Terrence Henry reports on energy and the environment for StateImpact Texas. His radio, print and television work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, NPR, The Texas Tribune, The History Channel and other outlets.
He has previously worked at The Washington Post and The Atlantic. He earned a Bachelorās Degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University.
Texas saw a rare 'Blue Moon' today, a rare occurrence when two full moons occur in one calendar month.
*Update: The August 31 full moon technically appeared this morning at 9 am, but you’ll still get a great view of the moon tonight. Our apologies for the confusion, and we’ve updated this post to reflect the right time of appearance. We offer this lovely tune to help make amends.
It’s a rare lunar event today in the Lone Star State (which we love around here). A blue moon appeared in the Texas skies, when a full moon appears twice in one month. (Hence the phrase, “Once in a blue moon.”)
But don’t be disappointed if the moon wasn’t exactly blue. The blue moon commonly refers only to the double appearance of a full moon, not its color. The first full moon came August 1, and just barely squeezing in for a second time today, August 31.
Rick Chafey is a volunteer firefighter in McMahan, Texas.
During last year’s record-breaking wildfire season, most of the nationās attention was focused on the massive Bastrop Complex fire that raged throughout September.
But in the first days of the wildfires, several others burned out of control. One of those was in Delhi, in Caldwell County, south of Austin.
Rick Chafey, a firefighter in McMahan, recalls what he saw that day: Continue Reading →
A new investigation reveals what sparked the Labor Day fire in Spicewood, outside of Austin, Texas.
As the anniversary of the Labor Day fires approaches, we’re beginning to get some answers on what was at fault.
As we reported earlier this week, the conditions at the time were the epitome of ‘perfect storm.’ Extreme heat, record drought, high winds and little humidity created a virtual powder keg. Compounding those well-known issues were the fact that many new communities had been built in greenbelts and woodlands, and fire departments that were cash-strapped and understaffed for a rash of fires of this magnitude.
What sparked each fire? In Bastrop, the culprit was power lines downed by dying trees, which has led to a lawsuit.
The Spicewood fire, aka Pedernales One, was originally reported as a brush fire. But a new investigation released by the Travis County Fire Marshal shows that the power lines in the community didn’t fall. Rather, winds forced them to slap together, sending “hot molten material” to the ground and sparking a fire that burned some 6,500 acres and destroyed 60 homes and structures. 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 →
Bridgette Mooney, her daughter Skyler, 15 months, and husband Kevin watch from their home as Hurricane Isaac lashes their property with rain on August 28, 2012 in Kiln, Mississippi. Many residents of the community, which suffered severe damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, decided to stay home and ride out the storm.
For some farmers in the Midwest struggling with extreme drought, the storm could bring much-needed rain. AccuWeather says today that parts of Arkansas, Missouri and other states in the Central U.S. will “soon be on the receiving end of soaking downpours.”
“While flooding rainfall in southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi will tend to diminish farther inland, some beneficial rain will fall on the parched landscape hundreds, if not a thousand, miles away from the Gulf Coast,” the weather service says in a report today.
But none of that rain looks like it’s headed to Texas.
And whatever the rains do to help the Midwest, they are mostly coming too late. Continue Reading →
A man sits on a bench watching the waves on Lake Pontchatrain from Hurricane Isaac on August 28, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Isaac is expected to make landfall later tonight along the Louisiana coast.
Nearly all of the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico have been evacuated because of Hurricane Isaac, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). Of the 596 manned platforms in the Gulf, all but 93 have been evacuated as of mid-day today. 49 of the 76 rigs in the drilling area have been evacuated as well.
Curious about the difference between a platform and a rig? Drilling rigs are used to drill for oil, platforms are used to “produce” the oil out of the ground once the well has been drilled.
The Bureau estimates that after all of these evacuations, over 93 percent of the oil production in the Gulf has been shut down. Oil future prices are going up as a result.
So what happens on those rigs when there’s no one there to man them? Continue Reading →
Melvin Pulver of Spicewood lost his mobile home and everything else in the fire a year ago.
This weekend marks a year since massive wildfires tore through Central Texas, burning more than 1,600 homes, killing two people, and uprooting countless lives.
Over the course of the last year, KUT News and StateImpact Texas have been collecting stories from the people who lived through the fires and reporting on some of the causes, and complications, behind the destruction.
Today, the story of how one man survived the Spicewood fire through quick thinking and a little luck, as told by those who lived through it, Debbie Opdahl and Melvin Pulver. You can listen to it in the audio player above. Continue Reading →
All this week we’re bringing you stories on the 2011 Labor Day Wildfires that destroyed over a thousand homes in Central Texas. On Monday, we looked at some of the complications that led to the fireĀ beyond the well-known heat and drought. Later today, we’ll bring you a story of a narrow escape from the Pedernales Bend Fire that weekend.
Map by NPR
A new map by NPR shows you the fire risk in your area, and where major fires are currently burning in the country.
One takeaway from the series is that wildfires are becoming larger and more destructive. In the slideshow report above by NPR science correspondent Christopher Joyce, you can learn why the danger has grown.
What’s the current fire risk in your area? Well, there’s a map for that. Matt Stiles and the NPR digital team have put together an interactive map of wildfire dangers and active fires in the country, which you can see here. It’s updated daily. For the moment, Texas falls in the low and moderate risk categories.
Hurricane Isaac could have a significant impact on drilling in the Gulf.
Updated: Sometime Tuesday, Hurricane Isaac could bring significant weather conditions to more than a thousand drilling rigs and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil prices are already on the rise.
As you can see in the map to the right by Accuweather, there are several Gulf drilling regions that are under a “high” or “moderate” threat by the storm. “While currently a tropical storm, Isaac is a storm that should not be taken lightly,” Accuweather cautions.
Some drilling platforms have already been evacuated, and others may need to be as well. “Current indications point toward waves of 20 to 30 feet (or higher) building in this region of the Gulf as Isaac gains strength and approaches the coast,” Accuweather says in a report today.
The hurricane had already shut-in 78 percent of productionĀ in the Gulf as of Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Some 346 platforms have been evacuated, over fifty percent of the platforms in the Gulf. And 41 rigs (over fifty percent of the rigs in the Gulf) have been evacuated as well.
The storm could affect much more than just drilling in the Gulf.Ā Continue Reading →
Coppell firefighter Lin Whetstine walks through hot spots with a chain saw as on September 7, 2011 in Bastrop, Texas.
No Texan needs reminding of just how bad last year was. For months, Central Texas received only trace amounts of rain. It was the driest– and hottest — summer in the areaās history.
How a ‘Perfect Storm’ Led to the Worst Fires in Texas History/audio]
Chris Barron, Executive Director of the Firemanās and Fire Marshals Association of Texas, remembers that the 2011 wildfire season got off to anĀ ominousĀ start with the Possum Kingdom Lake fire in March.
āAnd Iāll never forget talking to Chief Steve Purdue of the Mineral Wells Fire Department,” Barrons says. “And I asked him what heās up to. And his immediate response was, āIāve got fire all around me, I gotta talk to you later.ā And that kind of set the tone for the rest of the season.ā
The rest of the season was a scorcher. As the summer of 2011 wore on, temperatures broke records and the earth cracked. Vegetation died.
Then in the week before Labor Day, officials began to caution that Central Texas was beginning to look like a powder keg. Continue Reading →
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