Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[bindian]

Brandi, That is awe full! did your friend have any "underlying "conditions? the 7 that have died here so far had medical conditions. Almost 300 cases reported here in a 4 county area. I have one can of DEEPWOODS off, going to get one for each of the trucks.

I am not sure now. I knew he smoked alot and used to have a chicken raising operation in Ohio, but had to leave it because of some type of health issue.
hugs, Brandi

 

[NativeSon]

Wow we got almost 1 1/2 inches yesterday!!!!! Started hearing thunder a little after sunrise. By 8:30 it looked like all we would get was the noise. 9:00 it started getting darker. Started with a really hard rain for about an inch then a good steady rain for another 1/2. Chance for some more today we'll keep our fingers crossed. As usual for this time of year, it was much needed. The hay fields have been browning up pretty quick.

Charlie

 

[Bird]

Starting about 3:30 p.m. yesterday we could see clouds NW of here, could hear thunder, and I see the NWS says the Denton Airport 10 miles from here got .09" yesterday afternoon, and another .32" last night. My yard looks terrible, so I ran a couple of sprinklers 5 hours. My rain gauge is dry as a desert.

 

[Western]

Charlie, good to hear you finally got some moisture, seems you guy's have been left out of the loop the last few storms.

We heard the thunder and could even smell the rain, but it went just West of us. 20% chance through Wednesday, so I may try to hold off on the watering except for the couple of St. Augustine spots

 

[jinman]

I think somebody in a crop duster sprayed Rain-X all over our end of the county and the rain just slips off and goes somewhere else. That's my "scientific" story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[NativeSon]

I think somebody in a crop duster sprayed Rain-X all over our end of the county and the rain just slips off and goes somewhere else. That's my "scientific" story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Makes sense to me. At least as much as any other theory on Texas Weather. My Dad use to say Texas is the only place where you can stand knee deep in mud and have sand blowing in your face.

Charlie

 

[Bird]

Makes sense to me. At least as much as any other theory on Texas Weather. My Dad use to say Texas is the only place where you can stand knee deep in mud and have sand blowing in your face.

Charlie

And he was only partially joking.:laughing: On July 1, 1972, we left Dallas early that morning, pulling a 24' travel trailer enroute to Alaska. My parents were ahead of us, pulling a 21' travel trailer, and an aunt and uncle behind us with a pickup camper. That afternoon, we were headed west on U.S.87 from Dumas when we encountered rain so heavy you could hardly see, and some small hail. There wasn't actually a rest area, but a pullout with a trash barrel where we pulled off the road; barely enough room for the 3 rigs. None of us got out of our vehicles, of course. When the rain slacked up a bit we started on, very slowly, and then from our left (south of us), we saw a tornado coming straight at us. My wife was hysterical and I was scared out of my wits; not even a borrow ditch to get into and certainly no room to turn around. But then the tornado veered off the east. But just as we started to pick up speed, we saw a black wall rolling toward us from the north. Looked like a tornado laying on its side; terrifying to say the least. And when it hit, it was just like getting hit with a mud ball; couldn't see through the windshield at all. I hit the windshield washer, and nothing. I thought this is a terrible time for them to quit working. But then as the wipers cleared enough mud, I could see that the washer was spraying water alright, but the wind was so strong, it was blowing the streams of water off to the left without it getting to the windshield. And a few minutes later, everything calmed down and the sun came out. In a time span of 15 minutes or so, we'd seen rain, hail, tornado, wind, and dust storm.

We stopped at the first rest area and my uncle got out of his pickup, came up, and said, "Well, I've heard of things wild as a west Texas twister, but this was unbelievable." Needless to say, I hope to never have such an experience again.

