We're going to die this winter

Post Reply New Topic

I haven't spent enough time in Britain to call you wrong, but that's a pretty tall order. I lived in Borger in the Panhandle for several years. The symbol for that area is a bent-over tree, and indeed the trees there do grow bent over to the northeast from the constant high winds from the southwest. I remember sitting in my duplex one Saturday night when it began to shake. Completely out of the blue, the winds went from almost nothing to sixty miles an hour, and then died down just as quickly.

I did spend three years sailing around the north Atlantic. It is the roughest body ocean on earth. So, out at sea the winds are similar to the Panhandle. But I recall that when we were ashore in Europe or Britain that the buildings and such tended to calm those winds way down.

Finally, I would add that hurricane winds are stronger than what we are talking about, though generally less than those of a tornado. The difference between a tornado and a hurricane is that hurricane-force winds last for hours along with torrential downpours. When I was living in Houston, just during a tropical storm, which is much milder than a hurricane, we got twenty-five inches of rain in one day. So, the hurricane building code not only anticipates high winds, but flooding.

Were you in League City? I remember a hurricane stalling over League City years ago and dumping about that much rain over 24 hours.

The highest winds I have ever encountered in the Panhandle had gusts up to about 60 to 65 miles per hour. That was pretty ferocious.

A couple of years or so ago, there was a winter storm in Scotland with gusts reported at over 100 mph in places and well into the 60s or 70s in much of the UK.

Were you in League City? I remember a hurricane stalling over League City years ago and dumping about that much rain over 24 hours.

This storm was back in 1988 or 1989, and was just a tropical storm. I was close to League City (Houston near the Webster line) in Clear Lake.

The highest winds I have ever encountered in the Panhandle had gusts up to about 60 to 65 miles per hour. That was pretty ferocious. A couple of years or so ago, there was a winter storm in Scotland with gusts reported at over 100 mph in places.

Actually, those were about the strongest winds I saw in the Panhandle as well. Were those Scottish winds on the coast? The coast has always been a chancy place to live. Again, the thing I remember about the Panhandle was that the trees grew bent from the constant punishment they took from the winds. I haven't seen that much of Britain, but I don't recall seeing anything like that when I was there.

From http://www.examiner.com/article/extreme-weather-force-12-gales-batter-the-united-kingdom-wind-rips-off-roofs:

Eric, I must admit that comes close to being a hurricane, though I'm not sure it's quite that intense. It's one more reason why Joe has little to be worried about. While hurricanes can be far more intense than what is described here, building built to withstand that kind of punishment should be able to deal with hurricanes.

I was living in Friendswood back then. That was back when I rode between 3,000 and 5,000 miles every year on bicycle.

I don't remember how much rain there was, but there was one rain that brought the water up on Clear Creek high enough that I saw it wash one pickup off into the creek from the road near a bridge. I lived near Clear Creek but the water only came up to about a block from my house.

The hurricane I was thinking of was in the late 1970s, I think. I wasn't living there at that time but heard plenty about it from people who did live there. According to people who lived on the same block at the time, the water came up to the corner of my house in that rain, but didn't flood. The next house over did flood.

Do you remember that one hurricane in the late 1980s that was projected to hit Galveston but actually came ashore about fifty miles to the east of Galveston?

That one was really strange. I had everything boarded up. Projections for landfall were about 5 or 6 am in the morning and so I assumed that we would not be open that day at work.

About 9 am someone called me and asked if I was coming to work that day. I was surprised at the question and asked about the hurricane. They said to go look outside so I did. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky and no wind at all.

During the late eighties storm I was living closer to Ellington Field, removed a ways from any large bodies of water. I was supposed to work that day, but it was a rainout, and people who did try to get into the city spent their nights in their vehicles on the freeway.

I also recall the storm of 1979. It flooded a lot of houses.

No, I don't recall that one specifically. But at the time I worked outside as a land surveyor. There were numerous such incidents. But when we got hit, we tended to get clobbered.

In the late 1960s or early 1970s, the remnants of one hurricane passed over the Panhandle and brought some really nice rain. I think that quite a few farmers were rooting for more hurricanes after that.

Now I live near the geographic center of Texas, on the fringes of the Hill Country. I have a small ranch out here and we hope for rain any way we can get it as well. Rain here is definitely an iffy proposition, which makes it a challenge to raise cattle, though not an insurmountable one.

That's a pretty nice area of Texas. I've been through there a number of times.

I kind of like the area over near Gorman, Texas. I like Hamilton, too. I guess both of these are probably a ways to the east or northeast from you.

Yes, I like it. It's not as nice as the Hill Country proper, but it's also not built up at all, though the land is starting to get very expensive.

Those places are to my north. That's a pretty area too. In fact, I think US 84 between Brownwood and McGregor is one of the prettiest drives in Texas.

Build like the Icelanders do. Windiest inhabited place on earth. Winter gales regularly have 100 MPH gusts. Its a normal thing. Don't even bother to call it a hurricane. Just park into the wind so your doors don't get ripped off and hold onto small people.

I've been on most of that road except the last part to McGregor.

It has been years since I've driven down it, but I remember the road from Hico to Hamilton is quite nice. I liked the one from Hamilton to Cranfills Gap and from there across to Clifton, too.

I always liked Highway 6 from Valley Mills to Eastland. I've driven that many times over the years. From Valley Mills through Waco and further south, there is always too much traffic to enjoy it much.

I've been on most of that road except the last part to McGregor.

It has been years since I've driven down it, but I remember the road from Hico to Hamilton is quite nice. I liked the one from Hamilton to Cranfills Gap and from there across to Clifton, too.

I always liked Highway 6 from Valley Mills to Eastland. I've driven that many times over the years. From Valley Mills through Waco and further south, there is always too much traffic to enjoy it much.

Actually, I was just thinking about that. The stretch between Brownwood and Gatesville is the prettiest, though the Balcones Faultline is just east of Gatesville and is interesting. East of Gatesville is where the buildup begins, and goes all the way to Waco.

I'm not familiar enough with the others to comment. I live way to the south of there, closer to Austin.