Bad News From Tsunami Land

The death toll is at 420 from Friday's 7.5 quake in Palu, Indonesia but officials are reporting it more likely will be in the thousands.  It has also come out that the issued tsunami warning was cancelled just before the waves started coming ashore. Palu's location, at the end of a bay in a little notch on the western Sulawesi coast, is thought to have amplified the effects of the waves (and I keep saying waveS, because tsunamis are not one wave but a surge of wave after wave caused by the length of time and continuous shaking in a quake lasting minutes- each new shake and the sea floor ripples again, sending forth more water). Damage reports are slow to come in from Donggala, a nearby city of 300,000 because the access bridge was washed out during by the surging waves (likely with some preliminary damage from the quake itself).
This is the second quake/tsunami in little over a month for Indonesia, but for an island arc nation formed of volcanoes caused by the collision of 3 different plates, why are tsunamis a surprise? They should not be and everyone sure felt the quake, why not prepare for a tsunami, warning or not. Still, when a warning is cancelled...bad move! Sorry Indonesians.
A 6.6 quake in Fiji topped today's list, no tsunami warning with that quake. Aftershocks continue in the Palu region, and after a 7.5 quake it will take Earth awhile to adjust to just released tensions.
Here in the Old Dominion, Sunday is lovely, a cloudy, dewy start but the clouds are gone and it's the crisp, dry air of an early fall day and shake free, get out and enjoy, Today on Earth.

Cool, Clear Here & Tsunami There

Turns out, there was a tsunami with yesterday's 7.5 magnitude quake in Palu, Indonesia, 6 meters in height and recent news has pushed the death toll to over 400, and that is likely to rise. The walls of water are reported to have done more carnage  than the building collapses in the area. Aftershocks continue in the upper 4 to low 5 range into today around Palu, anxiety added to already distraught region.  An otherwise fairly quiet quake day on the broken planet.
Here in the Atlantic seaboard, the atmospheric conditions are dreamy, mid-50's overnight and only into the 70's today with a breeze and low humidity, the first weekend of fall is why this is my favorite season. Even more so since I can get up and wander the forest at my leisure, writing what I please instead of lesson plans (such that I ever really "wrote" them). Perhaps another little limerick.

'Tis sad that the beer drinking Brett

Often drank til he would forget

Of where he had been

And, how he did sin

But reminded, showed anger, not regret.

And, rivers in the eastern Carolina's have still not quite crested, now almost 2 weeks after the mighty Flo passed through the area. I don't think all of I-95 has even opened back up yet. Time keeps rolling on and lives elsewhere, too, but the Carolinas are going to take a long time to recover, cleanup and rebuild from this one. Houston is still far from recovered from Harvey, Earth keeps spinning but the rules: Adapt, Migrate or Die, are still in play for everything, everyday. Hope you adapt or make a move, the third option being penultimate for us all but stay aware and enjoy and live, Today on Earth.

Dry Weather Coming & A Big Shake

About 5 hours ago, and after quite a few foreshocks, Palu, Indonesia was rocked with a magnitude 7.5 earthquake; lots of aftershocks, too! The Palu quake was on land in the north of the archipelago and there was no tsunami warning, while most of Indonesia is well populated, Palu seems likely to be less crowded than most place in the 4th most populous country on the planet. That was the first quake in a week out of the mag. 5 range but magnitude 5 is plenty shaky. The lovely island of Martinique was also shaken today with a 5.4 quake, but at 40-ish miles offshore damage was likely limited on the island.
22 volcanoes on the weeks updated list: Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and surrounding islands leads the list with 5 rumbling mountains, not surprisingly. Two in the Aleutians with Veniaminof actually erupting lava and ash clouds, warning planes away. Kilauea is very quiet though there is still lava pooling, just not flowing, again, first break in 11 years. Guatemala's Fuego is still going strong as are Pacaya and Santa Maria in the small Central American nation. Shaky Indonesia has 4 on the list, PNG only 2 this week and Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island has basaltic lava on the move off east Africa. The fiery planet still going strong.
The big news for the Atlantic coast is the sun has burst through the clouds and the rain is gone, for perhaps a week, a much needed break with rivers in North and South Carolina still yet to crest. 12 1/4" of rain for September will be the count here at the tire house, and somewhat unusually, that's way more than either Richmond or Charlottesville. Well over 50" so far for 2018, quite the soggy year after last's years drought; ain't nothing but change!!
More changes in the Louisa mega-site debacle, word is out the board is thinking of trying to push through a smaller version, only wasting a couple million tax dollars. Still, any land purchase and move forward with the site is just an excuse to bring the boondoggle water line, still far from complete, east instead of west as it was originally sold. The hubris of folks given any power should not be a surprise and yet it still shocks and amazes. The resistance remains vigilant.

There was a beer chugging boy named Brett

And, drunk, no girlfriend could he get

So he held women down

And, waved his peepee around

But, on the top court he shouldn't be set!!

Yesterday's senate debacle and attempt to confirm a slimy, self-righteous Brett Kavanagh was more of the same good ole boy, how dare these women bring up things that have tainted their lives now, that has been the way it was on the patriarchal Earth for the last 5 millennia. And, the hypocrisy of the party that blocked the last president from making an appointment to the court, as usual blame the other side for everything, DaNile, the American way.
My guess is, the often drunk Kavanagh did crap like this so much he didn't remember this incident, just one more forgotten moment he thought was just more fun and games with his collection of boy buddies that all had poor social skills and didn't and still don't really respect women. His explosive charges cast indignantly about, again blaming democrats for the process, that was set up by republicans to prevent anyone finding out much about him and his anti-individual, pro-industry, anti-contraception and now, obviously misogynist views. Hope he never has do deal with his daughters being assaulted by his friend's sons, but he'll likely blame his daughters and not believe them. Thanks dad! Supreme Court! He shouldn't even be allowed to coach kids.
That felt better! Get out and vote these bozo's out come November! Time for a stroll in the sunny, cool forest to settle me down, today on Earth.

