Spring Weather Outlook

[JackE]

Can anybody link me up to the site where they publish those long term weather predictions for the spring - the US map with above and below normal expectations for rainfall and temperature for each region?

Thanks, Jack

[ireilly]

You might mean this?

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/

[KLorentz]

Hi Jack,

Went to the NOAA site and it looks interesting.Hope these links help.



http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...ay/fxus05.html


http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product.../churchill.php


Kevin

[JackE]

Thanks very much, fellas - exactly what I was looking for. Although La Nina conditions will continue into the spring, it will be gradually weakening and normal precipitation/temp patterns will be returning to East Texas by July. The spring crop may still be in jeopardy, but it looks good for the fall tom plantings for us.

We have been seeing weather that I haven't experienced - even in the big drought of the late fifties (I'm 75). I had to re-prime the irrigation system a couple weeks ago to water winter greens - I've NEVER irrigated anything in Dec, in 60 years of gardening!

I have a four acre, spring-fed lake that I use for irrigation as well as catfish aquaculture. It held-up last summer, but dropped to the point where floating leaves were slowly circling above the pump intake - not a good sign. The earthen dam is 45 yrs-old and still holding, but we have had two hurricanes recently which have severely damaged it and I doubt it will survive another one. We never had hurricane conditions here before - we're 85 miles from the Gulf. This county was always an evacuation destination for Beaumont - all my life - but in Rita WE were under an evacuation order!! Unheard of! Hurricane force winds extended all the way to Lufkin - 150 miles from the Gulf. We went to Dallas, and when we got back our place was devastated - hundreds of trees down, barn and sheds all wiped out, whole backside of dam destroyed etc. Thank the Lord, our house was spared with only some roof damage.

We had more damage from Ike the following year - my neighbors lake upstream washed-out, pouring a 6' head of water over my already damaged dam. I can't believe it survived - not much left, but it's still there.

I told the wife to get ready to spend some serious money because we're gonna have to drill a 4" irrigation well when it goes out. Rebuilding the dam is unthinkable - six figures to meet new state regs (concrete/steel spillway, etc - you can't just pile dirt on the creek bed anymore).

What in the world is going on? We've never seen anything like that up here - we would get 50 or 60 mph from a big storm, but not this! I guess there's something to this Global Warming theory after all.

Jack