Twister tally: How many tornadoes touched down in Texas between 1950 and 1995? According to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, exactly 5,934. Documenting and compiling data under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the center has also discovered some interesting patterns concerning how tornadoes behave in the Lone Star State. For one thing, the most tornadoes are reported and registered in Harris County (where Houston is located); 157 spun through the area during the years in question. But urban areas tend to have more reported tornadoes because there are more eyes to spot them. The least likely place to see a twister in Texas -- and a location considerably less populated -- is in the far west Texas area of Sutton County, which lies between Mexico and San Angelo. In 45 years of data, only one twister was reported there. Also, an average of the tornado touch-downs pinpoints Gustine, a farming community between Waco and Abilene, as the geographic center of twister activity, and yet that precise locale has been relatively tornado-free as well. If this all seems like information too specific to attach to almost half a century of an unpredictable and highly volatile weather system, consider the center’s boldest twister tidbit: Every May 15th at 2:15pm is the most likely time for a tornado to touch down anywhere in the state.

Mrs. Baird goes Bimbo: Some things just don’t translate well between languages, but perhaps the dough will help our wholesome bread-baking mother make the transition to tart. Mrs. Baird’s, a 90-year-old entity and the largest family-owned bakery in the country, was sold for an as-yet-undisclosed amount to Groupo Industrial Bimbo, Mexico’s leading commercial bakers. Mrs. Baird’s had been working with Bimbo in the tortilla market, and when the Mexican company wanted to increase its U.S. presence, they approached the Baird business, which is headquartered in Fort Worth. Mrs. Baird’s began in 1908 from the kitchen of Ninnie L. Baird, who began baking in her home for friends and neighbors; now the company has 10 plants statewide and annual sales amounting to $300 million. No layoffs are expected, and Bimbo has said they will retain the Mrs. Baird’s name, which is a good thing because Texans probably aren’t ready to trade in their aproned matriarch for 'a woman of ill-repute,' even if the Mexican company’s mascot is a cuddly teddy bear.

Space rock 'n’ roll: The sky is falling again in West Texas. On Sunday, March 22, residents of Monahans reported hearing "sonic booms" and seeing an "eerie streaking light" in the early evening, others described a bright green streak that exploded into white fragments. A group of kids playing basketball actually saw something hit the ground, a smallish dense black rock weighing 2 pounds, 11 ounces; another space rock, 4 ounces heavier, was embedded into the asphalt on the road near where the first one landed. The booms and the white smoke alarmed fire departments in Odessa and Goldsmith, who went out searching for a possible plane crash. Marc Wetzel, a spokesperson for the Texas McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis told the Associated Press that it is extremely rare to actually see a meteorite fragment, but that there was no reason to be alarmed. "This is what happens on a planet," he said.

(4/1/98)