Hot & Humid, Then Cool & Wet

Today on this part of Earth is shaping up to be HOT & HUMID!! Tomorrow: 20+ degrees cooler with rain; welcome to Fall. The cold front that will bring the big change will stall or drag through Va. overnight bringing in a wet Thursday before clearing the area and leaving us with a stretch of pleasant, cool and dry weather for the weekend and into next week.
With the warming going on with planet Earth these days, the heat is likely not going easily this year (or any upcoming years). It was a bit of a shock to see the sun yesterday and it's back today and cooking. High pressure to our south ahead of the cold front is the source of the hot, humid air today.
The still lingering recirculated aftermath of Flo is currently off NC today (it just won't go away) with more wind and rain to a region where many rivers have still not crested in their attempt to drain off all the rain that was dumped there last week, crazy. Worse than Harvey? Only time will tell for certain. A sign of things to come, only time will tell on that, too.
A happening day in earthquake land: and that land is the Australian/Pacific plates collision zone. Nothing as big as 6 but lots of 4's and 5's today. Very shaky. Southern Peru and northern Chile also have a cluster of quakes today as well as the northeast edge of the Caribbean plate. Even some lava moving quakes in Hawaii today. But, no quakes of 6 or larger in the last week; we all know that will change.
Volcano update comes out later today and we'll see what's up with the wild planet's exhaust system on tomorrow's TOE.
Yesterday (Universal Time - UT)was technically the full, Harvest moon, the full moon closest to the fall equinox, and was quiet bright here at the tirehouse (and I'm sure everywhere else, as well). Even though gibbous tonight, the moon will rise around sunset (normal months it would rise about 50 minutes past sunset), a result of the set up relative to the sun around the fall equinox. That's why it was so helpful for harvests in the past and no doubt for many thousands(millions?) still, we still have lots of humans out harvesting ripe crops this time of year, food doesn't come from the grocery store, still grown, on Earth.
My wild, wayward dog has not returned from his morning visit with his girlfriend next door, about time to get out and find him and sweat a little, hope you get out and wander your planet, today on Earth.

Stuck In The Misty Wedge

A low pressure center off NC, coupled with a stationary front parked along the VA/NC border has us trapped for day #2 in a cool, misty world of drizzle and yuck. The wind off the Atlantic, flush with moisture and banked against the mountains, creates this wedge of cool, damp air that will persist for at least another day before a breath of warmer air moves it all east, hopefully, by tomorrow. Still, another unsettled week of occasional sun and scattered storms is in the forecast, with heat for the midweek and a real cold front to sweep it all away for a clear and dry, fall-like last weekend of September.
A very quiet day on the plate fractured planet, only 35-ish quakes in the last 24 hours with nothing bigger than magnitude 5.4 on the east edge of the Scotia plate. Volcanoes, no doubt, spew and belch forth but I haven't looked into that aspect of the active planet beyond last week's updated list.
Clouds will be back lit by tonight's full moon, the Harvest Moon, but not much chance of spotting the moon itself with those thick clouds created by the northeast wedge locked in here. If it's clear where you are, get out and harvest some crops like humans have done with this moon for millennium. I will try and get in another damp walk in the slippery forest with a recently returned, wayward dog. His girlfriend is in heat, two doors over, and though he can only sniff and dream, that has him occupied and more than willing to forgo a walk with me, truly a dog, Today On Earth.

Fall Arrives And It Feels Like, Fall

Our tilted planet was, for the first time in 6 months, not tilted relative to the sun yesterday at 9:54pm EDT and Fall began in the northern hemisphere, Spring in the southern. Last night the sun set due West and the sun rose due East this morning; with the clouds now blanketing the east coast, that view of the cardinal points was quite obscured. Maybe I'll get things lined up for my own little Stonehenge at the Spring Equinox. The equinoxes (means equal night)are the days of 12 hours of light and dark, equal night, but that's not quite the case. We have an atmosphere that bends light so there was a little more light yesterday than dark. The equal daylight/night day is this Wednesday.
The clouds over the region are with a cold front that is working through the mid-Atlantic today and likely to stall, leaving us in a cloudy chance of showers forecast for the next few days. It's in the upper 50's outside, we're on the cool side of the front right now. Temps are expected to rise later in the week but an even stronger cold front will really make it feel like fall for next weekend.
Since I checked, the 6.2 quake in Guam has been downsized to 5.9... that makes it an even half dozen quakes today (so far) in the magnitude 5 range. The Dominican Republic was shaken by a 5.2 quake today, the spot most likely to have much damage from their quake.
The moon will be full late Monday night, Jupiter and Venus are getting closer, but lower in the west but catch them just after sunset. Mars and Saturn still hang up in the south-southeast. Chatting with some friends last night I explained how I had learned the patterns of the night sky (such that I have learned...) was going outside as the sky got dark and watching the lights come on, brightest first and then one by one dimmer and dimmer as the sky darkens. Then you see the patterns our ancestors saw sitting around cook fires, that's where the patterns and their stories came from. Go out well after dark and there are so many stars (where we live, anyway) that's it's hard to pick out the patterns that are the constellations.
Check it out later in the week, when you're not being rained upon (or tonight if you have clear skies) but you're not going to melt, go out and check out things, Today On Earth.

Another Day, Another Shower

When there is lots of water available, and there is plenty on the east coast right now, what is forecast to be a clear day often isn't. Today for example, mostly sunny and in the 80's with a slight, slight chance of showers. Still hasn't hit 80 here and 0.3" of rain in the early morning proves once again, that meteorology is a very inexact science. It is pleasant outside today with a little breeze and at this moment the sun is winning the battle with the clouds, likely, that will change. A cold front ravaging the north central states is sinking our way, will settle just to the south and hangout until middle of next week bringing cooler temps and chances of even more rain. At the tirehouse, almost 10" have fallen in September; good chance the ninth month will surpass the 10 1/2" that fell in the sixth - which had just bested the 8 1/2" in the fifth. Those three months will have recorded more rain than fell in all of 2017. And, parts of North Carolina received 30"+ in a couple of days. Wild, wet world!!
A quiet quake day, less than 30 so far. Fiji was rocked with a 5.8 and then an hour later a 5.9 quake. The Galapagos Isles had the only other 5+ quake today, no doubt ruffling some finch feathers and drawing minor notice from a few iguanas. Not much shaking elsewhere. That too will change.
The moon will have moved another 12 degrees away from Mars in the sky tonight, now trailing well behind the red world as we, too, pull away from the slower next planet out. The closer and faster, next planet in, Venus, will set a little earlier tonight, catch it right after sunset. Jupiter is still bright in the southwest but Saturn fades a little more each day, no doubt, still spectacular in a telescope: the rings!!
Downloaded and reading an interesting new book, Robert Kaplan's, Earning the Rockies; a take on the effects the immensity of our country/continent has had on our place in the world. His insights gleaned as he took the northern route across the country at about the same time I was touring our large nation's southern regions in 2015. He wandered and lingered and listened to strangers, while I darted across long stretches then dined and golfed and visited with friends. But, looking back on my trip, I think his well penned insights are spot on, and explain much about where we are right now as a nation. About time for another stroll in the forest, no doubt, crossing the bridge I rebuilt yesterday, again. I just didn't quite realize how striking the pattern would be.
But, how about a shot of what will likely be a part of my meals for several days to come. Here's what you want a shitake log to look like, today on Earth.

