The ridge of high pressure that has dominated our weather for the last few days will continue to do so. It broke down as expected just enough to allow a few t’storms to skirt our northern viewing area. The band of brothers, Jackson, Jennings and Lawrence Counties in Indiana, were under a tornado watch for a time and northern Lawrence even had a brief, but unwarranted, t’storm warning. The ridge will build in to the west again and any activity will be shunted well to the north and west through the weekend. The record high on Saturday is 96 and Sunday it’s 95. Those will be in jeopardy both days. However, the National Weather Service a couple of years ago moved the official site from the National Weather Service office to Standiford Field. It’s almost always a few degrees hotter at the airport than anywhere else in the region. This has resulted in a number of times when we set a record that otherwise would not have been set. Last year it added many many days to the number of 90 degree days. So, if we do set a record on either day, don’t get a bee in your bonnet over Global Warming because the record will have been set more because they moved the thermometer than because it was actually hotter than it has ever been.
2008 Belmont Stakes Forecast: I don’t know what this means to the handicappers but the ridge of high pressure that is over us will also be influencing New York. Rain chances will be slim and none for the region and it should be partly cloudy and hot at race time. Highs will be in the 90′s. I would think that would mean that a horse’s conditioning and stamina will be at a premium as it is a very long race. Snow White still says Big Brown is the way to go.
On This Date in History: On This Date in 1866 an Indian Chief died. He was a chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes having gained the leadership of both tribes by having a Suquamish father and a Duwamish mother. He was born in the late 18th century and by the 1850′s, white settlers from America started setting up villages. The chief welcomed the strangers and in homage to his kindness, the settlers named the village they set up on Puget Sound for him. They called it Seattle. Chief Seattle was a pretty smart guy as, even though he thought the whites would eventually eradicate his people, he figured that fighting them would only hasten their demise. A couple of other tribes disagreed and started a war, only to surmise that Seattle was probably right all along and they too put down their weapons and made the best of the situation as they could.
However, Chief Seattle had a little problem. In the Indian tradition, the mention of a dead man’s name would disturb his eternal rest and with a town bearing his name, the Chief would be quite restless in eternity. Well, the settlers couldn’t possibly change the name of their town. So, instead, they levied a tax on themselves to raise money for a little fund that they paid to Chief Seattle before he died as a payoff for the trouble he would be in when he passed from this world. On June 7, 1866 Chief Seattle died thus saving the taxpayers of Seattle money.
Here’s an interesting side note on Seattle. They used to skid logs down a chute on the main street to get them to the sawmill. The road came to be known as “skid road”. Later when the town’s main center moved north, the road was left in a dilapidated part of town filled with drunkards and derelicts. The part of town went from being known as “skid road” to “skid row” and today the term “skid row” has made its way into the American lexicon for the dilapidated area of any town in the country.
