Beyond BP Oil Spill: Water pollution problematic 41 yrs after river caught fire June 22, 2010

Cuyahoga River Ablaze in 1952

Cuyahoga River Lit Up Again in 1969

On this date in history: In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was a mess. All sorts of stuff spilling into the river made it a muck of sewage and chemicals. It was yuckadoo. It was so bad that on this date in 1969, the Cuhahoga River caught fire. It’s a great example of what I complain about often today. That is, we know that our water is polluted, yet we don’t do much about it. Even Chinadaily opined in 2008 that unclean water was a global threat. But, instead, for the most part, we make jokes and post signs. This is what the story was with the Cuyahoga River. The joke in Cleveland in 1969 was that if you fell into the Cuyahoga River, you would decay before you drowned. In fact, the jokes had gone on for years because the Cuyahoga River had caught fire on previous occasions but no one did a thing. This time though, the event served as a catalyst as it finally got the attention of legislators. Global Warming may be happening, but we know that water pollution is killing the fish and wildlife in places like the Ohio River, Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico (and I’m not talking about the current oil spill), where there is a “dead zone” all around the mouth of the Mississippi River. I think its up to about 10,000 square miles at its peak. Yet, we push our attention toward the possible in Global Warming and do very little for the factual, which is water pollution.

1 out of 6 people do not have clean water

The issue of water pollution in the Mississippi Watershed and others was made worse by the push toward ethanol. Increased corn production resulted in an increase in fertilizer run-off into the river. Ethanol is a zero sum game or worse when it comes to energy efficiency and global warming “causing” pollutants but is a big negative when it came to water pollution. Water makes up 68% of our bodies and is an essential part of life, yet we focus instead on the unknown. According to Charity Water, 1 in 6 people in the world do not have clean drinking water. I’d encourage you to help a family who is devoting their life to bringing water to the impovershed in the Dominican Republic. Get involved, get a tax break and maybe win a house while you help others. Let us hope that we don’t have another Cuyahoga River type disaster to get our attention regarding water pollution. Unfortunately, in many regions, the wake-up call has been made, its just that no one seems to be listening.

Water Pollution Comes From Many Sources

Anyway, as I said, the river had caught fire several times between 1936 and 1969. In the famous 1969 incident, the cause is unknown aside from the attrocious conditions of the river. Some sources say the fire was started by spontaneous combustion. Others say that definitely it did not start that way. The one below says that the cause is unknown but it suspects sparks from a passing train….I didn’t know diesel electric motor trains caused sparks. Anyway, it points out that this was the 10th time the river had ignited.

The different sources also give different dates….some say the 22nd others say the 23rd. My guess is that it started on the night of the 22nd and burned all day on the 23rd though I found one source that claimed the 1969 fire only lasted 30 minutes.   No matter. It happened and again, is an example of what can happen if one ignores pollution of waterways. This was an eye opening event and the leaders of Cleveland did more than simply post signs. They got together and worked to clean up and stop the problem.

Dead Zone Summer 2008

Many historians point to this event as the one that got the ball rolling for the 1972 Clean Water Act. Things have improved but not enough. While,it is rather uncommon today for rivers to catch fire as they did frequently in the late 19th century, what we can’t see is killing our planet and we need to do something. Maybe if Al Gore makes a movie, then someone will wake up.

This final link of Cuyahoga River Fire facts has some interesting tid bits, including a Randy Newman song they claim is linked to the big fire.

Global Warming has been in the front burner for some time yet there are many experts (more than the media has led you to believe) who dispute much of the “consensus” opinions. About 15 years ago, the topic was ozone depletion. A couple of laws were passed and suddenly that debate left the headlines, but has the problem or risk really gone away? Hit the previous link and see the answer may be “no” its just that you don’t hear about it.

Global Warming and Ozone depletion issues are fueled by speculation and some of that speculation may have very strong merit. But, in my view, we are whistling past the graveyard regarding an issue that is real and is affecting us right now.