Eagle, Buzzard and a Dead Possum

Sometimes we forget that the animals (and plants) we share the planet with are adapting, migrating and dying everyday on Earth, whether we notice or not. I got to see that in action today coming home from Louisa. A bald eagle took off from the road ahead and flew across the recently clear-cut section of (former) forest just down the street from my driveway. We watched it land in a tree on the edge of the cutover. We then drove past a dead possum in the road and realized that's what the eagle was dining on, my neighbor commenting the possum was moved from when had been by 1/2 hour before.
The possum was right on a blind corner. I said, "hope no one hits that dining eagle whipping around the corner". He turned around and we went back and I grabbed (with gloves) the dead possum and tossed it off the road onto the clear cut. As we drove back, I saw a buzzard high in a dead tree just on the other side of the road, he was eyeing that possum, too. We didn't linger. I wonder if the eagle got there first, or the buzzard but guessing they didn't share.
Virginia has lots of bald eagles, lots of big and small rivers and road kill. The national bird prefers fish but will certainly chow down on carrion. Not the first I've seen dining along the roadside in the greater Quail neighborhood but I've also seen them cruising the South Anna River that flows nearby (and was waaaaay out of its banks after the Monday/Tuesday Flo rain). Every time I see one, it's just a cool thing, they are a stunning bird!
Also stunning, the Moon/Mars show going on outside RIGHT NOW! The moon is east of the red planet tonight and will continue to slide that way as it does every month. Gibbous and growing, our satellite will be full Monday. We will be neither tilted toward or away from our nearby star at 9:54pm Saturday evening, beginning Fall in the Northern Hemisphere (and Spring in the Southern).
The volcano list has 20 rumbling and spewing mountains on it with Russia's Kamchatka leading the list with 5. The US has two in the Aleutians and Kilauea,  Indonesia and Japan also with 3 eruptions (one in Japan is new to me and is underwater on a small but growing island way south in the archipelago. Popo is fired up again in Mexico as is Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island off Africa's southeast coast.
The southwestern Pacific dominates the quake list, again. Several mag. 5+ around the big planet but nothing major. 5+ feels major if in your backyard.
Clouds and sun and not too hot today, humidity wasn't bad either. I did seem to sweat a lot, though.
But, I was working, building a bridge, the middle bridge, that has been down for a couple of years and that has had the logs in place for most of this year. Now it has boards in place and is a bridge again. The Breyer Dog walked across like it had been there for years, likely thinking, "'bout time dad". I've been walking the logs, he has to cross in the creek. And, he shows no hesitation in going for a wade or a swim, but he does like a bridge! Old wood, new wood, cool pattern, today on Earth.

SUN!! Whoa!!

The sun has returned and it's bright!!🌞 But, after 5" of rain over the last couple of days it is most welcome. But, as with sunshine and even with it lower in the sky, it is still summer, so today will be warm here in Va. And, likely more humid than has been forecast for the current dryish atmosphere, so much water to evaporate and add to the air's moisture level. Another little front passing through today is promised to lower humidity another step tomorrow.
While I got 3 1/2" of rain yesterday, most in a short but intense midnight storm, just to the west, Louisa got hammered with 5"+ and that quickly pushed the South Anna River out of it's banks for at least the 4th time in 2018 and as high as I've seen it (from longer term residents, it has been higher, so high it isolated the Roundabout Rd bridge that I drove over yesterday). The bridge at Yanceyville Mill was underwater again yesterday, but that is often the case with most any flooding.
And, while that shut down schools here yesterday and delayed them today, that is nothing compared to the small inland sea of water currently flushing North Carolina. And, many rivers there have not yet crested and are forecast not to be back in their banks until next week. As I suggested well before Flo arrived, this would and has become this year's and their Harvey. The new normal for storms? Normal is a bad word to use for the Earth, there is no normal. Only chaotic variation on the same themes based on heat/water input on that day. And, while we were watching and focused on Flo, Southeast Asia was being devastated by Mangkhut, a much, much, much bigger storm. Onward into the new future!

Hurricane Flo's gone

Leaving devastation here

And there, but now clear!

Today's quake list has about 50 shake's so far (about average for this time of day) but nothing bigger than magnitude 5.4 and most in the 4's. Still plate boundaries, and the usual places but power level is down a bit. New volcano list tonight, so I'll check on those for tomorrow.
With clear skies on the east coast, the sky viewing will be excellent tonight. The star's of the show will be the Moon and Mars, the moon just 4 degrees above the rusty red planet. Much dimmer Saturn is off to the right/west of the Moon/Mars pairing and I spotted Jupiter, still bright in the west but I was too late getting out last night to catch Venus.  Venus is catching up with Earth in our chases around the sun and will not catch us until October 26th but will be completely out of viewing sight by Oct. 7.
Venus is a little below the ecliptic these days added to the early setting and northern hemisphere view issues. So, check it out tonight! Even with the bright moon, the clear, dark skies here allowed me to see wisps of the Milky Way last night, pretty tough to see with a bright moon.
Another reason to stop the industrial mega-site the county wants to put in our neighborhood. We live in one of the last places on the east coast, that is both close to cities but still with very dark skies. I and many others are going to keep battling to preserve our lovely evening view, and rural county. Growth doesn't have to be bigger, it can just be better, Today on Earth.

Flo Almost Gone, After Trashing Va.

