Jay, What new planting mix are you using? I want to hear about it! This year I'll be planting deep too since my soil moisture levels down deep are good, but soil moisture levels higher up are not good. I'll have to water deeply to make it work and with clay that's not always easy. That's terrible news about the fire near Santanta, KS. I hope everyone evacuates safely and that the firefighters can do their job in a safe and effective manner. With the winds today, I've felt like it was a matter of time before someone had a big fire somewhere. The sky here looks disgusting. For a while, it was a sort of a red dusty look like you get with dust storms blowing in from west Texas. Then, a couple of hours ago it started looking more like grayish-white fog or smoke from somewhere. Now it is yellow and a heavy layer of pollen is settling on the vehicles. We're going to have a whole rainbow of colors in the sky tonight and tomorrow. At least most of us here on this forum will not be endangered by the severe weather expected tonight and tomorrow. Dr. Forbes on The Weather Channel seems deeply concerned about the potential for very severe weather from all this mess, but it should start north and east of most of us. This morning, they interviewed a Storm Chaser guy in Sherman, TX, and asked where he and his bunch were headed today and he said Coffeyville, KS. He said once they got there, they'd check the latest weather data and head for wherever they thought the action would be. Around here, when we have the potential for severe weather that includes tornadoes, I just watch for the storm chaser vehicles. When those vehicles are driving up my road, that's when I head for the fraidy hole. Last year, Chris was out storm spotting with other firefighters and law enforcement officers and they ran into some storm chasers about a quarter-mile to a half-mile from our house. I heard them mention that on the radio and I headed for the cellar. About fifteen minutes later, the tornado touched down at the Red River near us and hop-scotched its way across the county, but didn't do any real damage. I don't really have to watch the local weather radar---I just watch for the storm chasers and that's all the warning I need. Dawn

The Tornado Watches and Severe T-storm Watches and Warnings from yesterday have expired. Depending on your location, you still may have active flood watches, warnings or advisories.

Suzie, It is a sad story about the firefighter. They haven't released a lot of details, but I think he was involved in a fire truck burnover, which is when a wind-driven wildfire overtakes a firetruck and literally burns right over it/through it/around it. My husband and our Asst. Chief survived one of those a couple of years ago and it happened while I was watching. The only "good" thing about it was that the fire moved so fast that by the time it registered in my brain that fire had overtaken his truck, he'd driven out of the fire safely and the fire was running towards the interstate and he turned and 'chased' it from behind. I hope to never see anything like that again. The big fire west of Fort Worth is near Possum Kingdom Lake in very rough and rugged terrain. The last I heard, about 30 homes there had burned and over 200 more were at risk and had been evacuated. Possum Kingdom State Park had been closed, and some roads were closed. There's also a huge complex of fires in the Wichita Falls area that involves at least 3 separate very large, major wildfires. Homes have burned there and evacuations have occurred. Some Love County firefighters are in the county next to Wichita Falls helping fight a different fire complex near Henrietta, TX. Before today's fires, Texas had had about a half-million acres burn just in the last 7 or 8 days. There's no telling what that number will be after they total up all the acreage today. Our VFD only had two brief fire calls today so I consider us very fortuante indeed because it could have been so much worse. Our county's burn ban expires next week and I hope the commissioners renew it (though I don't think they will because burn bans are very unpopular with some of their constituents). Carol, Our mesonet station goes out every time the wind gusts over 20 mph. It is out even when no one else's stations are malfunctioning. It drives me up the wall. Our wind was like a ocean today....choppy and full of big waves interspersed with periods of calm. As sundown approached, it seemed to calm down a lot...then began gusting really hard again. It can't seem to make up its mind what to do. The little wildlife puddle in our driveway had little choppy whitecaps. The birds bathed in it anyway. There was a big wreck on I35 in Gainesville this afternoon caused by the wind blowing tractor-trailer trucks around. Gainesville's highest recorded gust was 53 and ours was 54. Our weather is very similar to theirs, so when the Burneyville mesonet station malfunctions, I just check the station at the Gainesville Airport. I'm watching the 10 p.m. newscast and Steve LaNore just said we'll have near-record lows here tonight. Oh good, just what we needed. Also, he said the wind returns Sunday, so I'll try to get a lot done tomorrow in case Sunday's weather is yucky. Dawn

The NWS has issued a Severe Tstorm Warning for parts of Pawnee and Creek counties. If in the affected area, be prepared to take cover. A tornado reportedly is in the Stillwater area right now. The text of the warning is linked below. Here is a link that might be useful: Pawnee and Creek Counties