43F, 6C in the Swamp and raining; the low for tonight: 33F, 1C. This is pretty cold for the Swamp though not as cold as it is likely to be as the Winter progresses. It does snow here on occasion (someone on the radio just said something about possible snow next week) and, worst of all, there can be ice-storms caused by freezing rain. No fun at all.

Hmmm, 6 regular people and 3 Llamas. Seems to me to be an inordinately high ratio of Llamas to people. I wonder what this means....

8.7 inches of rain from 6AM the 29th to 6AM the 30th. 1 to 2 inches more today. 1 confirmed tornado touch-down totaled a building and a firetruck in a town nearby. Trees down, power outages, flooding.

I wonder if Ely's Tree still has leaves on it, it was dark when I left for work this morning...

Hmmmm, sorry for the error, not 3 inches of rain but 5 to maybe 7 inches of rain from 6PM this evening through 6AM Saturday morning.

Issued by The National Weather Service
Little Rock, AR
3:28 am CDT, Thu., Oct. 29, 2009

... MAJOR HEAVY RAINFALL EVENT EXPECTED TODAY AND FRIDAY OVER MUCH OF ARKANSAS...

... PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE COMPLETED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE...

MOISTURE HAS BEGIN INCREASING FROM THE SOUTH THIS MORNING... AS A POTENT STORM SYSTEM HEADS TOWARD THE MID SOUTH FROM THE WEST. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP... AND SPREAD NORTHWARD INTO ARKANSAS THIS MORNING.

SEVERAL UPPER LEVEL SYSTEMS WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION OUT AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING SLOW-MOVING FRONTAL BOUNDARY. THE SYSTEMS WILL INTERACT WITH THE SLOW FRONT... AND THIS WILL ALLOW FOR SEVERAL WAVES OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL TO OCCUR ACROSS A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.

FOR THIS REASON... A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.

AS MUCH AS 5 TO 7 INCHES OF RAIN IS EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS TODAY THROUGH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. THE HEAVIEST RAIN WILL OCCUR IN AREAS MAINLY ALONG A LINE FROM SALEM... TO LITTLE ROCK... TO CAMDEN. IN AREAS EAST AND WEST OF THIS LINE... AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WILL BE COMMON... WITH ISOLATED TOTALS APPROACHING 6 INCHES.

NEAR-RECORD RAIN HAS FALLEN DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER IN A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. THERE HAS BEEN VERY LITTLE TIME FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT DRYING... WITH THE GROUND SO SATURATED. MANY STREAMS... CREEKS... AND RIVERS ARE ABOVE NORMAL LEVELS FOR LATE OCTOBER... WITH SEVERAL POINTS ALONG THE WHITE... CACHE AND OUACHITA RIVERS ABOVE FLOOD STAGE. THERE WILL SIMPLY BE NOWHERE FOR THE WATER TO GO.

WITH ALL THE EXPECTED RAINFALL... AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS WILL BE LIKELY. MANY LOW-LYING ROADS WILL BE FLOODED... AND LOW WATER CROSSINGS WILL BE IMPASSABLE. STREAMS THAT HAVE A TENDENCY TO RISE RAPIDLY DURING PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL WILL TEND TO FLOOD THE QUICKEST. ANYONE CAMPING ALONG THE BANKS OF A STREAM OR RIVER... PARTICULARLY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN ARKANSAS SHOULD MAKE PLANS TO LEAVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE OR AT LEAST MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

COMMUTERS DURING THE EVENING DRIVE ON TODAY AND THE MORNING DRIVE FRIDAY SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS. IF YOU DRIVE ACROSS AREAS NEAR BODIES OF WATER SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING... MAKE PLANS FOR AN ALTERNATE ROUTE.

PLEASE STAY INFORMED BY MONITORING THE LATEST FORECASTS AND INFORMATION FROM YOUR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IF A WARNING IS ISSUED... YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT.

OMG! There was this horribly bright glowy thing in the sky this afternoon and people were running around crazy screaming, "My eyes, my eyes!" and "Oh God, it burns, make it stop!". A number of people burst into flame and disappeared, mostly strange people in long flowy capes and stuff. It was terrible. No one is quite sure what the bright glowy thing was but everyone who survived is relieved that it is finally gone.

Tomorrow, another inch of rain. Friday, another two or more inches of rain and heavy thunderstorms.

That's it, I'm buying a boat...

Well, wonder of wonders, it's raining. A short respite tomorrow then more rain, like maybe an inch or two Thursday and Friday. Oh well...

The phone went out for four days because some idiot contractor dug up a cable. I have to wonder how anyone can get a contractors license without knowing that they are required to call the phone company and the power company and the cable company and the gas company and the water company to request a "locate" (this is where they send someone out to find ot where all the underground stuff is) before you start digging a hole. The various companies are more than happy to do this, and it's free. It is a lot less expensive for these companies to do it for nothing than it is to send out a crew to fix something a contractor has ripped out of the ground with a 20 inch back-hoe...