Winter weather

It is January.  We have not had harsh winter weather yet, but we can certainly expect it could happen.  However, during the time I have lived in West Texas, some years we have harsh winter weather, and sometimes, not so much.  2021 was unusual, especially southeast of us, in a part of Texas that is totally unprepared for harsh winter weather, where it occurred and made, I think, international news.   We shall see what 2022 brings.

New Year's Day dawned "mild" with temperatures in the 50s, but by late morning, midday, the temperature dropped quickly.  By 3 PM it was sprinkling, raining, sleeting, and even snowing.  There was not a deep or heavy layer of snow, or more realistically, a layer of snow and ice, but it remained on the ground the 2nd and even today, the 3rd, of January, although the temperatures were above freezing both days.

We need the moisture.  In the urban areas of West Texas, construction parking lots, streets and roads cover the ground and are impermeable to the moisture in the environment. But our lawns, alleys and parks are open to receiving the snow and ice, as are the farm fields and scrub lands in the surrounding areas.  The good thing about this is that as the snow and ice melts, it melts into the ground, instead of running off into the streets and the flood recovery system. 

Water from the surrounding area drains into the Yellowhouse Canyon Draw, which drains into the Blackwater Draw, into the Yellowhouse Canyon, and then to the North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. It is not too complicated, but some of the water is processed through the Lubbock water disposal system, before it proceeds downstream. While not an ideal water reclamation system, it does help. And maybe, as we learn more about reclamation and technology, the system can be improved.