The center of the remnants of hurricane Florence moved through West Virginia yesterday but Virginia took the brunt of the storm's remaining fury. Another reminder, it's the northeastern quadrant of the counter-clockwise twisting storm that packs the biggest punch. And, first, the NC/VA central border region was terrorized with quick hitting tornadoes; 3 reports down Southside. The next and largest pop came on the western side of the capital city. 12 tornadoes touched down starting in southwestern  Chesterfield county and continuing in a northeast trend up into the Short Pump/ Glen Allen region of western Henrico County. Warning were issued for eastern Hanover and there was debris strewn about but no confirmed storms east of I95. Inches of rain fell with that storm batch.
The dangers continued into the late evening and more warnings were issued for Buckingham Co. after 11pm. No reports of storms touching down there but that strand of storms dumped almost 2 1/2 inches of rain on the tirehouse in a very short stretch right after midnight; and I was on the eastern edge of the storm, just grazed.

Flo is a storm we're gonna remember

Came rolling through in mid-September

Rain, wind and flooding, wooo

Then came tornadoes, too

And, hurricane season is through November:(

Today in the Old Dominion is a cloudy, tropically sultry day. The storm's has moved around us and on up the coast but it's huge radius is still dragging the humid, southern air our way. A cold-ish front is forecast to push Flo completely off the coast overnight leaving us with a clear but still warm late week, with a little lower humidity. Be nice to see a day of mostly sunshine. We still need to get through today and with heating, more storms are possible.
The entire Australia/Pacific plate boundary is shaking it up today. Multiple magnitude 5+ quakes along several thousand miles of the zone. Another big quake on Alaska's north slope with pre and after shocks. Greece is still shakier than I'm guessing folks living in old stone houses would like. Little shake in Hawaii but the recent raging eruption has mostly died; magma chamber below the world's largest pile of cooled lava, no doubt, reloading.
I caught a brief glimpse of the moon last night between rainstorms and roiling clouds but the clouds never cleared enough to spot Mars nearby. Maybe tonight; eventually, it will clear because, as often mentioned, there ain't nothing but change, Today on Earth.
A smaller, but still resistant group of speakers at the board of supervisor's meeting last night; the fight continues. We continue to point out just how many ways this is bad for this county. BAD, BAD, BAD!!

Another Protest Poem

I’m Randy Holladay, I live at 2916 Roundabout Road, in a house I built of tires

I vote at Yanceyville Church, Mineral district and this mega site has lit many fires 

You had a chance two weeks ago to put this to mega-”park” to bed

But, you decided to you wanted to see us back again, instead.

First, Andy and Stewart, I need to say, we appreciate the work done so far

You worked hard, doing your jobs, getting us right now where we are

And, slick move last meeting to let (Andy and Stew)you both ramble on with spin we’d all heard

Sure made it easy to cut into the time we had for an opposing word

And, no potential problems, not one negative word, oh, the site’s just grand

In an earthquake zone with Fork Creek and unconnected parcels of hilly land?

And, a million bucks for land in Quail to access a gas line, what’s that you say?

That’s 3 miles and the gas line crosses Shannon Hill Road barely a mile away!

And who thinks adding more trucks to I-64 will make a drive to the city more fun

When was the last time you had a pleasant cruise down I-81?

What I know about Louisa neighbors and friends is we’re all pretty self-reliant

We don’t like big business or government or mega-industry, and we’re quite defiant!

Bringing in big corporations, giving them tax breaks, at first, seems just fine

But, most don’t care about wages, or local input, just their bottom line

Louisa’s strength is rural ag/forest land and a lake, for tourists, to raise kids or retire

The county’s full of craftsmen, artists, farmers, handy folk with services for hire

If you surveyed the county for reasons or desires to live here I would bet

That in the box for industrial growth, not one check would you get

There’s no history here of assembly line or factory workers, it’s not what we’re about

And, 8 years from now when no one has come, desperation will set in, no doubt

Maybe Amazon is coming or Target or Tesla, yeah, right!

More like Acme Chemical Disposal, we’ll keep the smoke stacks out of sight 

People here are patient, planning long term, not looking to get rich real quick

Farmers and timber folk think in seasons and years, and don’t hear the clock tick

With limited time I didn’t get to mention the James River pipeline when last I spoke

But, tonight since that’s the real issue with this plan, I’m going to take a poke

The end game’s really to extend the water line not to Zion but Shannon Hill here

To try to justify all the tax money you spent on that mess, it’s now coming clear

Maybe let’s end this IDA so few seem to want and we really don’t need

And create a Rural Development Authority, slow and steady is what we plead.

What kind of Louisa do you want your grandkids grandkids to see?

Still lots of trees and farms or more corporate, sprawling growth, will it be?

Because if you force this through, it’s growth that we will get, and more

More subdivisions, and traffic and schools and you’ll have to lock your door

So, to wrap it up, there’s just one last thing I want to know

Is Main St. a better place with an Olive Garden or an Obrigado?

You can’t have both!

And, if it’s Olive Garden, why are you living here?

Flo's Rain Arrives In Va!!!

After a humid, drizzly weekend watching the devastation going on in North Carolina, Flo's remnants have arrived in Virginia. The storm center is down in the Cumberland gap area but it's always the northeast quadrant that gets the worst and that's where we are. Current radar is showing nasty stuff to our south and it's streaming our way. I was thinking the heavy rain would stay along the Blue Ridge and in the Valley but seems to not be the case. Sadly, much of what is falling in Southside Va. today will be flowing into NC over the next couple, compounding the problem there.
While I do feel bad for the folks being rescued in Carolina, what were they thinking? How many warnings do you need? "I've never seen it like this before"...Duh! This is exactly what was forecast days ago and you were warned to get out. Ignorance and DaNile combine to make trouble and then cost us all millions and risk first responder lives in saving their dumb asses.  Wonder how many of the people rescued don't "believe" in global warming? Or worse, think it's some retribution from their "loving" god or part of "god's plan". As stated many times, Earth doesn't care what we "believe", it's just a planet  responding to heat in the atmosphere and hydrosphere with normal, chaotic consistency. We know there are similar storms on every planet we can study, wild variations on the same theme. Why are we surprised?
Or by big quakes; and there have been a lot of shakes around the Pacific from north of New Zealand (6.5 - Fiji) all along the western rim, into a shaky Alaska and down through the Americas, but less shaky on the eastern side. 50ish so far today, about average.
The moon was first quarter last night at 7:15 but sure wasn't visible here, nor will it be tonight. Maybe late tomorrow once Flo is no mo' and certainly by Wednesday when the thickening gibbous moon will sit right above Mars. Until then, stay dry and be careful out there, Today on Earth.

