Smoke from Georgia wildfires hangs over Jacksonville

By Calvin Palmer

I can taste smoke, not the rich tobacco smoke of a Winston cigarette but acrid wood smoke from one of the many wildfires burning in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.

A haze hangs over Jacksonville today, the result of northerly winds carrying smoke and ash from wildfires in the Okefenokee Swamp areas of Camden and Charlton counties in Georgia.

Haze hangs over College Street, Riverside, Jacksonville. ©Calvin Palmer 2011. All Rights Reserved.

For the past two days, the sky over Jacksonville has been a yellowish grey rather than the azure sky one normally associates with the Sunshine State.

The National Weather Service forecasts the wind to change direction in the next couple of days and blow from the south. But that will bring little relief. To the south of Jacksonville an area of wildfires extends from Orange County to St Johns County, with a particularly heavy concentration of wildfires in Flagler County.The smoke and ash being blown in from Georgia will simply be replaced by Florida’s own.

On Monday, Gov Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. This morning 429 wildfires are burning throughout the state.

Cold front brings a touch of ‘winter’ to Florida

By Calvin Palmer

Winter blew into northeast Florida today. A cold front passed over yesterday bringing rain and is now subjecting to us to cold air from those damned Yankee states. As with the carpetbaggers of old, Southerners are being made to suffer.

With a chilly west wind blowing, temperatures have plummeted to a maximum 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The overnight low is expected to be only 40 degrees.

I can already see the fingers of scorn being pointed from Washington state, Oregon, the Midwest and New England, not to mention Canada but the thing about temperature is that it is relative.

In Britain, a temperature of 64 degrees, or 17.7 degrees Celsius as they would call it since they abandoned Fahrenheit many years ago in order to kowtow to the continental Europeans, combined with the sunshine Jacksonville has enjoyed today, would have people out in T-shirts and summer frocks proclaiming that summer had arrived.

I remember during a visit to San Francisco in December 1994, when temperatures were in the mid to upper 60s Fahrenheit, I was dressed in a shirt and short leather jacket, commonly known as a bomber jacket. Wearing one of those in today’s climate of heightened airport security, I would probably be prevented from boarding a plane.

The weather in San Francisco reminded me of Britain in late April or September and I was dressed accordingly. The conditions were perfect for walking around and sightseeing. But the people of San Francisco must have thought I was mad — the jury is still out on that one – because they were dressed in heavy winter coats, winter hats, scarves and gloves.

Given that I have been subjected to the climate of north Texas and northeast Florida for the past 10 years, I have adjusted to the warmer climes of The South and so today was cold and it will get colder as the evening progresses.

I will not go to the lengths of those people I saw in San Francisco to keep warm but I can now fully understand why they would think a temperature in the mid 60s Fahrenheit was cold.

The great advantage of northeast Florida is that usually the cooler temperatures are but a brief interlude. The forecast has the temperature back up to 74 degrees on Tuesday and 76 degrees on Wednesday. And both days will be sunny.

People in the UK consider themselves blessed if they get a temperature of 76 degrees in the middle of July.

I do sometimes wonder whether I could still hack it in a northern climate. After enjoying warm winters for this length of time, I am beginning to have serious doubts. For all its many faults, Jacksonville’s saving grace is its climate.

All I can say to those people experiencing more traditional winter weather is, wrap up well and keep warm. Oh, and wish you were here!

Winter draws on, as Spike Milligan used to say.

Give a fish a bad name

By Calvin Palmer

The “barracuda” that left a woman in hospital after it allegedly bit her in the chest while she was kayaking in the Florida Keys yesterday turns out not to have been a barracuda at all.

The U.S. Coastguard originally reported that Karri Larson, 46 of Cudjoe Key, was bitten by a barracuda when it jumped into her kayak.

But Bobby Dube, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, dismissed the claim.

She has a punctured lung, and possibly broken ribs, said Dube.

“A puncture wound makes it highly unlikely the fish was a barracuda,” he said. “They have sharp teeth and cut like a knife. It could have been a hound fish, but nobody knows right now what in the ocean caused this.”

Larson was rescued by a tow boat and a paramedic administered first aid. She was later airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

The incident occurred in the mangroves near Big Pine Key, an area where the shallow water is popular with kayakers.

[Based on reports by The Miami Herald and Associated Press.]

Tornadoes and macroburst rip through New York City

By Calvin Palmer

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service  today established that the storm that ripped through New York City on Thursday evening produced two tornadoes  and a fierce macroburst with wind speeds up to 125 mph.

The storm hit the city during the evening rush hour and left a 14-mile path of destruction from Brooklyn to Queens and one woman was killed. It brought down trees that snapped power lines and crushed vehicles.

