Hey Amarillo, Keep Those Butts In Your Car

It's crazy to think that for the better part of the week here in Amarillo we will be spending a good chunk of it with 70 and even 80 degree temperatures. Especially considering that less than a month ago we were below zero. That's a big reason to celebrate right? Sure! But hang on there's another factor at play here. Those warm temps are going to come with something that we are all too familiar with here in the Panhandle.

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Wind. And lots of it

Pick your TV Meteorologist of choice and they are all pretty much saying the same thing, while we got a ton of snow, it hasn't helped our drought situation at all. This dry snow mainly evaporated and didn't really get into the ground where it would have done most of us any good. The maps definitely back it up. We're still very much in drought across the Texas Panhandle. This guy is a few days old but the update coming Thursday doesn't look like it is going to be promising.

There are plenty of memories from 2017 when we had roughly half a million acres here in our area go up in smoke, resulting in three fatalities, but we tend to be forgetful. We know the steps to prevent a lot of this and they are simple ones too: like checking chains to make sure they aren't dragging, postponing that trash burn (you should anyway, we're in a burn ban for a good reason) or the even bigger one...

For those of us who smoke... the quick toss out the window when you're done... you might as well be throwing a match into gasoline. and seeing the roadside burns you figure they are small fires. no big deal right? Well if you tie up 3 or 4 trucks and their resources in an area putting these out, you get the picture.

Keep that ashtray handy. This isn't a quit smoking pitch, but at least be mindful of your butts.