Author Topic: Texas drought (Read 631 times)

gypsyman · « **on:** September 30, 2011, 02:27:08 AM »

Just got thru reading where a climatoligist says you guys down in Texas might have as much as 9 more years of drought. Sure hope not, as you've had more than your share of problems so far. Wish I could send you some of what we've been having. We have more misquitos now with all the rain, than in July. Garden is so wet, boots are clogging up with 3lbs of mud just picking tomatoes. They did mention that the last time it lasted this long, was in the 50's. Since A.Gore wasn't spouting off about global warming, I wonder what they blamed it on? gypsyman

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2011, 03:32:57 AM »

Heard the cat fish all have ticks on them down there.

Goatwhiskers · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2011, 04:19:40 AM »

To get a handle on the Texas drought, read "The Time It Never Rained" by Elmer Kelton. Story deals with the '50's drought and its effect on a rancher and the people of a west Texas town. The foreword gives a pretty good synopsis of the history of drought in Texas. Darn good story in my opinion. Goatwhiskers

guzzijohn · « **Reply #3 on:** September 30, 2011, 04:29:53 AM »

Quote from Shootall:
Heard the cat fish all have ticks on them down there.

Quote

I doubt it. Kansas is very dry but not as bad as most of Texas. July was the last time I saw a tick. Think they all died off from heat and drought.
GuzziJohn

Old Fart · « **Reply #4 on:** September 30, 2011, 05:17:28 AM »

I've been down that way recently, don't drop any change on the ground.
It'll roll into one of those big cracks and you'll never see in again.

guzzijohn · « **Reply #5 on:** September 30, 2011, 06:38:45 AM »

I don't remember where it was at but they had a segment on the news the other day of a puppy having to be rescued that had fallen in a crack and appeared to be about three feet down. Damn! Watch for cattle to start disappearing if rain does not come soon.
GuzziJohn

Sourdough · « **Reply #6 on:** September 30, 2011, 07:16:10 AM »

Reminds me of those Gloom N Doom futuristic films of the 70s, where the whole country became dessert.

My brother was complaining last time I talked to him about how many days they had of over 100 degrees. He lives in DeSoto, Dallas suburb.

Seems like I heard Wednesday night they were having rain from one of those big storms in the Pacific. Don't know if it was enough or just a small amount. Was thinking at the time it was a good thing.

BBF · « **Reply #7 on:** September 30, 2011, 07:25:47 AM »

A lot of rain in a short time is going to cause other problems.

rockbilly · « **Reply #8 on:** October 01, 2011, 08:44:18 AM »

I have seen some very dry spells here in Texas but this is the worst I have seen. Most of the lakes are either dryed up or so far below the spillway they are nearing the dry point. As stated by gupsyman, the "experts" say we can expect drought condition until 2020. I can't imagine what may happen if that does happen. Ranchers are already getting rid of cattle because they can't water them, farmers just plain give up, no rain - no crops. The spring on my place is still seeping but I don't know for how long, it usually keeps a hole about 5 feet deep, 10 feet long and four feet wide full of fresh water, not between the hogs and drought all I have is a mud hole about the size of a number 3 wash tub.

Not only is the drought effecting farming/ranching it is causing massive numbers of houses to crack because the soil has dryed out and the foundations cracked. I have been fairly lucky, no bad cracks but I do have several doors that won't close even with a sprinkler system going twice a week. THat will stop next week with new water restrictions.

Somebody please send us about a week of gentle rain then let become a down pour for a week to fill all the lakes.

Sourdough · « **Reply #9 on:** October 01, 2011, 11:45:36 AM »

Wish I could send you some. Here our rivers are running full. Water is high, meaning it will be a longer time till they freeze.

rockbilly · « **Reply #10 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:30:54 AM »

Some areas are fortunate indeed to realize an abundance of rain, as stated earlier we have not been so lucky here in Texas.

I have thought about the rains earlier this year in the upper mid-west, the floods and damage to crops and property as well as the lost lives, this seems to be a fairly common issue in some areas.

I had a wonderful idea for helping solve the problem for many of us on both ends of that situation. Why can't a drainage system be built to divert the water from the Snake, Upper Mississippi and other rivers in that area to Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and perhaps even on to Arizona. It would be expensive but look at it this way, if we could prevent the loss of crops and cattle by diverting and using the water in drought prone areas and at the same time help relive the mid-western area of their flooding wouldn’t the cost off-set the insurance claims? I think something like this would be worth while because it would make a bad situation better for both areas.

Think we can get the engineers working a project like this?

BBF · « **Reply #11 on:** October 04, 2011, 08:43:03 AM »

If water had 1/2 the price of oil, the pipelines would haven been built years ago.

powderman · « **Reply #12 on:** October 04, 2011, 06:11:57 PM »

ROCKBILLY. I had no idea that the drought was that bad, hardly anything on the news about it. We will pray for rain for you and all affected. POWDERMAN.

gypsyman · « **Reply #13 on:** October 05, 2011, 04:13:23 AM »

I always wondered why they haven't run some aqua ducts off the Miss. river. Seems that big boy overflows every so many years. Plus, Texas has one heck of a long coast line in the gulf. Are the Saudia's the only ones that can build a desalinization plant on the ocean?? Seems to me that some energy company,(First energy,Old Dominion,??) could build a couple of nuclear power plants, that make electricity, and fresh water. Wendy's or Burger King,(forget which one) could use all that sea salt on their fries!!YUMYUM!!! Oh wait, I forgot whos president for a minute. Never mind, that'll never happen. gypsyman

BBF · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2011, 08:16:06 AM »

gypsyman:

It is all about priorities. Reverse osmosis plants would work. So would aqua ducts. The whole Southwest could benefit from them. However there are other more political important and usually wasteful projects that need doing.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2011, 11:16:26 AM »

Quote from: scatterbrain on October 04, 2011, 08:43:03 AM

If water had 1/2 the price of oil, the pipelines would haven been built years ago.

