Residents in Houston are a bit concerned when Harris County police decided to call off a manhunt of an escaped prisoner because of the heat. The man was arrested for possession and suspected of robbery. However, he was able to get out of his handcuffs during transport and escaped. The police started the manhunt but then called it off because it was just to darn hot.
The escape occurred around noon and police decided the heat was taking its toll on the officers and their dogs. It does not appear that the man waited out of a sense of fair play for the temperature to drop.
Source: Khou
Gyges 1, June 17, 2011 at 11:00 am
Frank,
I’ve heard an interview with the guy, and he’s either Colbert with the superpower of the perfect poker face, or serious. It’s really hard to tell. I’m pretty sure it’s the first though.
———————
Let’s hope that he isn’t serious… Who is this guy?
Frank,
I’ve heard an interview with the guy, and he’s either Colbert with the superpower of the perfect poker face, or serious. It’s really hard to tell. I’m pretty sure it’s the first though.
I think they call those dreadlocks….not to be confused with our dredd
“…when he got out of his plastic handcuffs and bolted into the Wimbledon Estates neighborhood.” -Khou
Plastic handcuffs aside (probably heavy-duty, but nonetheless…), I have to wonder how these guys escape in the first place…
(Frank, Regarding the proposed lashing”, you’re probably right … Hmmm… and it smacks of Sharia, no pun intended.)
Anyway, BOLO:
“The suspect is said to be around 6 feet, 3 inches tall, with a thin build and hair in tightly curled ponytails. He was wearing a black shirt and black jeans at the time of his escape.” (Khou)
“tightly curled ponytails”???
John Coleman, our local joke on KUSI, least-watched station in San Diego, is in fact a co-founder of the Weather Channel. He is a climate expert with a degree in…wait for it…journalism.
Record Snowpacks Could Threaten Western States
more than 90 measuring sites from Montana to New Mexico and California to Colorado have record snowpack totals on the ground for late May, according to a federal report released last week.
Those giant and spectacularly beautiful snowpacks will now melt under the hotter, sunnier skies of June — mildly if weather conditions are just right, wildly and perhaps catastrophically if they are not.
Fear of a sudden thaw, releasing millions of gallons of water through river channels and narrow canyons, has disaster experts on edge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/us/22snow.html?src=me&ref=us
Squaw Valley USA to Open 4th of July Weekend for Skiing and Riding
May 30, 2011 – With record-breaking snowfall totals reaching nearly 800 inches, Squaw Valley USA announced today that the resort will open for skiing and riding for 4th of July Weekend. A rare novelty in the ski industry, skiers and riders will be able to take to the mountain this July and have an Independence Day experience like no other.
The Lake Tahoe resort will operate five lifts from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 2 through Monday, July 4, weather permitting. Lifts scheduled to run will be the Funitel, Gold Coast, Shirley Lake, Links and the Cable Car. Lift tickets for 4th of July weekend will be $49 per day for adults and $12 for kids 12 and under. Skiing and riding will be free for 2011-12 Squaw Valley season passholders, and all tickets for the weekend will include a free commemorative T-shirt.
“It is certainly uncommon to be able ski July but it is truly unheard of to be operating at the capacity that we will be operating on July 4th Weekend,” said Andy Wirth, Squaw Valley’s Chief Executive Officer. “With five lifts including the Funitel and Gold Coast Express, pool parties, live music and the Lake Cushing Crossing, this will be the Ultimate Independence Day Weekend.”
http://yubanet.com/regional/Squaw-Valley-USA-to-Open-4th-of-July-Weekend-for-Skiing-and-Riding.php
June storm brings winter weather to Hawaii mountains
Saturday’s storm dropped several inches of snow on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, a relatively rare sight in June.
The National Weather Service says there’s even a chance of more snow falling this afternoon and a winter weather advisory is in effect until 6 p.m. today.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/123193933.html
The largest tidewater glacier in North America is advancing 10 feet (3.1 meters) per day.
Alaskan glacier advancing 10 feet per day
Largest tidewater glacier in North America
Could block entrance to Russell Fjord
http://glacierresearch.org/
728 percent of normal snowpack on Mammoth Mountain At end of May still had twice as much snow as during an entire normal winter.
http://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/cms/ladwp013390.pdf
What’s to Be Done With 15 Feet of Snow in June? Utah Knows
“We even got 20 inches of powder over Memorial Day weekend, and our current average base is more than 15 feet,” Bonar said.
