I was out in Long Beach last week. Highs were in the mid-80s and I had packed nothing but sweaters and long-sleeved shirts. That was a mistake.

And if you think that’s bad, here’s what we’ve got going in Austin:

Some experts call the current Central Texas drought stage one of the worst droughts since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. The Austin area began 2008 with the entire state drought free. By November, a large part of Central Texas was in an extreme drought. Over the last two months, that extreme drought has turned into an exceptional drought from the Hill Country to Southeast Texas. That area keeps expanding.

So the question now is — will this pattern change? The answer to that lies in the El Nino southern oscillation, which plays a large part in overall weather trends.

According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the opposite phenomenon is occurring in the Pacific — La Nina. La Nina is a cooling of the waters in the Pacific Ocean. This phenomenon results in a wetter than normal pattern for the Pacific Northwest and Mississippi River Valley, but drier than normal conditions across the south.

This means between now and March, look for this drought to continue, and most likely even worsen.

It sounding a lot like "Grapes of Wrath", except it will be hard today for folks to load up the Hummers with their kids and belongings and go pick oranges in CA, if CA is in a drought too.

Let’s hope that Mt. Redoubt in AK is just your routine ash cloud and not a major blow.

Igor says, “dejected,” which I suppose is better than “ejected” in this case

Hmm, so lets see. We’ve got the beginning edge of a depression, we’ve got a major drought, all we need now is a war.. oh wait, got one of those too. Yes, yes I do believe it’s the 1920′s again! Except now we have iPods.

Igor says “deflation”. I remain skeptical. Ok, not really.

Economically I’m extremely pessimistic and believe that a depression is inevitable. Morally I’m extremely hopeful.

My grandparents and the people I know of that generation are almost all hard working, thrifty people. I have to assume though that they were the same generation that mucked up the 1920s. They must have learned their lesson and changed their ways.

I’m not looking forward to what the next couple of years may bring, but I am hopeful that we will be a nicer, wiser people at the end of it.

Thank you for the kind words about the site. That’s why were here. We can’t make things better for everyone, but we hope that trying to provide a more balanced view of the housing market will help people make wiser decisions. I know that working on Doom has made the Twist family more cautious and thrifty.

If we’re not lucky or careful, the US will shift culturally from greed, materialism and hubris (Reagan’s legacy)to apathy, arrogance and alienation (Bush’s legacy). The best case scenario is that hard times will teach us all valuable lessons in looking out for and working well with others and serving a good cause (Obama’s potential legacy).

So as not to sound too preachy, I personally hope for many in the finance and real estate sector to be prosecuted and sent to jail for their recent misadventures.

Rant off.