Sultry Hurricane Air

Here in central Va., we have dodged the major issues with a hurricane so close, we have only the light breezes and occasional rain shower bands off the northern edge of Flo; it's safe to go outside. Not the case in the eastern Carolina's, they are being hammered right now with hurricane wind and torrential rain - reports of over 10" so far on the NC coast; So far!! The slow movement, south and west is going to continue to devastate the low country today and tomorrow before, they hope, sliding into the uplands and the southern Appalachians, dumping rain all along the way. That rain in the uplands will roll down into the low country causing flooding issues for days to come, the cleanup and recovery lingering into the fall and 2019 - think Houston is over Harvey, they are not.
Fortunately, local, state and FEMA crews have had time to get things together to deal with the nightmarish conditions that are and will occur with this storm. Sadly, in pretty typical fashion, Donnie Johnnie the Chump, our supposed leader is re-living last year's storms and bragging of the amazing work he did in Puerto Rico and in denial of the island's ongoing problems, still, and actual death toll there.  Good thing there are so many dedicated, hard working people at all levels of government (I'm sure delighted he cancelled their long overdue raise) to get things done. Be easier if there was actually a leader guiding the way along what will be a long recovery road ahead. Hunker down and hang on Carolinians!!
The Texas coast, trashed by Harvey last year, has an unnamed area of low pressure flinging Gulf moisture well inland again today, likely with ongoing flooding issues in the many low areas there. Tropical Storm Olivia trashed Maui yesterday with wind and rain, sliding on toward Oahu today. Issac is still in the Caribbean and mega-storm Mangkhut charges on toward east Asia and the islands and mainland there.
5.9 is the biggest quake so far today, Indonesia. Peru is quite shaken up today and so is south central Alaska. The north slope of the largest state, with lots of little shakes most days, is, perhaps, even shakier than normal. TN, TX and KS, all with little quakes in the central US. Nothing going on in Hawaii. China, Afghanistan, Japan, and Iran all have shake issues to deal with today, none are catastrophic. Central Va. Seismic Zone remains quiet!!
The thickening moon has moved on past Jupiter, but the planet is still near our natural satellite tonight -for anyone with a clear sky. Sunday the moon will be upper right of Saturn, upper left of the ringed world Monday night. I did get a quick glimpse of still bright red Mars last night, during a brief break in the clouds, on my way home from a jovial, tasty dinner at Obrigado. I didn't look long, I was driving.
Got in a walk between showers today with a large brown swimming machine, even saw moments of sunlight. But, the showers are back, more rain bands reaching out hundreds of miles from the center of Flo. Hope you get out, but be wary, today on Earth.

Hurricane Flo, Whoa!!

There once was a big hurricane named Flo

And she couldn't decide which way to go

But, with a high pressure steer

It became much more clear

Carolina low country should get ready to row

Those hurricanes, you can forecast and model and predict and hope but you really don't know where they are going to go until you look back at where they went, say, toward the end of next week. Every time I look at or listen to a forecast there is something new, so, back to September 10th's blog headline: Where Ya Gonna Go Flo? The most recent forecast has Flo slowing further, oozing along the central North Carolina coast before being slowly pushed south through Myrtle Beach and then further oozing through South Carolina into the weekend. It could even get as far west as northern Georgia - have some rain Atlanta - before more oozing along the Tennessee/North Carolina border and drifting north into Kentucky, western Va and West Va., and then on up into the north east, with flooding rain all along the way. Again, we should know by about this time next week.
Earth Science reminder: High pressure moves to low. Which is why the high pressure domes, one over the North Atlantic and one over the northeast have slowed Flo and are now looking to push the storm south and west before the northern turn occurs. High pressure does the steering, low pressure (the stormy stuff) goes where pushed.
Another Earth Science reminder: Add heat to a system and get bigger reactions. Trap heat in the atmosphere of a planet and get bigger, likely, more frequent storms. Flo is far from the biggest, most dangerous storm on Earth right now; Typhoon Mangkhut is pushing the category 5 limit (cat 6?)in the western Pacific and about to rake the northern Philippines with Hong Kong and southern China in it's future sights. And, there are way more people there with way more devastation potential (but it's half a world away and they aren't worrying about Flo). Issac is in the Lesser Antilles today with the rest of the Caribbean to cruise through, perhaps headed to the Yucatan and then Texas/Mexico border region. Texas is getting more flooding rain today from a system, still not organized enough to be named, that will continue to move inland with rain, whether or not it ever organizes to name status. Eeeeeeiiiiigghhhaaaaaaa, it's full on hurricane season!
It's cloudy and swampy feeling here in central Va. today, the outermost bands and influence of Flo already sharing a little shower this far inland. Glad I'm not on a Carolina coast, good luck folks, riding this bad girl out is likely to be a bad, perhaps your last, mistake.
No real big shakes today, but still plenty on the list and all boundary types involved. Several on mid-ocean ridges (divergent), but, most along subduction zones with a couple of collision types in the southern Eurasian region (convergent) and slipping and sliding along transform boundaries (Cali). Then you have the volcano quakes (AK & HA) and the salt water injection/fracking quakes (KS & OK).
The updated weekly volcano list is down to 14 this week. Etna and Stromboli are both belching in Italy, Russia's Kamchatka land and island erupters still going strong, Krakatoa still blasting ash miles into the atmosphere in Indonesia, Central & South America, all represented. No Fuego on the list this week and Hawaii's Kilauea is calmer now than even during a break back in 2007.
It did clear here up last night for my spoiled rotten dog's nightly ride and the triangle formed by Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon, coupled with the fading colors of the sunset were glorious, just stunning; and a reminder, even at it's worst (and, again, Earth doesn't care about or value our opinion) this is an amazing planet, I'm going to get out and check it out, Today on Earth.

Just Don't Know Where Flo Will Go!!

Just where will Flo go

Forecasters don't really know

But, will be a show!

