Global Warming Faux-Pas? Arctic Melting From Undersea Volcano? June 26, 2008

Maybe these cute guys like to swim and maybe their ice islands are getting smaller due to Mother Nature…possibilities that Mr. Gore doesn’t want you or anyone else to examine.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE LOUISVILLE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY, SCROLL TO THE PREVIOUS POST. THERE WILL BE AN UPDATE LATER. FOR AN NATIONAL INTERACTIVE RADAR, click here.

COULD THE ARCTIC ICE MELT BE DUE TO AN UNDERSEA VOLCANO AND NOT GLOBAL WARMING? EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT IT’S POSSIBLE.

Some interesting items have been coming across the Internet in the last few days regarding a newly discovered volcano beneath the Arctic. It apparently is very large and has been spewing extremely hot lava perhaps as high as two kilometers through the water. Apparently this volcano was discovered a few years ago by accident. There had been some who had suspected that the ridge under the Arctic was oozing molten lava but no one had a clue that it was exploding with such force. One article says the eruptions are similar to the one that buried Pompeii.

Before I list a bunch of links that you can check out for yourself, I want to go back to something that I harp on. And that is that we, especially as Americans, tend to lose humility as humans and think we know everything and start talking in absolutes. Someone goes and makes a movie, that includes secretly computer generated scenes of melting ice, and claims that all that needs to be known is known and the debate is declared over. That smacks of totalitarianism, elitism and also is an un-American effort to stifle debate in a free society. I mean, it comes from the same people who claim to be for tolerance. They tend to tolerate what they deem is acceptable and want to squash opposing viewpoints.

Once again, we find that we don’t know everything but act as if we do. Mankind is limited in it’s knowledge and incapable of dealing in absolutes. Previously I posted about the building blocks of life coming from inorganic sources from the ocean floor. Who knew? Now we find that there is a giant heat source under the Arctic that may be responsible for the rapid ice melt. Who knew? As it turns out, you’ll find in some of the links that some people did ponder the warming of ocean waters from below being the cause as they had a theory that ocean warming caused the end of the last ice age.

What rankles me is that this discovery was made in 2004, before the supposed documentary An Inconvenient Truth was made. If the makers didn’t know about it they should have and if it were truly a documentary and not political propaganda to push a point of view, then they would have mentioned the possibilities. And of course, the national media has focused on the topic du jour, Global Warming, and have not even sniffed at this story that first came out in 2004.

Anyway…off my soap box. Here are some links to recent articles.

Canada-Arctic Seabed Afire With Lava Spewing Volcanoes

This one apparently has been saying it’s ocean warming for quite some time.

Ice Age Now

Within that page is an article from 2007 that says a USC study shows that ocean warming and not global warming caused the end to the last ice age

USC Study

Here is an article from the National Science Foundation in 2004 that reported the accidental discovery of the volcanic activity. This was before An Inconvenient Truth was released, yet the report was ignored.

National Science Foundation

Here’s one from a site that has more of a political edge but is informative with maps and such.

The Strata-Sphere

And this one is the most recent that seems to have gotten some attention. It’s a bit political too but it has an interesting chart that shows a drop in Arctic Ice that coincides with the time of when the scientists think that the volcano erupted in 1999.

American Thinker-Arctic Ice Melt May be Due to Undersea Volcanoes

Threat Continues For Saturday; Water Pollution In Midwest Floods June 26, 2008

What I’ve been advertising all week is still holding true. We have a good cold front that will halt the heat and humidity for Saturday. The front will be approaching Saturday afternoon during the heat of the day. I suspect that any cap we have will be eroding. I looked at the indices and vertical profiles for the NAM and GFS for the next few days and we have a whole mess of potential energy. There is nothing that jumps out at me regarding tornadic activity but the potential will be there for strong thunderstorms and they would have the potential for strong winds. We’ll keep you up to date. Remember, you can click on the WLKY website in weather and gain access to interactive radar. You can navigate down to street level anywhere in the country. The gizmo will even let you find out the characteristics of strong storm…i.e. what direction and speed they are moving and whether there is hail, winds, heavy rain, lightning…the whole works. Just click on the link below to the direct access. It’s pretty cool and its applicable for anyone in the country.

