Hi class:

 

I was born in Muleshoe, TX in 1928 and I lived there except for a three year hitch in the U.S. Air Force and four years at Texas Tech  University.  I was raised on a farm and weather determined what our crop production would be for the year. For example, if we had plenty of rain and no adverse weather conditions such as sand storms, hail, early or late freeze then we would probably make a good harvest otherwise it could be a complete failure.

 

I will attempt to give you some of the weather highlights as I remember them:

 

DROUGHT   ( a period of time in which there was very limited rainfall)   During the middle l930's, we had a very server one that lasted 3 or more years and then another one in the early l950's that lasted three or four years.  These were very trying times for the  country.  Insect problems were a major thing especially grasshoppers.  During that time there was also a major Jack Rabbit problem.  People would get together and have a big rabbit hunt in order to get rid of  them because they were eating what little crop and grass that was available for livestock feed.

 

SAND STORMS  (movement of topsoil, that portion of the earth's surface  that supports plant and animal life. It is also referred to as soil erosion,  when wind starts to move at a high speed then soil particles will move with it and cause a highly dusty condition in the atmosphere)  All of this is affected by high and low atmospheric pressures and how much cover is on the land..

I recall numerous sand storms coming in on cold fronts and as they would arrive, the area would turn so dark that our chickens would go to their roost the same as they would if it were turning night time. We had a sand storm when I was in elementary school that lasted three days and nights.

 

RAIN  (no definition needed, you know that wet stuff,  the nutrient we can't live without)  The South Plains Panhandle area of Texas is located in what is described as a Dry Land Area which means that the annual rainfall is less than  20 inches of rainfall per year.

This is enough to produce an adequate crop if there is no problems as mentioned earlier.   In 1940, the High Plains Area received

over 40 Inches of rainfall.  It was wet everywhere.  All of the lakes were full and the draws ( areas where water could accumulate and head toward the Gulf of Mexico) were running water too.  Quite a sight for those not use to such a thing.

 

TORNADOS   In my younger years, we never worried about tornados.  These happened in East Texas as far as we knew.  I saw

one south of where we lived and also saw damage to a school west of Plainview, that was the extent of my experience with this subject until the late 1950's on----- This area became Tornado Alley.  Major ones that I remember was Silverton, Hale Center and then Lubbock which really did major damage to that place.

 

HALE (frozen ice from marble to baseball size and even larger)  We had a lot of hale in the area and was something that the farmer dreaded.  He could lose his complete crop in less than five minutes.  The largest hale I remember was like small blocks of ice.  Some fell in Muleshoe that sounded like an explosion when it hit the ground.  We were very thankful that it lasted a very short time and was very sparce. (a major West Texas weather problem).

 

SNOW (to me, it was nice to see but made for misery in taking care of livestock and related farm activities)  It snowed a lot when I was growing up and would stop traffic due to drifting with drifts as high as six feet or more at times.

 

I have lived in Spring (north of Houston for the past 21 years so I have been through one hurricane and some flooding since living here.  I also lived in Alaska while I was in the Air Force and experienced Big Snow and small earthquakes.  The last year I was in Anchorage, Alaska we had a record snowfall for the year of 120 inches, at that time, the most on record.

 

I have enjoyed sharing this little bit of information with you and hope it proves to be useful.

 

STAY IN SCHOOL----IT IS YOUR GREATEST INVESTMENT FOR YOUR SUCCESSFUL FUTURE

 

May God Bless You and May God Bless Texas and America

 

Respectfully,

 

Bill