Look for some warmer air to filter in the area over the next few days. We should wander into the 50′s on Monday but a front spoils the fun on Tuesday that brings rain and somewhat cooler conditions. Highs for most of the rest of the week will be seasonably cool. What’s going on is that we have a shift in the polar jet stream such that it has lifted up in the east and will be diving somewhat to the south in the west. So there will be decent prospects for snow out west. Here’s the deal though. The subtropical jet stream is getting active. Late in the week a low will develop on the jet that will propel it into the Southeast. There is some indication that the polar jet will also dive farther south in the East. Should those two phase together, or run parallel in the Southeast, then our prospects for a good snow will increase. Right now, the data is a bit in flux and its possible the low swings up to our north or stays south. If it runs in between, which is possible, then it could get interesting. Stay tuned.
The Confederate Flag: With the South Carolina primary for the Republicans last week and this weekend’s Democratic version, the old flag controversy has raised its head again. Thing is, the flag that is in question was not the real flag. The original flag looked the one above. But commanders on the battlefield complained that it looked like the Union’s Stars and Stripes and it was difficult to determine friend from foe at distances. They changed it a couple of times by putting what would be a square “stars and bars” shape in the corner of a white field and then the same design only with a red vertical bar on the right end.
The Army of Northern Virginia had used the common “stars and bars” for quite some time though it was a square, not rectangular flag. In fact, the proper name of the flag is the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. I suppose since that was the army of Robert E. Lee and is so prominent in remedial history and because it was associated with arguably the South’s best or at least best known general, it became dominant in lore.
Now, the Confederate navy had a couple of flags. One was a square blue field with a circle of 7 stars. Then it was a flag similar to the Army of Northern Virginia flag except it featured a different shade of blue and it was rectangular. The flag the ended up as what is now thought to be the Confederate flag, or the “stars and bars,” has the design and color of the Army of Northern Virginia, but the shape of the second naval flag.
So, one can only conclude that the flag that is the center of controversy never really existed in its present form. All of those movies are wrong. In many battles, a completely different flag was used and the one used that is most similar was a square not a rectangle. The flag has 13 stars but there were really only 11 states in the Confederacy. They added the other two to try and claim Kentucky and Missouri but claims and truth are often at odds. And finally, ironically, the general’s opposition to the use of the flag on the battle field was the exact reason for its original design. The Confederate Congress adopted the flag design above specifically because it did resemble the Stars and Stripes.
So, don’t believe the hype. The flag that has become such a controversial symbol, in fact, did not exist until after the war. I’m surprised that someone who is against the flag would not raise that point. Maybe if they read my blog….