WLKY Weather Webpage

Here is the text from the SPC report that pertains to the Ohio Valley

…THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION/OHIO VALLEY TO THE PLAINS… …OHIO VALLEY/GREAT LAKES STATES TO THE CENTRAL/SOUTHERN PLAINS… POTENTIAL WIDESPREAD SEVERE THREAT APPEARS LIKELY TO CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION/OHIO VALLEY TO THE CENTRAL/SOUTHERN PLAINS. COLD UPPER TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO MIGRATE EASTWARD OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST/WESTERN GREAT LAKES…WITH SEASONALLY STRONG MID/UPPER FLOW OVERSPREADING MUCH OF THE OHIO/TENNESSEE VALLEY AND GREAT LAKES STATES. POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD DEEP CONVECTION ON DAY 2 COMPLICATES THE DETAILS AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER…AMPLE LARGE SCALE FORCING FOR ASCENT…INCREASINGLY STRONG WIND FIELDS ALOFT /AND THE SOUTHEASTWARD SPREAD THEREOF/…AND A MOIST/UNSTABLE PRE-COLD FRONTAL WARM SECTOR WILL SUPPORT A NUMBER OF SEVERE TSTMS ON SATURDAY. ALL CONVECTIVE MODES/HAZARDS ARE POSSIBLE. A POTENTIALLY ORGANIZED SEVERE THREAT WILL EXIST AS FAR WEST AS THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS…WHERE A MOIST/UNSTABLE EASTERLY UPSLOPE REGIME WILL FAVOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE TSTMS INCLUDING SUPERCELLS.

Heavy rain is falling again the the plains and they will remain susceptible to heavy rain through Friday. Many rivers have fallen but there will be the risk of them rising again. Meantime…water pollution…I keep harping on it and the global media is more concerned with global warming while we poison ourselves for certain. Note in the story below how the subjects in the story are flippant about bacteria and such saying it’s not that big of a deal…as if it’s acceptable.

Midwest Flood Pollution Should Subside

Here is a story from nearly two weeks ago that said, “But of more immediate concern to state and Federal emergency aid officials were health threats and property damage caused by pollution.” Two weeks later, they are like Kevin Bacon in Animal House declaring “all is well” as the town square turns to mayhem. Contrast this story about raw sewage going into the rivers and oil spills with the previous one that paints a much rosier picture.

Sewage Plants Empty Into Flood Waters

I’m tellin’ ya…it’s the water pollution we need to be focusing on. There’s no reason for it to be acceptable for sewage plants to be overflowing into rivers. We can fix it if we want to.

Here are some more photos from the Boston Globe from the Mighty Mississippi River flooding Iowa. I ignored them before but shouldn’t have.

Boston Globe Iowa Flood Photos

This is a cool photo of Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong as what was left of Typhoon Fengshen came ashore to the east of this location. It’s a very creative photo but I can’t help but thinking that Godzilla is about to appear in the picture. It looks like something from those movies. I also wonder if any ferry operators were trying to shuttle people around.

John Gets it Done; Fengshen Goes to Hong Kong; Stormy Weather Getting Closer June 26, 2008

This is Friday’s Severe Threat. The idea is that the front is moving across the northern plains. There is a lot of energy to the north. Tornadic activity is most likely from say Iowa through Minnesota. As the storms move along ahead of the front, the should weaken a bit. Then as the front comes through here on Saturday afternoon, then there will be a regeneration. The only discussion as of this writing is from Wednesday morning and can be found here on Saturday Potential. Thursday will be hot and humid with scattered to isolated t’storms. We’re not in the slight risk but just recognize that if you are under a t’storm, it will have the potential to be strong with small hail, gusty winds and plenty of lightning. I’ll have more midday on Thursday.

Typhoon Fengshen made landfall fairly close to Hong Kong….just barely to the East. I think it may even be in the same province. It was a wind and rain maker for the area with some flooding. My guess is that the mudslides and flooding stated in the following story probably was on the eastern side of the huge city. Nevertheless, it’s China’s wealthiest province and they already had flooding earlier this month. Here’s a story.

