Here comes the RAIN !!!

[EddieWalker]

Nice little storm rolled through her this morning. Just as we were getting up and Steph was in the bathroom getting ready for church, the thunder went off, the rain came down and the power went out. A minute later, power was back on. By the time we were ready to leave for church, the storm was on it's way East.

We show .94 of an inch in our digital rain gauge. Half an inch an hour.

The storm that went by here on Friday was allot more intense with several tornadoes to the North of us, but we barely got a sprinkle out of it. You can see the dots in the dust, but it was still dusty out. When it hit Louisiana and Arkansas, it really got nasty.

Both ponds have been overflowing for a few weeks now and todays storm will just keep the water flowing. At least it was nice by the time church was over for the kids to go hunt for Easter Eggs.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Eddie, I mowed, edged, and trimmed the lawn yesterday morning, then spread a little Scotts turf builder in hopes the weather forecast was right. Sure enough, when I got up about 5 a.m., it was raining and we even had a little thunder and lightning. It was about over by 7:30 a.m. and when the sun came out about 9 a.m., I poured about 1.32" of rain out of my gauge. It may not break the drought, but it sure was good for my grass and my wife's flowers.

 

[weldingisfun]

Down here, all we got a lot of noise and a little rain, .6 inch. Still hoping to fill the tanks before the long HOT summer. Glad to hear rain is falling somewhere in Texas.

 

[jinman]

My rain gage said 1.65", so I got a good ground soaking. It came down slowly over about 6 hours and there was very little runoff. My ponds only came up about 6" at the most. I guess the biggest benefit around here is the reduction of the chance of wildfires. The poor folks up in Montague County had to worry about tornados last night, only a few days after having wildfires burning up the countryside. I also noticed on the weather report that my brother in Whitesboro was getting some rain and hail last night, but the worst weather was going about 10 miles north of him.

Kathy and I set out tomatoes and peppers on Saturday. They all have "happy faces" right now; just like me.

 

[The Dougster]

You fellows have done started bragging now... here in Lampasas County, I got a whoppin 1/2-inch.... I'm complaining only slightly... I appreciate any and all rain but my brand new stock tank is still bone dry... <sigh>

 

[EddieWalker]

Another week, another storm!!!

We're at 1.30 inches so far this afternoon with more storms on the way. This just might end up being a pretty big event. But at least we're not in Denver, or that area. 2ft of snow is just crazy.

This is the forecast from one of our local news channels.
Heavy rain continues over most of ETX this afternoon. We are expecting the rain to weaken later this afternoon, then re intensify this evening and overnight with more heavy rainfall likely. Heavy rain overnight with flash flood watched in effect for our central and eastern counties. Scattered storms will continue tomorrow as an upper level low moves to our north and a cold front moves through the area. A few of the storms over the next two days could be severe however it does appear our main threat with this storm system is heavy rain. "

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Eddie, I only got .75" this morning and while the forecast is still a 50% chance of more tonight and tomorrow, I sure don't see any sign of it on the radar. But I'd be happy to see another inch or two.

 

[gsganzer]

Eddie,
Shellie's out in Kilgore this weekend for the Rangerette Revels. So she'll be experincing your weather with you. She's traveling out first thing in the morning. I hope we have a little break, so she has a safe drive. The forecast looks the same back here in the Dallas area.

Gordon

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I hadn't emptied my rain gauge for the last 2 or 3 days and it had 4 inches in it. I believe it, rentor said yesterday it opened up with a deluge here, water everywhere. But we need it, haven't had much this spring. I can watch my garden growing.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,
Shellie's out in Kilgore this weekend for the Rangerette Revels. So she'll be experincing your weather with you. She's traveling out first thing in the morning. I hope we have a little break, so she has a safe drive. The forecast looks the same back here in the Dallas area.

Gordon

Gordon,

Looks like you couldn't have picked a worse time to drive out here!!! The storm hit first thing this morning and has been going on all day. While not constant, the rain was heavy at times with a good thunder and lightning show.

My rain gauge for today shows 1.03 inches. For the two days, I'm at 2.33 inches. The radar shows it to be done for now.

Eddie

 

[Uncle Doug]

The local radio station says we got 3" of rain yesterday and I guess another 2-3" today.

Our small town street festival Dayton Ole Tyme Days started last night www.oletymedays.com and the rain has really put a damper on the festival. The street dance last night got rained out. Most of the vendors were setting up this morning before the heavy rains started again. I stayed around to help judge some of the cook off foods. Even rain will not stop a Texas cook team. There some good beans turned in, The chicken was hit or miss the pork ribs were to die for. The BBQ committee hangs around outside the judging room for all the "extras". By about 2 pm all the vendors had closed down and nothing was going on except for the cook teams. I wanted to get some pictures of the tractor show but they were a few blocks down and a long way to go in the rain.

 

[weldingisfun]

We got 2.2 inches out of the rains. My catfish pond is full to overflowing, my cats and I are now happy.

The top tank still has 3.5 feet to go to reach full capacity but, I am not going to complain.

My son and daughter live in Colorado and got three feet of snow. Shut everything down. They are happy too, CO needs the moisture.

 

[The Dougster]

I dunno about you folks East of I 35.. apparently I'm not paying the preacher enough... At my placein Lampasas County I only got 1-6/10 inches of rain, which I'm proud to get but sure need more... On the plus side, I did get to burn some piles of brush yesterday.... plus, the bottom of my new pond is now wet.... More rain please.. a LOT more rain.. lol

 

[jinman]

I dunno about you folks East of I 35.. apparently I'm not paying the preacher enough... At my placein Lampasas County I only got 1-6/10 inches of rain, which I'm proud to get but sure need more... On the plus side, I did get to burn some piles of brush yesterday.... plus, the bottom of my new pond is now wet.... More rain please.. a LOT more rain.. lol

I'm kinda in the same situation. In the last week-and-a-half we have had a total of 2.25" of rain, but that has not produced the kind of runoff to fill tanks, ponds, and lakes. There have been isolated spots with heavy downpours in my area, but no general coverage to produce runoff. However, my bluebonnet patch is really nice. Maybe I can get some pictures today and post them later.