 

[bindian]

QUOTE=Bird;2957285]And he was only partially joking.:laughing: On July 1, 1972, we left Dallas early that morning, pulling a 24' travel trailer enroute to Alaska. My parents were ahead of us, pulling a 21' travel trailer, and an aunt and uncle behind us with a pickup camper. That afternoon, we were headed west on U.S.87 from Dumas when we encountered rain so heavy you could hardly see, and some small hail. There wasn't actually a rest area, but a pullout with a trash barrel where we pulled off the road; barely enough room for the 3 rigs. None of us got out of our vehicles, of course. When the rain slacked up a bit we started on, very slowly, and then from our left (south of us), we saw a tornado coming straight at us. My wife was hysterical and I was scared out of my wits; not even a borrow ditch to get into and certainly no room to turn around. But then the tornado veered off the east. But just as we started to pick up speed, we saw a black wall rolling toward us from the north. Looked like a tornado laying on its side; terrifying to say the least. And when it hit, it was just like getting hit with a mud ball; couldn't see through the windshield at all. I hit the windshield washer, and nothing. I thought this is a terrible time for them to quit working. But then as the wipers cleared enough mud, I could see that the washer was spraying water alright, but the wind was so strong, it was blowing the streams of water off to the left without it getting to the windshield. And a few minutes later, everything calmed down and the sun came out. In a time span of 15 minutes or so, we'd seen rain, hail, tornado, wind, and dust storm.

We stopped at the first rest area and my uncle got out of his pickup, came up, and said, "Well, I've heard of things wild as a west Texas twister, but this was unbelievable." Needless to say, I hope to never have such an experience again.[/QUOTE]

Bird,
Oh does that bring back memories. 1966, going from Higgins, Texas to Shattuck, OK. Just 18 miles, at night from Grandpa's farm to my Uncle's house. Half way there, we hit (at night) an electrical hail rain storm that lifted one side of our 1965 Mercury Parklane. My brother, my cousin, my Aunt, and I were in the backseat on the floor, as Mom hollered at Dad to pull over. But Dad knew it would be over quick and not to stop and kept following that solid white right line OK had on the edge of the road. It was all he could see. A few miles later and all was calm.

Years later and married, driving the opposite direction , we saw a solid dark blue wall coming from the north. I wanted to rush to the farm. My ex, not knowing Panhandle weather, wanted to stop a mile from the farm and take photos. I said no (and was driving) and sped to the farm, where my Aunt was waiting out front hollering Uncle Woody was opening the storm cellar. Scary, fast weather up there for sure!
hugs, Brandi

 

[Bird]

Scary, fast weather up there for sure!

Yep, that trip in 1972 was my first trip up that way. Then in 1987, I went to Colorado Springs to visit friends and I went alone on a motorcycle (new BMW R80RT). Pleasant non-stop trip up there. A few days later, I came back to Dallas non-stop, with a side trip up Pike's Peak that morning. And then . . . 300 miles in heavy rain, thunder, and lightning. And when you're on a motorcycle in a lightning storm and look around and you're the tallest thing in sight for many, many miles, it was not a fun trip.:laughing:

My next time up that way was in March, 1991, driving a one ton dually Chevy pickup, 454 cu. in. engine, with a Gear Vendors overdrive, pulling a 32' fifth-wheel, and from Dumas, TX, to Raton, NM, we had such a headwind that I could not get that rig over 50 mph even in second over. I stopped for gas and could barely stand up in the wind, putting gas in the truck. Then north of Raton, right into the worst snow storm I've ever driven in, all the way to Denver. Another long miserable day.

 

[Bird]

This morning, before 8 a.m., we had one of those Texas 6 inch rains. That's where the drops hit the windshield about 6 inches apart. I wouldn't have even known it happened if I hadn't been outside. Then about 5 p.m., we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. The city's Code Red system called our phone to warn us. They said high winds, big hail, and heavy rain were expected. So we heard just a little thunder, even saw a little lightning, no wind, but it finally started sprinkling and we got about .05" of rain. Oh well, it's better'n nothing. Since the 17th of June, we've gotten about .22" on the 9th & 10th of July combined, and now a total of about .06" this month.