Was driving to Athens from Canton yesterday (East Texas). Saw a decent sized grass fire a couple of hundred yards from the road. A couple of minutes later, I spotted the smoke from two other large fires in the distance. Volunteer firemen were making their way down the road near our lake cabin as well.

 

[EddieWalker]

Today it was 76 degrees with 30 mph winds.

This will be the second driest year on record for this area. Rain totals are over 20 inches below normal.

The news channal said there were over 60 fires that burned over 500 acres since Christmas and the County Comisioners have passed an emergancy burn ban.

On the good side, it's good digging weather. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Eddie

 

[Trev]

Anybody heard from Jinman? When I looked on CNN last night it sounded like the entire state was in danger! Which I suppose it theoretically could be. Hey, you Texas and Oklahoma guys, report in!

Not to throw this thread off-topic too much, but there are a lot of smart people here.. what are your thoughts on "Global Warming?"

Bob

 

[Egon]

"Global Warming?"

Boys oh Boys Trev!

This could get interesting! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[Trev]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( "Global Warming?"

Boys oh Boys Trev!

This could get interesting! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon )</font>

Hey Egon,

Yeah, it could get interesting.. or it could turn into what people in the military call a Cluster-something.. I forget what the "something" is, but it's something we want to avoid. I just don't have a clue about this stuff.. but I do have one interesting piece of information about this.. and I'll drag it out at some point if that seems appropriate to the discussion.. if one occurs. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Stay warm up there, pal...

Bob

 

[ronjhall]

<font color="blue"> Anybody heard from Jinman? </font>
Jim posted yesterday. No mention of fires. Click Here

 

[wroughtn_harv]

It is dry around here. I've got one little job that I haven't been able to finish up just because the grass around it is so dry. And in this wind, one spark, it'd be like lighting on gasoline. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'm extremely gunshy when it comes to welding around flammables and wind. (I come from the west coast). But most people around here haven't been in a grass fire or seen how fast it can run and how devastating it can be.

A couple of weeks ago out west of here a little bit a welder lost it. If he had the million dollar liability insurance I carry he'll still be unable to cover all the damage the fire caused. The fire took out some out buildings, homes, and fifteen hundred acres.

Hopefully we'll get some rain. Last year it never got dry enough to move foundations much. A friend of mine got out of the foundation repair business because there was no business to speak of. This year everyone's foundation is moving. I've never had movement in fourteen years in my house. But this year we have signs of movement.

The pond project is in a stream that normally runs from mid-September through May or June. It's dry as a bone. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

At a Christmas party last week an east Texas girl of about fifty or so years of age told about crossing Lake Lavon and seeing some of the trot lines she ran as a kid having auto access now.

There's no rain in the forecast. But we do have the First coming up with the mandatory fireworks foolishness. I'm sure CNN and Faux are moving in crews to cover the impending disaster.

And yes, the cable news networks had more information on our fires than the local news yesterday.

 

[sneaky_pete]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hey, you Texas and Oklahoma guys, report in!)</font>

There's been a burn ban here (Parker County) for months, my pasture has cracks in it an inch or more wide, and you can see smoke from fires at least once or twice a week, but nothing worse near me yet.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Not to throw this thread off-topic too much, but there are a lot of smart people here.. what are your thoughts on "Global Warming?")</font>

Well, I got into a discussion with Vin from Oz on that very topic right before he left. It's an emotional subject for some people (but I don't think that is why Vin has not been back).
My belief as a geologist is that global warming is real, but I'm unconvinced that man is the chief culprit. The earth has been through many many warming and cooling cycles, driven by its eccentric orbit around the sun and the wobble of the earth's axis. We are still warming up from a big ice age about 10,000 years ago, and from a much smaller one (the so-called "little ice age") in 1400-1700. These recent small-scale cycles appear to have a frequency of about 1,000 years, i.e., 400-500 years of cooler weather and 400-500 years of warmer. The latest warming cycle looks to have started about 1900 a.d., so we are stuck in the middle of it. Here is a good web site if you want to see more data on this line of thinking.