Texas

Texas fire map, update as multiple panhandle blazes break out

Published

2 years ago

February 27, 2024

Texas fire map, update as multiple panhandle blazes break out

Authorities in Texas are battling multiple wildfires in the state’s panhandle spanning tens of thousands of acres as warm, dry conditions facilitate the spread of the blazes.

Maps produced by the Texas A&M Forest Service show there are four active wildfires to the north and east of Amarillo, as well as two that have been contained.

According to the latest figures, the largest is the Smokehouse Creek fire, which broke out near the town of Stinnett, to the northeast of Lake Meredith. As of late Monday night, it spanned 40,000 acres and was entirely uncontained.

Another fire, dubbed the Grape Vine Creek fire, broke out near the town of Lefors, to the southeast of Pampa, and now spans 20,000 acres. As of Monday night it was 10 percent contained.

A map of the Texas Panhandle showing the locations of active (in red) and contained (in brown) wildfires in the region, as of February 27, 2024. Clockwise from top left: the North CIG fire, the…

Texas A&M Forestry

“Dozers are building containment line while firefighters conduct tactical firing operations to strengthen lines and slow fire spread,” Texas A&M Forest Service said.

Local news channel KVII reported that officials in Wheeler County had warned residents living near the fire that they might need to evacuate, but evacuations were not needed as the forward progression of the fire had stopped.

A third fire, which also appears to have begun on Monday, is the Windy Deuce Fire, to the east of Masterson and west of Lake Meredith, which has so far spread across at least 4,000 acres and is 5 percent contained.

“Firefighters are working on the north side of the fire to slow spread,” the state forestry agency noted. “Heavy equipment is building containment lines around the perimeter.”

Authorities use heavy machinery to build defenses near the burning edge of the Juliet Pass wildfire in Armstrong County, Texas on February 26, 2024. The fire has reached across 2,963 acres and is 90 percent…

Texas A&M Forestry

It sits near the site of the North CIG fire, which broke out on Saturday and reached across 4,012 acres before being completely contained.

The fourth active wildfire, to the south of Claude in Armstrong County, dubbed the Juliet Pass fire, remains active after breaking out earlier on Monday and is currently 90 percent contained at 2,963 acres.

A sixth wildfire in the region, immediately to the south of Amarillo, reached three acres before being contained.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Monday that there was a critical risk of fire across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Kansas and southwest Colorado.

The weather agency’s station said that warming temperatures would dry out grasslands while strong winds would help carry fires that broke out, creating ideal conditions for wildfires.

Though the area under critical threat is expected to shrink to cover the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma on Tuesday, conditions will remain favorable for facilitating wildfires, with winds gusting up to 65 miles an hour, no chance of precipitation and temperatures reaching a high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Critical fire weather conditions are possible again next weekend,” the NWS added.

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Texas

Longhorns Daily News: Texas baseball sticks at No. 2, per D1Baseball poll

Published

5 hours ago

March 17, 2026

Press Room

Longhorns Daily News: Texas baseball sticks at No. 2, per D1Baseball poll

Texas baseball dropped a game to a conference opponent this week and went 3-1 overall but still managed to stay at No. 2 nationally in the latest D1Baseball poll.

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NEWS ACROSS LONGHORN NATION AND BEYOND

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Texas

What Jonah Williams’ season-ending surgery means for Texas

Published

17 hours ago

March 16, 2026

Press Room

What Jonah Williams’ season-ending surgery means for Texas

For the second straight year, the ceiling for a Texas Longhorns baseball team off to a hot start is limited by a key injury in the outfield.

Last year, the loss of slugger Max Belyeu and the persistent injuries suffered by Jonah Williams left head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s team thin in the outfield.

This year, the news that Williams is undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery, combined with the shoulder injury of catcher Presley Courville sustained going through outfield drills, has left the Longhorns without ideal depth after the staff’s plans to bolster the outfield through the transfer portal suffered significant blows when commits Jack Moroknek and Kaleb Freeman signed professional contracts after the 2025 MLB Draft.

So where will Schlossnagle turn with Williams out for the season?

The long-term loss of Williams and the shorter-term loss of Courville impact more than just the outfield — those injuries also take away two options at designated hitter, where the Longhorns are in the unusual position of using that player at the bottom of the lineup, a commentary on the team’s depth situation.

In the outfield, the good news for Texas is the incredible start to season from freshman Anthony Pack Jr., who has gained almost 30 pounds of muscle since arriving on the Forty Acres, allowing his natural confidence to match up with his ability to execute in the batter’s box.

Benefiting from a swing refined by assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki, Pack has shown off unexpected power in hitting four home runs in 19 games, including a walk-off grand slam against USC Upstate. He’s also been able to use a mature whole-field approach to handle fastballs and off-speed pitches, ranking second on the team in batting average at .354 and leading the team in on-base percentage at .489.

A left-handed hitter, Pack’s bat-to-ball skills have helped him keep his strikeout rate under 17 percent and his ability to command the strike zone have allowed the California product to produce more walks than strikeouts. And he’s dangerous enough covering the plate that he’s been hit by a team-leading four pitches as opposing hurlers have struggled to find ways to get him out.

Without the remarkable start from the kid called Pack-Man, the Longhorns would be in the much worse position of needing to address two outfield spots in addition to designated hitter. Instead, calling Pack a potential future star at Texas would negate his credible argument that he’s already a star with his current level of play.

Pack switches between left and right field depending on the other outfield spot, which has developed into a platoon between senior Jayden Duplantier, who has the arm and speed to play right field, and junior Ashton Larson, who is limited to left field.

