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The Texas Side Of Things

published: June 11th 2010
by: Jim Banner

June is here and what a month it has started out to be!  It seems as though graduations and weddings have dominated my social calendar so far this month but that’s alright because they are all very special occasions. Graduating this year was Shelbi Sturgess, Loren & Michael’s daughter;  Deidra McCutchen, Dana and Daren’s daughter and  one of my best friends Glen Hughes’ son Caleb, who graduated from Brenham High School.  And finally this past weekend I attended my nieces wedding and let me tell you it was a beautiful and fun event and may God bless Cassie and her husband Clinton with a long and memorable life together.  
    June is also the beginning of summer, a time when producers work long hours in the fields and pastures trying to complete the many necessary things on their list before fall & winter arrives.  But possibly the most important of these summertime jobs is the cutting and baling of hay and recently I’ve seen lot’s people doing exactly that!  And of course if producers are producing hay that means they’ve had at least adequate moisture to produce some forage and that’s a really good sign especially after last year.  It’s also a good sign since our weatherman; Brian Bledsoe is once again reporting it’s not going to stay this way much longer.  I’m pointing this out because Brian’s column is in this issue and he has updated his long range forecast just a bit while explaining his theory for his forecast.  We are fortunate to have Brian providing us this information  that you find it as interesting and helpful as we do.  Although his forecast is not very reassuring for us in Texas, he does remind us of a potential rain making factor…it’s the tropical storms that are expected to be produced in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans this year.
    Generally when we move from an El Nina weather pattern into a La Nina pattern our rainfall decreases which is exactly what we are getting ready to experience.  But as most of you that have lived in Texas know, a tropical depression or hurricane at the right time of the year can provide more than enough rainfall to last us for several months.   That’s exactly what many experts are predicting…a very active tropical storm season which could produce some significant rainfall this summer and fall.  In fact, the extended forecast for the Atlantic seasonal hurricane season was recently updated on June 2, 2010 by the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and it is predicting 18 named tropical storms, 10 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes (category 3-4-5).
    Summer is a busy time and so far we’ve been blessed with lots of moisture and by the time we get to August some of us will barely remember how good it is right now!  But let’s not forget we do live in Texas and this is typical Texas weather!  Bryan will continue to provide us important weather information on a monthly basis and if you have any questions about the weather you can contact him at: bbbledsoe@southernlivestock.com
    Don’t forget that our next issue is scheduled for July 9th and we hope you have a good and productive summer.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,
THINK TEXAS!!!
SLS