While most of the photographs and videos illustrating Europe's brutal winter of snow and cold have been of London, Paris and Rome, the Eastern part of Europe has been slammed the hardest. Romanians literally had their houses and cars totally covered with snow. The Black Sea froze over. The Balkan countries were also hard hit with especially Bosnia coming to a complete stand still.
Below are two videos from highlighting the European storm.
Tripoli and Algiers are seeing snow covered streets and brutal cold. Rome is almost shut down. Sarajevo has two feet of snow. The Danube River has shut down in Bulgaria and Romania because of ice cover. In London, flights are canceled and snow covered roads have made them skating rinks! France and the Ukraine have set up emergency shelters for the homeless in heated tents. In Afghanistan, two dozen young children have died in refugee camps from the cold.
-MSNBC's anchor Thomas Roberts is off to a rousing start in 2012. His news hour is up 24% among people age 25 to 54 and an amazing 19% in total viewers. Roberts occupies the 11AM EST hour for the network. Roberts also can be found on The Weekend Today Show reading the news. He might be the first openly gay ever to be in that position.
Continued great news this week on the marriage equality front. A poll taken in New Hampshire shows that an amazing 62% of New Hampshire citizens do not want the legislature to repeal marriage equality in the Granite State.
-In the Nevada caucus Mr. Romney took 91% of the Mormon vote according to "Politico." The state's population is about 25% Mormon. About the same number of Mormon's live in Arizona.
-The national media group, GLAAD, has called upon CNN to release journalist Roland Martin because of homophobic comments. On election night this past Tuesday, Martin played a major role. Guess GLAAD got their answer.
-Womensenews.org ran an excerpt from Hanne Black's "Straight" which examines how Germany's legal codes created in the 1860's are mostly responsible for the concept of heterosexuality and homosexuality. Interesting stuff.
-USA Today had an article about increasing concern that some long dormant volcano's might erupt. They take a look at two of them. One is located in Death Valley and the other at Crater Lake in Oregon. New evidence points that both of them could be more active than originally believed by scientists.
-The Huffington Post ran a story about the Princeton Review picking ten schools that are filled with 'tree-hugger hippies!' Topping the list is New College of Florida. Also in the top ten is Warren Wilson College. Never heard of it but evidently it is hidden in Ashville, North Carolina. Bless their hearts!
-Facebook is going public this week and joins the ranks of all the emerging high tech giants over the last several decades. In California alone, Facebook has 20,000,000 members. See how your state ranks by clicking here.
-Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has a new sense of 'family values.' He has paid his daughter, former American Idol contestant Ayla Brown, a total of $9,500 to sing at campaign events.
-President Kennedy's fondness for women was not a historical unknown to most people. The latest to throw her hat in the ring is Mimi Alfrod (photograph), a former intern who says she had an eighteen month affair/sexual relationship with the President. The unfortunate part about these recent books is that no one is alive to tell us if they are true or not.
-A massive cold wave and snowstorm has hit almost all of Europe and even North Africa. Over 500 have died from the storms and freeze that stretch from London to Tripoli and over to Bucharest.
-The first openly gay candidate to make it into a run off in Finland's Presidential election lost the race this past week. Conservative Sauli Ninisto defeated openly gay Green candidate Pekka Haavisto (in photograph with his partner) by a vote 63% to 37%.
-The New York Times has an article by Emily Ramshaw on how many Texan women hold the decision making power in the 'stop breast cancer' movement both in Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood.
-Speaking of The Times, 'The Great Man's Wife", was an astounding column from Maureen Dowd about Callista Gingrich and her husband Newt, Talk about a tough piece....
-The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) scored a real coup in obtaining the Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, as their National Corporate Spokesperson for marriage equality. Here is the video:
Just when you believe this winter's weather can't get any more crazy, the National Hurricane Center has indicated that tropical storm formation is possible this week in the Gulf of Mexico. That's right, the Center is talking about a February tropical storm. Already labeled as Invest 90L the Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida says "this area is being closely monitored for possible further development." The Accuweather.com site writes of the potential storm:
"Some of those key ingredients needed for the development of at least a subtropical depression (a system with partial tropical characteristics) are currently trying to come together in the south-central Gulf of Mexico.
