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Texas Drought worst since 1895
The drought in Texas, during March, was the worst since 1895.
That is about the time my parents were born 120 years ago.
I never thought it could be worse than the drought of the 1950s, but it is. Drive out into grazing country where mesquite aren’t too thick and all you can see is dry, cracked soil with an occasional fire ant or a gopher mound in the sandier soil.
Comparing the current drought with the seven-year drought in the 1950s, old-timers say the current drought sapped the soil of moisture faster than it did in the 1950s.
It just stopped raining last July, and pasture after pasture was hit by wildfires.
Right now, there is no potential to produce hay, harvest wheat or plant cotton or grain sorghum this May. Unless there is a week of rain fairly soon there is no hope for agriculture this year.
The Texas Ag Extension Service says that, despite a few recent showers in some areas, the cotton growing in Texas and Oklahoma is still in a drought. Any crop planted in southern Texas earlier in the year that got up out of the ground is now being sand blasted by hot, dry winds.
Wildfires have burned at least 1.5 million acres in the state since Jan. 1.
In addition to grazing losses, ranchers are facing rangeland stock water tanks that are dry or nearly dry. Streams are not flowing and lakes and big tanks are turning to deep mud.
Texas Wildfires Threaten Wheat Crop, Drive Food Prices Higher
As firefighters from around the country and the National Guard continue to battle the many blazes scattered across the state, with no immediate end to the crisis in sight, the future looks bleak for Texas farmers. Many farmers’ fields were already damaged by drought, and now some crops have been further harmed by smoke or entirely destroyed by flame.
Some agricultural experts are now predicting that Texas will lose two thirds of this year’s wheat crop to drought and Read more…
March 9.0 Japanese quake set off tremors around the world
The earthquake that launched a series of disasters in Japan in March triggered micro-quakes and tremors around the world, scientists find.
The catastrophic magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off the coast of the Tohoku region of Japan March 11 set off tremors mostly in places of past seismic activity, including southwest Japan, Taiwan, the Aleutians and mainland Alaska, Vancouver Island in Canada, Washington state, Oregon, central California and the central United States. It was unlikely that any of these events exceeded magnitude 3.
Researchers noted, however, that temblors also were detected in Cuba. “Seismologists had never seen tremor in Cuba, so this is an exciting new observation,” Justin Rubinstein, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at Menlo Park, Calif., told OurAmazingPlanet.
Part of the excitement of the find is the insight it could add into the inner workings of earthquakes.
“Studying long-range triggering may help us to better understand the underlying physics of how earthquakes start,” explained seismologist Zhigang Peng at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
Quakes where normally quiet
Most of these micro-earthquakes and tremors occurred in places that already had high background levels of seismic activity, including California’s Geysers Geothermal Field and the San Andreas Fault. Some of the quakes occurred in low-activity areas, such as central Nebraska, central Arkansas and near Beijing.
“Seismologists generally think of the central U.S. as relatively Read more…
Historic Tornado Outbreak: 3 Days, 241 Tornadoes, 14 States
This image, courtesy of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in San Diego, Calif., shows tornado reports April 14-16, 2011 as of 12:00 p.m. EDT Sunday April 17, 2011..From Thursday, April 14, 2011 to Saturday, April, 16, 2011, devastating tornadoes rampaged across communities of the southern United States. Cities and towns from Oklahoma to North Carolina were assaulted by the deadly twisters.
The tornado outbreak led to a total of 241 tornado reports in 14 states over the three-day period. This will likely rank this tornado outbreak among the largest in Read more…
Fires and Drought Trouble Texas and Other US Plains States
Photo: Alberto Tomas Halpern
A volunteer firefighter fights a fire which began outside Marfa, Texas, and was carried by winds to nearby Fort Davis, April 9, 2011
Drought conditions and high winds have fueled destructive wildfires in northern Mexico and the southern U.S. plains states, especially Texas, where dozens of homes have burned in recent days. The dry weather is also having an impact on agriculture that is likely to cause some food prices to rise.