As is usually the case, forecasts change, day to day and now, hour to hour. A high pressure dome (clockwise spin) over New England is shoving Flo a little farther south and it looks like instead of a northerly track the remains of the storm is going to just hang in the Carolina's for days, DAYS!!! It's even expected to hang at the coast and hammer that easily movable sand with storm surges, and waves, and tides for a day or so before easing inland and drifting toward the mountains where it is now forecast to hang into next week. This could out rain Camille over Nelson Co. Va. in '69 and estimates for that monster run to about 50".
And, while it sure looks like Virginia will dodge the main wrath of Flo, we will still get quite a bit of rain and wind from this mega-storm. What seemed like a rain free day yesterday instead finished with a shower, the full blast missing me just to the west. Another 2/10's in the gauge bringing September's total, so far to nearly 4" inches here, just slightly ahead of last years total at the same time. Last year's September rains were relieve after a hot, dry summer, this year we are closing in on 50" so far, last year we had barely received 20" at this time; it's a wild, changeable planet. Florence is likely to cause dramaticly noticeable, large scale changes in her zone of destruction. Sand erosion on the coast, new stream and river channels after flood waters recede and alluvial fan debris piles after mountain mudflows. Usually change is slow, but sometimes it's very fast.
And, while Flo is big, there is a larger typhoon in the western Pacific, a hurricane is about to bisect the Hawaiian archipelago, Issac is cruising through the Caribbean and the low off the Yucatan is still being watched with south Texas implications. September is the heart of hurricane season, the heat has built up all summer and now the planet is moving it out. We've figured out the basics of the seasonal water cycle, just can't really predict it and we certainly can't stop it. But, we could add less CO2, reduce the heat trapped by our atmosphere and perhaps, perhaps..., slow the warming increase that is driving these big storms. But, since that would hurt our economy let's freaking frack the last drop of fossilized sunshine and drive our F-150 as a commuter vehicle. Not my fault.
Florence is going to remind us why global warming is a problem over the next week!
No mag. 6 quakes so far today, several mid 5's, mostly in the western Pacific, China, Iran with a Central American shake, too. Texas, Ok and Utah in the central US are on today's list and of course, California and Alaska have quakes today. None in Hawaii, so the eruption calm (it's not over- it's never over in Hawaii)continues on the big island; good thing, they have a hurricane to worry about.
Gonna wrap up today with an adage from river trips, Today on Earth, Go With the Flo!!

All Eyes On Florence But Remember 17 Years Ago!

The scramble is on along the southeast coast to prepare for the wrath of Florence. But, it's hurricane season and a storm off the Yucatan has the Gulf coast of Texas potentially in it's sights, another storm heads toward the eastern Caribbean, another toward Hawaii and a Cat 5 super typhoon is charging toward the Philippines. The Earth is hot and trying to get the heat away from the tropics. Wild times are ahead. High water is not in doubt, just how much rain will a stalled Florence dump and then how high will the flood waters rise is the question. All records are eventually broken!
Big shakes in the western Pacific today, another 6.3 in the island arc where the Aussie plate is crashing into the Pacific plate. Japan, Indonesia and Philippines are all shaky today, too. Old Faithful even made the list today, a little shake with that geyser blast.
Little chance of a sky view along the cloudy east coast today. The cold front fizzling out over Virginia today might leave a chance to see the thin crescent moon above and right of Venus tomorrow. Flo's arrival will likely wash out any chance of seeing the crescent near Jupiter Thursday, on the east coast anyway. Get out and check out the planet, batten down the hatches while you can and then get ready to hunker down, Today on Earth.
And, for those old enough, remember where you were, what you felt and what, and who, we lost seventeen years ago today. Then remember we all need to work for positive change in a crowded world if we are to build a better, less violent, less war-filled world, today and every day on Earth.☮

Where Ya Gonna Go, Flo?!

Back to Hurricane strength and growing as it heads into the warm waters near the east coast, Florence is shaping up to be the Harvey of 2018. The big high pressure dome that brought last week's sweltering heat is now parked north of Flo in the Atlantic and is blocking the storm from taking a turn to the north, jamming it into the the southeast coast. That set up, slow to move anywhere, is likely to be the real issue with this storm; parking it over the Virginia's and setting up Noachian rain for next weekend. This has shades of Camille and Agnes and if it does stall for several days could make those catostrophic storms seem like the good ole days.  And, like during the summer of Camille(1969), it has been a very wet summer and saturated ground makes it tough for trees to remain standing in big wind. Might be a little runoff, too: flooding is what takes most lives in hurricanes.
There are a couple of other storms in the Atlantic, conditions for even more to form off Mexico and the eastern Atlantic is kicking up more Flo-like systems. The Pacific is cranking, too; Hawaii about to be hit again and the East Asian islands and coast are under the gun. The rain soaking the northeast US today is a low combined with the remnants of Gordon: it's hurricane season.
It's hard for me to pass up another obvious chance to take a jab at the global warming non-believers (as if the rowdy, warming planet cares what they believe...lol). Long term predictions back into the 1950's for a warming planet were for a dramatic increase in storm strength (remember, hurricanes are just a natural part of the water cycle on Earth and the water cycle is heat driven) if not number. Greater extremes were forecast decades ago, and here we are!
If this stalls over the Potomac highlands of the Virginia's, the swamp that was, and still is DeeCee, could be washed into the Chesapeake Bay and out into the Atlantic. Wonder how the Chump in "charge" will deal with another crisis? As usual, blame government workers and Obama before flying off to Florida to cheat at golf and chase bimbos?? Cruising the Egyptian river, DaNile, through America. "I'm so great, problems not my fault." Many canoes may swamp on DaNile this week.
Sky viewing chances will be limited around here this week; perhaps a peak Wed/Thurs before Flo arrives. If there is clearing, the thin waxing crescent moon will be above and right of Venus on Wednesday and then in a similar position with Jupiter Thursday. Take a peak before the deluge.  For anyone in Canada or the northern US, a blast from the solar wind will likely trigger Auroras when it zaps the planet tomorrow. There's a comet out there, too: need at least binoculars and to be up early, it's in Auriga and is closer to Earth than it's been in millennium (don't worry, no collision coming). Check spaceweather.com for details and pix.
Another day with a 6+ quake - Australian/Pacific plate boundary - no real surprise and several in the mid to upper 5's scattered about other boundaries, and Oklahoma.
A large, wet,  brown dog has just returned, ready for treats and a nap, no doubt. He's checking on bird seed under the feeders before wandering in...whoa, wet dog smell, Today On Earth.