BBC Weather Center

Here’s the story from the English version of the Russian Pravda, which I think was the former state controlled news service. What’s maybe more interesting than the story, which is just a short AP story, are the side stories on the page. They are under “Breaking News”! One calls Sen. McCain “Anti-Russian Sen. John McCain” another says that racism is one of the USA’s biggest problems and another that Senators Clinton and Obama are “fighting to change US history. We thought the “Breaking News” in the US was over the top. We should put this in our newspapers. “Breaking News: Former Communists still in Russia.” You can decide for yourself who Pravda is hoping wins.

Pravada-Fengshen Hong Kong

The photos from this blogger from Hong Kong don’t seem to match the headlines. Again, my guess is that much of the main part of Hong Kong probably didn’t fair all that badly…but I’m not there I am here and I am going by what is typical of tropical systems. Here’s the blogger’s photos.

Hong Kong photos from blogger

On This Date in History: These days, with the government induced and short sighted push toward ethanol, corn is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the agricultural market. That is actually a trend toward the past. Before wheat became a large part of the Midwestern scene, corn was king. But, a group of outcasts came and changed all of that. The Mennonites had over time been run out of numerous countries before they came to the United States by way of the Ukraine. Like other peoples from other parts of the world that arrived in the land of the free and the home of the brave, they brought a little something to add to our melting pot. On this date in 1873, the first Russian Mennonites purchased land in Kansas. They had actually been lobbied by the state to come because it was desirable to develop a population that could farm efficiently. Not only did the Ukrainians bring efficiency, but also hearty winter wheat. When they arrived, there was a plague of locusts and then a drought. But these were hard working, determined people who had an ace up their sleeve. The locusts got the corn and the soft spring wheat but the winter wheat had been planted the winter before and harvested before the insects came. The Mennonites turned a profit. At first the Kansans had made fun of their new neighbors because of their different clothing and way of life. Quickly any jeers faded as the smilers watched the immigrants settle their accounts in gold and their business activity refill the depleted state accounts. Everyone got the drift and winter wheat became the main crop in Kansas. Funny thing was.. by the late 20th century, it was largely Kansas wheat that eventually became an export back from whence it came; Russia.

The most prolific President of all time got back in the saddle on this date in 1844 when President John Tyler wed his twenty-four year old second wife. The 54 year-old widower had lost his wife several months prior. She had lost her father in a cannon accident just two months prior to the wedding. You can read about the whole incident and other details on my previous account regarding John Tyler. Bottom line is that President Tyler is the only President to be married while in office. They wed in secret to avoid the 19th century of the Paparazzi and because she was supposed to be in mourning over her father’s death and most people don’t think marrying the President of the United States as being a good exhibition of mourning. The Tylers didn’t have much time left in office as his term was up in 8 months. But that didn’t mean that John couldn’t still get it done. He had 7 children by is first wife of 29 years. He had 8 more by his second wife. In all, he had 15 children. One was 5 years older than his 2nd wife and 45 years older than the youngest. Who says Jimmy Carter is the most accomplished former President?

Iraq Weather; Is The Ocean Floor Creating Life? Severe Threat This Wed. Eve. June 25, 2008

Note: I got a comment that gave some sort of complaint about using a different term for the Persian Gulf. A term that had been used by National Geographic but is less well known than Persian Gulf. While the writer claims that the term has been “forbidden” by the UN and in Democracies, words are not forbidden, I have gone ahead and changed the references in my spirit of not offending. However, I must point out that the logic given is weak. Further, the other side of the Persian Gulf is admitted by the poster to be occupied by the Arabian Peninsula. How one side has jurisdiction over naming rights is beyond me except in the sense of nationalism. I edit this on the Fourth of July, the day that marked freedom of thought and freedom of speech that spread around the world and invite all who think that I need a lesson in geography to take a lesson in the value of Democracy and Freedom.

Someone tell me why there is such an interest in John Wilkes Booth. There have been over 100 hits on a posting about Booth from late April. I don’t get it. People seem to be going for the picture of Booth but I have no idea why.

