Reading Between The Lines

Why is the economy in shambles, crime unprosecuted, trust in public officials at an all time low, and the nagging problems of constant worry happening today? It's because most of us are not part of the club. We don't have unscrupulous stock purchases hanging over our heads. We don't receive kick-backs from large corporations for turning our heads, or creating profitable legislation for them and us. We haven't lost our moral compass and avoided following the path of decency. We don't report lies, call them truth, and torment those that expose the lies. We don't get a raise by just voting for a raise. We don't get to live in peace because of crime that prosecutes those that defend themselves. 

When you read between the lines, you realize all the supposed champions for the taxpayer will never turn on those that are obviously breaking the law because they have the same charges hanging over their head if they turn on their "buddies". It's a corrupt country, corrupt world and a corrupt society we live in, and I can see no good way for this to end.

Beryl Was Closer Than I Like

 After coming ashore, and the rain bands starting arriving, Beryl was a strong tropical storm in my neck of the woods. The wind reached at least 40 mph, with gusts to 60. Torrential rain would fall, we'd get a short respite, and it would come again. The heavy rain finally stopped around 2:00 pm, but the wind was still blowing around 30 with gusts up to 50. Over the next few hours, wind gradually lowered, the rain left and the sky started clearing. 

We lost power twice. The first time lasted about an hour. After it went out again, it stayed off to around 6:45 pm. It's now on, the house is cooling, and if you didn't notice the downed trees, broken branches, and leaf debris on the roads, you wouldn't know a storm had passed. 

Hopefully this is the last we'll see of this type of weather this season. One time is one too many, and should last a lifetime. Houston, and to the southwest, received the brunt of the storm. Millions have no electricity, and tomorrow is supposed to hot, with high humidity.

Beryl Took A Closer Path

Beryl became a category 1 hurricane before landfall near Matagorda, Texas. I've been there. It's on the Gulf Coast, the Colorado River flows next to the road to the beach, and it's not very high above sea level. If I had to guess, much of it was inundated by the surge, and it's not a pleasant place to be this morning. 

Locally, the wind is a steady 25 mph, with gusts to 35 mph. Rain is constant, although the heavier bands seem to be over in Houston. The eye at 6:40 am is over Bay City, which is about 80 miles southwest of Houston. At the current path, the eye will be closer to Houston in a few hours, and the wind will add problems beside the torrential rain. 

I'm judging the center of the storm will stay about 120 miles away from my location, and the rain bands have the potential to cause some heavy rain during the day. How much is a guess, but it could be up to 10 inches if the bands train over my area. 

The eye at 2:00 am wasn't as developed as it now. It's heading toward IH-10. Driving between Houston, and San Antonio will be treacherous, and I wouldn't recommend driving it to anyone. 

That's the way it goes. Initial forecast can be off by hundreds of miles, and what looks as though it will only lead to a few showers leads to day of really bad weather. At least it wasn't a direct hit to the south. 

Watching Beryl

 According to the weather forecasters, Beryl will come ashore somewhere around the Texas/Mexico border, and meander northeastward. That will bring us some rain, and it may be more than we want. Time will tell, but we're ready, if the road floods, and have generators, if the power goes off. Padre Island vacations will be shortened, and the wiser folks will leave by tomorrow evening.

Question For Weather Experts

 After watching some tooth gnashing about the heat in some places in the United States, I started wondering how the data from places that never had the temperature measured in the past affects the overall data. I can see where urban islands corrupt averages, and how analog measurements from the past may be arbitrarily rounded, or misread, which leads to inaccurate averages. Maybe some expert reads my blog, knows a little about how added data sets affect averages, and end my pondering.