Part 1: Oil Spill Frustration
Part 2: Severe weather this week?
Part 3: Another Heat wave?
Part 4: First Tropical Update of the year!!!!
Part 5: Westport Weather Update...
Part 1:
The big topic today will be about the extremely frustrating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico... The extremely aggravating and disappointing news yesterday about BP's failed attempt yet again got people angry at the way BP was handling the whole situation... Now BP is making yet another dangerous and risky attempt to try and stop what is now the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
So what's in store now? Well BP says they are going to do a "temporary" fix. They plan to cut off the damaged rinser, which of course is causing this oil to leek, and then try to cap it with a containment valve. This whole process is expected to take between 4 and 7 days. Once again, BP is acting very optimistic toward this new operation, but of course they cannot guarantee anything at this point. Many do not realize just how risky this attempt is; if they fail to screw on the valve after cutting off the rinser, the oil which is leaking out with increase by a lot.
Personally, at the beginning of this situation, I was angry that other people were giving so much negative attention toward BP... If you think about it, what else could they really do? They're already on there 4th or 5th attempt in about 6 weeks to try and stop this thing, and don't plan to stop until everything is back to normal... Now, even I am getting frustrated with BP because they are acting like everything is going to be OK, meanwhile in reality it is not. We have man made disasters before that we were able to fix, but i believe this time we have just gone too far.
Even this new plan, is no easy job... Trying to do anything 5,000 feet under the sea can be nothing of an easy magnitude!!!! Now a new problem is introduced as if we don't have enough problems... Hurricane Season is officially starting Tuesday and is expected to be one of this worst on record... NOAA, the national weather service, the Weather Channel, and even Accuweather.com's meteorologist Joe Bastardi all believe we are on track for a hurricane season similar to 2005 (The Year of Katrina), and 1969 (The Year of Camille). So what could this do to the oil... Well it could do a number of bad things... Storm surges would cause oil to move further inland, Heavy rains and Winds over the Gulf would spread oil out further and more widespread, and finally it would further delay the efforts to try and clean the oil... (For more on the Hurricane season be sure to check out Part 4).
What a lot of people are completely un-aware of, is that there are things that we can do to help this problem...:
1. Matter of Trust
As a former dog groomer who saw bags of dog hair being thrown away everyday wondering if there was ANYTHING that could be done to use it, here it is. The folks at Matter of Trust take trimmed hair from salons, pet grooming shops, even individuals, stuff it in to used nylons and use it to soak up oil. Go to your local hair salon, grooming shop, farm, or anywhere you can think of and ask if they would donate to the program. They are also looking for used nylons, even with snags, so get in to your drawers and send them off. This is a perfect way to use discarded items to make a difference.
2. Suncoast Sea Bird Sanctuary
According to their website they are the largest non-profit wild bird hospital in the United States and admits up to 8,000 birds annually. As they prepare for the effects on the Florida coastline they are in need of linens, kennels, towels, sheets, dawn detergent, paper towels, bottled water and Gatorade.You can also donate money directly to the website.
3. Audubon. Large societies like the Audubon are great resources to collect a high number of volunteers and funds in order to help the entire coastline. Their website notes that they are “currently marshaling volunteer resources, leading restoration for Louisiana coastal resources for the long term, and working for safer energy solutions”.
4.Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana Here is a website that gives information for those who are pre-veterinary students, vet technicians, and anyone with hazardous material training that would be able to volunteer. The people who show up on scene need resources for lodging, food, and supplies so if you cannot donate your time you can donate money online.
Please do not attempt to clean up oil or handle wild animals without training and proper equipment. If you see an oiled animal call 1-866-557-1401. There are many different resources for you to help so do not risk doing it without support of one of these, or any other organizations.
-Special thanks to "the mindful consumer" for the helpful tips on the oil spill help!
Part 2:
Since this is probably one of the longest blogs I have ever written, i am going to try to keep the different parts as short as possible!!!! Let me start off by saying, this is not going to be a major severe weather outbreak, but at least something to watch... I am still waiting for a large outbreak in the northeast!!!! I am going to start using a new strategy for forecasting the severe weather... Here it is, and i think the map should explain the rest...
Level 1: Dark clouds, Downpours, Thunder, Breezy
Level 2: Dark clouds, Heavy downpours, Lightning and Thunder (some ground lightning), Winds between 30-50 mph, Penny- Quarter sized hail
Level 3: Dark clouds, Drenching downpours, Ground lightning, Winds between 40-70 mph, Isolated Tornadoes, Pin pong ball- tennis ball size Hail
Level 4: Pitch Black clouds, Blinding rains, Ground Lightning, Hurricane force winds, Tornadoes likely, Baseball- Softball+ size Hail, Severe Weather Outbreak!
Part 3:
Record breaking heat took over the northeast last week, will it do it again? It will be hot, but i wouldn't say record breaking... The hottest day will probably be today and the heat should last into at least tomorrow, before cooling down on Tuesday, but then even hotter weather is likely to take place Wednesday and into Thursday, before cooling down into your weekend... So you can say that this week will be a heat wave kind of week with temperatures well above average into your first week of June!!!!
Part 4:
I am happy to announce that is will be the first "tropic weather update" of the year!!!! If you thought i was overboard with the winter, just wait until the hurricane season really gets underway... Unfortunately, i cannot enjoy this season as much due to the oil spill problems and hurricane problems combined results... Not too good... None the less, I am still excited.
Currently we are quite in the Atlantic Basin, but not in the Eastern Pacific... Agatha hit the the Mexican coast, near Guatemala, where already 12 lives have been lost due to mud slides, and heavy rain... Agatha packed winds of about 45 mph with gusts close to 60 mph at its strongest point, but has now been downgraded to a Tropical Rainstorm.
So now what? Well the path of this storm is what interests me the most... Later today and into tomorrow it will either be just off of, or on the very eastern edge of the Mexican coast... It is expected to cross through the extreme southern end of the gulf, and then extreme northern edge of the Caribbean, just to the north of Cuba... By mid-week it is expected to make a landfall somewhere in Florida, and by the end of the week, up into the Gulf stream... So what happens in this time period? Well regardless of strengthening or not, Florida can expect some heavy rain and breezy winds into their Wednesday and Thursday... But Re-strengthening is not so far fetched... Warm waters await the storm on the other end of Mexico where it could at least become a depression, and possibly a tropical storm... If it were to get this far, it would be re-named Alex, and would be the first tropical storm of the year.
Before i get too out of hand here, let me just touch up on the forecast for the rest of this season... Most forecasters say it will not be a pretty one, and is likely to be in the top worst seasons on record!!!! Up to 25 storms of at least tropical storm strength is possible, up to 12 of those storms could become at least category 1 status, and up to 7, yes 7, could be of category 3 status or higher!!!! That is impressive... Meteorologists compare this season to seasons like 2005 and 1969...
Part 5:
Beautiful day today, so be sure to get out and enjoy it... Temperatures will likely reach 85 degrees today with bright sunshine... Similar forecast for tomorrow with slightly cooler weather and a couple of passing clouds... Tuesday may be a different story though with Severe Weather possible throughout the day... Right now i give Tuesday a level 2 for my severe weather scale which is not such a nice day... A level 2 means Dark clouds, Heavy downpours, Lightning and Thunder (some ground lightning), Winds between 30-50 mph, and Penny- Quarter sized hail... So maybe not such a pretty day, non the less, it is not expected to be an all day event, since the storms should be scattered... That's it for now, enjoy your memorial day weekend...
-Scott Pecoriello