Weather in Iraq: Below is a link to a good Persian Gulf Map. It’s a adobe pdf map that is big and the lat and lon lines are very clear. You can use it to view the second map, which is a loop of the forecast pressure and surface temperatures in the Middle East. From the big map, you can find that the coastal region of the Persian Gulf that is part of Iraq on the Iraq/Kuwait border is 30 N and 48 E. From there you should be able to get your bearings on the loop map. I believe it is the GFS solution. This is via the US Air Force and is not classified information. Take a look at how over 72 hours how consistent the isobars and isotherms are. Very hot and not changing. The US Navy forecast for the Persian Gulf is generally highs between 100 and 110 and lows in the low to mid 80′s with periods of dust. I suppose if we saw a big pressure gradient that would mean a big sandstorm though there may be local features that initiate that sort of stuff. Anyway, the press usually doesn’t tell us much about the weather for our men and women serving in Iraq and I thought some of you might be interested. Having said all of that…the references I am making are as of the time of this posting. The link should update and so the information that you get from the loop should be current for whenever you click on it.

Link to:

Persian Gulf Map

Link to:

GFS sfc temp and pressure fcst loop

Life From the Ocean Floor? I was sitting in the doctor’s office and actually found something besides Highlights or 6 month old copies of McCalls or Sports Illustrated. Doctors are notorious for providing extremely old periodicals to read. Anyway, I stumbled upon an article in Science News that talks about how organic material is apparently being created out of inorganic matter. Hydrocarbons, it is hypothesized, are being created out of inorganic chemical reactions in thermal vents in an area called the Lost City. Thermal vents typically create chimneys of minerals that rise to as high as 20 meters before the collapse. What caught these guys’ eye was the vents that were up to 60 meters and it turned out that they were made up of hydrocarbons. It’s a very interesting article and is an example of how, in the 21st century, we think we are so smart and know everything, when in fact, we know very little. We also tend to find that what we think we knew, we actually didn’t know at all. I could go on about the absolutes that are being thrown about in the Global Warming argument, but I won’t. But, I will say that one of the American exports of modern science is a lack of humility and lack of recognizing the limitations of man. Here is the link to the article printed in Science News in February 2008.

Science News Seafloor Chemistry: Life’s Building Blocks Made Inorganically

SPC Severe Threat for Wednesday Night Through Thur. Morning. The SPC has revised their forecast map for the remainder of the day and part of the viewing area is in the slight risk. Thunderstorms have developed just north of Louisville as a shortwave axis slips across. We are on the southern extent of the axis and I wouldn’t think that too much trouble could erupt but it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities. There is probably a cap in most of our area but it is gone once you get toward Cincinnati. I’ll have more about Louisville weather later.

Saturday Potential June 25, 2008

This is the day 4 outlook from the SPC. Keep in mind that they have the fringe of the slight risk in part of our viewing area for Thursday and Friday too with the line running just north of Louisville and then extending to a very broad area to the north. They cast a wide net. I put it in the possible, not probable range and suggest that their wide net is so large that it’s more of a CYA thing than anything else. If we get anything, it would most likely be in the afternoons. But, for Saturday, we have a frontal boundary coming through. The main center of energy is to the north so that would suggest that the best chances will be NNE. However, last I checked the timing was very good, though one model insisted on an earlier advance. It was the Canadian and was the odd man out. So, afternoon is the most likely scenario and the SPC feels like wind fields may be sufficient all the way down here to warrant the potential for something exciting. We’ll see. Here’s the SPC report as it pertains to our region.
FOR DAY 4/SATURDAY…WITH THE COLD UPPER TROUGH FORECAST TO CONTINUE
AMPLIFYING/CLOSING OFF OVER THE GREAT LAKES REGION…RELATIVELY
STRONG WIND FIELDS IN THE MID LEVELS SHOULD DEVELOP AS FAR SOUTH AS
THE CENTRAL APPALACHIANS. AHEAD OF THE EAST/SOUTHEAST ADVANCING COLD
FRONT…A RISK FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE TSTMS APPEARS LIKELY FOR MUCH
OF THE OHIO VALLEY/CENTRAL APPALACHIANS INTO THE MID
ATLANTIC/NORTHEAST STATES.

