Taking The Family On A Vacation?
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Rainfall Forecast Fri/Sat
Your Wet Friday Is here: Snow White and I took advantage of the nice Thursday and took to the Mighty Ohio River in our sculls. She was convinced there would be lots of boat traffic but I was equally as convinced that no one would be out. I was mostly correct. The river was quiet and, in spite of a decent Southeasterly wind, it was relatively calm. Now, its been some time since we were able to paddle about since out dock has been out of commission, but all is well and the rowing was great. So, why did we do all of that? It’s because I know that the storm will finally get here. It’s going to be quite chilly with highs only in the low to maybe mid 50′s at best and we’ll get a steady rain all day. Football games may be salvaged somewhat in that the rain should be tapering off but its going to be cold and wet and there will probably still be light showers in the area that will hold over into the first part of Saturday. I’m suspecting that Sunday will be our next decent day to row…take that as your cue when our next decent weather will be….its in advance of the next cold system that will drop down on Monday and bring us our first threat of an areawide freeze either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
Telegraph Completed In Spite of Civil War
On This Date in History: On this date in 1861, the Pony Express, for all intents in purposes, came to an end. What caused the demise was that on October 24, 1861 first transcontinental telegraph was completed. Until that date, the Pony Express was the fastest way to get messages from the east…generally from St. Louis….to the western frontier. The telegraph was a vast improvement. What I find most interesting about this and things like the Transatlantic cable is what it says about the Civil War. There were several
Atlantic Cable Completed In Spite of Civil War
attempts all through the 1860′s at completing the cable, which finally was completed in 1866. In my view, this indicates that the Union had no conception of defeat. While the South was trying to figure out how to feed the people, find
Transcontinental Railroad Began In Spite of Civil War
enough troops, supply those troops with armaments and with even basic necessities such as shoes and finance the effort, the Union had enough resources to work on a Transatlantic cable and complete a transcontinental telegraph. And don’t forget, these efforts were already started when the Civil War began. If all that was not enough, Congress authorized the Pacific Railway Act in 1862 which was the beginning of the Transcontinental Railway. What that means is that the Union began another huge project even after the war had started. As I said, no concept of defeat.
A Soggy Annie Is Helped Ashore After Her Ride
Niagara Falls. After all, in 1829 some guy had survived jumping from a cliff into the falls but no one had gone over in a barrel. So, why not try? With her husband dead, she had little hope of being able to live anything more than a meager life for the rest of her days. She hoped the stunt would bring her fame and fortune. Well, she got her 15 minutes of fame but never made much money from the ordeal. But, she did inspire others to do the same thing though.
Annie Didn't find her stunt too Profitable
Throughout the 20th century, 15 people have tried to go over the falls one way or another. Ten have survived. Jesse Sharp went over in a kayak in 1990. He died. In 1995, Robert Overcracker tried to prove technology was the answer when he went over on a jet ski. He died too. Before you get any ideas, its illegal to attempt to go over the falls so even if you live to tell about it you might be telling your story to your cell mates. Besides that, you’d probably just end up like Annie: lost to history and broke, if not broken.
Rain Totals Forecast This Week; Ours will Come Thu-Sat
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I told you so!
Another Colonel Klink Moment. I told you that the official low in Louisville wouldn’t get to 36…but we said 39 and it was 41 at the airport. We’ll claim a partial victory. Now, no one lives at the airport so the low in your backyard was probably in the upper 30′s. Scottsburg and Bloomington were down to near freezing, yet they were not in the Frost Advisory area, which I still cannot figure out. Anyway, after another chilly Monday morning, the afternoon will get to the upper 60′s. A weak front comes through Monday night and there may be a very insignificant shower or two but the real story with this front will be when it comes back. The tail end of the boundary will develop a low in the Southern Plains and then come back our way, bringing rain and murkiness for late Thursday through the first part of Saturday.
Invest 91 Spaghetti Model
Also another Colonel Klink Moment regarding Tropical Depression 16. If you recall, I had said that if it stayed around long enough it might be a trouble maker. Well, now it’s called Invest 91 and has re-emerged just off the coast of Belize. The National Hurricane Center hasn’t said that it had its genesis from Tropical Depression 16 but it is. Anyway, the official forecast calls for it to go back into Central America, but you can see from the Spaghetti model that there are some computers that want to take it back toward Florida. My guess is that these guys are being influenced by the climatology parameters in the equations. Nevertheless, what I said before still holds. Invest 91 is in no way an imminent threat but, as long as this guy lurks, eventually it may get picked up toward the north and so it needs to be monitored.
Unsuspecting Town Before Confederate Raid
On This Date in History: On this date in 1864, a group of Confederate raiders were basking in the success of a raid into Union territory. Big deal, right? I mean the Confederate Army was wandering all over the North during the Civil War but by October 1864, most of the action was taking place in Southern territory. But, these guys didn’t strike where you might think.
