A Lonely Longhorn On Crystal Beach
for more photos and video of hurricane ike damage and aftermath, CLICK HERE
A little upper level low developed just to the southwest of Louisville on Friday and more or less stayed put on Saturday. It produced some morning showers and then, as expected, it kicked off some isolated showers in the afternoon. The folks at Valhalla got nervous at one point and issued a weather warning for a storm…well…. a heavy shower with no lightning…over Okolona that never moved nor expanded. It just went away as fast as it developed and the Americans were not thwarted by the weather in the attempt to retain control of the Ryder Cup, unlike the Houston Astros who had their hot streak snuffed by Hurricane Ike and thus will be staying in Houston this fall. Let’s hope that the upper low behaves itself again on Sunday as it wanders slowly northeast and weakens considerably as it does so. However, the general story will be the same as it was on Saturday with a mix of clouds and sun. Many of those from out of town will consider it quite humid but it really won’t be that bad, just more humid than it has been. The increase in humidity with a little afternoon heating in combination with the dying upper low will allow for some scattered afternoon activity. In general, if they get rain on Valahalla or wherever you are on Sunday, you will be unlucky. We need the rain, so in that sense you would be lucky as rain is not in the forecast for the next several days as we stay in a pattern with overnight lows in the mid 60′s and afternoon highs in the mid 80′s for the balance of the week into next weekend.
Hurricane Ike from the ISS 9/10/08
Tropical Weather:
Here is a link to more Hurricane Ike Damage aftermath photos. Its a long slide show from the Associated Press with lots of photos, some of which are from Haiti but a bunch from Houston and Galveston, Bolivar Peninsula, Gilchrist and Crystal Beach, the latter 3 basically being non-existant after Hurricane Ike. Now, its probably too early but there is a new disturbance that may have some merit in watching.
Invest 93 spaghetti model 0921 00Z
It’s Invest 93 and the spaghetti models suggest a move northwest toward perhaps
Invest 93 spaghetti model intensity graph 0921 00Z
the Southeast US Coast. I saw a couple of models create a tropical cyclone and move it either inland or up the coast in the week ahead. But its pretty early and I hesitate to post the spaghetti models, particularly the intensity version because the models are sorta grasping at straws as they are too dumb to be able to initiate it properly. So, you have a range from a near Cat 2 hurricane to a tropical depression. We’ll have to wait and see. Remember, Hurricane Season goes until the end of November in the North Atlantic. I’m sure the people of Galveston are glad to hear that.
Galvez Statue in New Orleans
On This Date in History: Galveston has been in the news lately and on this date in 1779, its namesake was in the news. Bernardo de Galvez was a Spanish military officer and Louisiana Governor who sent explorer Jose de Evia to chart the land from Texas Coast to New Orleans. Evia wandered into a bay near the mouth of a river and named it for his boss. Also established was Galvez Town. I suppose the other two were Galvez Bay and Galvez Island but later it all became known as Galveston. Funny thing is that, not only is there nothing that I know of in Texas named for Evia, but also Evia made his declarartion of name on July 23, 1786 which was the same year that Bernie Galvez died so he never stepped foot on the island or the town or sailed the bay that bore his name. I don’t think that Evian Water has anything to do with Jose either.
Anyway, several years before, Bernie was helping out the Yanks. See, the Spaniards didn’t forge an alliance with the upstart colonists in North America because they didn’t want to give Spanish citizens any ideas. I mean, the notion of revolting against a sitting monarch may sound good to the peasants but is not to pleasing to the King. So, instead they forged an alliance with the French, who had forged an alliance with the colonies. Seems the Spanish were pretty smart because not long after the American Revolution the French got rid of their own king.
Anyway, the Spanish were like the French in that they didn’t have any great love for the American colonists but did have a bone to pick with the British. It’s an old saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend and in this case, the Spanish really wanted to solidify their holdings in North America and also they wanted Gibralter back from the British. So, in a move to support the French who were supporting the Americans, Galvez attacked and captured the city of Baton Rouge on this date in 1779 from the British and had the redcoats so up a tree that they also forced them to give up Natchez in what is now Mississippi. That move effectively gave the Spanish and French control of the lower Mississippi River and allowed them to send supplies all the way to the Ohio Valley, no doubt helping out George Rogers Clark who was manning the fort at Louisville. Galvez went on to kick the Brits out of Pensacola and later the Spanish took East Florida, 
which it later exchanged for the Bahamas. The Spanish never did wrest Gibraltar from British control, Spain but did win all the land surrounding the Gulf of Mexico.
Galvez was quite a guy but given that he never saw the stuff in Texas named after him and the guy who did all the work and took the risk is not remembered for anything, I wonder just how much of the conquering he really did or if he just stayed in the rear with the gear while his men did all the work. But none of it really mattered in the end if you think about it because for all their planning and cunning, the Spanish eventually got tossed out of North America, as well as the French, and those poor little colonists whom they only cared about because they were fighting England ended up getting the whole pie….the American Pie.
