Vince_Condella's Blog

Another weekend comes to a close, and on this cloudy and rainy Mother's Day I ponder a few things from the world of weather.  The catastrophe that is Myanmar (formerly Burma) is astounding.  The death toll keeps climbing as millions of people are affected by the tidal wave, wind, and flooding rainfall from Cyclone Nargis last weekend.

Myanmar is controlled by a military junta, so getting aid into the country is a monumental task.  At first I thought it was disingenuous of the Bush Administration to chastise the Myanmar government, especially after the debacle following Hurricane Katrina.  But then the Myanmar government made the plight of Katrina victims pale in comparison.

The leaders of Myanmar, according to news reports, are stamping their name on the incoming containers of food and water from other countries around the world.  Apparently they want to look benevolent in the eyes of their citizens.  And they are also blocking and/or slowing other incoming aid.

The cyclone hit at the worst spot in Myanmar, a coastal region barely above sea level with few trees or other vegetation to absorb the highs waves and water.  Plus, many residents live in sub-standard housing with poor construction.

My thoughts this weekend also go out to the victims in our country of yet another tornado and severe weather outbreak.  The death toll from Saturday's storms was 11 and climbing in places like Missouri and Arkansas.  And today the same line of storms is raking across the Carolinas and Georgia.  This has been a brutal winter and spring for the south and southeast, going back to the deadly tornadoes on Super Tuesday in February.  Fifty-eight people lost their lives to tornadoes in February alone, and the death toll for 2008 so far will probably top 90 once final recovery efforts are completed for this weekend's storms.  Last year the death toll was 81 for the entire year, and the last three years have averaged 62 fatalities.

The main storm track has been cutting through the southern U.S. since the first of the year.  Here in Wisconsin we remain on the northern edge of that storm track, and as low-pressure centers pass to our south, we stay on the cool side of weather systems with winds off the lake.  Meanwhile the warm and humid air in the southern half of the storm systems affects the southern states.  This persistant southern storm track could be a result of the La Nina, or abnormal cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, but there may be other causes as well.  With the enormity of the atmosphere, it's not a safe bet to pin one effect on one cause.

Finally, I was getting a chuckle reading the comments from my previous blog about jet contrails - chemtrails.  I think most of the comments were written by the same person just logging on by different user names.  But this subject always gets a huge reaction, so I was expecting it.  Everybody is welcome to their own opinion, and it is important to read about a subject and educate yourself about what you hear and read in the media.

A full-out discussion of this is wonderful.  But I am always amazed at how the naysayers of contrails-chemtrails claim that I am toeing the company line, or that I am withholding vital information that could save the planet from chemical spraying.  I even got one mail from somebody who claimed that I simply read what somebody else prepares for me.  So my discussion of contrails on my TV weather report the other night, according to the e-mailer, was just me reading from a prepared script.

Note to e-mailer:  prepared script?  Just where is this huge editorial staff writing and preparing all my material for me?  Sorry to disappoint you, but it is just me back here in the weather office, doing my own research and preparing my own weather reports.  Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to watching old reruns of The X-Files and scanning the latest Drudge Report.