Iline Levakis, from Pennsylvania was killed when a tree crushed her parked car in Queens.  She had just switched seats with her husband Billy Levakis, said a former business partner, Peter Markos. The husband survived.

Kyle Struckmann, a meteorologist with the agency, said it was amazing that only one person died.

“It’s practically a miracle considering the population that was affected by this,” he said.

One of the tornadoes struck Brooklyn at 5:33 p.m. Thursday, with winds up to 80 mph, and carved its way northeast from the Park Slope section, Struckmann said. The second one hit Queens at 5:42 p.m., with winds up to 100 mph, traveling 4 miles from the Flushing section to a mile north of Bayside.

It was the macroburst, eight miles long and five miles wide, which that packed the biggest punch with its winds of up to 125 mph. It started in the Middle Village section of Queens and ended in Forest Hills.

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe estimated more than 1,000 trees had been destroyed and the destruction was consistent with twisting rather than sideways winds.

For New York City residents it was a morning of sifting through debris and trying to return to normality.

Utility crews worked to restore power in blacked-out neighborhoods. The number of customers without power reached 37,000 at one point. By noon today about 29,000 customers, mostly in Queens, were still without power.

In the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, the storm swept away parts of the roof of at least six homes.

Tales of the destructive force of the storm dominated conversations this morning.

“A huge tree limb, like 25 feet long, flew right up the street, up the hill and stopped in the middle of the air 50 feet up in this intersection and started spinning,” said Steve Carlisle, 54. “It was like a poltergeist.”

“Then all the garbage cans went up in the air and this spinning tree hits one of them like it was a bat on a ball. The can was launched way, way over there,” he said, pointing at a building about 120 feet away where a metal garbage can lay flattened.

Ruby Ellis was doing dishes when the storm wailed over her house and yanked on the roof.

“The wind was holding my ceiling up in the air. It was like a wave; it went up and fell back down,” Ellis said. “After the roof went up, then all the rain came down and I had a flood.”

The worst of the storm started about 5:00 p.m., as a warm front from the south approached New York City. A line of thunderstorms moved through, intensifying as they reached the shore, causing winds to rotate within a small area, a characteristic that prompts a tornado warning, said  National Weather Service meteorologist John Murray.

The storm tore through Staten Island, then Brooklyn, hitting Park Slope and Bedford-Stuyvesant hard. It then moved into Queens, striking strongly at Middle Village, Forest Hills and Bayside.

Bus and car traffic was reported at a standstill through much of the hardest-hit areas.

Fallen trees disrupted Long Island Rail Road service in and out of the city, forcing officials to close down service from Pennsylvania Station on the LIRR because of overcrowding there. Commuters whose trains home were canceled flooded into the subway seeking other routes to Queens.

In addition to the suspension of LIRR service, transit officials halted service last night on the busy No 7 subway line, which runs above ground in northern Queens, for a couple of hours.

Surveying the damage this morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “There are lots of stories of people who came very close to being hit by a big tree and killed, but fortunately there was only one. And that one was really tragic.

“While it may be an act of God, it doesn’t make it any easier for us. The good news is that most people were safe, just annoyed — traffic being bad, or a tree coming down in their yard.”

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and The New York Times.]

Body parts of missing sailor found inside shark

By Calvin Palmer

The body of a man who went missing after trying to swim ashore when the boat he was in developed engine trouble has been found inside a shark.

Police in the Bahamas used fingerprints to identify Judson Newton, although they are still waiting for DNA test results.

It is unclear if the 43-year-old Newton was alive when he was eaten.

Newton went on a boating trip with friends off Jaws Beach on New Providence Island on August 29. The boat developed engine trouble.

When rescuers answered a call for help, they found three men aboard who said Newton and a friend tried to swim back to shore. A search was launched but neither was found.

On September 4, an investment banker on a deep-sea fishing trip caught a 12-foot tiger shark. As he hauled the shark in a left leg popped out of its mouth.

When authorities cut the shark open, the right leg, two severed arms and a torso were found.

One of Newton’s friends, Samuel Woodside, 37, said he was surprised when he heard police say Newton probably drowned.

“To me, he was always a strong swimmer,” Woodside said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Newton was unmarried but leaves behind a mother and brother.

The beach near where Newton was last seen is located on the small island where the 1987 shark-terror sequel film Jaws: The Revenge was partially filmed.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

New Zealand’s South Island hit by powerful earthquake

By Calvin Palmer

New Zealand’s South Island was struck early Saturday by a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake causing some buildings to collapse and widespread power outages.

The earthquake hit 19 miles west of Christchurch, a city of 400,000 inhabitants.

Power is out to most of Christchurch and rural Canterbury, and the central city has been closed down by police because of the amount of rubble in the streets. Water pipes have ruptured and there are reports of flooding in some eastern Christchurch areas.

