National Anthem Declared 117 Years After Key Wrote It March 3, 2010

Our Flag is Still There...At the Smithsonian With a Few Repairs

Capital Goes Up in Smoke

On this Date in History:  During the War of 1812, the British had several military successes including the invasion and burning of Washington, DC.  On August 24, 1814 they burned down the White House and Dolley Madison gained fame for saving the famous painting of General Washington.  President Madison and Dolley had escaped so the Redcoats were pretty much done with the nation’s capital and returned to their ships.  The next target was Baltimore.  The Americans anticipated that the British would attack the important Maryland port city of 40,000 by both land and sea.  As they made preparations, it was learned that a beloved local physician had been captured and spirited to one of the British ships in Chesapeake Bay.  Dr. William Beanes was being held on the British flagship HMS Tonnant.  

Artist's Depiction of Key is Wrongly Dramatic

There was great fear that Dr. Beanes was going to be hanged and so the locals called on the services of a Georgetown lawyer to approach the British in an attempt to gain the elderly doctor’s release.  Attorney Francis Scott Key gained permission from President Madison to sail on the sloop Minden along with Colonel John Skinner under a flag of truce in an attempt to work out a deal.  The British received Key courteously but at first refused to release the good doctor.  Then, Skinner and Key produced a bag full of letters from wounded English prisoners who praised the Americans for their treatment and medical care.  One of the physicians mentioned was none other than Dr. Beanes.  That softened the Redcoat hearts and they agreed to allow Key and Skinner to take Beanes home.  But, there was a small problem.

This Flag is Made Up of People! Like Soylent Green!

They discovered that, inadvertently, attorney Key had learned of the plans for the imminent British attack.  At first the trio was detained on the HMS Surprise but later were moved back to their sloop, the Minden, where they were to wait until after the conclusion of the battle.  On September 13, 1814 the British warships opened fire with a tremendous barrage on Fort McHenry, which protected Baltimore Harbor.  In the initial 25 hour assault, the British fired some 1500 cannonballs, many of which had lit fuses that were designed to explode when they reached the target.  But, they were not too dependable and often became nothing more than bombs bursting in air.   The British also had a new weapon, the Congreve Rocket, that produced red arcs of flame that painted the night sky. 

The first phase was over in the evening and Key, Skinner and Beanes were concerned as they waited on their sloop.  They knew that as long as Fort McHenry was being attacked, then it had not surrendered.  So, their spirits were revived when the bombardment roared back to life at 1AM on the 14th and continued until the pre-dawn hours when the guns went silent.  From his vantage point, Key could not know if the silence meant that Fort McHenry had fallen or not.  It was not until the skies brightened and Key saw that the American flag still fluttered in the morning breeze that the Americans had withstood the onslaught.  What Key did not know was that the battle had proven so difficult that the British officers had determined the cost of success was too high.  The cannonade had been called off and the invading troops on land were ordered into a retreat.

Key's Manuscript

Key was an educated man and an amateur poet.  After witnessing the sight of the flag over Fort McHenry, he scribbled down some inspired words on the back of a letter that he had in his pocket.  As he sailed across Baltimore Harbor he wrote a few more words.   In the Indian Queen Hotel, Key finished his poem later that night.  Key’s brother-in-law, Judge J.H. Nicholson took the poem to a Baltimore printer and distributed it around town under the title, “Defence of Fort McHenry.”   A few days later on September 20, 1814 it was first published in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper.  Papers around the nation picked up the poem and at least one added the note, “Tune: Anacreon in Heaven.”  Not long thereafter in October, a Baltimore actor sang the tune with Key’s words and called it the “Star Spangled Banner.”  It is not clear if the singer sang all four verses to the “Star Spangled Banner.”

These Guys Knew the Tune Before Key Ever Wrote the Words

The song was immediately popular and was included in the repetroir of American patriotic songs.  It was not until the 20th century that the United States had a national anthem.  It was on this date in 1931 that Herbert Hoover signed the bill designating the Star Spangled Banner as the national anthem of the United States. It’s interesting to note that the words to the song were not included in that legal document.  And, it’s probably a good thing that the words to the original tune, To Ancreon in Heaven was not included.  You see…the tune had been composed by John Stafford Smith in 1775.  It was written as an anthem for the London Gentlemen’s Club, The Anacreontic Society.  That club gained it’s moniker from the Greek poet who worshiped “the Muses, Wine and Love.”    It was considered in 18th century America to be a “bawdy British drinking song” but it seems fairly tame to me.  Besides that, if you read the lyrics to “To Anacreon in Heaven” and try to put it to the tune, you find that Key’s words fit much better than the original lyrics that fit about as well as most fraternity drinking songs.

Note the CAPE in Tejas by Monday Morning

Weather Bottom Line:  The forecast is still the same and lame.  There will be a warm up to near or even maybe above seasonal levels for the weekend then a chance of rain early in the week.  Now..that interesting feature is still looking pretty good, though may not bring action around here.  The low will exit on Sunday out of the desert Southwest and might bring a risk of severe weather to the Texas Panhandle and then the Arklatex.  On Tuesday or Wednesday, the set up is looking pretty decent for a low level jet and general dynamic pattern for a severe weather outbreak, though I would think that it would be the Gulf Coast states…maybe as far north as the northern part of Dixie.

Big Snow in Northeast; Key Finds a Tune; Klink Returns March 3, 2009

Snow Greatest on Long Island

 

I Told You So!

