A damaged vehicle is seen after an explosion at the fertilizer plant.
The deadly explosion ripped through the fertilizer plant late on April 13, injuring more than 200 people, destroying 50 homes and damaging other buildings.
A chemical trailer sits among the remains of the burning fertilizer plant in April 2013.
A vehicle is seen near the remains of a fertilizer plant burning after the explosion.
Maria Galvin cleans up broken glass in the front of her business.
Searchers in protective suits walk through the blast zone of the fertilizer plant that exploded.
Meghan Clontz of Oklahoma City travelled to the town of West to be with family members after the massive explosion in the town
A tattered flag on the rainy morning of Thursday, April 18, in West, Texas.
Police and rescue workers stand near a building which was left destroyed.
An aerial view shows investigators walking through the aftermath of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas April 18, 2013.
The apartment building where Darryl Garricks’ grandchildren were when the blast hit. The children are OK.
Residents of West gather for a candlelight vigil on Thursday, April 19.
A flag is flown at half staff in West, Texas, near the scene of the fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in in the town of 2,8000 on Thursday, April 18, 2013.
KUT photographers Filipa Rodrigues and Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon traveled to the town of West with StateImpact Texas to document the story. You can see their images, along with photos from wire services and state officials, in the gallery above.
As Texas legislators continue to grapple with how to identify and fund water project priorities for the state, Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) makes the argument that Texans don’t value water enough. His comments came at StateImpact Texas’ panel: The Texas Water Crisis: Finding and Funding a Solution.
As a representative of a district that has struggled during the state’s dry years, Darby said, his region’s problem wasn’t as much not having enough reservoirs but that there’s not enough water in them. The large O.H. Ivie reservoir, which serves San Angelo, a city of nearly 100,000 people, is only 14 percent full. And the other reservoirs the city relies on, like Twin Buttes and O.C. Fisher, are sitting empty.
We’re “reservoir-rich, but water-poor,” Darby said. His solution? For one, he says Texans — especially those living in the very dry parts of the state — will need to value water higher, and in turn pay more for it. You can watch his remarks in the video above, produced by Filipa Rodrigues of KUT News.
The Texas Water Plan is a road map for the state to meet its current and future water needs over the next fifty years. It’s known in part for having a high price tag ($53 billion, with about half of that coming from state funds). It’s also known for being un-prioritized. It’s a wishlist of projects submitted by regional groups, with over 500 projects involved.
Now that it looks like the plan could see real funding during this legislative session, how will it play out? Which projects will get funding first, and which will be deemed unnecessary? At a StateImpact Texas panel on water issues this week, three legislators (State Sen. Glenn Hegar, Rep. Drew Darby and Rep. Lyle Larson) offered up some ideas. You can watch the segment in the video above, produced by Filipa Rodrigues of KUT News.
Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign captured this image during the 1999 Leonid meteor storm
AZRAK, JORDAN: Photo dated 18 November 1999 shows a Leonid meteor storm over the Azrak desert, 90km east of Amman. The storm packed up to some 1,500 meteros per hour visible with the eye. The Leonids – so called because they appear in the sky in the region of the constellation of Leo – are a stream of minute dust particles trailing behind the Tempel-Tuttle comet, which is visible from earth every 33 years.
Image was taken during the 1999 Leonid meteor storm as part of NASA’s Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign
Four Views Of The Leonid Meteor Shower Of 1966, A Peak Year For This Active Yearly Shower. The Next Leonid Peak Is In The Years 1998 To 2000. The Leonids Make Their Appearance, And Take Their Name, From A Point In The Constellation Leo. These Pictures Were Taken On November 18Th, 1966, From The Kitt Peak National Observatory Near Tucson, Arizona.
SHERBORN, UNITED STATES: The green streak of a meteor seen in the southern sky of New England photographed in Sherborn, Massachusetts early 18 November, 2001 and was one of thousands that entered the earth’s atmosphere during a major meteor shower. The shower, which occurs over several days every mid-November, is called the Leonids because it appears to come from the constellation of Leo.
