Sunday, April 28, 2013

Slow Saturday Special: Globe Gaseous About Great Lakes

Can you smell the fart mist?

"Panel urges action to bolster Great Lakes" by John Flesher  |  Associated Press, April 27, 2013

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A US-Canadian panel urged both nations Friday to consider installing water retention structures to boost levels on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, which fell to their lowest point on record in January and have lagged well below their historical average since the late 1990s....

The place was buried under snow and is flooding. WTF?

Officials have acknowledged that dredging, gravel mining, and other human activities eroded the river bottom in the past century, accelerating the volume that flowed out of Lake Huron toward Lake Erie.

Owners of Huron shoreline property, particularly in Canada’s Georgian Bay, have demanded action for years to offset the losses, although federal scientists say rising evaporation and declining rain and snow are the biggest reasons for the lake’s drop-off....

Declining rain and snow? Since when?

While much of the report is praiseworthy, it understates the role climate change has played and says too little about the need for governments to help people adapt, said Lana Pollack, head of the US delegation.

‘‘The public really needs to understand what we’re doing to our Great Lakes by pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and creating climate change,’’ Pollack said.

Great Lakes levels fluctuate seasonally and have risen and fallen significantly over the decades, but now are in a prolonged low-water period....

They have risen slightly since then, helped by heavy snowfall and rain. But....

But what, Boston Globe????!!!!!

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Related: Say Goodbye to the Great Lakes 

Yeah, forget about the toxic seep and Asian carp invasion. We got global warming! 

Related: Flood of National Briefs 

Has it stopped snowing, and have you had it with the flood of lies from the paper yet?

"More rain expected to flood swollen rivers in Midwest; Water at record levels along Illinois River" by Jim Salter and Jim Suhr  |  Associated Press, April 24, 2013

PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. — More rain on Tuesday was the last thing flood fighters across the Midwest wanted to see, adding more water to swollen rivers that are now expected to remain high into next month.

Flood water was rising to record levels along the Illinois River in central Illinois. In Missouri, six small levees north of St. Louis were overtopped by the surging Mississippi River, though mostly farmland was affected.

Yeah, good thing it was only food-producing farmland that flooded.

The Mississippi and Illinois rivers have crested in some places, but that doesn’t mean the danger is over. The National Weather Service predicts a very slow descent, due in part to the additional rain expected to amount to an inch or so across several Midwestern states....

The biggest problem areas were in Illinois....

In Missouri....

There were other snippets of good news elsewhere....

Pfffffffft!

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"Midwest farmers bogged down in mud" by David Pitt  |  Associated Press, April 26, 2013

DES MOINES — As spring rains soaked the central United States and helped conquer the historic drought, a new problem has sprouted: The fields have turned to mud.

The drought they told us wasn't ending?

The weekly drought monitor report, released Thursday by National Drought Mitigation Center, showed that the rain brought drought relief to the upper Midwest and central portions of the Plains. Farmers may be thankful the land is no longer parched, but it is too wet to plant in corn country, and freezing temperatures have ruined some of winter wheat crop in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

But just as better technology helped farmers harvest a big corn crop amid the drought, it could save them from a late season.

I don't think you have to worry about the drought now, and WTF is with the REWRITE? 

"Farmers may be thankful the land is no longer parched, but it's too wet to plant in corn country and freezing temperatures and lingering snow have ruined the winter wheat crop. Farmers in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have lost a significant portion of their wheat crop because of unusually late freezes."

That is what my printed paper said!

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I guess the Globe's web site didn't want you know those things.

"The familiar sandbag party that kicked off what city officials call ‘‘tuck it in weekend’’ began in 2009, when residents fought the first of three straight major floods."

There is the Globe, tucking it to you again. 

UPDATE: 

"Flood threat eases as Red River crests

FARGO — The National Weather Service said the Red River seems to have crested about 50 miles upstream of Fargo, N.D., and it is not a top 10 flood. Forecasters said gentle snowmelt and little precipitation are helping keep levels below the predicted crests. Forecasters had expected the Red River in Fargo to crest in the 37-foot to 39-foot range, which has led volunteers to sandbag about 200 homes. Fargo residents battled three straight major floods beginning with a record crest of 40.84 feet in 2009. (AP)."

Hope you don't have to wait "Disaster relief en route, N.Y. says" by Michael Gormley  |  Associated Press, April 27, 2013

ALBANY, N.Y. — Victims of major storms over the past two years — Hurricane Sandy and hurricanes Irene and Lee — will start seeing government checks to help reopen homes and businesses in what state and federal officials described Friday as a speedy process.

Then they must be moving in slow motion.

Some of $1.7 billion in federal block grant money will be released soon to repair and rebuild tourist destinations including boardwalks, mostly on Long Island, in time for the summer season....

WTF took so long? Summer is almost here.

Friday’s announcement was billed as a good first step to finally provide the bulk of federal aid to disaster victims, some of whom haven’t been able to live in their own homes for months. Officials on Friday blamed the delay mostly on gridlock in Congress....  

That feel "speedy" to you?

See: Sweeping Up Sandy Coverage

Still isn't cleaned up? 

Just lost in the sands of time, huh?

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At least Coney Island is open.