This was the cavalry…about 20 of them organized by Confederate Agent George Sanders and let by Lt. Bennett Young. The plan was to quickly swoop into an unsuspecting town. This they accomplished when Young stood on the steps of a local hotel with guns drawn and proclaimed that the small town was in the possession of the Confederate States of America. The Rebels galloped up and down the Main Street and forced the locals into the village green. Then the cavalrymen went to the town’s banks and took all of their money. There they forced patrons and bank tellers to pledge allegiance to the Confederacy. I guess that they were in a hurry to leave, which doesn’t sound like the town was really in possession of the Confederacy…more like just a short loan as they left after about 30 minutes of marauding. They tried to burn the town but somehow only managed to burn down a shed. And as they scampered away, much of the money they stole fell to the ground but they still managed to make off with about $200,000.
And so, on this date in 1864, the cavalrymen were no doubt counting their loot…in Canada, though they were eventually held by the authorities. You see, this little known of raid was the farthest excursion north of any forces of the Old South. The town was St. Albans. And it resided near the scenic Lake Champlain in Vermont! The raiders on this date in history were safe, in Canada, from which the entire caper began.
Local Hero?
Here’s the kicker….Bennett H. Young was just 21 when he led the raid. After creating an international incident, he returned to the Confederacy with the money as a hero. He was promoted to General. He returned to his home state after the war and became one of the state’s best lawyers. The state? Kentucky. And the town in which he practiced was Louisville. I’m not certain, but I believe he was a member of Second Presbyterian Church. Here is a brief biography.
Pondering The Location of the Frost Advisory for This Morning
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The above map is the graphic put out by the National Weather Service for Sunday morning. Our forecast called for an official low of 39. It would appear that they chose 36. Whatever. We’ll see who wins when its all tallied up by the final analysis on Sunday night. Anyway, what I found curious was that a frost advisory was put out for counties east of I-65. This is an extremely shallow layer of cold air but it seemed like to me that much of the area, including the west and north will fall at least to the mid 30′s which will be pretty close to the dewpoint. I’m not certain why the western and northwestern parts of teh viewing area were not included. Anyway, Sunday we’ll warm to the mid to upper 60′s, low 70′s on Monday followed by a weak front Monday night that will bring clouds but not much of a rain threat. The clouds go away on Wednesday and then a disturbance comes up from the Southwest bringing clouds and rain for Thursday and Friday.
Link Below Allows For Navigation and Analysis of each Quake
Virgin Islands/Puerto Rico Earthquakes: While we were focused on Hurricane Omar and the danger it posed to the Islands of the northeastern Caribbean on the surface, mother nature was shaking things up from below. I was snooping on Saturday night at the geological data from around the world and came across a whole bunch of earthquakes between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It would appear that they are aftershocks from a 6.1 earthquake (AP story) on Saturday October 11. (Here is the USGS Data) It was the biggest earthquake in Puerto Rico in 20 years and was exactly 90 years since a big quake on October 11, 1918 that killed 118 in Puerto Rico’s worst earthquake. If there are any folks on the American
Puerto Rico Trench
protectorate that have such earthquake history in their minds, I’m sure that it was a bit unnerving. Funny how that events such as this seem to fly under the news radar. Guess the press only like death and destruction. In any event, it wasn’t bad enough that these folks were staring in the teeth of a 125 mph hurricane, they were also in the midst of a bunch of aftershocks of around 3.0 rattling the nerves. Here is a link to the associated map so that you may investigate recent earthquake information, if you choose. Here is a link that tells you all about the Puerto Rico Trench and the associated Bunce Fault, on which this earthquake occurred. The trench was recently determined to be the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of some 5.2 miles.
General Washington-Yorktown The Final Act
On This Date in History: This was not a good day for European Generals. On this date in 1781, British General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered his 8000 soldiers and sailors to American and French forces at Yorktown, VA to effectively bring the American Revolution to a close. (Details here) Basically, Cornwallis had had a rough go of it in North Carolina and went to the Virginia Coast so that he could try to maintain supply lines with General Clinton in New York. But, he messed up by putting his back to the James River leaving no real way to escape. General Washington took advantage of the situation by ordering the Marquis de Lafayette to position is forces in Virginia in such a way as to block any escape of Cornwallis by land. Washington took his 2500 men and joined forces with the 4000 French under Count de Rochambeau and they mounted an attack on Cornwallis. Now, Chuck was certain that a British Fleet would come to his rescue but that was thwarted by a superior French Fleet that lay in wait off the Virginia Coast. With his position completely hopeless, Cornwallis surrendered, the Americans won and the rest is history. But, Cornwallis was such a weasel that he did not personally surrender his sword. He sent his second. Upon seeing this, General Washington refused to take the sword, instead instructing his second to do the honors. Just remember this: had it not been for the French, we may still be paying homage to a King. But, lest we forget….we’ve been paying back the French our debt of gratitude ever since.
Napoleon Tries to Escape from Russia and its Winter
Too bad for Napoleon that the United States was in no position to help him out on this date in 1812. It was on October 19, 1812 that the Emperor began his retreat from Russia. (More detailed History-click here) He had taken a massive army to invade Russia but was outsmarted. Instead of fighting the far superior force, the Russians retreated in a scortched earth policy. When the French got to Moscow, they had expected to resupply but instead found a smoldering, deserted city. Napoleon was forced to retreat and on the way, he was harrassed by hit and run tactics. Then came the Russian winter. By the time the French got back to Paris, Napoleon had lost 400,000 men. I don’t think he spent the $15 million he got from the Americans from the Louisiana Purchase very wisely.
