Where the Weather Comes First

    When I got up this morning I thought, “It’s a rainy day.  This bit of information insures I will be watching raindrop to raindrop weather coverage on KCRA this evening.”  Am I a prophet?  You decide.  Here is what I watched on the 5:00 P.M. news this evening.

    Mark Finan was in the opening shot, and after a brief introduction by Walt and Edie, was given the next several minutes to display his radar maps and discuss this most unusual phenomenon we call rain.  He was assisted this evening by pictures of a tornado sent in by viewers.  Now, I understand that we do not live in Kansas, so a tornado is something of an unusual sight in our area, but it only touched down for about five seconds and caused no damage.  Next, we had the opportunity to check in with Dann Shively in Live Copter 3 HD in the rainstorm by the Sutter Buttes.  Dan was succinct and realistic, as usual.  However, the panorama he was describing was obliterated by all the raindrops on the lens, making this visual report rather useless.  I thought we had escaped the predictable videos of raindrops landing on some street next to the rivers of water racing down the street gutters into a storm drain.  We did, but it was replaced by the sight of pea-sized hail landing on somebody’s deck.

    My favorite part of every storm account is the report from Mike TeSelle up in the snow country.  He is usually at the same intersection, wearing his blue parka, standing with shoulders hunched and arms close in by his sides.  His black-gloved hands join together at the microphone as he awaits his turn to speak.  I used to feel a little cold just seeing him.  Now I just think he is a winter wimp.  As soon as he begins his monologue, he starts moving toward some great wall of snow.  We all know what’s coming.  He points to his left then climbs that massive mountain of accumulated snow, reaching the top as the excitement in his voice reaches a crescendo.  This evening he actually found a different location where he could climb up to the roof of a house.

    A little bit later in the broadcast TeSelle had great fun reporting the mishap of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.  Apparently, a Wienermobile has to chain up in the Sierras just like any other vehicle.  But, apparently, there is something about the sight of a guy lying on the ground putting chains on the tires of a Wienermobile that we in the broadcast audience would like to watch.

    Having just about worn out the weather related stories, a reporter I had not seen before, Janet O (That is not a misprint.  O is her last name, not an initial) told us about a man who removed the sewer manhole cover (I’m supposed to call it a personnel access cover, but I really don’t mind being accused of political incorrectness, sexism or insensitivity), put a ladder down it and climbed in.  He apparently slipped off the ladder, becoming trapped down there with just some bruises to his muscles and pride.  The most important lesson came from a fire department official who recommended that the public not enter sewers for any reason.  Crack reporter Janet O thought that was important enough to repeat just before signing off.  She managed to accomplish that with a straight face.  Walt and Edie summed up my thoughts exactly, “You don’t need to tell us twice not to do that.” 

    As the news team signed off so Brian Williams could have his turn, I thought how nice it was that, other than the rain, snow, Wienermobile, and sewer man stories, nothing of import must have happened in our region today.  Nobody was beaten up and killed.  No two-month-old babies died suspiciously, our governor did not make any important announcements about the disaster in Japan.  No escaped inmates were found.  Just an unusual weather day.  What a nice change.

What Do You Have To Complain About Today?

Photo from Bing. Photographer unknown.

    The haunting scenes coming out of Japan have been disturbing, to say the least.  In fact, the immensity of the destruction of human life and the long-term effects of the physical obliteration on those who escaped the initial devastation is almost surreal.  I take in those scenes somewhat detached, as though I am watching a science fiction movie; something scary yet known to be impossible in real life.

    Then I read an article from the Los Angeles Times (March 13, 2011) by Eryn Brown in which some strange geophysical effects were reported.  The article explained that as a result of the 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan the earth’s axis shifted about 6.5 inches, speeding up the rotation of the earth, thus shortening the length of a day by about 1.8 microseconds!  Now, couple this with the 1.26 microseconds loss after the Chilean earthquake and we have a problem.  This adds new significance to the expression “time flies.”  I just finished changing all the clocks in the house for Daylight Saving Time, now I have to go back and correct them all.  And we are all getting older by the microsecond, as if I needed that.  Seriously, an earthquake can change the tilt of the earth and the speed of its rotation? This knowledge makes me feel just a little bit more fragile.

    As I read further I discovered that there was another significant change resulting from that 9.0 temblor.  Japan is now about a foot closer to California.  I actually suspected something like this when I noticed that the tsunami waters I was watching on live television weren’t receding completely.  The land covered by the waters seemed to be lower than it was prior to the quake.  But I wonder if the cost of an airline ticket will be cheaper in the future?

    The unanswerable question floating around in my pea-sized brain is, “How much disaster can one small island nation deal with?”  Searching for survivors after days of very cold weather in massive piles of chaotic rubble is difficult enough. But doing so while experiencing aftershocks that measure higher on the Richter Scale than most stand-alone earthquakes, and not knowing if additional tsunamis are going to suddenly appear as a result, must make the task nearly impossible.  In addition, some of the search sites had to be evacuated due to the explosions and beginning stages of radioactive rod meltdowns at four nuclear power plants.  Much of the country is without power, heat, fresh water and food.  And their stock market is plummeting. 

    So, now I’m wondering what I have to complain about today.

    An afterthought: While I live about 100 miles inland, my home is situated at an elevation under 400 feet.  I didn’t used to think I was in any danger even if “the big one” sent huge portions of California into the Pacific.  I am beginning to rethink that assumption.  Obviously, humans are not in control of nature.  We are always relegated to the roles of victims and reactors.  My trust is in the Lord.

    For those who are interested, I just finished Week 4, Day 1 of the 6-week pushups program.  I was supposed to do a minimum of 25 today, but could only manage to squeeze out 22.  A minor setback considering I began this program with a maximum of 9 pushups. 

Do you live in the greater Sacramento area and need to be certified in First Aid and/or CPR?  Visit www.ReedCPR.com to see what classes are being offered and how you can enroll in one