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The last remnants of the tremendous storm surge still cause
hazardous navigation in portions of the inland waterways and
bays, but crab can again be caught. Fishing for the smaller
varieties of fish is as good as ever. Fresh shrimp is again
being sold by private vendors. College baseball can again be
seen at Cowboy Diamond where McNeese State University has
reconstructed stands and fences, where before a slogan on a
portion of the fence showed “Rita
1, MSU 0 but coming back swingin'”. The light poles
have been replaced and stand proud next door at the football
stadium where the team plays again at home. High school sports
of all kinds are returning to Cameron Parish. The Lamar
Cardinals are playing great ball again at the repaired Vincent
Beck Stadium in Beaumont Texas.
Nineteen months after Hurricane Rita devastated the region and
gave recreational and outdoor enthusiasts quite a beating, the
recovery seems to be well underway this year. In fact, the
National Weather Service is fielding numerous calls from
recreational interests in 2007. Many of these callers need
various weather information, including wind speed and wind
direction, tides, heat indices, and chances of thunderstorms.
Area baseball coaches from Little League to College have been
known to reschedule games based on the rainfall forecast, and
always want to know whether to place a tarp on the infields.
Some coaches are also avid anglers and golfers, and need to know
whether lightning will interfere in their plans. Other large
events, including the annual softball tournament in Sulphur,
draw fans from far and wide, and obviously require weather
information in advance.
Football interests are other frequent callers. Football
groundskeepers have varieties of grass with different mowing
intervals and field striping, and decisions have to be made
based on the weather forecast several days in advance.
Football coaches are also very interested in heat indices and
the threat of any lightning to protect their players.
Fisherman are another group of recreational interests that need
advance weather information, from those that head out from boat
launches over the inland lakes, to those that trek out hundreds
of miles into the Gulf of Mexico in search of big game fish.
Wind speed information and wave heights can be very critical for
good fishing.
So
although Hurricane Rita caused serious setbacks for the area’s
famed outdoor sports, they now seem to be going strong.
Sportsman's Paradise is back! |
www.nws.noaa.gov 
