Let’s talk weather

If you are like me, you like a little variety in the weather. Some sunshine and a spell of warmer temperatures would be nice. But rain is good, and going into the spring season dry is not so good. So, let’s count our blessings.

Russell Ham at the Sulphur Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant keeps official rainfall records for Sulphur Springs. In 2023, we received 46 inches of rain, which is in the average range. The most rainfall occurred in February and October 2023, but the summer months of June and July each had 6-inch rainfalls. Looking back to 2000, Sulphur Springs received almost 70 total inches of rainfall in 2000 and 2009. That’s a lot of rain! We start off 2024 with 3.79 inches of rain, as of Jan. 26.

If you remember last summer, you’ll recall it was hotter than Texas’ reputation for hot. Remember how June 2023 brought destructive storms, excessive heat and dangerous power outages across parts of Northeast Texas? The Como-Pickton CISD campus was nearly blown away by a tornado.

Winnsboro and Mount Vernon were without power, and reacted to needs in their communities by helping one another in a grassroots way, especially with food and water. Food cannot not be safely kept without refrigeration during a power outage, so several restaurants gave away their frozen inventory to whoever could come and pick it up. When pallets of food were made available by refrigerated truck to a chain grocer, volunteers brought grills, cooked the food on the parking lot, and made a free public meal out of it. Homeowners emptied their freezers by putting on backyard cookouts for friends and neighbors. Friendships were no doubt forged and reinforced under the shade trees, which provided somewhat cooler conditions than inside their homes.

According to NOAA, 2023 was the hottest year ever for Texas, with 68.1 as the average temperature for the state. That confirmed a trend; every year of the 21st century so far has been warmer in Texas than the 20th-century average. Since federal record-keeping on temperatures began in 1895, 2023 was the fifth-warmest year on record. Climate change is said to be responsible.

NOAA’s climate prediction center calls for wetter- than-average weather for Texas in 2024, improving drought conditions.

Icy roadways on Jan. 15 caused the MLK celebration to be postponed, but it has been re-scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 28, at Morning Chapel Baptist Church to begin at 6:34 p.m., to mark the 34th annual local celebration. Everyone is invited.

Another favorite winter- time event, the Kiwanis Pancake Day, is set for Saturday, Feb. 17, from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. inside Hopkins County Regional Civic Center. Tickets are $8 each for all you can eat. Kiwanis members cook and serve the all-day feast and use proceeds for student scholarships.

Thank you for being a reader of this column, and a listener to the Down Home Today podcast at ssnewstelegram.com. To share interesting news, reach me at enola@ssnewstelegram. com.