Well, chalk one up for the good guys. We’ve been telling your for the better part of a week that Saturday was our best chance for rain in a couple of weeks. Let it be written, let it be done! The first part of the day looked like our previous days with rain in the forecast and that is some folks got some and others didn’t. Saturday afternoon, a whole mess of t’storms started bubbling up to the southwest and moved into the area bringing general rainfall. Again, some people got a quarter inch or so and others up to 2 inches but its the first day of rain for everyone in some time. Now, Sunday, the area of low pressure to our west and the quasi-warm front over the top of us fades away but I suspect there will be enough instability to provide more in the way of scattered activity. We had a couple of severe warnings today but I doubt if that will repeat itself for Sunday. Nevertheless, it bears watching. We’ll heat up for much of the week ahead before a reasonably formidable cold front comes down on Thursday and brings another chance for rain and perhaps slightly cooler temperatures for next weekend.
On this date in history: In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was a mess. All sorts of stuff spilling into the river made it a muck of sewage and chemicals. It was yuckadoo. It was so bad that on this date in 1969, it caught fire.
Some sources say the fire was started by spontaneous combustion. Others say that definitely it did not start that way. The one below says that the cause is unknown but it suspects sparks from a passing train….I didn’t know diesel electric motor trains caused sparks. Anyway, it points out that this was the 10th time the river had ignited.
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1642
The different sources also give different dates….some say the 22nd others say the 23rd. My guess is that it started on the night of the 22nd and burned all day on the 23rd. No matter. It happened and is an example of what can happen if one ignores pollution of waterways. This was an eye opening event and the leaders of Cleveland did more than simply post signs. They got together and worked to clean up and stop the problem. Many historians point to this event as the one that got the ball rolling for the 1972 Clean Water Act
This final link has some interesting tid bits, including a Randy Newman song they claim is linked to the big fire.
http://pratie.blogspot.com/2005/03/cuyahoga-river-fire-of-1969.html
