Weather News

Gulf dodges first hurricane bullet of oil spill season

For a few days there it looked like the cry throughout the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent states was “batten down the hatches” for Hurricane Alex. Fortunately, the storm turned sharply to the west, away from the oil spill area, and averted a worse disaster.

Of course, folks living in Mexico and south Texas may not be too enthused about Alex’s travel pattern. From what I’ve seen, the wind forces tamed considerably but there was substantial (at this writing, there still IS) flooding. So those good folks better hope they had good homeowners insurance, flood insurance, reliable, cheap car insurance, and all the other brands of financial safety we put in place to protect ourselves from disaster.

My wife has a distant cousin who lives in the area of south Texas that was expecting Alex. She sent out email to the family just to tell them she and her husband were boarding up their windows and getting ready for the worst. We haven’t heard yet whether they got the worst, but I think they’re probably all right.

Meanwhile, as our Independence Day celebrations approach here in America, I wish all well. May the Gulf oil clean up go better than expected, and may anyone hurt by Alex find a speedy recovery!

Thinking I am brontophobic — no, it has nothing to do with literature

I think I’ve found a label for one of the problems I’ve developed in recent years: brontophobia, a fear of lighting and thunderstorms. It’s also called astraphobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia.

And the headline on this article is my lame attempt at humor, playing of the name of the Greek god of thunder (Bronte) off of the Bronte sisters, a couple of wonderful English writers. I love a good pun. Although most of the puns I make are admittedly questionable.

What little I’ve learned about brontophobia I’ve learned online, using Google and Google News again. I’ve learned that it’s pretty common in children, although it seems to make a resurgence as people age. (I’ll be 63 in a few months.)

In my case, I think at least part of the problem relates to storm experiences I’ve had — bad experiences, but not horrible compared to some! — all of my life. Most of my life has been lived on or near the Plains region, with ample opportunities for thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding, etc. A few years ago, we had a serious roof problem that culminated in water POURING into our upstairs bathroom in the middle of the night. That roof’s been replaced, however, and my wife assures me all is well. We haven’t had any leaks since, nevertheless, I keep a wary eye turned upward anytime rain starts.

Suppose I should seek some sort of counseling or help with all this. On the other hand, without health insurance, any sort of counseling or drug treatment would cost considerably more, I suspect, than OTC headache remedies or fat burners!

Nope, for now, I just screw up my courage, face old Bronte head on when she starts slinging the lightning bolts or pounding the clouds — and hide under the bed with the cat.

El Nino effects on weather downright confusing to me

I don’t know about you, but the weather effects of what’s come to be known as “El Nino” are downright confusing to me. I just read that the current El Nino — blamed by many for the snowfall and serious winter throughout much of the U.S. this year — will probably continue through spring. That’s sort of good news and bad news, as far as I could tell — depending on where you live.

But the worst part is, I can’t find anyone who can tell me in plain English: How will that effect spring where I live and where many others live, in various parts of the Northern Hemisphere and the U.S. in particular?

Depending on which obscure forecasting source you read (and I used Google to find several sites related to “El Nino effects in U.S.”), I honestly don’t know whether things will be hotter than normal here in southwest Missouri — or cooler than normal. I also can’t tell you, after reading several pages of websites, whether the spring will be wetter or drier than usual.

Groan. I guess I’ll do what I do every spring. I’ll stay flexible and be read for the worst — or for the best? I’ll keep those rain boots available, and break out the sandals just in case. I’ll probably keep the ceiling fans slowly running in the house, but also have the air conditioner ready to flip the switch if it gets too hot.

Gotta love weather forecasting, don’t you??

Does harsh winter disprove reality of ‘global warming’?

I think some otherwise intelligent people are seriously asking whether this year’s harsh winter might actually disprove the reality of so-called global warming. I mean, with a foot of snow in Dallas, Texas yesterday and a couple of inches in Atlanta, Georgia, today — doesn’t that sort of weather make you at least a LITTLE bit skeptical about global warming??