Total New England Snow Depth After Big Monday Snow

Northeast Snow: 

This is a Colonel Klink moment.  I think it was about 4 days ago that I said that the East Coast and particularly the Northeast would be threatened with a whomping of snow.  I also kept saying that we’d be colder than the folks on the tube were advertising and I especially couldn’t figure out how we were supposed to get above freezing on Monday.  Well, I’ll claim victory on both counts.  I subscribe to the Jackson Browne method…”forget about the losses and exagerate the wins.”    Really, the Northeast snow was a pretty easy call.  The only question was how much because that would strictly be a function of how far off the coast the storm center would run.  As it was, the highest snowfall that I found was on Long Island, New York around Setauket where reports of 12-14 inches came in.  Central Park in the Big Apple had 8 inches. (Text of numerous snow reports in the region)  The majority of the reports are in the 6-9 inch range with some higher amounts.  I’ve put a map of the snow totals as I have the preliminary reports.  Here is a listing of snow reports by the public and observers in parts of New England.

March 2009 Climate Forecast

I’ve been tracking the climate forecasts.  Initially, the story was that the Ohio Valley would be warmer than average.  Well, let’s explain that again.  You will typically hear in the media that an specific area is expected to be “colder than normal” or “warmer than normal.”  In fact, when you look at the forecast maps, what they give is a darkened area that has the probability of it being outside the realm of average.  I have never seen an area greater than 50%.  For the winter, the Ohio Valley had a 40% chance of it being warmer than average, but most of the reports by your favorite media outlet said it was forecast to be warmer than normal.  For January and February, Louisville was in the 40% chance of being warmer than normal.  The result was a split decision.  In January, Louisville had an average high of 38.1 and an avg. low of 21.6.  The 30 year average is 41 and 24.9 respectively.  So, it was in fact, colder than average and fairly significantly.  In February, preliminary analysis shows that the 30 year average high of 46.6 was eclipsed in February 2009 by last month’s 49.2.  The average low of 31.1 in Feb. 2009 was greater than the 28.5 30 year average.  For March, in spite of the real cold start, we fall under the “equal chances” of warmer or colder or average temperatures.  Now that’s a big limb to climb out on.  Look to the bottom for the next victory that I may be claiming…and if I am wrong…then I won’t comment.

Snow White and I Saw The Flag From Ft. McHenry at the Smithsonian

On This Date in History:

Artist's Idea of What Key Saw

What we have been always been taught in school was that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner while being held prisoner on a British ship as the Brits fleet In Baltimore Harbor bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours.  He looked out his small window and saw that the American flag was still hoisted high above the fort with the bombs “bursting in air.”

Well, here’s the real story.  Key was a lawyer from Georgetown.  He also was the head of peace mission who went to the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay in an attempt to secure the release of a doctor being held as a prisoner.  When Frank Key came aboard, the British received him with great courtesy and even agreed to release Dr. William Beanes.  But, somethat got in the way.  See, while Key was on board, he saw the ships preparing for an attack so the English, not being stupid, detained Key and his party aboard the sloop Minden until the attack was over.   It was from the Minden that Key saw that in the dawns early light, the flag was still there.  That gave him great inspiration and on the back of a letter, he penned the lyrics.  He decided to put his poem to a rather popular tune of the time.  That song was “To Anacreon in Heaven” (Here are the Lyrics) and was quite popular in taverns as a somewhat bawdy drinking song composed by John Stafford Smith in 1775.    It was the anthem of a London gentleman’s club (not the same thing as they are today) with the name Anacreonic Society derivinig from the moniker of a Greek poet who worshiped “Muses, Wine and Love.” 

Herb Thought A Depression Was a Good Time for a Song

Francis Scott Key’s version became an instant hit and rose quickly to near the top of patriotic songs, competing with “America the Beautiful” for the top spot.  On this Date in 1931, President Herbert Hoover was dealing with a failing economy, a tanking stock market and an oncoming depression.  Sound familiar?  Anyway, amidst all of the crisis, Hoover somehow found that it was time that the nation had an official national anthem.  Perhaps he thought that would prove to be the stimulus the economy needed.  So, 78 years ago today, Herbert Hoover signed a bill that made Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner,” put to the tune of a tavern booze song, the national anthem.  And people have been butchering it at the beginning of sporting events ever since.

NWS Tue AM Forecast Temperatures

Weather Bottom Line:  We started off in the teens on Monday morning and the airport made it to 31 in the afternoon and I doubt if anyone else was that warm.  With the wind blowing, I guarantee no one felt like it was as warm as it was.  Tuesday morning will find temperatures in the low to mid teens and then we slowly warm up…perhaps low 40′s at best but then we get into the 50′s on Wednesday and pushing toward 70 on Friday.  I had told you yesterday that there were indications that not only would we have a long wave ridge building in for the middle of the week, but also that a ridge would be building off the SE coast and that would help to block a front coming in.  The data was a bit inconclusive but I suggested that the warm weather would probably persist as I suspected the ridge would indeed build in from the Southeast and hold up any frontal activity.

The only change that I have to my suspicion is that I think that a boundary that had earlier had appeared to want to move through and bring a cold weekend will not totally get held up.  The Canadian model has this solution which is to have the boundary in the neighborhood with clouds and perhaps some rain but the really cold air will be bottled up to the north…so upper 50′s to near 60 for the weekend…a bit cooler than the last couple of days of the week but not a big change.  Now, keep in mind, the GFS wants to have it be wet from say Thursday through the weekend and holds the front way out of the way and keeps the cold air way north.  The European still wants to bring the boundary through and make it colder for Sunday but it only lasts for one day.  As I said, I suspect that the Canadian will be the winner…but we’ll see how it shakes out.