Stay Safe, Texas Members

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Wildfires have destroyed 25,000 acres and at least 500 homes in Bastrop, just southeast of Austin, as well as 1,600 acres and at least 24 homes in Montgomery County, northeast of Houston. Many thousands have been evacuated and thousands more may have to in the coming week(s) while rescue workers try to at least contain the fires. These are in addition to at least 60 other wildfires raging across the state. Stay safe, and if you're in the line of fire GET THE FUCK OUT ASAP!!

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Wow, yes please be safe. This is just after the major down pours in the Alabama area.

[Randal Johnson 544]

May the Force be With you Guys !!!

Yes ... Major down pour here in Mississippi too ...

[jonbearsmt 919]

me and my uncle have property in bastrop.spent 2 days playing fire marshe; bill its like hell on earth out there.. high winds.. no rain in months. and its dense woods.. lord help us

[Shogen 325]

all be safe... be careful out there...

[Ohjay 116]

I hope everyone is ok. I built the Dollar General store on old Old Austin Highway in Bastrop a few years ago.

[nem 2,019]

Stay safe Texas members and if I could I would send this rain your way.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Officials are now reporting that 100,000 acres and 1,000 homes have been destroyed in the past week alone; 3.5 million acres in total since December. Unfortunately 2 bodies have also been discovered in the Bastrop fire

[coobies5 43]

it's getting crazy out here, we had a small wildfire in my town on our major hwy towards houston and what would have taken 15 minutes ended up taking 2 hours.

i heard on the radio this morning that there has been 1.6 Million acres destroyed by wildfires here in texas as of recent.

[inkfx 3]

The Northside of San Antonio had a pretty bad fire they other day. The smoke was in the skies for hours. They had helicopters and every available truck hitting the area. No bueno.

[Green4Gold 0]

I would send ya some rain from Wichita Falls but we havnt realy had any since october we have been fairly lucky sofar 2 big fires east of us in Electra & one here in town got a few homes other than that i guess our firefighters have been running down ta PK

[vic713 1]

Woke up today to smoke and the smell of ashes... and I live far from the fires.

[azagtoth502 31]

It looks like (they say at least) the fire will miss my sisters house (she's in magnolia). But this shit ain't over yet.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Peng, that is a crazy picture. Crazy thing is now we are getting hammered with flood levels of rain.

[onebadmonte 235]

My prayers and condolences go out to those affected by the fires. The air here is thick with haze and the smell of burnt grass. Bits of ash are floating around. It's surreal. If there are any forum members in need of help, don't hesitate to post or send a PM. God speed.

[azagtoth502 31]

Towards Waller

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

This year's scorching Texas summer heat, in a dubious honor, broke a national record once held by Oklahoma that had stood since the Dust Bowl changed the face of the country in the 1930s.

On Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed what Texas climatologists and residents already suspected: The Texas months of June through August were the hottest three months ever recorded in the history of the United States.

The record was formerly held by Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl of 1934, said state climatologist John Nielson-Gammon, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University.

The average 24-hour statewide temperature during that time, including overnight lows and blistering daytime highs, was 86.8 degrees, he said.

That is more than a degree hotter than the 77-year record of 85.2 degrees. Oklahoma broke its own records this year, but held its average to two-tenths of a degree cooler than Texas, Nielson-Gammon said.

Texas is not generally known as one of America's hottest states. There are several areas in the country which routinely record hotter daily temperatures than Texas, such as southern Arizona and southeastern California. But those states also have higher elevations that bring down the statewide average.

Not so with Texas.

"It has been scary hot from one end of Texas to the other," Nielson-Gammon said, adding that Texas has been so hot essentially because it has been so dry.

"The dryer it is, the hotter the ground gets during the summer, and it becomes a cycle that feeds on itself," he said. "It gets dryer, and it gets hotter."

The 12 months ending on August 31 were the driest 12 months in Texas history, with most of the state receiving just 21 percent of its annual average rainfall.

The drought itself, which started for most of the state last September following Tropical Storm Hermine, is now the second worst in the state's history behind a drought in the mid 1950s that lasted for several years.

"This historic drought has depleted water resources, leaving our state's farmers and ranchers in a state of dire need. The damage to our economy is already measured in billions of dollars and continues to mount," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said.

Figures released last month put the losses to the state's farming and ranching industry at $5.2 billion, and even if plentiful rains begin falling now, that figure would still balloon to $8 billion.

But plentiful rain was not expected in Texas, which is suffering through a destructive and deadly flurry of drought-fueled wildfires.

"The forecast is for bright, sunny, clear, nice weather," Nielson-Gammon said. "Unfortunately."

[coobies5 43]

http://photoblog.statesman.com/dry-season-the-texas-drought-of-2011

[jonbearsmt 919]

http://photoblog.statesman.com/dry-season-the-texas-drought-of-2011

wow.. great read.. every bit of it is true.. i have seen ALOT of it for myself. its sad.. straight up.