Note from the Diarist:
Tonight's Top Comments was originally supposed to be about disgusting misogynist and worst person in the world Republican Texas State Senator Dan Patrick and his race against Democratic State Senator Leticia Van de Putte. Unfortunately, Life happened and got in the way, thus my late afternoon writing time was unavailable to finish that piece. Instead, that piece will post at Kitchen Table Kibitzing on Wednesday, October 8th at 7pm Central time. My apologies if you came her for that tonight. It was beyond my control.
This is what it was like Saturday morning after the weather change. Proved to be the best day of the entire year so far, weather-wise.Clearly, it didn't stay this way.
Y'alls, we got a fantastic weather change overnight last Thursday that brought us much needed respite from the ongoing heat and humidity of summer. Now, we have gotten a ton of rain lately, so much so that my dead back yard is almost completely green. This is a major relief on Central Texas because, like much of the country, we have faced a serious drought for several years. We aren't out of the woods yet by any means, but with a series of storms that have dumped prodigious amounts (the last was 6.41" in under three hours) we have made significant progress.
On Thursday during the day the temperature hovered around 96 with a heat index of 104. That heat index was a result of 88% humidity and it was nasty. We knew a cold front was coming in overnight and everyone was prepared for violent weather. The warnings came all day long, but in the end what MOST of the area got was no rain, no wind, no hail and a whoe lot of light show. Areas north did get violent weather, with large hail and 60mph winds, but nothing like what they got in Dallas where these storms left upwards of 115,000 people without power by Friday morning.
Earlier in the evening my son and I took our nightly walk around the neighborhood, playing wizards with the wooden wands I fire-crafted for him this summer while in Maine. He noticed the incredible lightning in the clouds and I warned him we may get some loud thunder overnight. Last time that happened it woke him up and he wanted to watch, far from being scared. He's a brave 6 year old.
Around 10:30 I took a break from dealing with the bozos who hijacked my Link Test diary earlier in the evening and stepped out to check if it was cooling off. This is what I saw.
Friday was amazing. Saturday was better. So fine, in fact, we were out hiking all day and didn't want to return. It was, by far, the finest day of the entire year so far in terms of weather. Here's a pic of Lake Austin (the Colorado River) looking North from the top of Mt. Bonnell, the highest point in Austin proper. Notice the houses along the water? Yeah, that's not my neighborhood.
Here is a shot looking South:
And her's a very interesting zoom snap of downtown Austin from the top of the "mountain". I notice what appear to be UFO's.
See the UFO's?
But of course the is Texas and that means the weather change was short lived. I noticed upon waking up, the fan having been turned off because of the cooler temps, a thin film of sweat across my brow.
Here is to more Fall, more often, starting as soon as possible.
OK, on to Top Comment! See you after the fireworks...
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TOP PHOTOS
October 4, 2014
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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