If you walk down along the river near the Belle of Louisville, you will see a sign warning of the pollution of the river following a rainstorm. Apparently, a heavy rain causes an overflow of contaminated water up and down the river. Our news department tells me they have reported on the problem. You can find numerous reports of all sorts pollution into the river from raw sewage to other items as pointed out by the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network:

Water is Under Attack Around the World

Solvent cleaners and paints, mercury switches and lamps, lubricants and other wastes from operations and facility maintenance activities.
Disinfection by-products, i.e. trihalomethanes.
Corrosion by-products.
Leaking or broken lead from service lines, goose neck or service connections.
Radon in wells.
Pesticides and herbicides rinse waters and containers.
Industrial, commercial and household chemical discharges.

http://www.lgean.org/html/p2-11.cfm

Here’s the deal. We know of these problems. Most people I know who fish laugh when you ask if they eat any fish taken from the Ohio River. Report after report confirms the pollution and where its coming from. Its not speculation that marine species are disappearing due to pollution in fresh water and oceanic ecosystems. That could affect the entire water cycle. It deserves more immediate attention and action than other more publicized “crises” and certainly more than merely posting a sign.

Some other time I’ll talk about the problem of a lack of water. Its a bigger problem than you think. Hydrologists know it and so do investors who are buying up water rights and investing in private efforts to create water resources.

Note the sharp dive of the 700mb flow line from Iowa to Louisville

SPC Severe Weather Outlook Tue June 22 2010

Weather Bottom Line:  On Monday, a big MCC was rolling from west to east across Central Indiana and then suddenly took a right hand turn and ran over Cincinnati and into Central Kentucky.  The right edge of the big storms went from say Oldham County through Shelby County and then south and east.  There have been severe weather reports the last few days in Montanat, Wisconsin and around Chicago land which is how the storm track generally has been flowing around the periphery of a ridge.  When you get to Indiana, it swings more southeast and that  pattern persists today with the 700 mb flow lines looking a little more promising today than yesterday as they seem to run from Iowa straight down to Louisville.  For that reason, I would be a bit apprehensive about this afternoon and evening.  There are several shortwaves running across the plains and the orientation of the flow seems just a shade sharper down through the Ohio Valley than Monday.  Given that the Monday storms were so close, I suspect that we may have a little better chance of getting caught in the flow of one of these shortwaves or MCC’s that develop through the afternoon.  The SPC has Louisville on the edge of a broad slight risk area that traverses the plains and arcs a bit southeast. 

SPC Severe Weather Outlook Wednesday June 23 2010

Otherwise, it will be hot again.  With a  cold front approaching on Wednesday, compressional factors will probably elevate the afternoon temperatures to the highest point of the season..most likely in the upper 90’s for Wednesday.  Wednesday night the front comes through bringing a chance for t’storms.   For a day or so, our temperatures back off a little but but the boundary really doesn’t get too far South.  So, with the boundary near the vicinity, I would think that t’storm chances will carry through the end of the week.  Then, the extreme heat returns as the front moves back well north of the area.

The Signs Are There: Water Pollution May Be Bigger Threat Than Global Warming June 23, 2009

Cuyahoga River Ablaze in 1952

Cuyahoga River Lit Up Again in 1969

On this date in history:  In 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was a mess. All sorts of stuff spilling into the river made it a muck of sewage and chemicals. It was yuckadoo. It was so bad that on this date in 1969, the Cuhahoga River caught fire.  It’s a great example of what I complain about often today.  That is, we know that our water is polluted, yet we don’t do much about it.  Even Chinadaily opined last year that unclean water was a global threat.  But, instead, for the most part, we make jokes and post signs.  This is what the story was with the Cuyahoga River. The joke in Cleveland in  1969 was that if you fell into the Cuyahoga River, you would decay before you  drowned.   In fact, the jokes had gone on for years because the Cuyahoga River  had caught fire on previous occasions but no one did a thing.  This time though, the event served as a catalyst as it finally got the attention of legislators.  Global Warming may be happening, but we know that water pollution is killing the fish and wildlife in places like the Ohio River, Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a “dead zone” all around the mouth of the Mississippi River. I think its up to about 10,000 square miles at its peak.  Yet, we push our attention toward the possible in Global Warming and do very little for the factual, which is water pollution. 