Civil Defence emergency manager Andrew Howe said there were no reports of serious injuries.

“The fronts of at least five buildings in the central city have collapsed and rubble is strewn across many roads,” said Christchurch resident Angela Morgan.

Suburban dweller Mark O’Connell said his house was full of smashed glass, food tossed from shelves, with sets of drawers, TVs and computers tipped over.

“We were thrown from wall to wall as we tried to escape down the stairs to get to safety,” he said.

Historic Godley House has suffered very serious damage. Owner Richard Hawes said he thought he was going to die as he was on the second floor of the 130-year-old homestead and when it “wobbled like a jelly”.

The building now has cracks from the foundation upwards with many windows out and a large hole in a wall.

A spokesperson for lines company Orion said sewer lines and water pipes have ruptured, and whole substations are offline. Power is off to several Christchurch suburbs and all of rural Canterbury.

Residents have been urged to conserve water.

Police are investigating reports of looting in Colombo St in central Christchurch and additional police have been sent out to patrol the city streets.

The Director of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, John Hamilton, said that the National Crisis Management Centre has been activated to co-ordinate central government response if required.

The rail network in the South Island has been shut down while it is inspected for damage.

The earthquake, which struck at 4:35 a.m., was 21 miles below the Earth’s surface, the geological agency GNS Science said.

Several aftershocks have been felt, one reaching a 4.9 magnitude at 5.26 a.m. and another a magnitude of 4.6 at 5.55 a.m.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.”

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and stuff.co.nz.]

Forecasters stick to their prediction of 10 hurricanes this season

By Calvin Palmer

Hurricane forecasters are still predicting 10 hurricanes in the Atlantic basin during the 2010 season, with five of them developing into major hurricanes, Category 3 or above.

This above-average prediction is based on unusually warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures and the development of La Nina.

The team at Colorado State University, led by William Gray, is sticking to its June 2 forecast of a total of 18 named storms between June 1 and November 30.

“The probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline is 75 percent,” said Gray.

The team has monitored warm sea temperatures during June and July, as well as low sea level pressures.

“These very warm waters are associated with dynamic and thermodynamic factors that are very conducive for an active Atlantic season,” said Phil Klotzbach, the lead author on the forecast.

Three tropical storms have developed so far this season, one of which gained hurricane strength. But the high point of the season runs from mid-August to October.

The team predicts a 50 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula.

A 49 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville, Texas.

A 64 percent chance of a major hurricane hitting the Caribbean islands and Central America.

The climate factors are similar to conditions that prevailed during the 1952, 1958, 1998 and 2005 seasons. The average of these four seasons shows well above-average activity.

Klotzbach and Gray predict the 2010 season will have activity in line with the average of these five years.

The trouble with predictions is that they have a nasty habit of turning out wrong. Many experts predicted Brazil would win the 2010 World Cup. They did not.

The saying goes, “Put your money where your mouth is”. I doubt either Klotzbach or Gray would bet the farm on their predictions.  And if they had in the past, would they have become rich men? It is hard to say because when these predictions go awry, they are conveniently forgotten and those making such erroneous predictions are seldom called to account.

I will wager both Klotzbach and Gray are hoping for a hurricane season far worse than they are suggesting.

First, it will enable the global warming alarmists to pat each other on the back, at the same time inflating their smug self-righteous egos. Second, it will enable them to scam more research funds from governments whose political leaders have knowledge of things scientific that is about on a par with that of my chihuahua.

Violent space weather due to hit Earth

By Calvin Palmer

Here is tomorrow’s inter-galactic weather forecast.

The Earth is due to be hit by a wave of violent space weather following two solar eruptions on Sunday, which sent tons of plasma is racing 93 million miles across space like a solar tsunami.

The wave of supercharged gas is likely to spark spectacular displays of the northern lights which will likely be seen as far south as Maine to Michigan.

Usually only regions closer to the Arctic can see the aurora of rippling reds and greens, but solar storms pull them south.

The federal Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said the plasma will likely arrive late tomorrow night or early Wednesday.

Scientists have warned that a really big solar eruption could destroy satellites and wreck power and communications grids around the globe.

It remains unclear how much damage this latest eruption will cause the world’s communication tools.

But the Space Weather Prediction Center said tomorrow’s storms are not much of a threat to satellites or power grids.

Dr Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, England, has been following the solar flares.

“This was a very rare event – not one, but two almost simultaneous eruptions from different locations on the sun were launched toward the Earth,” solar expert Green said.

She continued: “These eruptions occur when immense magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere lose their stability and can no longer be held down by the Sun’s huge gravitational pull,” she said. “Just like a coiled spring suddenly being released, they erupt into space.”