“The snowpack we have right now is 525 percent of normal,” said Brian McInerney, the hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Utah. “The lower level snowpack from 7,500 to 6,000 feet is already gone, but the mid-elevation snow from about 7,500 to 9,000 feet is still there.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/sports/skiing/whats-to-be-done-with-15-feet-of-snow-in-june-utah-knows.html?_r=2
This June has been the hottest on record for Austin.
9 Jun 11 – According to Dr Víctor Manuel Velasco of the University of Mexico’s Institute of Geophysics, last winter’s harsh conditions were similar to those of the ‘little ice age’ and the ‘Maunder Minimum,’ a period during which sunspots virtually disappeared.
In this press release from the University of Mexico, Dr Velasco forecasts that we’re now headed into a mini ice age that will last 60 to 80 years.
“Rarely in the United States has there been a snowfall such as the one that in Chicago they have started calling Snowpocalypse, “however, this is far from being something apocalyptic, it is rather a natural process that the Earth regularly passes through” Victor Manuel Velasco presented at the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM.
“Currently, Chicago is one of the cities most affected by this phenomenon, of which Velasco warned in May 2010, he then traveled there to offer a conference on Global Cooling.
“Since 2002, the scholar has been devoted to the study of solar activity and the impact it has on the planet, “and the observations obtained led us to predict in 2008 that the weather would begin to cool around 2010, and now nature begins show whether the prediction was true or not.
“This period, which the researchers call “a mini-ice age” corresponds with the present low solar activity, but also to planetary motion. Today we have conditions very similar to those that occurred about 400 years ago. At that time, we recorded the coldest winters known in the modern era, he said.
“We talk about the period between 1645 and 1715, known as the Maunder Minimum, when sunspots virtually disappeared from the surface of the star (our sun), and in which our planet was in a position very similar to the one it has today with respect to the center of mass of our solar system.
“Something that, when studying climate change, scientists rarely consider important, is the place the Earth occupies in the solar system at a given time; but it opens unexpected horizons of study, he added.
“The scientist said that this “mini-ice age” will last 60 to 80 years, “forcing us to rethink our economy, technology and science. For example, if the north begins to have an energy deficit, and there develops an increased need for food; we must think about it today to begin to prepare for (provide for) tomorrow.
“But how to reconcile the evidence that the planet cools with those who say it’s warming? “Today we live in a scientific revolution in which, on the one hand, there are supercomputers, and on the other hand, human intelligence. Only human beings create knowledge and science, and those who bet on the computers made a wrong diagnosis. It will be Nature that will show which theory is correct, “and yet” the professor concluded, “the Earth cools”.
http://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/2011_085.html
Hot here too Swathmore Mom. Plus fires galore cuz of no rain. It’s been extremely smokey with all of the fires with the biggest from the Okefenokee and the Honey Prairie fire line.
Honey Prairie Complex (9 total fires): 196,369 acres, 49% Contained
Honey Prairie: 193,962 acres, 49% contained.
http://inciweb.org/incident/2214/
Well, do you blame em….
This June is hotter than I remember. Rode my bike last night and nearly passed out. Supposed to cool off next week. Moving to a cooler blue or at least purple state in three years. Austin is the only good place here but it is still hot and Rick Perry is still the governor. Saw where he is having back surgery and will put off his decision. In the meantime, Bachmann moves up in the polls.
Don J. Easterbrook, Professor of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
The three studies released by NSO’s Solar Synoptic Network this week, predicting the virtual vanishing of sunspots for the next several decades and the possibility of a solar minimum similar to the Maunder Minimum, came as stunning news. According to Frank Hill,
“the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation.”
The last time sunspots vanished from the sun for decades was during the Maunder Minimum from 1645 to 1700 AD was marked by drastic cooling of the climate and the maximum cold of the Little Ice Age.
http://myweb.wwu.edu/dbunny/research/global/solar-variability&climate-change.pdf
OT a bit but still crime-n-punishment. I saw an editorial this morning but didn’t get to read it yet. The guy was proposing that we bring back the lash. Since I have not had a chance to read it yet I don’t know if he wrote it in an ironic, Swiftian manner or if he is just a pea-wit with a PhD. Given the papers propensity for the latter and dearth of the former I am afraid he might be serious.
But if he were driving through a residential area at 80 MHP they would be right behind him. They wouldn’t want to miss a cool car chase.