1 out of 6 people do not have clean water

The issue of water pollution in the Mississippi Watershed and others was made worse by the push toward ethanol.  Increased corn production resulted in an increase in fertilizer run-off into the river.  Ethanol is a zero sum game or worse when it comes to energy efficiency and global warming “causing” pollutants but is a big negative when it came to water pollution.   Water makes up 68% of our bodies and is an essential part of life, yet we focus instead on the unknown.  According to Charity Water, 1 in 6 people  in the world do not have clean drinking water.   I’d encourage you to help a family who is devoting their life to bringing water to the impovershed in the Dominican Republic.  Get involved, get a tax break and maybe win a house while you help others.   Let us hope that we don’t have another Cuyahoga River type disaster to get our attention regarding water pollution.  Unfortunately, in many regions, the wake-up call has been made, its just that no one seems to be listening.  

Water Pollution Comes From Many Sources

Anyway, as I said, the river had caught fire several times between 1936 and 1969.  In the famous 1969 incident,  the cause is unknown aside from the attrocious conditions of the river.  Some sources say the fire was started by spontaneous combustion. Others say that definitely it did not start that way. The one below says that the cause is unknown but it suspects sparks from a passing train….I didn’t know diesel electric motor trains caused sparks. Anyway, it points out that this was the 10th time the river had ignited.

The different sources also give different dates….some say the 22nd others say the 23rd. My guess is that it started on the night of the 22nd and burned all day on the 23rd. No matter. It happened and again, is an example of what can happen if one ignores pollution of waterways. This was an eye opening event and the leaders of Cleveland did more than simply post signs. They got together and worked to clean up and stop the problem.

Dead Zone Summer 2008

Many historians point to this event as the one that got the ball rolling for the 1972 Clean Water Act.  Things have improved but not enough.   While,it is rather uncommon today for rivers to catch fire as they did frequently in the late 19th century, what we can’t see is killing our planet and we need to do something.  Maybe if Al Gore makes a movie, then someone will wake up.

This final link has some interesting tid bits, including a Randy Newman song they claim is linked to the big fire.

Global Warming has been in the front burner for some time yet there are many experts (more than the media has led you to believe) who dispute much of the “consensus” opinions. About 15 years ago, the topic was ozone depletion. A couple of laws were passed and suddenly that debate left the headlines, but has the problem or risk really gone away?  Hit the previous link and see the answer may be “no” its just that you don’t hear about it.

Global Warming and Ozone depletion issues are fueled by speculation and some of that speculation may have very strong merit. But, in my view, we are whistling past the graveyard regarding an issue that is real and is affecting us right now.

If you walk down along the river near the Belle of Louisville, you will see a sign warning of the pollution of the river following a rainstorm. Apparently, a heavy rain causes an overflow of contaminated water up and down the river. Our news department tells me they have reported on the problem. You can find numerous reports of all sorts pollution into the river from raw sewage to other items as pointed out by the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network:

Water is Under Attack Around the World

Solvent cleaners and paints, mercury switches and lamps, lubricants and other wastes from operations and facility maintenance activities.
Disinfection by-products, i.e. trihalomethanes.
Corrosion by-products.
Leaking or broken lead from service lines, goose neck or service connections.
Radon in wells.
Pesticides and herbicides rinse waters and containers.
Industrial, commercial and household chemical discharges.

http://www.lgean.org/html/p2-11.cfm

Here’s the deal. We know of these problems. Most people I know who fish laugh when you ask if they eat any fish taken from the Ohio River. Report after report confirms the pollution and where its coming from. Its not speculation that marine species are disappearing due to pollution in fresh water and oceanic ecosystems. That could affect the entire water cycle. It deserves more immediate attention and action than other more publicized “crises” and certainly more than merely posting a sign.