Earthquake Tuesday? Philippines Typhoon Photos and Track; Midwest Flooding Photos; Missouri is Safe For Mitt Romney June 25, 2008

Did You Feel the Earthquake? Probably not. At about 6:20pm EDT Tuesday evening of June 24 there was an earthquake in the same area as the 5.2 magnitude quake that got everyone buzzing on April 18. I suppose that it would considered to be an aftershock. This one was just a 2.9. The one in April released an energy equivalent of about 50, 000 tons of TNT, which is about 2.5 times more than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This guy only released about 30 tons of TNT, or the equivalent to a very large conventional weapon. When you look at the terms of energy release, it makes one realize the power of nature. I’ve seen estimates that a really good hurricane releases energy the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb every second. And to think there have been people who think that we could blow out a hurricane with an A-bomb. All you would get would be a radioactive hurricane, possibly even more intense because you added heat to what is already essentially a heat engine.

Earthquake Details

Magnitude	2.9
Date-Time	Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 22:20:09 UTC Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 05:20:09 PM at epicenter
Location	38.450°N, 87.860°W
Depth	14.7 km (9.1 miles)
Region	ILLINOIS
Distances	8 km (5 miles) NNE (31°) from Bellmont, IL 9 km (6 miles) WNW (296°) from Mount Carmel, IL 11 km (7 miles) N (3°) from Keensburg, IL 39 km (24 miles) SW (230°) from Vincennes, IN 59 km (37 miles) NNW (333°) from Evansville, IN 208 km (129 miles) E (95°) from St. Louis, MO
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 0.8 km (0.5 miles); depth +/- 0.9 km (0.6 miles)
Parameters	NST= 12, Nph= 16, Dmin=7.7 km, Rmss=0.21 sec, Gp= 86°, M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=B
Source	Cooperative New Madrid Seismic Network
Event ID	nmhwb0624a

Here’s a re-link to the Midwest flooding. The Reuter’s site seems to be updating their photo gallery pretty frequently so this is a re-publishing of the link from the previous post.

Reuter’s Midwest Flooding Photo Gallery

Here is the US Navy site again for the track of Typhoon Fengshen…that would be the same Philippines Typhoon Fengshen. They update this regularly. As of this posting, they have it going ashore just east of Hong Kong. It’s pretty minimal at maybe 60 knots. It’s angle of attack should give Hong Kong an offshore flow so the storm surge wouldn’t be a problem and rains tend to be dramatically lessened on the western side of the storm. Shouldn’t be much of a problem for the former British city.

US Navy Naval Research Laboratory Tropical Cyclcone Tracking

Here’s a Reuter’s photo and news gallery of the storm. You can look back at the previous posts for other links to photos and video.

Reuter’s Typhoon Fengshen photo and news gallery

Here is the national rain outlook for Wednesday. Pretty lame as far as we’re concerned. Warm front lifts up early Wednesday, an upper low to the northwest will track to our north. Possible, not probable, that there may be an errant t’storm in the extreme northern part of the viewing area but that’s about it. I doubt it. Our air will be very dry and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the airport in the lower 90s. The rest of us in the upper 80′s to 90 or so. Humidity really increases and Thursday and Friday will be tough. Maybe some isolated to scattered t’storms on those days. Saturday we get a front that may be worth noting. And, there was one bit of data today that suggested perhaps Sunday may have something of interest. We’ll deal with the weekend when we get to it. Until then, it looks like the AC will be running again…have to keep my fat cats cool. Nothing worse than a panting cat.

On This Date in History: Joseph Smith founded the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) in 1830 in New York. But Smith said that was not the promised land. Instead, he said the “city of God” lay in Missouri. Once in Missouri though, some people left the church, as people tend to do in all religions. But, the guy in charge, Sidney Rigdon, read a sermon in which he called on Mormons to run the former members of the congregation out of the state…or at least the county. This eventually led to violence between some Mormons and the militia of the state. That prompted Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs to issue Executive Order 44. In a letter to his General in charge of the State Militia, Boggs said that “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace–their outrages are beyond all description. ” This is why Missouri Executive Order 44 is called the “Extermination Order.” Hundreds of Mormons were beaten, tarred, raped and lynched. So much for the promised land. So, they went to Illinois but weren’t welcomed there. Meanwhile, Governor Boggs got shot through a window while he read a paper. He was hit by four pellets of buckshot. Two in the head, one in the neck and the fourth in the throat….which he promptly swallowed. All thought he was dead but he miraculously recovered. Meantime, Brigham Young became the new Mormon leader and in the 1840′s he set off for the West to set up a Mormon nation. The result today is the state of Utah.