Water temperatures in the south-central Gulf of Mexico are near 80 degrees, the threshold for tropical development.
While not absent, the wind shear (disruptive winds high in the atmosphere) present is not strong enough to totally inhibit development.
If a subtropical depression or storm were to take shape (acquiring the name "Alberto" from the 2012 list), the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center feels it would track into South Florida later Monday into Monday night.
Torrential rain causing flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas would be the main concern, even if development fails to take place.
Evident by the radar from Key West, Fla., downpours will continue to get pushed into South Florida well ahead of the actual low's center."
Only one other time in history has a tropical storm formed in February. In 1950 there was the famous "Groundhog Day' storm. Ironically it formed in the same area and mostly likely will have a similar track.
History was made twice in Washington, DC in January, 1922. On January 27th and 28th the worst blizzard ever to hit our nation's capital took place. A slow moving mega-storm took three days to make its way up the coast. Over 30 inches of snow fell accompanied by howling winds creating 16 foot drifts.
That didn't keep adventurous Washingtonians from heading to the Knickerbocker Theater downtown to pay 25 cents to see the film "Get Rich Quick, Wallingford." The theater was literally a film palace and Washington's finest venue. The sold out show had broken for intermission when the weight of the snow on the flat roof caused it to cave into the theater. The balcony fell onto the main floor and one wall toppled unto other people.
The final toll was 98 people killed and over a hundred injured. Until the 2010 blizzards, this was the worst storm to ever hit the DC area. The footage is from a documentary made by Jeff Krulick called "Twenty-Five Cents Before Noon" and shown on Public Television. The video is silent made by a hand cranked camera.
-"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away..." Just last week the LGBT community was so excited about Governor Chris Christie's appointment of openly gay Mayor Bruce Harris to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Now we find out Harris made a pact with the devil and agreed to Christie's condition that he would recuse himself from any marriage equality cases! Does that mean African-Americans and Jewish-Americans have to recuse themselves too on cases impacting those communities? Is it even legal for the governor to demand a 'vote' before appointing someone! Outrageous!
-Count me among the many millions of "Downton Abby" fans. I can't wait for the Sunday night series. Now we get word that legendary actress and old friend Shirley MacLaine (photograph above) will be in the cast of Season Three starting in September! By the way, isn't it long overdue that MacLaine receive a Kennedy Center Honor? Now, that page should be created on Facebook!
-In Washington State, the Senate will vote on marriage equality tomorrow. If it passes, the House will quickly vote on it and send to the Governor who will sign the legislation. Keep your fingers crossed!
-Did your jaw drop as much as mine when I heard that Mitt Romney and his wife Anne made his dead father-in-law a Mormon? Seems as deceased wasn't big on religion at all when he was alive. Nothing like forcing your values and religion on the dead.
The Glass House Tavern packed the celebrities in the last two weeks. Seen gracing their tables were Stephen Sondheim, Bernadette Peters, Nick Jonas (photograph), Michael Lurie, Beau Bridges and Agent Michael Moore.
-New Public Policy Polling has arrived on the anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment that will be on the ballot this coming fall in Minnesota. At this moment 48% will vote against us and 44% for us. Looks like a tough road ahead on this one.
-The United States might have set an all time low temperature record for all fifty states. One station in Alaska might have passed -80 degrees. While we have been having the year without winter, Alaska has been frigid and tons of snow. God help us if it breaks loose and heads south.
-In the 1960's, people would shout at protestors to move from the good ole USA if they didn't like it here. Congressman Alan West (R-FL) gave a speech where he suggested that the President, the Speaker and The Senate Majority Leader should all "get the hell out of the United States!"
-This week will be the vote in New Hampshire to repeal the marriage equality bill. Already some Republicans are refusing their party leadership to fall into line. What is clear is that Governor John Lynch will veto the bill and it is becoming increasingly unlikely there will be the votes to override the veto. By the way, over 60% of the people of New Hampshire support marriage equality.