Some other time I’ll talk about the problem of a lack of water. Its a bigger problem than you think. Hydrologists know it and so do investors who are buying up water rights and investing in private efforts to create water resources.

McMahon Served His Country Well

Ed McMahon  died on this date in 2009. He was 86.  He is best known as the sidekick of Johnny Carson on the tonight show.  His first gig behind the microphone was as a bingo caller when he was 15.  He spent the next 3 years traveling the state fair and carnival circuit.  Here’s an interesting thing.  after serving in the United States Marine Corps as a fighter pilot in World War II, he sold vegetable slicers on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City to pay for his education at the Catholic University in Washington, DC.   He then hosted his own late-night show in Philadelphia and played a clown in the kid’s show Big Top for which he was also a writer.  He served the nation again in the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot in the Korean War.  After that he teamed up with Carson in 1959 as the straight man to Carson on the daytime quiz show, “Can You Trust Your Wife?”  Imagine how that show would unfold today.  When Jack Paar departed the Tonight Show, Carson was called as his replacement in 1962 and McMahon went along for a 30 year ride that ended with Carson’s retirement.    I loved Ed’s live Alpo commercials that he used to do on the show as the dogs were often sure to do something that wasn’t in the script.  He appeared in several movies that often received positive reviews.  But, his call of “Heeeere’s Johnny” became part of the American lexicon.  Here is a bio of McMahon, who was a great American, perhaps more so than people realize.  He retired from the Marine Corps as a full Colonel in 1966.

Weather Bottom Line:  There is a big fat ridge over the nation’s mid section.  We are generally on the edge of the ridge but deep enough underneath to suppress most t’storm activity.  However, it won’t take much of a break down for us to get into the old “ring of fire” where storms move about the periphery of the ridge.  Until that happens, we’ll be hot and humid.

Louisville To Get A Day of Help(and maybe storms) From Gustav; Cooler Air and Two Men of Vision September 4, 2008

Rain Forecast Thursday Night Through Friday Night

On Sunday we had a 30% chance of rain for Friday, but I sorta talked it down as Hanna was expected to be due East of us, serving to suppress our rain chances.  Well, Hanna showed its “maverick” side and decided to stay put in the Bahamas for a few days. That finicky nature of Hanna will allow for a front coming from the Northwest to actually get here with some moisture from the remains of Gustav that as of Wednesday morning had dropped 15-20 inches of rain in parts of Louisiana…and more fell during the day on Wednesday.   Flooding is a problem, to say the least. 

Severe Outlook Thu AM to Fri AM

Now, Thursday we will have a lot of dry air here for a good part of the day.  Toward evening, the moisture starts to to gather and its possible that there may be some strong storms in the evening, especially to the northwest.  As the boundary moves through, a relatively thin line of moisture will string out along the boundary and give us a fairly decent chance of rain.  The weekend looks pretty good with slightly cooler temperatures.  Then, early in the week, a strong cold front looks to move through.  Not only will it drop our temperatures considerably…perhaps to the 40’s for some parts of the area in the overnights.  That front will determine the future of Hurricane Ike.  For a the Wednesday night chat about Ike and Hanna, CLICK HERE.

