Dangerous Day for the Southern Plains

[David Drummond]

LBB issued this for the day. I am contemplating going out to shoot the brownout that is going to happen:

FIRE WEATHER
THE COMBINATION OF EXTREMELY WINDY CONDITIONS...VERY LOW
HUMIDITIES...AND AN EXTREMELY CRITICAL FIRE DANGER ACROSS THE REGION
WILL LEAD TO THE POTENTIAL FOR EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH. FIRE WEATHER
CONDITIONS ARE PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS ACROSS WEST TEXAS TODAY. A RED
FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON UNTIL 6 PM CST.

TEXAS AUTHORITIES REMIND AREA RESIDENTS AND LOCAL OFFICIALS THAT IF
A WILDFIRE ESCAPES AN INITIAL ATTACK...RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO
EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY FOR A SAFE ZONE. LAW ENFORCEMENT HAS THE
AUTHORITY TO DEMAND MANDATORY EVACUATIONS WITHIN TEXAS.

NON PRECIPITATION
A POTENT STORM SYSTEM MOVING OUT OF THE ROCKIES ACROSS WEST TEXAS
WILL PRODUCE VERY STRONG WINDS ACROSS THE REGION TODAY. VERY WINDY
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE AND CONTINUE
THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS WILL REACH 35 TO 45 MPH
WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS APPROACHING 60 MPH. BLOWING DUST MAY ALSO
LOCALLY REDUCE VISIBILITIES...MAINLY ON THE CAPROCK. A HIGH WIND
WARNING IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM CST.

That is some pretty strong wording! :shock:

 

[Tim Vasquez]

People will probably be shooting off leftover fireworks from last night, too. Sounds like Texas ought to start deputizing people and throw the book at Firework Boy and Cigarette Butt Driver.

Tim

 

[David Drummond]

I got woke up last night several times from all the firework shooting going on, so all the idiots aren't taking things seriously. Luckily, there was very little wind last night. Maybe the wind will be bad enough today it will keep most people inside like it usually does. I notice it's clearing here from west to east now....winds won't be far off.

 

[David Drummond]

Well the winds are ramped up now! Just looking at sites across the West Texas Mesonet http://www.mesonet.ttu.edu/tech/1-output/current.html

Amherst was the highest I could find at 10:35 am CST with 44.3 mph current winds with the highest gust so far of 57.6 mph!! RHs around 19-20%

Oklahomans, get ready for some west texas dust!

 

[Jay McCoy]

I was out most of the night working a few wrecks but mostly helping Potter county. They requested help from AES to shut some roads down due to lack of visiblity from smoke. We had a pretty good size fire NW of Amarillo into some pretty rugged ranchland with trees and shrubs also involved. We had units from multiple depts working this one with at least 20 units. I was onscene for 3 hrs befroe the wind switched and the smoke no longer was crossing the road so I got to leave but the firemen were there all night and may still be there now. Winds have really ramped up and anything that gets going will quickly get out of control.

And yes I heard and saw fireworks most of the night. Maybe if it was their house that burned down they would learn a lesson.

As for DWI's... I worked 4 wrecks last night. A few were big but nobody died so we were lucky. Finally got home about 530 this morning.

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

Well the high level clouds have cleared out of my area (Parker Co. TX) and have full sunshine now with the exception that sky for some reason or another is not blue, hell its not even white. And theres a definite smell of smoke in the air. In fact if you look up in the sky toward the NW where the suns glare is least, you can actually see the smoke traversing across the area. About an hour ago my dad came in from the hangar and said that theres a fire nearby b/c it got really hazy and smoky for a brief moment. And winds are definately strong. Lets just hope we dont repeat last Tuesday.

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

BREAKING NEWS: MASSIVE WILDFIRE IN MINERAL WELLS AND IN EASTLAND CO. Go to http://www.nbc5i.com for details

I have some sky pics i will upload later

EDIT: CNN HAS LIVE COVERAGE

 

[David Drummond]

Quite a few fires around the Lubbock area. Most notable I could find was in Hockley County. I went out there to shoot some video but they had mostly knocked it down. Saw at least 5 different area fire departments out there and talking with them it apparently destroyed two unoccupied mobile homes dozens of cotton modules sitting ready to go to gin and an unestimated number of acres of grassland.

The is apparently another fairly large fire between Plains, TX and Tatum, NM that is bad enough to shut the road down. Winds are letting up and it's starting to get dark now and I feel like a nasty dirtball so I called it a day.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

CNN now. Man what brief look I've seen of this is lokos bad in OKC.

 

[mikegeukes]

Look at these obs from NM and TX from 9pm EST, 8pm CST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
ARTESIA N/A 59 -27 2 W12 29.85R
SWEETWATER FAIR 63 -9 5 W8 29.73R

Mike