My wife and I went out to dinner yesterday, and before coming home, we drove through the area in Montague County between Bowie and Stoneburg. I was shocked! The wildfires were widespread and continuous through that area. There were lots of houses saved, but many were lost. What got me most was the burn spots on the sides of he asphalt highway that looked like shadows. I think the heat must have caused the asphalt to melt on top and then soot got imbedded into the surface. It was eerie to see the burned fields and woods and these shadowy waves on the sides of the road. Those folks have a huge disaster to overcome. The open fields will come back better than before, but I'd bet 90% of the trees are burned so badly they will die. If I owned an area like that, I think I'd just clearcut the trees and start over.

 

[Uncle Doug]

Well the rain has finally passed and the sky's cleared about 10 am today. Over the past 2 days we got about 6 1/2" of rain. It was more water than we got with hurricane Ike. We have hat it worse a couple of times over the past 25 years we have been here but this was the most rain in the past 5 years or so. My new house is higher than the old one so I was not too worried about that.

Our place drains from the back to the front and the water must cross the county road to reach the big drainage ditches. There are 3 36" culverts at each of my side ditches and the water could not pass through them fast enough. As a result the water will back up until it starts to run over the top of the road. It still had a few more inches before it crossed the road when the rains stopped. I went out there last evening and raked about a pickup load of stuff out of the culverts, leaves, grass, small sticks and stuff still left in the county ditches from hurricane Ike. Then there was everything that floated down from the neighborhood. I counted 3 footballs, 2 basketballs, several assorted balls, one baseball bat, an ice chest and other stuff. Its all piled by the county road, maybe the county will come by a scoop everything up. If not the FEL will come in handy when it drys up.

Both the gardens took a bad hit but the one closest to the side ditch looks the worse. Maybe I can salvage some of it.

The festival people were glad to see the skys clear. It looks like most of the vendors will at least break even. The festival will not make as much as over half of their money comes from a split with the carnival people after his expenses. They will be lucky to get any money from him.

 

[jinman]

Doug, they talked about some places getting 6" of rain on the news, but your pictures really put a face on it. I hope your garden survives and you don't get more rain for awhile. This week at least is supposed to be warm and dry.

 

[EddieWalker]

... There are 3 36" culverts at each of my side ditches and the water could not pass through them fast enough...

That's just amazing!!! The water must have been shooting out of those culverts like cannons.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Eddie

 

[Uncle Doug]

That's just amazing!!! The water must have been shooting out of those culverts like cannons.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Eddie

The problem is none of the culverts crossing the county road line up with the one large drainage ditch heading to the river. So as a result the water must turn again after crossing the road where it meets up with the outflows of that side of the road. Of course being that the rural county budgets is mostly focused on road repair the ditches and drainage get little attention.

Even with the hurricane clean up that was 100% refunded to the county from FEMA the focus was mainly on the big stuff that would fill the trucks as those guys got paid by the truck load. The small limbs mostly are still laying around unless the land owner cleaned them up. Half of the frontage in our area is federal land so no one bothered to clean those out. Even the large drainage ditch flows through the federal land. No telling how long its been since it was cleaned out or if anyone even looked at it since the hurricane. I know I haven't walked it in about 10 years. It may be worth a visit with a camera in the near future.

 

[EddieWalker]

I only had one experience similar to that and it was on a house that I had bought to sell. There was a drainage ditch along the property line that went under the county road. It was eroding pretty badly, but not quite to the blacktop. Another good storm might have been all it took to start loosing the road.

I called the road people and got the run around, but made sure to get my point across to them. Do it now and it will be fairly inexpensive. Wait for it to get worse, and it will be allot of money and something that you won't be able to put off. Nothing happened on that for awhile, but then I saw some county guys working down the road from my place. I went up to them and found out the guy on the backhoe was in charge. I asked if he was going to take care of the culvert next to my house. He said he didn't know anything about it. So we took a walk over to see it and he saw right away that it would be a quick, easy fix for them to take care of it now, and how much worse it could be if they waited. I walked back with him to the equipment and listened in on his conversation over the radio to his dispatch. They sent out a few dump trucks to fix the problem and he had it taken care of that day.

Sometimes it's just a matter of getting lucky and finding the right person.

Eddie

 

[weldingisfun]

I only had one experience similar to that and it was on a house that I had bought to sell. There was a drainage ditch along the property line that went under the county road. It was eroding pretty badly, but not quite to the blacktop. Another good storm might have been all it took to start loosing the road.

I called the road people and got the run around, but made sure to get my point across to them. Do it now and it will be fairly inexpensive. Wait for it to get worse, and it will be allot of money and something that you won't be able to put off. Nothing happened on that for awhile, but then I saw some county guys working down the road from my place. I went up to them and found out the guy on the backhoe was in charge. I asked if he was going to take care of the culvert next to my house. He said he didn't know anything about it. So we took a walk over to see it and he saw right away that it would be a quick, easy fix for them to take care of it now, and how much worse it could be if they waited. I walked back with him to the equipment and listened in on his conversation over the radio to his dispatch. They sent out a few dump trucks to fix the problem and he had it taken care of that day.

Sometimes it's just a matter of getting lucky and finding the right person.

Eddie

It is sad that the RIGHT person always seems to be the one doing the actual work and never the one responsible for assigning the work. It is even more sad that the one we must always go to is the one assigning the work.