Burnham 1903 NY Flatiron Building

On This Date In History: 

On this date in 1846, Daniel Hudson Burnham was born. He may not be a household name but he sorta set the pathway of modern American cities. He had muddled his way through his early life, feeling poorly for not getting into Yale or Harvard. After a time out west, he returned to his native Chicago and apprenticed as a draftsman. As is often the case, unintended consequences ruled the day. He met another draftsman, John Root. Root was quiet, dilligent and quite the whiz at Physics. Contrarily, Burnham had flirted with politics in an attempt to harness his outgoing ways and ability to communicate and get along with people. After the 1871 Chicago Fire, architects were in great demand to rebuild the city and Burnham teamed up with Root to form a historic firm. Burnham had the ideas and the ability to make deals while Root had the ability to put the ideas into designs and make those dreams happen. They went on not only to help usher in the era of skyscrapers, but also Burnham is credited with having the vision to see the future of urban growth and so he put in plans for parks and a waterfront set aside for recreational use in Chicago. That plan was a key blueprint to many of America’s great cities. Cities like Houston didnt have time to look at the blueprint as the lack of zoning laws and unrestricted growth resulted in a free spirit of entreprenuerial growth and creation with the result from lack of planning being a city lacking in some character. When Burnham died, famed Architech Frank Lloyd Wright said that he “was not a great architect, but he was a great man.” Click Here for a brief Burnham Biography.

Irrigation From the Ogalla Aquifer...wonder what space aliens must think?

Soap box:

  Several years ago, I told a news director that I worked for that the greatest environmental concern of the future would be the lack of useable water.  We are growing crops in areas that are not indigenous to a particular region that need a great deal of water.  West Texas is large producer of cotton, which requires a lot of water.  But because of the climate there, insects are not a problem.  So, they get the water from a large aquifer that goes from the Dakotas to West Texas.  But, so much water is being used for irrigation that it can’t be recharged fast enough.  Here’s what one website has to say:

“The Ogallala Aquifer is being both depleted and polluted. Irrigation withdraws much groundwater, yet little of it is replaced by recharge. Since large-scale irrigation began in the 1940s, water levels have declined more than 30 meters (100 feet) in parts of Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In the 1980s and 1990s, the rate of groundwater mining, or overdraft, lessened, but still averaged approximately 82 centimeters (2.7 feet) per year.Increased efficiency in irrigation continues to slow the rate of waterlevel decline. State governments and local water districts throughout the region have developed policies to promote groundwater conservation and slow or eliminate the expansion of irrigation. Generally, management has emphasized planned and orderly depletion, not sustainable yield. Depletion results ”

Then there are major cities in the desert, like Phoenix, that grab all water from resevoirs.  Then there are cities like Houston and Tampa that rapidly deplete groundwater sources.  In Houston that has resulted in subsidence and in Florida, the danger of saltwater intrusion into underground aquifers.

T. Boone Pickens has gotten a lot of pub for his vision for the energy needs of the future. But did you know that he has or is buying up huge amounts of water rights in Texas? He knows that cities like Dallas need water and water is the key to life.  So he wants to build a very long pipeline from his water to Dallas and sell his water.   You’ve heard me harp on the evils of water pollution and how the country is focused on Global Warming that may or may not be something we can or should do something about instead of focusing on how we are poisoning our water.  The citation above mentions pollution as a problem for the Ogalla Aquifer in the midwest.  I’m all for visionary solutions to problems.  One concern I have about Pickens’ plan is that his water rights are in West Texas. Its a desert.  The only thing I can conclude is his water rights includee the Ogalla Aquifer, which if he starts selling it to Dallas, then it will only enhance the problem of aquifer depletion.  In the case of Burnham, unintended consequences were a good thing.  But, quite often,  apparent solutions to one problem, only result in creating unintended dire problems elsewhere.

Here is the businessweek story of Pickens’ venture.

The Dead Zone & Midwest Flooding; Woody Does Battle In Mexico, again. June 21, 2008

I TOLD YOU SO!!!! (snow white says this is too long)

This is done just after midnight and there really isn’t much change regarding the SPC forecast for Saturday.  The idea is that a short wave runs along a boundary to the north and storms will erupt along the track but they have the severe risk area this far south due to the potential for guys forming south of the short or the short moving along farther south than the models indicate.  I’ll update this during the day on Saturday. 

