The Zion Curtain and (what else?) the weather

 

                Current events that coincide or refer to what I’m reading always seem serendipitous. I just finished “Water Under the Bridge” written by Verna Simms of Festus, Missouri. She is nearly 93, is on Facebook and sold many of her 333-page books at a recent signing.

                The novel is about Mormons. In Sunday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was an article headlined, “Utah alcohol laws too dry, some say,” with the sub-head, “In heavily Mormon state, bartenders mix drinks out of customers’ views.” I took time to read the article by John M. Glionna of the LA Times.

                I chuckled at a reference to the Zion Curtain! In Utah, the “politically powerful Morman Church’s restrictive alcohol laws described by some as the Zion Curtain needs to be torn down.” Bartenders must mix drinks in the kitchen—because of “impressionable children” who might be present.

                Others call it “Byzantine alcohol laws,” and “something akin to a covered wagon parked in a lot full of Maseratis. ”

                More information: Mormons are a majority of Utah’s Legislature, and compose three-fourths of the state’s population of nearly three million. Mormons who drink are forbidden to worship in temples.

                Shot glasses in one souvenir shop read, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may be in Utah.”

                Sleet lay on the ground Monday morning, so I checked into the online wunderground weather information. This is what I found:

              “At any given moment around the world... approximately 1800 thunderstorms are occurring. Although thunderstorms are relatively small... when considered on a global scale of weather... all
thunderstorms are dangerous. Lightning... flash floods... hail... straight-line winds... and tornadoes all result from thunderstorms.

             “ A thunderstorm is considered severe when it produces winds of at least 58 mph or hail at least 1 inch in diameter––the size of a quarter.

             “Lightning is a hazard in all thunderstorms... whether they are severe or not. While thunder frightens many people... it is the lightning that causes deaths... injuries... and damage. Remember... it is the lightning that produces thunder... so whenever thunder is heard... danger is present. In Arkansas in 2013... no lightning deaths occurred... but six people were injured by lightning.

              “Flash floods are another thunderstorm hazard. Most deaths due to flash floods occur at night... when the danger is the most difficult to see. Vehicles being driven into flooded areas result in the greatest number of flash flood deaths. In Arkansas in 2013... 6 people lost their lives to flash floods... all on May 31st. Five of the fatalities occurred at Y City in Scott County.

              “Large hail... on average... causes nearly one billion dollars in damage in the U.S. Each year. Some injuries due to large hail occur in this country each year... but deaths from hail are relatively rare. Animals fare far worse than humans. The largest hailstones reported in Arkansas during 2013 were 2 inches in diameter in the Warren area on May 21st.

             “Straight-line winds produced by thunderstorms caused one death and seven reported injuries in Arkansas last year. Typically each year in Arkansas... the strongest winds reported from thunderstorms are between 75 and 100 mph. The strongest thunderstorm winds reported in Arkansas last year were 100 mph in The Horseshoe Bend area of Izard County. Altogether... there were 17 instances of thunderstorm winds of at least 80 mph in Arkansas during 2013.

           “Finally... tornadoes are spawned by thunderstorms. In an average year... 33 tornadoes would be expected in Arkansas... with these tornadoes causing four deaths. In 2013... Arkansas experienced
34 tornadoes... and there were two tornado fatalities.”

                Here’s an observation and my first published haiku: “a single brave bird/ tries its winter-dormant voice/ ‘spring-a-soon, spring’s soon.’”
                Let’s hope so.

Weather trivia from MY readings, not the almanac

 

 

by Pat Laster

             January is a good time to study/deal with/ wish-it-were-different weather. The following are facts I've jotted down while reading during the past couple of years.

* The ozone season typically runs from Memorial Day Weekend through September (OTHER DAYS feature, 2002)

* In January, 2010, the United Kingdom was the coldest in thirty years. The lowest temperature was minus 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Norway was the coldest in two decades at minus 44 degrees, F.  [Understatement: “It’s cold. It’s just cold.” ––John Lewis, National Weather Service meteorologist, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, hereafter known as ADG] --article by K. Heard.

* The “Acqua Alta” phenomenon denotes exceptionally high tides that often flood most of Venice in the winter.

* The 2010 earthquake in Haiti at 7.1 on the Richter scale was the worst in 200 years. [Joe Downey, New York fire battalion chief, describes the earthquake in Haiti as of “a magnitude at least 100 times worse than Katrina. Leonard Pitts, in an ADG column January 16, 2010, said, “Sometimes, the earth is cruel.”]

* “I’m not going to miss the sight and sound of rain and thunder in February to sit inside a church building and wish I were outside.” – Pat Laster, on a Sunday morning after retirement as music director.

* Any time the earth moves under one’s feet, it’s scary.” – Scott Ausbrooks, on Guy, Arkansas’s earthquake swarm, October 2010. About 100 earthquakes were recorded since September in Faulkner County—all near the community of Guy.]

* Any earthquake less than 43 miles deep is considered shallow.” – Ibid [That seemed unfathomable to me until I looked it up.]

* “We took on Mother Nature. She threw everything at us but the kitchen sink, from timber, to boats that were sunk, to tree branches,” said George Pavlou, acting regional

administrator for the EPA. “We prevailed in the end.” (ADG, October 12 2009)[Did we?]

            * Two phenomena caused the extremes of weather during winter 2011: La Nina and a large high pressure system over Greenland.

            *How can I tell without looking which direction the wind blows? By placing the folded newspaper so that it doesn’t flutter or blow open.

            * On February 28, 2011, I actually felt the 4.7 magnitude earthquake, one of the Greenbrier-Guy swarm. First, my recliner shivered, then the strangest sound began, centered in the dining room. By the time I arose, the sound was dying, and I could see the gentle shaking of the dishes in the china cabinets. It was over in an eye blink.

            *April 2011 was the deadliest tornado outbreak since March 1932 that killed 332.

*The Mississippi River crested at 59.2 feet in Arkansas City on April 21, 1927 and in Helena, 60.2 feet on February 21, 1937.

            * Sand boils . . . can cause cavities to form in levees, especially if the pressure on both sides is not the same. Sand boils with sediment seeping is NOT good. Clear seepage is OK.

            *One definition of tornado: “indifferent destruction of the wind.” – S. McCrummen