With The Heat Comes The Dried Up Lakes and Rising Utility Bills

Still think it's not global warming?  Check out this picture of a Catfish decaying in a dried up lake in San Angelo Texas, on Monday.  

Things are getting pretty bad.  When my water bill is hovering around $179.00 and my A/C rounding up around $400.00  in one month, we have some serious problems.  Our land is getting scorched at an all time high.  Indices this week will be between 105 - 110 degrees according to CNN, some even as high as 112, like in Killeen, TX.

It's so bad I overheard some people wishing for Hurricanes the other day.  They feel that if a hurricane comes ashore, we can get all the rain that comes with them; that's desperation folks.

Stunning Video of The Dust Storm that Moved Through Phoenix on Wednesday

I can't imagine living back in the early 19th century when dust storms were prevalent.  Imagine waking up one morning, tending to your crops, or farm animals, when, not too far in the distance, you notice a huge brownish-black cloud heading towards you. These weren't just ordinary clouds, they were huge storms of wind, dust, and depending how powerful they were, other elements of nature that were carried with them too.  

Dust storms like the one that occurred in Phoenix, Arizona two days ago, were common in the western days; Especially in the mid-west, down from Texas up to the Dakotas.  While almost everyone calls them sandstorms; here in the states we tend to call them dust storms.  Unbeknownst to you, they still occur in "arid regions throughout the world," known as haboobs.

Courtesy: http://www.mikeolbinski.com/ and http://www.krazywake.com/

These amazing pictures were shot by two photographers - Mike Olbinski and Blaine Coury - in Arizona. These time-lapse videos show a wall of dust moving through the city of Phoenix in Arizona. Sandstorms like this happen during the region's monsoon season, which is underway. They occur over desert land and can reach thousands of feet into the air, spurred by strong winds. The dense cloud dramatically reduced visibility, grounding flights at a major airport and leaving thousands without electricity. p.s. A haboob is a type of intense sandstorm commonly observed in arid regions throughout the world.

Knocking on Death's Door

Talk about amazing footage.   When I saw that car in the picture to the right, I was like - wow, that's fucking scary!  

I would never give up my desk job to be a storm chaser; Besides, I'm going to die anyway according this report - might as well live as long as I can.  This happened in Mississippi the same day the tornado in Alabama destroyed neighborhoods, and came within yards of Alabama's University in Tuscaloosa.

Scary Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tornado Destroys the City

I want to start Thursday's blogging by paying respects to the people in Alabama and nearby states who have just gone through a horrendous ordeal.  I cannot imagine encountering a nearly 1 mile-wide tornado coming towards me.  I received a CNN alert on my iPad 30 minutes ago stating 128 people had been killed with many more unaccounted for by the storms yesterday afternoon.  

If you thought the movie, "Twister" was horrifying - when you see actual footage as  in the videos to the right and below, the movie becomes child's play.

This has got to be one of the most scariest things to ever go through.  At least with Hurricanes we have warning days and sometimes weeks in advance - with tornadoes, the most you have is a few minutes, if any.  The tornado that passed through Tuscaloosa, Alabama yesterday afternoon, literally destroyed parts of the city in minutes.  In the actual footage shot yesterday (below),  you clearly see how powerful this tornado was - it came within yards of the University you see below it.  Imagine how students and parents were feeling watching this live from their dorm rooms and homes.

I ask that you pray with me in helping everyone deal with the horrible disaster in the region.