The Dead Zone  If you want to look back at a previous post of mine on this subject, look no further than here:  “I Told You So” from June 16, 2007  and “A Real Problem”  from May 14, 2007

What I’m talking about is water pollution.  I’ve talked often about how, in my view, we need to be concentrating our efforts on cleaning up a known death trap…that is the pollution of our waters.  Unlike Global Warming, we know for a fact that we are polluting our waters.  I know it every time we go to scull on Harrod’s Creek.  The other day when we put one of the boats on the water, the always delicate Snow White screeched “It’s feces!!”  And you know what? She was right.  My father-in-law told me it was a sewer and he hasn’t been there for years.  He’s known it for years.  Reports have come in for years about all of the municipalities that pollute directly into the Ohio River all up and down the waterway.  No one does a thing.  But we do give Academy Awards for movies that gets people all worked up over something else that may or may not be happening and may or may not be something of which we can do something about.  But water pollution is something we can do something about and we should do something about.  Water is a basic building block of all life.  Without it, we and everything else dies.  Poison it and we poison ourselves. 

As part of the effort to stave off Global Warming and also reduce energy dependence on foreign oil, Congress mandated ethanol.  Corn prices soared and corn production increased.  More fertilizer has been used.  That fertilizer is known to end up in the rivers through run-off.  The fertilizer, I believe it’s  the nitrogen, helps to decrease the oxygen content and makes for a dead zone.  When Snow White and I went to the Chesapeake Bay last summer, crabbing interests were in a decline because the number of crabs had been depleted due to a dead zone in the bay.  It has also been a well known fact that there is a dead zone near the mouth of the Mississippi River.  The photo above below Colonel Klink is a NASA photo where the red and yellow colors show depleted oxygen levels.  Marine life cannot live in these zones.  Here is a link to the NASA page that explains further.

NASA-Dead Zone

Now comes a report that the rains and Midwest flooding will only increase the dead zone.  More fertilizer for more corn crops so we can inefficiently produced ethanol to raise corn prices and not affect gasoline prices in the least.  More fertilizer then has more rain which puts more runoff into the Mississippi River that then goes into the Gulf of Mexico and then there is more uninhabitable marine areas.  Prior to this time it was 5,800 square miles of dead Gulf of Mexico.  How much more do you want?  Maybe I should make a movie and get people’s attention.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Global Warming is worth studying but water pollution deserves action today…now.  We’re 68% water…our bodies…where do you think that water comes from?  Our planet. Poison the earth’s water and we poison ourselves.  We are in fact poisoning our planet…no question its all around us.  Yet, we do nothing.  Here’s a story that came out today.

Dead Zone In Gulf Larger than Predicted 10,000 Square Miles?

On This Date In History:  Woodrow Wilson went into office with the idea that America wanted change from the Republican days of Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.  Never mind that he never got 50% of the vote.  He wanted to get America back to where he thought the founders intended and that was a non-interventionist foreign policy.  Yet, he invaded Mexico at least twice and took us into World War I.  I won’t debate the merits of World War I and will only mention that the first invasion of Mexico happened in Vera Cruz in 1914 when a handful of sailors were detained briefly by Mexican authorities.  The President sent a bunch of battleships and Marines to the area.  The Mexicans released the sailors and apologized. Not good enough.  Wilson demanded that the Mexicans also raise the American flag to a 21 gun salute.  Wilson wanted to embarrass a President of Mexico that he didn’t like.  The Mexican president refused to fire off 21 cannons while raising the American flag so we invaded briefly.  So much for change.  TR must have chuckled and applauded Wilson’s gunboat diplomacy.