Much Cooler, Still Muggy

A "cool" front has finally pushed the heat dome out of Va. and it's a cool, cloudy but still muggy Saturday. No rain here, so far, storms yesterday stayed to the west and drenched the Shenandoah Valley. That could happen here but lighter showers are really more likely as the airflow in off the Atlantic banks moisture up against the Blue Ridge; without the big solar heating storms shouldn't be intense - but, it's Earth and really anything can happen.
The 6.6 quake recently in Japan did some major damage with fatalities. My guess is there are a few more place like that after a look at today's lists: 6.1 in the Philippines and several quakes in the upper 5 magnitude zone today. 4.3 in Oklahoma likely reminded them how much oil means to them; more than earthquake damage, apparently.
The clouds stayed west at dark last night and the planet show was as lovely as ever. The Summer Triangle was just becoming visible overhead when I took the large brown dog on his evening ride down to the neighborhood's new, massive clearcut; bad for trees, good for sky views.
Picked up the local Central Virginian newspaper yesterday to keep tabs on reports and letters regarding our counties ill-advised, mega-industrial site plan. Their headline covered a lot of ground: Community rips megasite concept. And, that sums up the real issue, the concept of industrial growth in a rural community is so contrary to why most of us like living here. We live here because there is no large scale industry, not in the hope it will come. We will continue to resist, but now a walk to retrieve a wandering dog and remind myself why I like it here: to take a quiet walk in the forest, Today On Earth.

An excerpt from my next set of Board O Sup rhymes..

With limited time I didn’t get to mention the James River pipeline when last I spoke

But, tonight since that’s the real issue with this plan, I’m going to take a poke

That this was your end game to extend the line to Shannon Hill here

To try to justify all the money you spent on that mess, it’s coming clear

But, maybe let’s just end this IDA so few seem to want and we really don’t need

and focus on a rural growth plan, slow steady and the warnings we heed.

Last Few Days..On Earth

This blog has slipped into an occasional, "daily" look at the planet; through my recently retired eyes, sorry, I'm working toward daily. The weather news here has not changed since last I blogged Tuesday: Hot, humid, sultry with leanings toward downright gross. Forecasts are predicting that to change, today. A cool front is slowly nudging the massive dome of hot, high pressure stuck over the east coast farther offshore and that will increase the chance of showers this afternoon. It will also switch the air flow from SW to NE and make for a cool, but still humid, weekend, likely filled with showers and storms. Enjoy the break from the heat, take a walk in the rain - but not thunder/electric storm!⛈
While heat and humidity has been our weather, we are in the heart of hurricane season and things have cranked up. Gordon still lingers as a very wet depression, slowing working up, soaking and filling the Mississippi valley with it's tropical moisture. Gordon thrashed the Alabama/Mississippi coast and then the rest of both states as it made landfall earlier this week. Only heard of one fatality, surviving always a combination of planning and good luck on Earth - most rumors say, "luck favors the prepared".
Once category 4 Florence had slipped back to Tropical Storm status last night after an interaction with upper atmosphere winds but is expected to strengthen again. The one time fish storm has hurricane watchers a little more focused as Flo has begun to drift more west than north and is likely going to hammer the lovely island of Bermuda with rain over the next couple of days before a showdown with the east coast toward the end of next week. Patience... I'll be watching.
Maybe a little haiku:

Does patience lead to

Confidence, self-reliance

Hope and defiance? 

94 quakes so far this week above magnitude 4.5, with today leading the big shake list with a 7.8 quake (no tsunami warning- it was deep) today in Fiji and a 6.2 in Ecuador. That likely did more to disrupt things locally than the bigger Fiji quake. 51 on today's list but none in Hawaii; lots off Puerto Rico and along the other plate boundaries of the highly fractured crust(actually,  the lithosphere).
Fuego continues as an ongoing nightmare for nearby residents in Guatemala. Lahars, monstrous  debris flows that roll down volcanoes, are still carry trees, rocks and soil into most of the drainages around the volcano. Heavy rains and a still erupting mountain will make this scene unlikely to change anytime soon. Stay away!🌋 Sierra Negra, off Ecuador, continues to make itself a larger island in the Galapagos chain. Krakatoa is still at it and Veniaminof in Alaska's Aleutians is back on the list and has pilots mindful on intercontinental flight over the pole.
The planets are still lovely in the evening sky and after it's really dark, the Milky Way is brilliant overhead. For any early risers Saturday morning (and I'm trying not to be!) the really, really thin waning crescent moon ☾will be right above the heart of Leo, Regulus, with Mercury below the star. Bring binoculars and you'll need a really good look at the eastern horizon (maybe you're at the beach!!).  🌊
No quakes in the Central Va. Seismic Zone, although our zone location was mentioned at Tuesday night's Board of Supervisor's meeting. Lots more was mentioned by the dozens that spoke against the industrial growth proposed by county. A general consensus seemed to be that, we like living here because it is rural, not for hope of future industrialization.
Time for a walk with a large brown dog. He has been out already for his normal visit and romp with the neighbor's dog, but he's a dog and always ready to go for a walk, Today On Earth.🌎

Mega Growth Is Not Good Growth

It's still kicking summer, hot and muggy but today is the first step in the resist the mega-site plan and we'll see if I can attach it or will have to paste it in... paste it is.

Mega Growth Is Not Good Growth

Hi, I’m Randy Holladay,

I just retired after 25 years of teaching Earth Science at Louisa high school

I also was the school poet laureate, and used rhymes as a tool

When we discussed growth and change, this my students I would tell

That growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell

Well, cancer took my dad, and uncles and aunts and former students, too

I bet that uncontrolled growth has sadly, touched most everyone of you

So, I see this plan, with so many unknowns, hidden agendas and costs

As a spiraling, cancerous growth where the once rural Louisa will be lost

The heart of the Piedmont, that’s where we’re at

It means foot of the mountains and it’s not very flat

If it seems flat it’s because most of these old roads follow divides

Where, when it rains, the water runs off to opposite sides

Once you get very far from a road, like 605

The Piedmont hills and creeks come alive

**Both Parrish and Roundabout, 33 and 522, Route 15 and the railroad tracks, too

Are up on divides to keep the rain and flood waters off me and off you

And, that’s the biggest problem with this mega- site

There’s little flat land for big buildings, that’s right

Most of this land is covered by the many streams that become Fork Creek

There are no 100 acre flat pads that this mega-site seems to seek

There only one narrow, winding ridge that’s close to flat off Shannon Hill

And another off Parish Rd but without access still...

