Spring for a Day!

 

 

Saturday and  Spring for a day!  New grass  and mist of green leaves.   Buds on the branches, crocuses and daffodils blooming.  Do we feel a sense of renewal in spite of the daily news?

Warm breeze, blue sky, and highs in the 70's.  Lots of people in shorts and T-shirts---kids riding bikes and playing baseball in the street.   One thinks of other springs, other baseball opening days,  

 Many things have changed, perhaps accelerated by the COVID pandemic.  More shopping online, more social media instead of newspapers, and public phones. Maybe isolation has divided us,  in ways we have not experienced before. But we can all agree  it's a joy to see the buds on the magnolias, the red shoots of peonies. Hope and renewal, the promise of spring!  

 Enjoy it while it lasts. Like the magnolia flowers, such a day is all-too fleeting. Today is a Severe Weather Sunday...

Five Weathers

 Since elon musk is requiring people to list five things they have done this week,  I thought I'd write about the  weather. Here goes---

1.  almost spring--first crocuses and daffodils

2  severe weather forecast-- charge devices, pack scram bags

3 summer for a day--men wearing shorts and t-shirts

4  severe weather--thunderstorms, high winds, tornadoes! 

5 snow!!! 

Early March Madness

 

 Weather is something we all have in common. Do we not share the same rain, don't we all get wet?

We  are entering severe weather season--blizzards, flooding, high winds, tornadoes are all possible in March.  It  can be sunny  and springlike in the morning and rain and snow in the afternoon!

How much we depend on the National Weather Service for weather forecasts and  safety information!   Farmers depend on the weather forecasts for planting and harvesting. Stock markets and futures traders also rely on forecasts making their own predictions.  What is the forecast? Uncertainty.

Among other agencies, DOGE is targeting the National Weather Service, and NOAA for budget cuts.   

Why are these agencies being targeted?  I think one reason may be the meteorologists and climatologists are quite outspoken about climate change, and the harm to the environment if we don't make changes in the way we live. They know it is not a hoax. It is happening now.

Another reason may be the "Sharpie Incident," in September 2019, when then-president Trump used a Sharpie marker to alter a weather map depicting the path of Hurricane Dorian.  When he was corrected, he  demanded an apology from the NWS, and people who corrected him to be fired.  He did not get his way.  You can read more about it here.

Both Trump and Musk are very fond of firing people. The cruelty is the point.  And the money...