This Sunday Was Repeat Of Last Sunday

Right down to another crane incident to wind damage and three tornadoes confirmed in the Metroplex, Oncor was back in the "restoring power to 30,000 customers business". One thing that I have noticed this year is that weather seems to be in a cycle of short waves right down to the day each week. There was also flooding and some of that flooding blocked removal of the down trees from last week. The good side of this if there can be a good side, is that the flooding wasn't as bad as last week and the damage was not good, but it was not as concentrated as last weeks, either.

The down is from the storm last Sunday. The water is from the storms of this Sunday.

The new Ranger Baseball Stadium, the one with the open/close roof, is in place as far as the main steel work structure for that movable roof. Two miles to the right of this image there was a tornado that hit Arlington yesterday, Sunday. 

 

This wild turkey, who seemed pretty domesticated for a wild turkey,  came out of a wooded area along a roadway. As I passed I could not believe what I was seeing so I turned around and came back. He was even more close to the roadway now than when I first had seen him. I love to find these off-the-wall things like this. I see a lot of stuff like this.

Something Missing With Flood Flow in Lake

Yes, the weather has been pretty crappy this spring. Weekend after weekend was a washout. Then, we got a break only to have the rains come back every Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Fridays. This is the fourth flooding at the lake this year. True, the past two has not been as bad as the first and that is the focus of this post. That hasn't stopped the big trees falling as the soaked soils will no longer hold the shallow roots and the massive trees topple. I saw one today by the Stone Tables that Parks  had cut as it lay on the ground. Crews will get the rest.

The one place to go if when flash flood warnings are issued, if you want to see a creek as wide as a river and currents as strong as any flooded river current flowing downstream, is under the Mockingbird Bridge. The plastic bottles, soccer balls, and big Tide laundry bottles (empty,of course) flow into White Rock Lake with these flash floods from bank to bank and the currents take it across the lake from east to west. The tide and egg cartons come down from the northern communities was trash containers are blown over in the alleys and the runoff carries it out into the storm drains that flow into White Rock Creek and its branches.

However, the past two floods were eeriely absent of debrit flow. Did the first two floods wash it all downstream? Did people start clearning up after themselves? Did people stop drinking water in plastic bottles?  The only big displays I see of water anymore are on TV when the Red Cross Disaster Relief is passing out water. Even worse, did some big limestone cravasse open up a mammoth cave somewhere upstream and it's now flowing into that. Maybe. Something happened to it because even today, the water was level with the banks of the lake but I only saw one styro foam cup. I did see two big chunks of a good size tree but outside of that, it was a clean flow into the lake.

Beautiful Lavender

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day, remember, if you see people wearing roses pinned to themselves, the red ones mean that their moms are living. If they wear white, then they have passed. And the images will be for the moms.

We wish all the mom's a Happy Mother's Day.

Look  how trim Mr. Squirrel is! He's been working out and not sitting in some tree getting all wet!

Beautiful Colors From All That Rain

Inside Yesterday--Had To Get Out Today

The rain and gray clouds and cold were closing in inch by inch by inch. By noon time, it was out the door with the bumper shoot  in one hand and the camera bag and tote in the other. Just at Love Field, already, we have picked up an inch and a half of rain. The snow went north to soon.So, to be positive about the matter, we got liquid snow instead.

For a bit, I had the wipers on intermittent. The drizzle was just enough to have them on. When I got to the lake, it was clear that the water levels were even higher than they had been with the most recent flooding on the parking lots and roadway. The dock at one of the boat club marinas had been smashed and rearranged by logs floating down stream and striking the under carriage, raising sections out of the water. So with that siting, it was a full sweep of the lake to see what else might be amiss, all- the- while looking for the pairs of hawks that are getting ready to nest. Not one hawk did I see. Not one. This is the second day and it somewhat worries me. The weather can cause hawks to go elsewhere.

What I did discover was that the pelican's island was totally under water for the second time in less than two weeks and what was worse was the the logs that they like to nap upon and preen their feathers were totally gone. None!! Even the ones out father into the bay area were missing. I also noted that the number of pelicans were  much less than what normally hangs out there. There were only a dozen more on the lake drifting and none down by the dam when I was there. It was on the way home when I made a sweep over the  top of Flag Pole Hill and down to Goforth along White Rock Creek when I discovered about thirty pelicans on the creek bank between Northwest Highway and the cross road that runs east and west behind Flag Pole Hill. There were even many more Great White Egrets and a few more Great Blue Herons that I have never seen all together hanging out like today.