Now…here’s the kicker. The “Extermination Order” of 1838…a despicable order that flies in the face of all facets of the Constitution and all the tenets on which the nation was founded…was thankfully rescinded. On This Date in 1976, Missouri Governor Christopher S. Bond signed an executive order that closed the book on Executive Order 44…137 years after it was written. This puts Missouri almost on par with Kentucky and Mississippi, who did not ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that eliminated slavery until 1976 and 1995 respectively. Better late than never.

More On Philippines Typhoon Fengshen; More Flood Photos June 24, 2008

Our weather looks great today.  Forecast on track otherwise.  Our best chance for good thunderstorms is Saturday with a front approaching.  After today the humidity will return with a vengeance but should only be here through Saturday. 

Mississippi Flooding Photos-Another Levee broke along the Mississippi River.  Here is a link to flooding photos in general.  As I link it, there are 568 photos from Yahoo via Reuters.

Reuters Flooding Photo Gallery

Here is some video via Youtube from Philippines Typhoon Fengshen

youtube video

National Geographic has some interesting things from the Typhoon:

National Geographic

And something else from National Geographic and their week of photos.  One includes a story that appears to be very popular with them…it’s about naked cyclists who seem to be riding in the buff to protest oil.  I think it was just an excuse to ride naked.  When I was a kid, National Geographic was always a good source for looking at naked people. It’s the second of the 7 top stories…Midwest flooding was number one.

Naked Cyclists from National Geographic

Mississippi River Flood Forecast; The Fastest Cat On Wheels! (not Toonces) June 24, 2008

My kitty cats are sisters…they were born on President Lincoln’s birthday in Cajun country in South Louisiana. They both are black and white and have very pretty markings with little black beards. So, one got named Mary Todd because she was clearly the nut-case of the two. Even at age 12 she still chases her tail. The more serene, and now fat one, is Abee. Couldn’t name her Abe. They both have different personalities and now have other names. Most notably, Nit and Wit. I also called them Fat and Cat, Fatso and kitty cat, Barfette and Poopalot and other names that etiquette prevents me from presenting. They are good watch cats as they growl at any disturbance out of the ordinary and they are good weather cats as whenever the weather gets bad, they come and curl up around Snow White’s feet like house slippers. When it’s really bad, they go to their shelters in the interior of the house. I once found Mary Todd(Nit) in the small closet in the bathroom and Abee (Wit) was behind the toilet. They may be smart, but I don’t think that they can perform as well as a certain cat on this date in 1928.

The above graphic shows the flood outlook for the week of the 23rd. Not suprisingly, the reds are along the mid Mississippi River Valley. If you look at the yellows though in the region, there is concern that rain this week may be sufficient to cause river flooding problems in other parts of the basin. The flooding that is going on is generally not comparable to 1993. For some it is, but not most places. However, in 1993 there was an extended period of rain in the plains and, if this pattern doesn’t change, then its not totally out of the question that this story isn’t over yet.

As far as we are concerned, we are in the midst of a shift. The big upper low around the Great Lakes is shifting Northeast as a high comes over the top of us. That started on Monday which is why the rain chances shifted east as the day progresses with parts of the eastern portion of the viewing area getting rain and t’storms…South and East early…East and northeast in the afternoon. Tuesday will be great. Look for Snow White and I in the sculls on the river. Heat and humidity return with a warm front early Wednesday. Highs in the low 90′s, overnight lows in the low 70′s. A shortwave that was progged to come through on Wednesday night has now shifted north of the area and there is consensus with this. We are on the tail end of the vorticity axis but its probably not enough to produce anything but maybe some storms north toward Indy. There may be convective stuff on Thursday. Friday perhaps something more scattered with a little upper disturbance and then Saturday a front comes in that will produce t’storms. That is the beginning of a shift back to a nice pattern similar to what we’ve had. In short, the hot and humid conditions do not look like that they will last more than about 4 days. Then we get a ridge in the west and trof in the east type long wave pattern.

