Today’s Forecast
Good morning and happy Wednesday! I hope everyone has had a great week so far! As the rain begins to move out, there is the chance for some lingering showers throughout today, otherwise, it’ll be partly cloudy. The warm trend continues with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the lower 50s. Enjoy the dry weather tomorrow, because the rain comes back Friday and Saturday.
Recent Wild Weather
This week as we look at recent wild weather it would be impossible to ignore the wildfires that are burning in the Texas Panhandle. These cluster of wildfires quickly made history as the largest string of wildfires in modern U.S. history for the lower 48. The amount of land damage is shocking as these fires have burned over 1 million acres, and are still only 15% contained as of Tuesday. These fires broke out last week with the main source still said to be unknown. There is some speculation that it was caused by a downed power pole, and due to the recent unseasonably dry weather and high winds, began spreading very rapidly. As of yesterday morning, the largest of the blazes, the Smokehouse Creek fire, had destroyed hundreds of buildings, killed hundreds of cattle, evacuated entire towns, and burned an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. It had also claimed the lives of two people, one of those being Fritch Volunteer Fire Chief Zeb Smith. It was reported that Smith suffered a medical emergency and died while fighting a fire on Tuesday. Other deaths are also being said to have been connected to the wildfires, but there are still only two official confirmations. The fire fighters caught a small break on Monday as the winds calmed a bit, and they were able to start making some progress on the containment of these fires. If the drought-like conditions continue it could make the progress slow down again, but there some chances for rain later this week. Let’s hope that the forecast holds and that the rain makes its way into the Texas Panhandle sooner rather than later.
Wild Weather this Day in History
A look back at wild weather this day in history gives us a match on, not only the exact date, but also the exact day of the week. It was truly a wild weather Wednesday both then and now. The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 was one of the most destructive storms ever to strike the mid-Atlantic states. It claimed the lives of 40 people and injured a thousand more. This Nor’easter, as classified by the Dolan-Davis scale, was one of the ten worst storms in the United States in the 20th century. It caused over 200 million dollars in property damage spanning across 6 states, starting at North Carolina and stretching all the way to Long Island, New York. It was estimated to have destroyed or significantly damaged 45,000 homes in New Jersey alone. The Ash Wednesday storm is noteworthy for producing devastating tidal flooding along the Atlantic Coast and record snowfalls. This storm produced more damage than any hurricane on record along the Atlantic Coast region, producing anywhere from 20 ft to 40 ft waves. Beach erosion was a major part of the property damage as these massive waves crashed on shore, causing beach homes to sink into the ocean. This holy day of prayer that holds great significance for the Christian religion would go down in history as also being one of the most destructive days in weather history.
I hope everyone has an amazing rest of the week and enjoys the nice weather before we’re back to rain!
Sources: https://www.amarillo.com/story/news/fire/2024/03/04/texas-panhandle-wildfire-live-updates-map-monday/72837212007/ https://www.amarillo.com/picture-gallery/news/state/2024/02/28/texas-wildfires-2024-photos-fritch-canadian/72782041007/ https://www.nps.gov/articles/ash-wednesday-storm-of-1962.htm https://coastalreview.org/2012/03/remembering-the-ash-wednesday-storm/