-At last a real heroine emerges from the Costa Concordia shipwreck. After the cowardly captain 'accidentally' fell into a life boat, a young Peruvian waitress, Erika Fani Soriamolina, stayed onboard, helped passengers into life boats and gave her life jacket to an elderly man. Her body was found on the ship this week.
-Finn Air was taking a plane full of passengers from Helsenki to Delhi to celebrate India's Republic Day. Suddenly before take off dancers appeared in the aisle and gave them all a taste of Bollywood!
-London's 'Countdown to the Olympics' has started and the plans are well underway for the Opening Night. The theme will be a Shakespearean "Isles of Wonder" under the direction of Danny Boyle, Oscar-winning helmer of "Slumdog Millionaire."
-Producer/Director Ryan Murphy of "Glee" fame has had NBC pick up his new pilot "The New Normal.". The comedy is about two gay men and the surrogate mother they pick to carry their baby! Andrew Rannells from Broadway's "Book of Mormon" would be one of the three leads.
-MassResistance in 2007 posted this piece about how 'pro-life Romney' really didn't have his heart into it back then. Worth a read.
-Chicago might have its hands full come the G-8 Conference May 1. A leading Occupy Movement magazine is calling for 50,000 protesters to converge on the city to protest the G-8 policies. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel might have wished he stayed in DC. Here is a video clip from the 1968 Democratic Convention the last time so many protesters visited Chicago. And we all know how well that turned out.
The last two decades have seen heats records fall one after another as the globe heats up from climate change. Last year was the 9th warmest year on record. This year the United States might have the 'year without winter' as there has been no major snows and record high temperatures. Buy in case you think this all is just flute, just read this paragraph from NASA:
Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to an analysis released Wednesday by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
The two years differed by less than 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit. The difference is smaller than the uncertainty in comparing the temperatures of recent years, putting them into a statistical tie. In the new analysis, the next warmest years are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009, which are statistically tied for third warmest year. The GISS records begin in 1880.
Quite honestly, the following video I can not stop watching. It shows how the earth has gotten hotter over 130 years in just 30 seconds. The years are at the bottom of the video as the planet heads for a disaster unless the trend is turned around. (via Towleroad.com).
Finally yesterday we had some snow in New York City. Not a big storm but more than snow showers or flurries. All winter long I have waited to see them fall outside my window. The cats are finally happy as they attempt through the window to catch the flakes and stop them in their tracks. There is simply no one that loves snow more than me. Childhood was when I developed my love affair with snow. The bigger the better was my motto. The beauty of a light dusting of snow was never enough. Blizzards would put me into total spasms of joy.
When the weathermen would issue their first forecast over the radio I would live by the hour to see if it would materialize or be a false alarm. Before satellites and fancy named radar screens, they forecasted the weather the old fashion way...by the seat of their pants! Upon waking in my small rural bedroom I would run to the window hopefully to catch flakes mixed in with a howling northeast wind. The next stop would always be WSNJ radio to see if the endless listing of schools by the announcer would include Daretown Elementary.
Behind our house the fields were flat and extended for a mile or two. Our home would be the first barrier to the blowing snow. Huge six to eight foot drifts would wrap around the house and farm buildings. The road in front of the house with a raised embankment acted as a 'snow fence and the perfect place to build snow forts and tunnels. We knew the snowplows might take a day or two to work their way through to us in a really bad storm. Our complex of snow tunnels was impressive and any person serving time in prison attempting to escape would envy our tunnel system.
As I grew older I would love to say I outgrew this passionate love affair with winter. Alas it has only grown worse. With abated breath I follow every forecast of snow and still upon awakening run to the window. In my last year in Turkey Hollow, I was recovering from one of my surgeries and my dear friend Steven Guy had come to nurse me back to health. The doctor had ordered bed rest but I woke up to a raging snowstorm. Running from window to window in my rural hideaway I couldn't contain my excitement.