This Bright Leonid Fireball Is Shown During The Storm Of 1966 In The Sky Above Wrightwood, Calif. The Leonids Occur Every Year On Or About Nov. 18Th And Stargazers Are Tempted With A Drizzle Of 10 Or 20 Meteors Fizzing Across The Horizon Every Hour. But Every 33 Years A Rare And Dazzling Leonids Storm Can Occur But, Astronomers Believe The 1999 Edition Of The Leonids Probably Won’T Equal 1966, Which Peaked At 144,000 Meteors Per Hour.
Stars of the racetrack won’t be the only lights in the firmament this weekend. It’s also peak time for viewing the Leonid meteor shower. “The shower should produce perhaps a dozen or so “shooting stars” per hour,” UT’s StarDate at McDonald Observatory writes. “The best view comes in the wee hours of the morning, as your part of Earth turns most directly into the meteor stream.”
Peak viewing times should be between midnight and dawn Saturday night.
“Just remember, a meteor shower peak prediction is not an ironclad guarantee,” EarthSky writes. “If it’s clear, you might see nearly as many meteors in the predawn darkness on Friday, November 16 or Sunday, November 18. The days before and after that might feature meteors as well, as we pass through the Leonid meteor stream in space.”
Stargazers are in for another treat this weekend. The Orionid meteor shower, an annual occurrence, will make its way across the sky late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
The best hours to see the meteor shower will be at midnight Saturday until early Sunday morning, with a peak around 2 a.m. StarDate magazine says you can expect to see some 25 meteors per hour. And some of them may look “familiar” — the meteor shower is composed of leftover debris from Halley’s comet.
The sky watchers at StarDate, a publication of the University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory, recommend getting as far away from cities as possible to see the shower. “Look for state or city parks or other safe, dark sites,” they write. “Lie on a blanket or reclining chair to get a full-sky view. If you can see all of the stars in the Little Dipper, you have good dark-adapted vision.” The big, open skies of Texas — if you can get far enough away from city lights — should be perfect for witnessing the event should skies stay clear. No rain is forecast for much of the state for Saturday night into Sunday. And the moon is only at a quarter and will set before midnight, so it shouldn’t interfere with seeing the shower.
More on the astronomy behind the celestial wonder from StarDate: Continue Reading →
A man crouches behind a sign to avoid the high winds on Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Isaac approaches on August 28, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Rescue workers transport residents trapped by rising water from Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision on August 29, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana. The large Level 1 hurricane slowly moved across southeast Louisiana, dumping huge amounts of rain and knocking out power to Louisianans in scattered parts of the state.
A car sits submerged in the flood waters of Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision on August 29, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Rescue workers transport residents trapped by rising water from Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision on August 29, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana.
A child and an adult share a folding bed as storm-weary residents take refuge at a high school gymnasium in Belle Chasse, in low-lying Plaquemines Parish outside of New Orleans, on August 29, 2012 in Louisiana, where Hurricane Isaac has slowed to storm force but looks set to linger over southern Louisiana. Officials have urged residents to stay indoors and warned it would be at least a day before winds calmed enough for crews to try to repair downed power lines.
Leroy and Lisa Smith sit in a boat after being pulled from the rising flood waters during Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision on August 29, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Storm-weary residents take refuge at a high school auditorium in Belle Chasse, in low-lying Plaquemines Parish outside of New Orleans, on August 29, 2012 in Louisiana.
An uprooted and fallen tree is positioned in front of a house in New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29, 2012, as Hurricane Isaac battered the city and surrounding region, flooding homes and driving stormy waters over the top of at least one levee, seven years to the day after Katrina devastated the city. Packing vicious winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour and rolling slowly over Louisiana, Isaac dumped huge quantities of rain on the renowned US jazz city as residents cowered in their homes.
Christopher Smith rides in a boat after being rescued from the rising flood water from Hurricane Isaac in the River Forest subdivision on August 29, 2012 in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Errol Ragas salvages blankets from his home as rising waters from Hurricane Isaac flood his neighborhood on August 29, 2012 in Oakville, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The parish, south of New Orleans, was the most heavily damaged by the hurricane. The system, which was downgraded to a tropical storm by the National Weather Service, moved slowly across the state, dumping large amounts of rain and knocking out power to half a million Louisianans.
A traffic light glows red after being downed by Hurricane Isaac’s winds on August 29, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As Hurricane Isaac begins to work its way north of New Orleans, rains and wind continue to hit Southern Louisiana. And once the storm does leave, it will leave behind widespread flooding and damage. In the slideshow above, you can see some of the impacts of the storm so far.