All right. In the first place, I hate that terminology, “global warming,” and do not know whether a scientist actually came up with it. I suspect it’s more like something a journalist or PR person came up with to “dumb down” the issue. The more correct terminology would be “global climate change.” Such a change in terminology will never come about now. Too many nay-sayers have been feasting on all the silliness surrounding the radical misinformation campaigns making the rounds, so they aren’t about to give up “global warming” as the defining misstatement of the real issues involved.

What we need to understand is this: ALL legitimate, serious science supports the suggestion that human industry, social interaction, etc., is adding huge amounts of “greenhouse gases” to the atmosphere and good old Mother Earth is reacting with huge climate changes. Yes, the general trend seems to be warming, but that doesn’t mean there cannot be cold spells or cold locations.

So go ahead, poke fun at this harsh winter. At least that’s something we can do to soothe our frozen bones a bit, maybe. Stash those bikinis, swap out that new terry romper and don those flannel jammies for a few more months of winter.

But don’t lose sight of the climate change realities we all must face and work to find solutions for!

Storm named Fay really dumped on Florida, didn’t she?

I suppose it’s been a pretty good year for Orlando vacations, despite tropical storms and hurricane threats. I guess if you live in Florida or visit their much, you get accustomed to those things. (I live in southwest Missouri, and I guarantee you I’ve never gotten accustomed to tornadoes, but who knows?)

But looking around the Internet about damages to Orlando, Disney World, Universal Studios, and all those other resorts in the area — I was surprised that nothing much happened to the area that made prominent news, as a result of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay. There was a news brief from one of the Orlando area television station websites that said a 20 feet wide and 30 feet deep sinkhole had opened up in Apopka, Florida, due to rain from Fay. (Don’t know where Apopka is.) At the time Fay and her deluge were approaching all the resorts and entertainment parks were issuing warnings and getting prepared, but so far as I know nothing much happened.

So why am I writing this? Well, why not? I know I have readers in Florida and readers elsewhere who are interested in Florida. I’ve taken a couple of trips to the Orlando area some years ago, liked the area, but probably would never live there or anywhere else in Florida.

But I certainly understand the risks and tragedies associated with serious rainfall and flooding. My thoughts are with all you good people in Florida — Orlando and elsewhere! — who were hurt by all of Fay’s slow moving water.

Storms, flooding hit home in a small way for my wife and me

If you live there, you really need no travel guides or GPS equipment, or road maps, or anything else to help you find “Tornado Alley,” that part of the southern and central Plains area smacked regularly in the spring and summer by, well, TORNADOES, of course.

Yet who would’ve thought the greatest problems roaring up and down Tornado Alley would be almost “tornado-less” torrential rainstorms??

We’ve experienced literally dozens of tornadoes and tornadic storms in my neck of the woods (southwest Missouri) already this year. Many folks in and around our community have lost homes and suffered injuries from tornadoes.

Yesterday we got hit by rains and flooding that were more damaging than any winds, hail, and tornadoes yet this year to our community. We haven’t gone through the terrors of 31-foot flood crests on the rivers like the poor folks in Iowa, but we got a real taste that left our basement flooded, as well as homes flooded and cars stranded all over our city. We had around 4 inches of rain (3.88 measured at the official weather service site) yesterday. I swear most of it came down during the 30 minutes I was trying to get in and out of a bank lobby.

My wife, Shirley, and I truly can be thankful that nothing precious was lost in our brief basement flooding. Our two kids and their homes were spared any trouble. On the whole, the rain and flooding we “suffered” through was just depressing and irritating. But it served to give us a feeling for the misery many, many people are suffering today throughout the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers’ drainage systems across the upper Plains and upper Midwest.

I join the many folks praying for people who have suffered the damages nature’s onslaught has visited upon our country this year.