I really doubt it , a 16 oz bottle of water cost about $1.50 + in many convience stores . That would be $6.00 a gal. Here gas is about $3.19 a gal in the same stores this week. and gas has way more tax on it .

rockbilly · « **Reply #16 on:** October 06, 2011, 06:44:05 AM »

These pictures were taken at various places from near Austin to San Angelo. Lake Travis is was one of the prime water supplies for Austin, Lake Ivey for Abilene and several other small cities in the area, and O.C. Fisher for the city of San Anglo and surrounding cities.

These are just a few of the DRY lakes. I have fished most of them and sure hate to see such fine (previously) recreational and water supplies in this condition

And to think the “experts” say we can expect nine more years of this. I might be asking to take a bath at your house before this is over.

You can click in the lower right corner and view it full screen. Also,
there is a place at the top, on your right where you can click on "show
info" and it will tell you where the pictures were taken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/texasparkswildlife/sets/72157627429641925/show/

BBF · « **Reply #17 on:** October 06, 2011, 07:05:45 AM »

I really doubt it , a 16 oz bottle of water cost about $1.50 + in many convience stores . That would be $6.00 a gal. Here gas is about $3.19 a gal in the same stores this week. and gas has way more tax on it .

I'm not comparing retail prices for bottled water vs gas at the pump.

Old Fart · « **Reply #18 on:** October 06, 2011, 08:50:41 AM »

Just curious if any of those storms that blew over recently dropped any rain over there?

no guns here · « **Reply #19 on:** October 06, 2011, 09:02:39 AM »

Yep, we've had rain recently about 5 times in the last 5 weeks. I actually have some green grass on my place now. Fields are a light green now. At least we are still in the end of the growing season. Most of the rain has been pretty localized. It absolutely POURED (couldn't see, had to pull over) in the town three miles from me last week for about 30 minutes and we only got a little sprinkle. We haven't broken the drought but at least it's a little better.

NGH

Old Fart · « **Reply #20 on:** October 06, 2011, 10:05:28 AM »

That's about how it's been in the western part of Okla. also.

no guns here · « **Reply #21 on:** October 06, 2011, 10:54:47 AM »

We got a decent chance of rain for the next four days or so... Let's hope the storms pop up all over the state. Even some rain will help the pastures grow a bit and extend the chance for folks to make it to spring without selling out or losing it all. Still got some good sun and warm weather for about a month. Could fill up a few tanks and reduce the feed bills...

NGH

BBF · « **Reply #22 on:** October 06, 2011, 12:40:00 PM »

It rained and blew here for two days. Even had a little bit of "something" mixed in with the rain. Some neighbors had a light overnight frost.

Old Fart · « **Reply #23 on:** October 07, 2011, 04:13:53 AM »

Scatterbrain,

That reminds me of once when we were dove hunting out in the panhandle area.
It had been reall dry that year also and the dust was blowing pretty good.
A rain shower blew in and we ended up with little mud balls on the windshield.

OF

BBF · « **Reply #24 on:** October 07, 2011, 02:07:25 PM »

I've gone thru the Panhandle years ago, it can get pickin cold there with a fierce wind.
I recall one summer it blew so hard that the pop-up trailer started moving on us with wife and son aboard.
I managed to hook up one breakaway chain to anchor us to the car.

Dee · « **Reply #25 on:** October 07, 2011, 03:00:39 PM »

This is the worst drought in recorded history for this area. At 62 years old, I am seeing things I never seen, nor heard of before in this drought. The Brazos is almost dry, and their seining two species of minnows to keep them from going extinct. The Red north of Gainesville can be walked across, and Lake Texoma is dangerous to get into because of blue green algae, and is down more than 9 feet.
Everything's fine down here.

no guns here · « **Reply #26 on:** October 11, 2011, 04:12:25 AM »

WOOOOHOOOO!!!! RAIN! Man wasn't that storm this weekend a blessing??? We had about 3.5"-4" down here just south of San Antonio. I heard farther up north around Comanche/Stephensville they had about 8". Saw that Lake Travis rose a foot. That's great but it's still something like 35' low. We need some more of those storms about once a week for about 3 months. Hope everyone had a decent rain to wet things down and extend the growing season.

NGH

rockbilly · « **Reply #27 on:** October 11, 2011, 07:31:24 AM »

We got a little relief in the Abilene area this past week-end. About 1:30 I left the house to do some shopping, the sky was bright and shiny at my house. I drove about a mile and hit a small shower then pulled into the store and it started a down pour. Since it was coming down so hard I sat in the truck for almost 30 minutes watching it rain. I went in and completed my business and started back home, I had to detour because several streets in low areas were running four feet deep. It continued a gentle rain all night and most of the day Sunday. When I made it out to my rain gauge there was just over four inched in it.

Even with the GREAT rain we are still in a drought condition. We need another rain like this one, then several days of gentle rain to create a run off and fill the lakes. Four inches seems like a lot, but the ground was so dry it soaked it up very quickly. I don’t have big cracks in the yard anymore…………but we will continue to pray for more.

powderman · « **Reply #28 on:** October 11, 2011, 07:36:26 AM »

I started praying for rain for Texas about a week ago, would have sooner but didn't realize the severity of it. POWDERMAN.

Sourdough · « **Reply #29 on:** October 11, 2011, 07:40:38 PM »

Got an E-mail from a friend in San Antonio, she said Lake Madina is down over 50 ft. Going to take a lot of rain, for a long period to bring that back up.