Wichita Bluff Hoodoos Survive Softball Size Hail

This Sunday before the 2020 version of Memorial Day I opted out of attending a church service in one of the few churches in Wichita Falls open for regular business, and instead joined the morning throngs communing with nature in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area zone.

Yesterday, via Facebook, I saw a photo of a gigantic chunk of hail the size of a small watermelon which allegedly crashed into a home in the town of Burkburnett, a town due south of the Oklahoma border, about 15 miles north of Wichita Falls.

I heard nothing else about hail cannon balls in the neighborhood, til this morning whilst checking on the online version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's front page and saw this...

The storm happened Friday night, well into Saturday morning. I heard no hail hitting my Wichita Falls location. I am guessing by "near Wichita Falls" the Star-Telegram must be referring to the aforementioned Burkburnett.

When I last saw the Wichita Bluff Nature Area's Hoodoo installation the installation was totally discombobulated, as in something or someone had totally obliterated the stand of Hoodoos.

I think that was Friday morning, before the thunderstorm which produced giant hail. So, I really do not think Mother Nature can be blamed for the Hoodoo leveling. I suspect it was an act of human destruction which discombobulated the Hoodoos.

And now this morning, 24 hours, or longer, after giant hail pummeled some locations, the Wichita Bluff Nature Area Hoodoo installation has once again risen, this time with more Hoodoos than ever previously counted, as in I almost had to use all my fingers to count all the Hoodoos.

So, that has been my Memorial Day Weekend, so far...

Walking Around Fosdic Lake Lookng For Ping Pong Ball Sized Hail

A Mom, A Stroller & A Little Girl

As I drove towards Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake I heard on the radio that lightning was striking Weatherford, along with ping pong ball sized hail.

I'd not heard ping pong balls used as a hail size descriptor before. Usually that size hail is described as golf ball sized. Or so I thought.

The weather report that reported the ping pong ball sized hail in Weatherford said that particular storm should be entering the western edge of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex within an hour.

It is now about an hour later and I have heard no thunderclaps or seen any ping pong ball sized hail bouncing off the ground.

I did get hit with a few random raindrops whilst walking around Fosdic Lake.

An unusually large number of people were out and about in Oakland Lake Park today. Enjoying the cooler temperature? I have no idea.

The little girl who escaped her stroller, that you see in the picture, was very cute.

Up Early After A Texas Thunderstorm & Pete Delkus Ruin My Tuesday Night TV Viewing

The sun has now lit up the dark view you are looking at from my patio perch view on the world.

Tuesday night was an annoying one in Durango World.

A little before 7, last night, I popped myself some popcorn, in preparation for eventually watching American Idol, watching something else that had been recorded, til the DVR had recorded enough of American Idol so I could fast forward through the many boring parts.

At a little before 7 the predicted damaging thunderstorm had not arrived in my zone. But, at a little before 7 the power went out.

No TV.

So, I sat outside, eating popcorn, enjoying the breeze and listening to very distant thunder. About a half hour later the storm arrived. Bursts of hail were very noisy. I got a call from Miss Puerto Rico telling me she was in her office safe zone with her cat, because she'd heard tornado sirens. I'd not heard them.

Sometime near the end of American Idol the power came back on. I've no idea what time that was.

I tried to watch the Dancing with the Stars results show. But, it was not possible to watch because it is on ABC. Which locally means, when there is a weather event, this weather obsessed annoyance named Pete Delkus ruins whatever TV show you are trying to watch. Even if it is one of the top-rated  shows on TV.

Yes, I know, the weather in these parts can be deadly.

But.

What use was Pete Delkus to me, weather information-wise, when the power went out?

I have said it more than once, if you are at home watching TV you are likely aware of storm potential. If a storm gets bad you have many options for information. You don't need Pete Delkus being a Drama Queen because the Doppler Radar spotted a rotating cell somewhere.

I gave up thinking I was going to be able to watch Dancing with the Stars, no longer able to take the overly earnest Pete Delkus I turned off the TV, voluntarily cutting myself off from any TV generated dire weather warnings.

When I read the news, online, this morning, I was expecting to read about some bad local weather damage. It was not all that bad. A lot of people lost power. Some windshields were knocked out by hail. There was a report or two of tornado sightings. The Rangers had to stop playing baseball.

That's about it.

The headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this morning, indicated last night's was a very major weather event, with the headline saying, "Biggest storm system in years hits Dallas-Fort Worth."

Biggest storm in years. That sounds pretty big.

Then in the second or third paragraph, in the biggest storm in years story, I read the following...

"This is one of the biggest storm systems to hit the area since 2007," said Mark Fox, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

So, the headline should have been "Biggest storm system since 2007 hits Dallas-Fort Worth."

That sounds way less dire.

ABC really needs to have a talk with its D/FW affiliate about how weather events are covered. And maybe consider getting Pete Delkus into some sort of therapy.

A Wednesday Texas Morning Recovering From Getting Hit By Hail

The early morning view looking through the bars of my patio prison cell might make you think this is a blue sky morning in Texas.

It is not. Stormy weather is heading our way.

Yesterday, a short time before 6pm, I was walking over to Miss Puerto Rico's when I heard popping noises. I could not tell what was popping. Thunder was rumbling in the distance.

I was a couple minutes into enjoying the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony when suddenly what was causing the popping noise became obvious.

Hail.

Big balls of hail. Along with a downpour of rain. Soon what I assumed to be tornado sirens began screaming.

The storm did not last long. I did not learn until this morning that while I was getting pounded by hail, over in Arlington, on I-20, more than 50 vehicles collided in a chain reaction that closed the westbound lanes of the freeway for around 3 hours.

I don't know if rain fell in the Possum Kingdom zone to help put out the wildfires that continue to consume expensive homes. Firefighters from California, Arizona and Wyoming are helping put out the Possum Kingdom blazes.

Fort Worth is the nearest big city to Possum Kingdom. Fort Worth was not sending any fire fighting help to Possum Kingdom.

Until Tuesday, when the Fort Worth city council gave approval to send firefighters to Possum Kingdom.

Below is a really short video I took while the hail was hailing down yesterday. The video is really short because I started getting really wet and needed to get under cover....

Texas Tornado Hail Storm Video

On April 17, 2008 we had ourselves a fairly hellacious storm here in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of Texas. This was the storm I whined about because it sent the local TV weather guys into non-stop all night long yammering. So, I didn't get to watch Survivor. The storm that had the weather guys in such a dither did not produce a tornado. Six days later another bad storm came along, once more during TV prime time. But this time the local TV did not go into Weather Drama Queen Mode. Yet that storm did produce a tornado which destroyed 4 homes in Crowley. Crowley is a suburb south of Fort Worth.

Back to the April 17 storm. There are these guys who are Tornado Chasers. They have a website called Tornadovideos.net. These guys were in their Storm Chase Vehicle near Weatherford, in the heart of the storm.

Watch the Tornado Chaser's video below and you will see just how hellacious these Texas storms are. At the start the Tornado Chasers are driving through the hail. Eventually they have to stop. The guys get out of their Storm Chase Vehicle and one gets whacked on the head by incoming hail. The hail keeps getting bigger and bigger til it's baseball size. The giant hail cracks their windshield. By the time the hail stops falling the ground is thickly covered with big hail balls that make it look like there has been a big snowfall.