And while Texas was spared this time around, a new report from the Dallas Morning News says that the state may not be as lucky in the future. Environmental Reporter Randy Lee Loftis writes that a scientific consensus is building in the state: the danger hurricanes pose to Texas is growing. Continue Reading →
The ERCOT headquarters in Taylor, TX. StateImpact Texas was given a tour of the facilities on June 6, 2012.
The ERCOT Grid Control Center at their headquarters in Taylor, TX. Controllers route electricity through over 40,000 circuit miles of high-voltage transmission wires.
Inside the ERCOT Grid Control Center at their headquarters in Taylor, TX. Human controllers can override computers if power is at risk.
When generators fail, controllers lean on large electricity users, like factories, that are paid to be ready to shut everything off at a moment’s notice.
Controllers monitor supply and demand to keep them perfectly balanced.
Controllers tweak the balance of supply and demand by activating backup generators.
Controllers make daily forecasts of the next day’s electric demand and supply down to every five minutes.
Controllers balance the need for power with the power given by their 550 generators in order to not waste resources.
Controllers look at wind and solar energy, which can vary the access of gatherable resources.
Controllers are in charge of monitoring every slight variation in power gathered, routed, and delivered to its 23 million consumers.
Controllers look at a distribution system so electricity can flow not just to consumers, but wherever it is needed most.
Imagine this: you’ve just gotten home from work. You worked right through lunch, as you often do, and now you just want to throw your pasta on the stove and relax in your air-conditioned home while you catch up with the news and… CLICK. Now your power’s out.
That frustration you just felt is exactly what the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the Texas Grid, is trying to prevent. However, it’s more complicated than just generating enough power for everyone.
StateImpact Texas got to see the ERCOT grid control center in person this week in order to get a better understanding of how blackouts are managed and limited. (You can see a slideshow of photos taken inside ERCOT above.) At the end of the day, it all comes down to a balance between load (demand for electricity) and generation of power. Continue Reading →
A boy views the planet Venus through protected binoculars as it transits across the face of the sun as seen from the Greenwich Observatory June 8, 2004 in London. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012.
This photo taken 08 June 2004 shows the transit of Venus across the sun’s disc through special spectacles, seen in the park of La Villette in Paris.
People watch through telescopes the transit of Venus across the sun’s disc 08 June 2004 in the park of La Villette in Paris. Backgrouns is the Geode, a spherical Imax cinema
The planet Venus is visible as a black dot as it transits across the facce of the sun June 8, 2004 as seen from Baghdad, Iraq. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012.
Visitors observe the planet Venus passing in front of the Sun with filtered optics at the American Museum of Natural History June 8, 2004 in New York City. The transit of Venus is a rare celestial event which last occurred in 1882.
The planet Venus is visible as a black dot as it transits across the face of the sun as seen from the Greenwich Observatory June 8, 2004 in London. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012.
An Israeli child views the planet Venus as it transits across the face of the sun at Tel-Aviv university June 8, 2004 in Tel-Aviv, Israel. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012.
The planet Venus is visible as a black dot as it transits across the face of the sun as seen from the Greenwich Observatory June 8, 2004 in London. The rare astronomical event last occurred in 1882, while the next transit is due in 2012.
It’s not quite an eclipse, it’s more like the sun is going to have a beauty mark for a rare, fleeting moment. On Tuesday, Venus (the brightest planet in our solar system) will pass in front of the sun, and if you’re hoping to catch it, plan with care. If you miss it, you won’t have another chance of seeing it until the next century. December 11, 2117, to be exact.
“During the transit, Venus will appear in silhouette as a small, dark dot moving in front of the solar disk,” writes EarthSky, which reports on astronomy and science. “Here in Austin, Texas, we’ll see the first half of the transit, while the second half will take place after the sun goes beneath our horizon. In North America, it’ll be to our advantage to find a level western horizon, as the sun will be low in the west at the time of the transit.”
For information on the best possible time to witness the phenomenon in Texas, check out local times from the Transit of Venus website. For much of the state, the transit will be viewable starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday and and ending around 10 p.m. You’ll want a telescope with a solar filter to safely observe the passing. Continue Reading →
As much as three inches of rain have fallen on the state in the last 24 hours
Blue skies over a lake outside of Houston, Texas
The National Weather Service is predicting more rain today
Water trickles down from Clear Lake in Houston
A fan waits after Game Two of the American League Championship Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was postponed due to inclement weather on October 9, 2011 in Arlington, Texas.