On This Date in History: Rocket technology has some roots in America with Robert Goddard and in Germany with Werner Von Braun. Those names are relatively well known. But also in Germany, Fritz Von Opel was into rockets. He did quite a few tests in 1928 but he was more into cars and transportation than such fanciful things that Goddard and Von Braun were into, namely getting into space. The Opel RAK 1 was a rocket powered car driven by Kurt C Volkhart to a speed of 75 mph. He later drove the RAK two, featuring two rocket boosters, to 143 mph. Opel then bought a sail plane, put a rocket on it created the first rocket plane. It exploded on the second test flight before Opel himself could pilot it. No word on who the lucky pilot was. But, Opel bought another plane and flew it successfully in September 1930. But, he wasn’t done with rocket cars…on this date in 1928, he tested the RAK 3.

It was a rocket powered car on a railroad track. Opel didn’t drive it though…he left that to a cat! The cat passenger rocketed to a new record 157 mph! He was the fastest cat alive. But the second half of the statement soon was left untrue. Opel again put the cat behind the wheel but this time, the rocket rail car malfunctioned and all of the rockets fired at once sending the feline flying down the track until the vehicle crashed. The cat did not survive. In spite of the pictures above…never let the cat get behind the wheel. Good thing for Opel PETA wasn’t around. I’m not sure why Opel volunteered a cat to be the brave driver, but at least he could have put him in the promotional photo.

Philippines Typhoon Fengshen; Super-Collider Dooms Earth?; Internet “Shake-Up” proposed June 23, 2008

Since it’s pretty quiet in the Atlantic, I thought I’d give an update to the Philipines Typhoon Fengshen. It hit the Phillippines with about 80-100 kt winds but there has been flooding. A ferry with 800 passengers capsized during the Typhoon. Who takes a ferry full of people into a Typhoon? The Skipper and Gilligan?Here is a link to an interesting website that has some news.

Surfer Village Link

Here is one from the US Navy that provides the latest tracking information. This data is not classifed.

Navy-Naval Research Laboratory

Here are some photos and an accompanying story from the BBC. If you look to the right it also has other stories. I’m linking on one that you probably won’t see in the US, which is about a super-collider in Europe that has people afraid that it is so powerful that it will bring the end of the world!! That would make the global warming question a moot point.

BBC Fengshen in Pictures

Earth Not “at risk” from Collider

And finally, another from the BBC about a proposed change in the internet.

BBC-Internet “shake-up”

Limited Monday Through Monday Night Storm Threat June 23, 2008

Their graphic update for Monday is pretty much on the same thinking as my previous discussion except that the big low is already on the move.  This morning we had some showers and t’storms in the east and southeastern part of the viewing area.  So the morning risk panned out to an extent.  If you notice, they have the convective t’storm area a shade west and south of Louisville and points to the east and south.  This shift is a reflection of the earlier than anticipated shift of the big upper low.  Our lapse rates Monday afternoon are good but the air aloft is pretty dry so rain/storm chances appear marginal.

Here is what the SPC says about  the Ohio Valley:

…OH VALLEY/APPALACHIANS TO THE EAST COAST…
   PERSISTENT UPPER TROUGH OVER THE GREAT LAKES AND OH/TN VALLEY
   REGIONS THIS MORNING IS ALREADY BEGINNING TO ACCELERATE/MOVE
   EWD…AND MODELS BRING TROUGH ACROSS THE LOWER LAKES/APPALACHIANS
   THIS EVENING.  AS HAS BEEN THE CASE THE PAST FEW DAYS…A LARGE AREA
   OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE
   FROM THE CAROLINAS NWD INTO THE UPPER OH RIVER VALLEY/NEW ENGLAND
   TODAY.  ACTIVITY WILL ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP IN SEVERAL EPISODES AS
   HEATING AND DEEP ASCENT/COOLING ALOFT PROVIDE INCREASING INSTABILITY
   THROUGH THE AFTERNOON…DESPITE WIDESPREAD AREA OF MOIST
   CONVECTION/CLOUDS ALREADY IN PLACE OVER THE REGION.  LOW LEVEL FLOW
   WILL REMAIN FAIRLY WEAK…ALTHOUGH MODERATE SWLY WINDS ALOFT WILL
   SUSTAIN 25-35 KT DEEP LAYER SHEAR.  THIS WILL SUPPORT ORGANIZATION
   INTO LINES/CLUSTERS AND POSSIBLY A SUPERCELL OR TWO…PRODUCING
   LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.