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Ah, once again — the beauties of winter life in the Missouri Ozarks

Welcome to southwest Missouri, where I live. We’ve had a touch of snow here. We’ve had a lot of rain, a few tornadoes, and a whole many, many tons of ice. What a winter.

I’ve never understood why people flock to this area, even though Branson with all it’s country music entertainment, a lot of wooded Branson real estate, and big amusement parks lurks just down the road from us here in Springfield. Certainly a few years here demonstrates that Interstate 44 runs right along God’s chosen path for slinging ice and sleet from the West Coast up through Oklahoma and Missouri to smack Chicago.

I’ll never understand the lure of the area. Today, speaking again about this really odd winter, it was supposed to warm up to nearly our normal mid-February daily high of 51. Nope. Got up to 42. By the weekend, the weather people are forecasting mid-60s. Then on Sunday night and Monday we’re scheduled for thunder sleet and snow flurries. I’m guessing the plagues of locust and raining frogs aren’t far away.

Nevertheless, we’ve been “Ozarkers” here since 1978, and probably will remain. Go figure.

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Everybody’s talking about the weather but nobody’s doing anything about it

Since I was a teenager, I’ve never really trusted the weathermen/women when it comes to forecasting. My wariness began when I saw one of the early space launches canceled because of a chance of thunderstorms within a few dozen miles of the launch site. It occurred to me — when those thunderstorms never happened — that we can develop technology to put people in space, but we can’t accurately tell whether it’ll rain.

I know the technology gets better and better and I assume the forecasts are becoming more accurate — but still …

We have a chance of showers changing to possible snow showers here in the Missouri Ozarks. Usually, that sort of forecast means we’ll get nothing, or we’ll end up getting up in the morning to 18 inches of ice and snow. (It never just snows here. There’s always a treacherous layer of ice first, then the snow comes to hide it.) So when I hear “showers” or “flurries” now, I always prepare for the worst. My wife would tell you it’s because I’m getting more cynical as I get older. Bah, humbug, I say to that.

Whether you’re living in a cabin in the mountains, or you have some Alabama land for sale, or you want to move to the coast — you, too, face unique weather problems. Oh, well, I suppose desert climes are usually weather-neutral if not weather free. Here in Missouri, the “natives” think they have a unique weather, proudly bragging: “If you don’t like the weather in Missouri, just wait a few minutes and it’ll change.”

I haven’t had the heart to tell my good Missouri neighbors that I’ve heard the same cliche exactly when I lived in Colorado, Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota — only with the appropriate state named in place of “Missouri.” I suppose that simply means all of us need to get out more and see more of this great nation, and it’s great (?) weather to better appreciate what a wide, wonderful land we live in.

Ah, well, living in Missouri or Oregon or Pennsylvania or Maryland or Wyoming or … what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers — and watches out for those snow showers.

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Another winter, another ice storm — winter in the freezing zone

You call it Interstate 44; I call it the freezing zone. This is the 29th winter my family and I have lived in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, in a city along I-44. Not a winter goes by that we don’t have at least one, and usually more, ice storms which weather forecasters inevitably warn will be coming to “areas along I-44.”

I think when the Eisenhower and his gang back in the 1950s mapped out the early Interstate Highway System God took notice. And, for whatever reason, He decided I-44 was ideal as a convenient weather route to have some fun with. “Ah,” He must have thought, “I think I’ll make I-44 the dividing line between snow and rain. But how will I make that clear to those who love snow and those who prefer rain? How will they know what area to stay out of to avoid the obvious element where snow ends and rain begins — ice that is? Of course! My Me, I should have realized that immediately: Ice and freezing weather will mark that zone far better than putting up signs.”

But, just to make sure we humans would get the point, God allowed not only snow/rain/ice to mix in that freezing zone — He allowed us humans to put up signs marking the zone. They all say “I-44.”

Guess we didn’t get His point, did we? So here we are, stuck every winter with that nasty mix that brings ice storms and power outages.

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