Cattle stand in high water on a flooded farm after Hurricane Ike hit September 15, 2008 in Winnie, Texas. Ike caused extensive damage along the Texas Gold Coast, leaving millions without power.
A steer is reflected in water as it sits on the high ground of Rt 10 because pastures are filled with brackish flood waters from the storm surge of Hurricane Ike September 17, 2008 in Jefferson County Texas, Texas. Hundreds of cattle have died and more are expected die after drinking the brackish water. Hurricane Ike caused wide spread damage and power outages on the Texas coast.
Cattle stand in high water on a flooded farm after Hurricane Ike hit September 15, 2008 in Winnie, Texas. Ike caused extensive damage along the Texas Gold Coast, leaving millions without power.
A young boy cools off in the Volcano Lake slide, July 20, 2000, at the Wet ”N” Wild Waterworld in Anthony, Texas. A heat wave that stretches from Arizona to the southeast coast, is being blamed for at least 12 deaths in Texas and another six in Alabama and Louisiana. Health officials in some states say they won”t know how many people have died from sweltering temperatures until autopsies are complete. High humidity is making heat in the Southeast even deadlier than the dry heat of the Southwest.
It’s raining (and in some cases, flooding) across Texas. A popular question this morning will be: Is the Drought Over? And the answer to that largely depends on where you are. If you’re in East Texas, the answer is a qualified yes. (Many reservoirs still haven’t recovered.) In West Texas? There’s still a ways to go.
But regardless of whether or not the drought is technically abating, the issues behind it are here to stay. Texas is growing rapidly, and will not have enough water to meet its needs unless changes are made. (For an invigorating discussion of those issues, check out this Twitter chat from earlier in the week.)
For now, it’s nice to take a breath and appreciate the wet winter behind us and the hopefully-wet Spring/Summer ahead. Above is a slideshow of scenes of water in Texas to feast your eyes on in the meantime.
The “supermoon” is seen from Mexico city on 05 May 2012. The full moon on this day, the biggest of the year, is at 352.947 Kms, the shortest distance to earth in the year.
The Supermoon, as seen from onboard Groupama Sailing Team during leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 on May 5, 2012 from Itajai, Brazil, to Miami, North America.
A perigee moon, or SuperMoon, rises behind wind turbines on May 5, 2012 near Palm Springs, California. The moon appears especially big and bright during this once-a-year cosmic event as the full moon is at its closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. The perigee side of its orbit is about 31,000 miles closer than the opposite, or apogee, side. The bright light of the full moon also hides all but the brightest meteors of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, the remnant debris trail of Halley’s Comet.
A perigee moon, or supermoon, rises behind wind turbines on May 5, 2012 near Palm Springs, California. The moon appears especially big and bright during this once-a-year cosmic event as the full moon is at its closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. The perigee side of its orbit is about 31,000 miles closer than the opposite, or apogee, side. The bright light of the full moon also hides all but the brightest meteors of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, the remnant debris trail of Halley’s Comet
The “supermoon” is seen May 5, 2012 from Chevy Chase, Maryland. The biggest and brightest moon of the year is due to the moon being at its closest point to the earth during its orbit.
A haze obscured many views of the supermoon in Texas.
It was a bit cloudy when the Super Moon made its appearance.
As seen rising over the mexican american cultural center in Austin, Texas
Parts of Texas got a peek at one of the coolest lunar moments of the year last weekend. In the late hours of Saturday night, the earth was graced with a close-up of the moon when a full moon hit at the same time as the moon’s nearest orbit to earth (the technical term is perigee-syzygy, but “supermoon” is admittedly more fun). The moon was about thirty percent brighter and fourteen percent bigger, which made it the biggest full moon of the year.
Much of the East Coast got clouded out and couldn’t see the full lunar glory, and Central Texas was hit by severe thunderstorms right as the peak of the supermoon occured. But other parts of Texas were blessed with intermittently clear skies to witness the event. In the slideshow above, you can see images of the supermoon taken across Texas and other parts of the world. Discovery News also has a slideshow with photos submitted by readers.
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