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.🌎