Fast-moving wildfires scorched around 32,000 hectares of land in the west Texas ranch country around Fort Davis on Saturday and Sunday, killing cattle and horses, and leaving pastures charred and smoky. The fires reached populated areas near Fort Read more…
Japan quake set Texas aquifer in motion
When the earth shook during the March 11 earthquake off Japan, it had enough force to move water deep inside the Edwards Aquifer in Central Texas.
Within 15 minutes of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, the Edward Aquifer Authority’s J-17 monitoring well in Bexar County started to vibrate, with the water level fluctuating about a foot.
“It moved up and down for almost two hours,” said Roland Ruiz, a spokesman for the water authority. “We thought it was certainly interesting that a quake that far away would register in the aquifer.”
It isn’t the first time vibrations from earthquakes have shown up in the aquifer. Last year’s 8.8 quake in Chile and 7.0 temblor in Haiti were also detected.
The Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, caused the largest fluctuation in the aquifer when the water level moved about 2.6 feet. That 9.1 quake triggered a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people.
The Edwards Aquifer Authority provides water to 1.7 million people in South Central Texas, including San Antonio.
“It just seems to be a natural ripple effect felt halfway around the world,” said Ruiz, who added that the “sloshing around” inside the aquifer did not create any problems.
Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698
Chinese Troops Seen in Mexico
Rumors have begun to circulate around the internet this week regarding various sources having seen Chinese Troops and military bases set up just north and south of the US border. The simple logic of such a situation defies the sane mind. “If this were true, the United States Government would have to be either directly involved, or completely failed in terms of intelligence. Either of which could actually be a possibility in this day and age. The real concern surrounding this issue is how such a story could be perceived by the National Security and Affairs Department.
The internet has been a great evolution in the enlightenment of the world’s population for the sharing and opening of previously esoteric information.
Some of the websites actually tell of Read more…
New Tdap vaccine requirement for seventh graders begins this fall
A new immunization requirement will be in effect this fall to help fight the spread of whooping cough in Oklahoma schools and communities.
All students entering seventh grade will be required to have one dose of Tdap — tetanus, diphtheria and acelluar pertussis vaccine — before the start of the 2011-2012 school year.
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the new requirement will help Oklahoma avoid outbreaks of the disease that other parts of the country are experiencing. Thousands of cases of whooping cough have been noted in California and Texas.
“While Oklahoma has been fortunate thus far in avoiding an outbreak of whooping cough, we did see an increase in the number of cases reported in the state last year,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Terry Cline. “One hundred seventy cases were reported in Read more…
Suspected Terrorist Had NYC in His Sights
A 20-year-old Saudi student arrested in Texas on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack with explosive chemicals had looked at New York City as a possible target.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, attending college near Lubbock, Texas, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
“It is war … until the infidels leave defeated,” the chemical engineering student wrote in online postings.
Federal prosecutors said he had researched online how to construct an improvised explosive device using several chemicals as ingredients.
Court papers said Aldawsari had been researching New York City, including viewing real-time traffic cameras online that showed the city.
The FBI said he also had looked up the Dallas home of Read more…
Yellowstone supervolcano, new Ice Age could topple US government
As evidence mounts that the world may fast be slipping into the next Ice Age, Washington insiders are hurrying to solidify a new power base for centralized government operations.
Fears that the US capital might be struck by another more deadly terrorist attack—or other disasters—prompted agencies a decade ago to hurriedly establish back-up operations in case catastrophe struck.
Despite the fact that many conspiracy theories are weaved around the subjects that follow—including some fairly wild-eyed, tin foil hat scenarios—most conspiracy theories have a basis in fact, although the facts are distorted or wildly exaggerated.
The actual story of the Denver airport, the nation’s “second capital,” the impending Ice Age possibility, and the threat the Yellowstone supervolcano presents to the people of the United States of America and their government follows: Read more…
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