She added: “It looks like the first eruption was so large that it changed the magnetic fields throughout half the Sun’s visible atmosphere and provided the right conditions for the second eruption.

“Both eruptions could be Earth-directed but may be travelling at different speeds.

“This means we have a very good chance of seeing major and prolonged effects, such as the northern lights at low latitudes.”

[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph and Associated Press.]

Study claims global warming will see flood of Mexicans heading to U.S.

By Calvin Palmer

Republican global warming skeptics in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California may find themselves in something of dilemma following the release today of a study that says global warming could drive millions more Mexicans into the United States in search of work by 2080 due to diminishing crop yields in Mexico.

These Palinesque Republicans detest illegal Mexicans about as much as they despise Al Gore but may now have to perform a U-turn on the issue of global warming and welcome those efforts to reduce the threat it poses.

In this particular Republican mind-set, illegal Mexicans are all members of drug cartels. In fact, all Mexicans are members of violent drug cartels. Those who do yard work, wait on tables or work as roofing contractors only to do so to earn extra cash to put their children through college.

The money from drugs has to pay for the luxury apartments, fast cars, arsenal of weapons that any self-respecting cartel member has to have. Toiling in the hot sun doing manual labor helps to give Cesar and Juanita the education they themselves never had.

The study claims climate change will induce 1.4 to 6.7 million adult Mexicans (or two percent to 10 percent of the current population aged 15-65 years) to emigrate as a result of declines in agricultural productivity.

Researchers led by Michael Oppenheimer of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University estimated the sensitivity of migration to climate change and predicted the number of Mexicans who would migrate under a range of different climate and crop yield scenarios.

The worst-case scenario would occur if temperatures were to rise by one to three degrees Celsius (1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2080, if farming methods had not been adapted to cope with global warming and if higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide had not spurred plant growth. All three factors would result in crop yields in Mexico falling by 39 to 48 percent.

“In that case, the increase in Mexico’s emigration as a share of population would be between 7.8 percent and 9.6 percent,” said the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Using today’s population of 70 million as the base for the age 15-65 year population in Mexico, this percentage increase corresponds to an additional 5.5 to 6.7 million emigrants,” it said.

The study focused on Mexico because it is “one of the biggest migrant-source countries, because there exists state-level data on emigration, and because it has undergone diverse degrees of climate variability across regions”.

Similar doom-laden prophecies in the 1960s claimed that the world would not be able to feed itself because of the rapid increase in its population. Sadly for those soothsayers, mass starvation never came about on the scale envisaged because of advances in agriculture and new strains of crops.

The stark analysis of this study contains a great many “ifs”. And projecting 70 years into the future is a futile exercise. Who knows what technological advances will have been achieved in that time?

At the time of the US Civil War were people contemplating aircraft, automobiles, refrigerators, air conditioning, television sets. I doubt it but I bet there were people advocating all kinds of doom-laden scenarios based on some facet of life that they disagreed with.

[Based on a report by the AFP.]

New Jersey seaside resort considers beach for topless sunbathing

By Calvin Palmer

A New Jersey seaside resort is considering setting aside part of its beach for topless sunbathing.

The city council of Asbury Park is looking into the request by resident and Yoga Basin owner Reggie Flimlin to create a topless beach, nearly a block-long at the city’s Eighth Avenue beach, said Council President John Loffredo.

The only problem is that beach would be visible from the boardwalk. The city already has an ordinance where wearing only a bathing suit on the boardwalk and city’s sidewalks is deemed lewd behavior.

Hello America! We are in the 21st Century!

Councilwoman Sue Henderson said: “I have no problem with people expressing themselves. I’m keeping an open mind. The problem is that we have a boardwalk that runs past there.”

Flimlin made the request because women are going topless at the city’s north end beach. And she does not see the issue as one of lewdness but equal rights.

“I just thought it would be appropriate for Asbury Park, given how open and accepting we are, to celebrate women’s rights in a particular area on the beach,” Flimlin said.

“I do think Asbury is ready to recognize a woman’s right to be comfortable, to sunbathe without tan lines,” she added. “We celebrate so many different ideologies and choices here, and currently men are topless and women should have the same right.”

Loffredo said the city council would look into the request.

“I guess it’s a matter of maturity, honestly, as to whether or not you can accept it,” he said.

It is also a question of good taste. Given that the United States is renowned for a high percentage of morbidly obese women, the thought of them frolicking on the sand displaying their 58-inch JJ-sized breasts while their 62-inch hips sport a thong is the stuff of nightmares.

If the city council does allow this topless beach, it should be with the stipulation that only women with an acceptable body mass index (BMI) are allowed to sunbathe topless. Cities in northeast Florida with beaches, please take note.

[Based on reports by The News Journal and Associated Press.]