Probably a million acres burned by this time, in total, by the various wildfires north of us. Terrible to think of the suffering, both human and animal. It's been very dry up there. I shouldn't say "human and animal" because we are only another species of animal. All suffering is animal suffering. And all behavior is animal behavior.
One of the fires burning about 100 miles north of us has consumed 300,000 acres so far, and is not contained to any degree. Many evacuations. That's grassland. And we have a smoke plume from that fire overhead, since the winds have shifted due to the front. This is not extreme cold and tomorrow morning a few wintery showers are possible, maybe a rain snow mix but no accumulations likely. We could use a little precip. And after that it warms rapidly again. Good riddance to February, although it wasn't all that bad around here.
Lots of wind and dust and major wildfires in the panhandle. Spring has sprung. This is what "SPRING" is like on the high plains of TEXAS. Only the strong survive, and only if they're lucky!
It got pretty warm yesterday but it was not at all uncomfortable. Today it is cloudy in advance of a mild "front" and rather pleasant. This has been a pretty awesome February, with only one instance of rather cold weather that didn't last long. I see all kinds of growth in my garden and it's looking quite good. I've decided to begin watering and everything is responding well.
It will be quite warm, verging on hot, but the air will be dry and there will be wind, so I don't expect to be uncomfortable. I have a feeling that this summer will be incredible and power grids will be collapsing all over. Another crises for ERCOT, the power grid that never seems to be ready. If I thought it would be worth the effort I would try FOIA filings to try to see where the money goes and what actually has been done. I'm pretty sure I'd encounter a stone wall.
