We had a garden club mtg last night. Our speaker was Paul Yura, the son of one of our members. He's the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for our Central Texas area. His primary job is to be the liaison between the National Weather Service and local media, citizens, county, state, and federal agencies. He conducts storm damage surveys and leads the community outreach program.
His program was "Weather Hazards of South Central Texas." Paul explained the difference in El Nino and La Nina with maps and charts of land and ocean that really helped us all understand. There were records of the droughts and floods for the last 50 years. He pointed out that the Bastrop fires were actually caused by a hurricane in Louisiana! (Well, the storm caused the terrific winds that blew over all the dry brush and eventually caused a tree limb to fall on a power line). He said with all the technology available to them, they still rely on weather balloons as the best way to predict weather. Even the skeptics who thought the program would be same ole/same ole were fascinated by his presentation.
One of the websites he shared that I thought might be of interest to those of you who have rain gauges is:
http://www.cocorahs.org/state....
You can find your county and see the rainfall amounts, how many folks have rain gauges, and how to report rain amounts in your area. Of course, it's also for all the other states too. There's even a video to show you how to get started. Most all of us in the auditorium had rain gauges, but only one person had the recommended one.
I wish I had taken notes, but it was too interesting to miss. I hope to get a copy of the presentation to share.