On this date in 1916, General John J. Pershing’s troops were attack by the Mexican army.  Why? Well, maybe it was because he took his 10,000 troops into Mexican territory.  They were after Pancho Villa who had executed several Americans in Mexico and then briefly crossed the US border and burned down a town in New Mexico.  So, Wilson the non-interventionist sent Pershing into a foreign country too find a bandit who had killed some Americans.  The end result was some American soldiers were killed, more Mexican soldiers were killed and after 11 months, Pershing returned to the United States empty handed.  Villa lived several more years before being assassinated…by what most historians suspect was the Mexican government. 

Woodrow Wilson promised change, to be less belligerent with other nations of the world and later to track down a bandit who had killed Americans abroad and on US soil.  Oh…and one of Wilson’s legacies was the Treaty of Versailles which was so flawed that it directly led to the calamity known as World War II.  Change can be dangerous.  History if full of unintended consequences.

 

A Real Problem May 14, 2007

I brought up the topic of “chemtrails” because it was brought up to me and I have yet to find any substanative evidence to support any claim. Global Warming has been in the front burner for some time yet there are many experts (more than the media has led you to believe) who dispute much of the “consensus” opinions. About 15 years ago, the topic was ozone depletion. A couple of laws were passed and suddenly that debate left the headlines, but has the problem or risk really gone away?

All of the above are fueled by speculation and some of that speculation may have very strong merit. But, in my view, we are whistling past the graveyard regarding an issue that is real and is affecting us right now.

If you walk down along the river near the Belle of Louisville, you will see a sign warning of the pollution of the river following a rainstorm. Apparently, a heavy rain causes an overflow of contaminated water up and down the river. Our news department tells me they have reported on the problem. You can find numerous reports of all sorts pollution into the river from raw sewage to other items as pointed out by the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network:

Solvent cleaners and paints, mercury switches and lamps, lubricants and other wastes from operations and facility maintenance activities.
Disinfection by-products, i.e. trihalomethanes.
Corrosion by-products.
Leaking or broken lead from service lines, goose neck or service connections.
Radon in wells.
Pesticides and herbicides rinse waters and containers.
Industrial, commercial and household chemical discharges.

http://www.lgean.org/html/p2-11.cfm

Here’s the deal. We know of these problems. Most people I know who fish laugh when you ask if they eat any fish taken from the Ohio River. Report after report confirms the pollution and where its coming from. Its not speculation that marine species are disappearing due to pollution in fresh water and oceanic ecosystems. That could affect the entire water cycle. It deserves more immediate attention and action than other more publicized “crises” and certainly more than merely posting a sign.

Some other time I’ll talk about the problem of a lack of water. Its a bigger problem than you think. Hydrologists know it and so do investors who are buying up water rights and investing in private efforts to create water resources.

On This Date In History In 1886, Louisville had its overall warmest Derby Day with an average high of 78 degrees. Note this was in the late 19th century and not the late 20th century. But I think derby goers dodged a bullit. In Ohio a big F4 tornado killed several people and caused extensive damage. 200 years earlier, Gabriel Farenheit was born. He went on and invented the mercury thermometer, but I’m not sure if he got rich from it. I betcha he’s one of those guys who did all of the work and someone else made the money. In 1804, Lewis and Clark left St. Louis on their famous expedition to the west coast. Thomas Jefferson had commissioned them to do so to explore the lands largely made up of the Louisiana Purchase. I guess ole Tom wanted to find out what he paid for. Louisvillians like to say Lewis and Clark began their expedition from here but in general, St. Louis usually gets the nod….just like Louisville was once known as the gateway to the west (as well as the graveyard of the west) until St. Louis took the title of gateway city and now they have an arch. We’re supposed to get a couple of new bridges soon.

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Lets Talk About Clouds May 11, 2007

I can tell that we need a little background about condensation and cloud formation if we want to get a handle on this contrail caper. Let’s begin with the definition of a contrail according to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather:

“a straight, narrow line of ice crystal clouds produced by flying aircraft. Condensation trails(contrails) may occur in several short segments at various angles to each other, depending on flight paths.”