Steven did his best and kept ordering me back to bed. In total defiance and made delirious by the snowfall, I refused his requests and continued to stay up desperate not to miss the magnificent storm. With the authority of a prison guard, Steven once again demanded that I listen to the doc and get back in bed. Refusing I defiantly said I would go into the blizzard and do a naked snow dance. Challenging me he said go ahead and be a fool. Whipping off my clothes and with a bandaged neck from the surgery I dashed outdoors to do a "naked snow dance" singing here comes "Suzy Snow Flake" in front of the house!
Unfortunately for me I fell backwards into a huge snowdrift and couldn't get up. That damn Steven took his everlasting time before getting his coat and hat on to pull me shivering out of the drift. I learned my lesson....well, maybe I learned it. After all, there is always that next big storm isn't there? Hell's Kitchen should be on the alert for an older heavy man with a distinguished cane dancing naked in the streets.
As we have endured a very warm winter so far it is important to remember that February and March can hold some major surprises for us. Just eighteen years ago one of the great blizzards and storms ever to hit the Eastern United States happened on March 12,. The storm was so intense it was compared to a "hurricane blizzard' with devastating winds, storm surges, unbelivable snow amounts and a high death toll.
Over 300 people were killed in the two days storm that started in Florida and worked it way into Canada. Cities like New York, Washington and Atlanta had a foot of snow driven by 50 to 60 mph winds. In the Applachian Mountains it was common to find over three feet of snow in just two days. Seaside communities along the coast experienced hurricane force winds with high storm surges that caused massive damage. Locations in West Virginia had over 50 inches of snow.
The storm besides the high death toll caused over $6 billion in damage.
While different cities individually might have experienced worst blizzrds at different times, never has one blizzard affected such a wide area of the Eastern United States with one storm.
In today's world you can have the weather at your fingertips 24/7 and even be warned by phone and computer of pending severe weather. There are channels on cable-TV dedicated to the weather, apps for your IPhones and IPABs and hundreds of web sites begging for your attention and dollars. If one would be interested in tomorrow's weather, it would take you about five seconds to get it by the minute for the next day.
Growing up in a very rural farming area where for years we didn't have television or even a good radio, we learned to rely on nature to give us that warning. For centuries nature has been the best forecaster and in many cases still outstrips technology. The fact that the weather is so damn stubborn, unpredictable and mysterious is what makes it so interesting.
My Grandpappy Grove was the first one to teach me the forecasting skills of nature. If the squirrels were collecting their nuts early and their nests were high in the tree expect a brutal winter. If the geese flew south later rather than earlier then expect a mild one. He taught me if there was a ring around the moon to count the stars inside the moon and that is how many days until there was rain. If the quarter moon or half moon was 'tipped' instead of upright, you could be sure rain was on the way.
Birds were also an important forecasting tool. If the seagulls were way inland then count on a tough coastal storm. If the sparrows suddenly roosted in the trees and became quiet, a thunderstorm was not far off. If the deer had their fawns early, spring was on the way. The geese heading back north was a sign that, even though there might be some more snow, basically the worst of winter was over.
Of course there was always human instinct that had been perfected over the generations that would guide your predictions. Sitting on the porch one August day, Grandpappy Grove looked at the sky, puffed on his cigar and said, "David, batten down the hatches. We are going to have a hurricane tomorrow." Being the age where I of course knew better and we now had access to weather forecasts, I resisted mightily the order to do more work since no storm was even on the map. Nevertheless, shear seniority and maybe a whack with his cane convinced me to get loose items fastened down. The next morning a sudden tropical storm formed off the Jersey coast and we had gale force winds.
Even in modern times we can be warned by nature. Animals become seriously agitated before major earthquakes are felt by humans. Remember all the elephants heading to the hills in Sri Lanka right before the great Christmas Tsunami? Or all the birds that suddenly fly at once into the sky moments before we could feel a quake. After the California, Northridge earthquake in 1994, my cats always would feel an upcoming major aftershock before me. Of course, scientists say there is no such thing as earthquake weather - warm and perfectly still - but when is the last time you heard of an earthquake in a pouring-down rainstorm?
Weather is, and always has been, a deep passion of mine and I follow the charts, the forecasters and approaching storms. Yet, no matter how much I love the technology I still miss the wailing of a hound dog's warning.
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