Sure, someone can make lots of money leveling dirt and putting creeks underground

But is reshaping 100’s of acres of Piedmont with tax dollars fiscally sound

Because with North Anna and Zion Crossroads and good growth at the Lake 

Our tax base seems pretty strong, how much more money are you gonna take? 

Because if our tax base is suddenly critical, we want to know

Just where has all this tax money gone or where’s it going to go

County teachers just got their first raise in 10 years

Our police are underpaid, fire and rescue mostly volunteers

This past Saturday, Louisa rescue were in the streets begging for dough

T.J. Elementary is selling doughnuts for a playground, did you know??

You want to buy 200+ acres, 3 miles away in Quail, to access the gas line?

It crosses Shannon Hill Road, a mile from this site, why isn’t that just fine?

  

And, much still hinges on a pipeline from the James and promises made

But, tonight, while that matters, that’s water into which I’ll not wade.

When you study Earth, you deal in long stretches of time

So, just ponder this as I wind down this rhyme

What will Louisa look like in 2025, or in another ten years past that?

Do you want slow growth or fast and what will our population be at?

By 2035 if we’re still under 40 thousand folks we’ll be ok but with 50 or 60 or more

Be lots more traffic, you won’t leave your keys in the car and you will lock your door!

**How about your grandkid’s grandkids kids in 2118, they might vacation on Mars

But, will there be trees in Louisa and at night will you still see the stars?

This mega-site plan is full of future hopes and predictions but I worry

That it’s like a tiny tumor that once it starts to grow will spread in a hurry

And, around a tumor, doctors don’t just build a buffer

Because the cancer still spreads, the patient and neighborhood still suffer

Sure change is going to happen and growth (it’s not critical) it will come

Will it include and work for us all or just for some

Like most, I live in Louisa because it’s quiet and peaceful, I like farms and trees

And, so Misters Barnes and Babyok, Misters Gentry and Barlow, Please!

Please keep Louisa, Louisa and the pace of growth slow

And, on this tax sucking, mega-boondoggle vote NO!!

Keeping The Heat On!!

The protests and resistance to the Louisa Mega-site plan continues to spread like wild fire through the county. The Lake Anna Chamber has joined the fight and their concerns echo many others; why is the county going into the real estate and development business? Seems like the republican board has decided to take a more Socialistic approach.  (Is Louisa Health Care For All coming next?) The county should be working with land owners to both protect and grow the county, not buying up land and spending tax dollars "for the good of us all". Tomorrow evening's board of supervisors meeting is shaping up to be crowded and well covered by both Richmond and Charlottesville media. As my favorite curmudgeon, Edward Abbey, once said, " society is like a stew, if you don't keep it stirred up (and stay involved) a lot of scum rises to the top". There are lots of spoons stirring things up now!
So, while the heat is on the board, the Earth's heat in on the southeast today and it's looking like most of the week. A monstrous high pressure dome is parked over Va. and seems to be little inclined to move, at least until the coming weekend.  That dome is going to push the tropical system developing off the Florida peninsula to the west for an encounter with the Gulf coast mid-week. Another system, already named Florence, is far out in the Atlantic and so far, seems like a fish storm but still bears watching. One weather forecaster mentioned some models are showing it perhaps headed for the eastern seaboard. As I constantly mention on this blog, the planet has no plan or pattern we can figure out and we won't know for sure what happens with Florence until a couple of weeks from now when it has faded as a storm. Until then, the summer's heat has built and built and we are right in the heart of hurricane season, anything can happen.
No big quakes today (again, so far) but some interesting spots, east of Jamaica, off Newfoundland and in the heart of the Colorado rockies. Less surprising, along the Mariana Trench and PNG and quite a few smallish ones in Alaska. Haven't heard any big volcano news so I'm sure that's just more from the Ring O Fire usual suspects.
The moon is a thick waning crescent, easiest to see by non-nightowls in the southwestern morning sky. The planet show continues in the evening but all (except Venus) are dimming with each passing day. Still worth a nightly check but plan for dense muggy air, Today On Earth.

How come the powers that be

Think they know better than we

About how to spend our money

We voted you in to do best of for the county

Not to use your position for personal bounty

Another Deluge & More Summer

Yesterday's heat and humidity, egged on by the recently stalled front oozing back north, sparked several showers here in south-central Louisa but the one just as the sun was settling in for the night turned into a deluge. 2.2" in the gauge at the tirehouse and the HersheyDog creek rolling was the result of that storm that just parked over the area and dumped rain. Today is still warm and humid but the cleansing of the air by the storm made it a little more pleasant early on; the relentless sunshine is fast changing that with current temp of 82 and likely to rise a few more degrees. That heat and yesterday's moisture will create conditions to spawn more storms - today's intensity and chances, always a best guess.
Kinda like the forecasts of Louisa mega-industrial site proponents:

Increased tax dollars

Outweigh ruined neighborhoods

Politicians say!

Last night saw the moon at 3rd quarter, rising about 1am. Don't feel like being up then, check it out in tomorrow's mid-morning western sky. If the storms stay away, the arc of planets is still out there and lovely. Brightest Venus and Jupiter grow slowly closer in the west but set earlier and earlier this month and still bright, red-orange Mars and much dimmer golden Saturn gradually drift apart as September progresses. Got a telescope, this is the month to check out both Uranus and Neptune in the mid-night darkness.
A few earthquakes today - interesting line across Indonesian to Papua New Guinea and this past week saw two quakes in the magnitude 6 range and one at 7.1. No quakes in the continental US above 4.5 for the week, so, we got that going for us.
The week also saw massive celebrations of two massive lives with the recent passing of two American legends: Aretha Franklin and John McCain. It was pleasant to have the news dominated by amazing accomplishments of actual heroes, both of whom worked through obstacles the world and America threw at them and their own personal weaknesses, to make the world a much better place for all of us. No tweets is good tweets.
Jalepeno poppers are on tonight's potluck menu, and I'm guessing more planning for the board meeting Tuesday. So, gotta finalize the poppers and get a big brown dog out again, Today on Earth.