Contrails are really nothing but man-man cirrus clouds. Like cirrus clouds, contrails are found at high levels of the atmosphere, generally 25,000 to 35,000 feet in a nearly saturated environment where air temperatures are very cold…typically colder than 25 degrees below zero Farenheit. When an aircraft, jet or turbo prop, flies through such an environment, the engine exhaust emits not steam but water droplets. Those water droplets freeze into ice crystals. If the environment is very dry, however, evaporation or sublimation occurs and there is no cloud or trail formation. When a trail of clouds is formed, it will last as long as it is in a nearly saturated environment. If it is marginally saturated then the trail will disappear relatively rapidly. If it is nearly saturated, then it will last. This type of phenomena has been recorded and noted since the advent of higher altitude aviation, most prominently in high altitude bombing by the Allies in WWII with such aircraft as the B-17 Flying Fortress or the B-29 Superfortress. In both cases, long lasting contrails allowed the enemy to pinpoint the aviator’s location so contrails were not a bomber pilot’s friend.

A warming environment or one with dry air intrusion will cause the trail to dissipate through sublimation. A lowering of temperatures or one with moisture intrusion increases condensation and therefore more clouds, not less.

Again, the Aududon Society explains: “When the the air at the aircraft level is near saturation, a contrail may last a long time. When they start to become diffuse, contrails can spread to form a major cloud cover…The amount of air traffic over a region also strongly influences the occurrence of contrails. An increased number of contrails, together with portions of other stratiform clouds moving into an area, may indicate a local atmospheric change due to an advancing weather system.”

I thought about this when I was at the Bats’ game last night. I looked up and saw a jet with a contrail going east while another crossed the trail behind it going south. The trails made a T-formation. Above those two trails was another jet with a trail that lasted for maybe 15 seconds behind it. The environment in which it flew was way too dry to produce a lasting cloud while below, the cold atmosphere had more moisture. At about 2000 feet, there was a SW Airlines plane making a final approach to Standiford Field. There was no contrail. Its not cold enough to produce contrails at low levels and the atmosphere was nothing close to saturation necessary to form other cloud types.

Just remember, while sometimes the simplest explanation is the most reliable, more often the truth is not found on the surface but instead requires careful analysis and thought. Calling someone names does not make them wrong nor change the facts.

For more insight, see the following reputiable sources:

Holton, James R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology. 2nd edition (London: Academic
Press Inc, 1979)
Battan, Louis J. Fundamentals of Meteorology. (Englewood, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979)
McIlveen, Robin. Basic Meteorology: A Physical Outline. (Berkshire, UK: Van Norstrand
Company Ltd., 1986).

This Date In History In 1864, JEB Stuart went down for the count and pretty much ended Robert E. Lee’s hopes of any recovery. 1976-Marcus Welby MD aired its last episode.,..if you believe the tabloids what followed was a tragic demise for Robert Young. James Brolin later hooked up with Barbara Streisand(not that I read the tabloids).

In 1970 a big ole tornado hit downtown Lubbock, TX. It was at the time the costliest tornado with $135 million in damage and it killed 26 people. I’m pretty sure it was the first one to hit large buildings and resulted in the demolition of a multi-story steel building due to a slight twisting of the superstructure. However, I cannot recall the source…I’m relying on my aging memory.

In 1934, a big ole dust storm swept the nation clouding the skies across the eastern US from Atlanta to Boston. This was in the depths of the dust bowl years and from this we learned better farming techniques so as to avoid a repeat performance. See, there are many many known problems facing us, not theorhetical possibilities. We dont need to invent problems. I think politically we are missing the boat. Water pollution is real and is rampant and yet no one does anything about it. It is not speculation or computer modeling that shows that the oceans and fresh water sources are indeed contaminated. That, in my view, is where our political resources should be going. There is also a problem with a lack of water in many locations where there are more people living than existing resources can support as well as areas where non-indigenous vegetation soaks up limited water resources. This is a far bigger problem for now and the future than most people recognize.

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