It will be interesting to see how the return goes when the lake levels drop a bit and the creeks flood stage currents lower and slow down . Will the group of pelicans stay there or return to  Sunset Bay? The Park Superintendent told me about a month ago in his office that he can't put logs back into the water. Environmental control factors, nor can he take them out unless they wash ashore like the ones did along the lake shore and the marina docks. I fully understand that process. And there is a lot of loss limbs and branches  on the ground where the disease and rot weakened the branches to where finally, the rain soaked wood's weight pulled them down. Big ones. There is a good semi load of wood on the ground now just along East Lawther from trees down and branches down. So the hope to have nature replace the logs for the pelican and cormorants has greatly diminished after the scouting mission today. 

At least the temperatures will be normal and even well above above average for the next ten days or so. I noted a 70 degree day just a few more days down the pike. Tomorrow will be seasonal but the mitigating factor to all of this is sunshine!! Sun, Glorious Sun!!.  Annie, yes, "the sun will come out tomorrow"!

See the log on the left. It runs to the right middle of the undercarriage. That's what lifted the dock up.

Slightly blurred. I'm not a memeber of the 600mm club.

The Sailing Club Has been Around and Around again. It's the anchor of the Marina.

Water,Water,Every Where

One might be hard pressed to find a canoe for sale. Just kidding, of course, but the 11th straight day of some measurable rain has fallen and the sun is almost just a faint memory. Tomorrow, the sun was to be out all day. That has now changed and we might see the sun  briefly Sunday and Monday, but come Tuesday, new ten day forecast advertises rain again.

The National Weather Service publishes for the landmark airports in the Metroplex, rain totals for the official gauge at DFW International. It also list Love Field, which is up stream from me. The total rain gauge amounts reported each 6-hour period since February 20th thru 11:53 A.M. today (24th) is officially 8.36 inches. Needless-to-say, we are OUT of the drought conditions that had returned from a year ago.

Yesterday, was my first day out in nearly a week. Cabin fever was pretty bad. With errands building up, it was time to get out for a bit. Knowing that I could get down Garland Road to the dam at the lake without hitting any areas that traditionally flood; looking at my list of errands was enough to set out for gas and the grocery store and stay dry. The bank and the pharmacy can wait until Monday and that is not carved in stone for need purpose.

Here are some of the images of the spillway flow.

From the upper spillway below the dam looking downstream to the tidal pool and the second spillway that turns left. There are two flows on either side of the island that forms the tidal pool. The flow that you see here is of the left flow right at the second spillways beginning.

The USGS official water level that is automated and located here as part of the reporting of the flow rate in the Trinity River Watershed on their website. There is another gauge that picks up where this one tops out. It is mounted on the side of the spillway. Both are satellite transmittable.

This is below the spillway that flows below the dam looking back up toward the dam and  into the tidal pool. It then is turning a sharp left into the lower spillway before discharging directly back into White Rock Creek, that flows into the Trinity, a few miles farther south of here.

This is the second spillway (the lower one) that steps down into White Rock Creek again. You can see the water forming downward and upward patterns that are a result of the steps under the water. This is about 20 feet deep where the white caps are forming. Also, keeping in mind that any water that is running off between the Red River and here is flowing into the Trinity through these creeks into the lake. So, the levels today are certainly higher than what you see here from yesterday. In fact, until today, I have never seen on my Yahoo home page a solid block in red that said, FLOOD WARNING. TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION until today. 

In spite of all this, there are trees that have open buds and I have seen one white flowering tree in full bloom already. I'll do an additional post with an image of rain drops on a tree with open buds that I shot on the walk up to the observation deck above the dam. I also found a dangerous "Widow Maker" and reported it to the Park Maintenance Office.Any wind could snap the rotten wood from the top of the "Y" that caught the branch and cause it to fall onto the trail. The size and the weight of the branch would be enough to cause a death if it fell directly on someone. The park guys are great about removing things like that. Last fall, I reported on in the parking lot above where the Kayak Rental is located and they removed it with an hour. The city doesn't want any law suits but these guys also know that most people walk around and never look above their heads at what might be a future Widow Maker. 

No Rain Today!

Cathay Pacific's 747 rescheduled to San Francisco now, then on the Anchorage.

The weathermen have been all over the fact that it rained 24 of the last 31 days. So that is how we got the Trinity River to 42 feet when flood stage is 30 feet. Or: so that is how we got the lakes full  when they have been negative 24 feet or negative 18 feet and so on and so on! The old adage has always been, "it takes a flood to get out of a drought".  At any rate, it was just nice to be out in the sunshine and have the humidity below 40 percent, well, at least 53 percent.

Looking back and forward:

The Mighty Trinity River. 2000 feet of water from bank to bank. So much for the new Toll Road the politicians are trying to shove down the voters throats.

The new Sylvan Avenue Bridge will not open to Trammel Crow Park until the water goes down from the exit ramp!