"Blood donors needed during hot spell
The American Red Cross is reminding people to donate blood during the current hot spell. It says that the need for blood does not decline with the rise in heat and that donors are needed at a time that traditionally sees a drop in donations. As an extra incentive, the Red Cross is offering donors a coupon for a free carton of Friendly’s ice cream during July (AP)."
"Dry weather fuels brush fires statewide; Heat stymies fight to douse blazes" by John M. Guilfoil and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff | July 9, 2010
With temperatures soaring into the 90s, no rain over the past two weeks, and occasional wind gusts, conditions have become ideal for large, stubborn, and very dangerous brush fires — and the Bay State is getting hit hard.
In addition, battling the blazes has proved to be more difficult as firefighters balance the weight of their gear with the searing heat of both the fires and the air outside.
“I’ve had better days,’’ an exhausted Stephen D. Coan, the state’s fire marshal, said Tuesday.
Brush fires have been reported from Cape Cod to the Merrimack Valley to Western Massachusetts....
And firefighters are being laid off so we can service banks and corporations.
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Good thing we got some rain:
"Heavy rain soaks dry region, brings traffic slowdowns" by John M. Guilfoil and Sean Teehan, Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent | July 11, 2010
Flash flooding triggered by sudden, torrential rainfall disrupted road and MBTA traffic yesterday and created dramatic moments as some motorists found themselves marooned by rising waters.
The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for Boston yesterday in anticipation of heavy downpours and thunderstorms that are expected to continue through today....
With little rain for more than two weeks, dry soil was unable to soak up the water and threatened to cause run-off, exacerbating flood concerns for communities outside Boston, said Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“It’s like being in a city where everything runs off cement,’’ Buttrick said....
One positive aspect to the storms, Buttrick said, was the cooling down of a recent stretch of temperatures above 90 degrees.
However, she said, the relief will not last.
While rain will temporarily cool temperatures, it will only provide a “brief respite from the above 90-degree heat,’’ Buttrick said.
The National Weather Service predicted scattered showers today into tonight. Tomorrow, a sunny day with a high of 86 degrees, is expected.
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Not so good further south:
"Texas neighbors flee a swollen Rio Grande; 4-8 inches of rain follows hurricane" by Michelle Roberts and Christopher Sherman, Associated Press | July 9, 2010
LAREDO, Texas — The gentle stream that usually marks the Rio Grande bulged into a mighty river along much of its southern reach yesterday as a tropical depression dumped torrents of rain on a Texas-Mexico border region already struggling with flooded homes and evacuations after last week’s hurricane.
Related: The Other Mexico Flood
Authorities in Laredo evacuated several neighborhoods close to the river and a 16-story hotel on the banks as the river grew to 42 feet deep and water crept into some homes. The rains were expected to keep the water level high, said Xochitl Mora Garcia, city spokeswoman....
The muddy waters — engorged by dam releases upstream and rain-swollen tributaries following Hurricane Alex — submerged light poles and towering palm trees, leaving only a few fronds waving above the water line.
National Guard troops arrived to help with evacuations, and people in low-lying areas were gathering sandbags to protect their homes before being forced to leave....
Tens of thousands of people had already been forced from their homes in Mexican towns earlier in the week as dam releases dumped water into overfull rivers to avoid the risk of out-of-control releases following Hurricane Alex....
The tropical depression made landfall at South Padre Island late yesterday morning and was expected to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain across the area, with as much as 10 inches in some parts, said the National Weather Service. That rain comes on top of the 5 to 7 inches from Hurricane Alex.
In Laredo, where roughly half of all US-Mexico trade crosses, authorities closed two bridges and severely limited traffic on a third. They also restricted traffic on the World Trade International Bridge.
Waiting in traffic is guaranteed to make you hot.
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"Flood waters continue to rise in Texas" by Associated Press | July 10, 2010
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — Upstream communities began to assess the damage yesterday wrought by a Rio Grande that jumped its banks in the Texas city of Laredo, while people downriver marveled warily at a river that bore little resemblance to the lazy waterway that usually divides border cities.
The Rio Grande continued rising in the city that bears its name to more than 3 feet above flood stage, the National Weather Service said. The river was expected to rise a least another 2 feet to more than 55 feet.
Longtime residents said they had not seen the river reach these heights since Hurricane Beulah in 1967....But, but, but.... this is supposed to be because of global warming!
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No follow-up today, Globe?
Other things that boil my blood:
LONDON — An independent report into the leak of hundreds of e-mails from one of the world’s leading climate research centers released yesterday largely vindicates the scientists involved, saying that they acted honestly and that their research was reliable....
Former British civil servant Muir Russell’s inquiry is the third major British investigation into the theft and dissemination of more than 1,000 e-mails taken from a server at the university.
They were LEAKED by a PERSON with a CONSCIENCE!
GET IT RIGHT, MSM!!!
They caused a sensation when they were published online in November. The stolen correspondence captured researchers speaking in scathing terms about their critics, discussing ways to stonewall skeptics of man-made climate change and talking about how to freeze opponents out of peer-reviewed journals.
Beyond specific allegations of scientific misconduct, the furor over the e-mails fed the notion that, at worst, a closed community of climate scientists was systematically exaggerating the threat of climate change or at least giving skeptics’ arguments the collective cold shoulder....
Yeah, the LYING ABOUT the WEATHER was really the LAST STRAW!!
The carefully worded report mostly defends the scientists....
It also largely excuses the intemperate language....
Translation: The "report" was a FART-MISTING COVER-UP!
The report also revisits the now infamous e-mail exchange between Climatic Research Unit director Phil Jones and a colleague in which the climatologist refers to a “trick’’ used to “hide the decline’’ in a chart used to track global temperatures.
Yeah, they even made a video about it.
The chart, which shows an alarming temperature spike at the end of the last millennium, became a powerful visual tool in the campaign to control greenhouse gas emissions, gracing the front cover of the World Meteorological Organization’s 1999 report on climate change. Russell said the chart was misleading because it was not explicit enough about the way in which the underlying data had been spliced together.
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Also see: This Will Cool You Off, America
So you can get steamed up again:
"Energy measure would cut deficit by $19b, report says
WASHINGTON — Senator John F. Kerry’s signature energy and climate change legislation would cut the deficit by $19 billion, according to an estimate released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office.
The legislation faces strong opposition from Republicans and some Democrats from energy-producing states, but the report gives the Massachusetts Democrat and his allies a compelling financial argument amid concerns about the implications of a burgeoning deficit.
Translation: The "report" is BULLSHIT!
“There is no more room for excuses — this must be our year to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation and begin to send a price signal on carbon,’’ Kerry said in a statement with the legislation’s coauthor, Senator Joe Lieberman, independent of Connecticut....
The cost of the legislation, which includes various tax credits, would be more than offset by revenues collected through a cap-and-trade system, according to the report. The bill would put a price on carbon emissions, a measurement that opponents have attacked as a carbon tax....
Yeah, I am seeing red, readers.
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Related: Carbon Tax Morphs Into Energy Bill
I need something to cool me off:
Summer appears to be coming late to Mount Washington in New Hampshire this year. A dusting of snow fell there Thursday, startling tourists and forcing the closure of the road to the top....
In JULY?
Mount Washington, the Northeast’s highest peak at 6,288 feet, has recorded snow in every month. The last time it was recorded in July was in 2007....
Although snow in the summer is not uncommon....
Sigh. Whatever.
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