Sunday, June 12, 2011

Cracking Up In Amarillo -- A My Town Monday Post

A desert is defined as an area that receives less than 10 inches of rain a year.

Here it is June 12, nearly half way into the year and Amarillo has received exactly .68 inches of moisture since January 1st. At this rate we'll have an entire inch and half of moisture before baby new year next arrives.

Just this afternoon my boys and I rode bikes to the nearest city park, where I snapped this picture.


I'm not sure how often the city is watering these days but I water every other day and still this is a crack from my own lawn. The clothespin is there to give perspective to the width and length of the crack.


Luckily not all of my yard looks this way, but this patch is on a slanted south side of my yard. Not only does it bear the brunt of a full days sun without shade but the ground is so hard at this point the water tends to run off rather than soak in.

Along with no rain. we have had high temps with many days above 100 already this year and summer isn't even officially here.



We've had even higher wind speeds than normal which have fueled dozens of wildfires leading to 2.8 million acres burnt statewide and more than fifty homes in the Texas Panhandle alone.

Cattle prices are starting to drop because ranchers are selling their herds due to a lack of grazeable ranch land.

It's been a hot brutal year here in Amarillo while other parts of our country have dealt with floods and deadly tornadoes. Not sure who pissed off mother nature but somebody buy that gal a sic pack of wine coolers and tell her to chill.

For more My Town Monday posts visit the official MTM site or check out these links.

Jim Winter -- The return of Giant Jesus in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Debra Bures cleans out a room and discovers the past in Village of Peninsula, Ohio

Barrie Summy stops to smell the roses following a school visit in San Diego, CA

6 comments:

DrillerAA09 said...

We started the year with 24" of snow! Then came what seemed like 24" of rain and now summer has set in as 90 degree temps are the norm and 100's won't be far behind.

Old Kitty said...

Forget the six pack - champagne and chocolates and something pink and frilly might do the trick!

Take care x

Leah J. Utas said...

Travis, that sounds just brutal. I know the human body adjusts, but how do you manage in that heat?

Charles Gramlich said...

We could see when we went through Texas into Arizona and New Mexico how horribly dry it was out there. we were very dry early in the year but are finally getting some rain. I hope it comes your way soon.

Barrie said...

Dry out this way too. BTW, my post is up:http://barriesummy.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-town-monday-stopping-to-smell-roses.html

Texanne said...

Why is it that economic depressions go hand-in-hand with drought? Maynard Keynes, you've got some 'splainin' to do!