Duplantier is the right-handed batter with historic positional versatility for the Longhorns who was thrust into extended action for the first time last season and struggled, batting .166 in 30 games, including 10 starts. The Houston product did manage to post a .345 on-base percentage by drawing some speeds and impacting defense’s with his speed, but he also had a strikeout rate of almost 35 percent, looking especially overmatched against SEC pitchers in batting .125 in conference play.

This year, however, Duplantier has improved at the plate in 18 games, including four starts, as Schlossnagle and his staff have limited his at bats against right-handed pitchers, helping him hit .333 with a .441 on-base percentage. There still isn’t much power in Duplantier’s bat with only one double among his nine hits, but the start for Duplantier is far from the worst-case scenario established in 2025.

A 6’2, 210-pounder from Overland Park (Kan.) St. Thomas Aquinas, Larson was the No. 78 overall prospect and No. 13 outfielder in the 2023 recruiting class, according to Perfect Game. Selected in the 20th round of that year’s MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins, Larson opted to honor his commitment to the Tigers.

In conference play, Larson was particularly good, batting a team-best .337 (28-for-83) in SEC regular-season games with eight doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI, and 16 runs. But injuries derailed Larson as a sophomore as he battled for playing time in a crowded outfield, receiving only five starts and hitting .256 in 39 at bats with a strikeout rate of 35.9 percent.

The torn quadriceps suffered by Larson has limited his athleticism, and he’s not exactly a slugging corner outfielder, but he is slashing .344/.463/.531 with three doubles and a home run. Like Duplantier, the left-handed hitting Larson benefits from favorable matchups against right-handed pitchers.

When Courville is able to return from his shoulder injury, he’ll factor in at designated hitter and could play in the outfield as well with fellow freshman Maddox Monsour currently serving as the fourth outfielder, typically in pinch-hitting or pinch-running opportunities. In a limited sample size, Monsour has been good at the plate, batting .429 with a triple and four RBI — high-level bat speed and a short swing should help the 5’11, 205-pounder become an effective college hitter over a larger number of at bats, but Monsour is unlikely to receive that many opportunities this year without further injuries.

As Texas tries to navigate the crucible of SEC play, the outfield looms as the team’s biggest potential weakness, one that Schlossnagle and his staff will have to manage for another season in hopes of achieving a higher ceiling and floor with the team’s 2027 outfield.

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Unbeaten UConn joined by Texas, UCLA and South Carolina as No. 1 seeds for women’s NCAA Tournament

Published

1 day ago

March 16, 2026

Press Room

Unbeaten UConn joined by Texas, UCLA and South Carolina as No. 1 seeds for women’s NCAA Tournament

UConn was awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday and enters March Madness needing six more victories to complete the seventh undefeated season in school history.

The Huskies (34-0) are looking for their 13th national title and trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since the program won four in a row from 2013-16. UConn is joined by UCLA, Texas and South Carolina as the other No. 1 seeds.

UConn, which is led by stars Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, opens the tournament at home against 16th-seeded UTSA and will play in the Fort Worth Regional. If seeds hold, the Huskies could face No. 2 Vanderbilt, which is coached by former UConn great Shea Ralph. This is the 23rd time UConn has earned a No. 1 seed and first since 2021.

UCLA (31-1) was just behind the Huskies as the second overall seed in the tournament. The Bruins have won 25 straight games in dominant fashion after its lone loss against Texas on a neutral court.

“The debate was pretty close the whole time between the two teams,” said NCAA selection committee chair Amanda Braun. “Went to a committee vote, watched a lot of UCLA and UConn — the vote went to UConn. The observable component, the way we watched UConn win throughout the year. UCLA did a lot of winning as well. The committee felt the observable component gave UConn the edge.”

UCLA reached the Final Four last year before losing to UConn. Cori Close’s team ran through the Big Ten and has an experienced group led by center Lauren Betts looking to win the school’s first NCAA championship.

The Bruins will try to win the first women’s national championship for the Big Ten Conference since 1999. The Bruins are one of 12 Big Ten teams in the field. That matches the record they set last season for most teams in the tournament. The SEC has 10, the ACC nine and Big 12 eight.

Other tops teams in UCLA’s region are No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Minnesota.

The Longhorns (31-3) earned the third No. 1 seed after winning the SEC Tournament title. They beat South Carolina in two of the three meetings this season. Texas will play in Fort Worth Regional 3. Other top teams in Texas’ region are No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Louisville and No. 4 West Virginia.

The Gamecocks (31-3) are the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento Regional 4 and have been a No. 1 seed for six consecutive seasons. They will be joined by No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 TCU and No, 4 Oklahoma.

The College of Charleston won the Colonial Athletic Association to make the tournament field for the first time in school history. The Cougars are a 14-seed and are the lone first time entry in the field. Last season, there were six newcomers.

BYU, North Dakota State, Utah and Texas A&M were the first four teams left out of the field.

Financial compensation

For the second consecutive year, teams in the women’s tournament will be financially compensated, in a similar fashion to the men’s field, for each round they play. “Units” are what the NCAA calls its tally of wins, automatic qualifiers and at-large bids that determine how much conferences are paid. A unit is money paid to conferences when one of its teams appears in the NCAA Tournament.

This year, the NCAA is giving teams that reach the championship game and the one that wins the title extra units. That extra compensation was added to the overall pool and doesn’t decrease the overall value of the units.

Tournament sites

The top 16 seeds in the 68-team field will host first- and second-round games, with the regional rounds being played at two neutral sites for the fourth straight year. Fort Worth, Texas, will host half of the Sweet 16 and Sacramento, California, will host the other eight teams.

The Final Four will be played in Phoenix on April 3 and the championship game is two days later.

For the first time the NCAA revealed the 16 host schools a day early. It gave schools an extra day to sell tickets, broadcast partner ESPN a head start to move its equipment to the locations and the NCAA more time to get its marketing materials to sites.

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