What Makes Flamingos Pink?

by Bill McLain

  15

  Weather

  What are the differences among sleet, freezing rain, and hail? (Don’t forget about the graupels.)

  Rain normally falls as drops of water. However, if the rain falls through air below 32°F, it freezes. These frozen drops of water are known as sleet.

  Freezing rain, on the other hand, forms near the ground. If the rain happens to fall through a thin layer of cold air near the surface of the earth, the raindrops cool to temperatures below freezing. In this case they do not freeze and turn into ice, but remain liquid. This phenomenon is called supercooling. When this supercooled rain strikes power lines, trees, buildings, the ground, or any exposed object, it freezes instantly, covering everything with a thin layer of ice.

  Hail usually forms during thunderstorms. Raindrops are blown high up into the cold areas of the clouds where they freeze. As they fall back down, more water adheres to them. When they are blown back up into the cold cloud again, the layer of water freezes, adding another coating of ice. This process keeps repeating itself until the hail is so heavy that the wind currents can no longer support the weight and the hail falls to earth.

  There is another object that people usually mistake for hail. It’s called a graupel. When a snowflake is falling to earth, supercooled drops of rain may sometimes freeze to its surface. These frozen snowflakes are called rime. If more frozen drops of water accumulate on the snowflake, it forms a mass known as a graupel. A graupel is like a miniature snowball, unlike hail, which is a solid piece of ice.

  FACTOIDS

  In 1888 a hailstorm killed over 250 people in the town of Moradabad, India.

  The heaviest hailstones ever recorded fell on Bangladesh in 1986. They weighed up to 2.25 pounds and killed 92 people.

  In 1970 Coffeyville, Kansas, was hit by the heaviest hailstone ever known to fall in this country. It weighed 1.5 pounds and was the size of a grapefruit.

  When hail falls, it can reach speeds up to 100 mph.

  If you cut a hailstone in half, you’ll see concentric rings similar to those of an onion. The rings indicate how many times the stone traveled to the top of the storm before falling to earth.

  Every year hailstorms cause around one billion dollars in damage to crops and property in the United States.

  One of the worst hailstorms in the history of the country hit southeastern Iowa in 1925. The hail destroyed crops in an area almost 10 miles wide and 75 miles long and killed poultry and livestock. Damage was estimated at $2.5 million. Cornfields were so flattened that many farmers had to leave their farms to find work elsewhere.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  An ice storm can transform the landscape into a fairyland as trees are draped with glistening white lace and sparkling threads of ice hang from telephone wires. An ice storm can also be devastating, causing enormous damage to life and property.

  When it comes to ice storms, 1998 produced what became known as the ice storm of the century and was in fact the worst ice storm ever recorded.

  Actually, it wasn’t a single storm, it was a series of storms that hit one after another. There was no time for the freezing rain to melt between storms. The storms continued for almost a week. They hit northeastern Canada and New England with a severity rarely seen in that area.

  The storms coated everything with one to three inches of ice. The quiet winter was shattered by the sound of ice-coated tree limbs crashing to the ground, taking out power lines in the process, and plunging major cities into darkness. Under the weight of tons of ice, entire trees fell and smashed into cars and houses. Road travel was virtually impossible because of the ice and debris covering streets and highways.

  With one out of four homes without power, temperatures dropped, sump pumps failed and basements flooded, food thawed out in freezers, water pipes froze and burst, and many residents were forced to seek refuge in shelters. In Canada alone there were over one million homes without power. In the city of Quebec, some homes were without power for a month.

  When the ice storms were over, damage was estimated at over one billion dollars. Canada and the Northeastern United States are the largest producers of maple syrup in the world, but many orchards were leveled. If new trees are planted, it will take 25 years before they can produce maple syrup again.

  Ironically, the Ontario Hockey League had to cancel their games. The ice in the skating rink had melted because there was no power to run the refrigerating unit.

  Did a rainmaker ever actually cause a flood in San Diego? (The city council thought he was all wet.)

  In 1912 San Diego was experiencing a very dry year. The Morena Dam reservoir was less than one-third full, the city’s growth depended on an abundant water supply, and another drought was imminent. A real estate agent had heard of Charles M. Hatfield’s reputation for making rain and suggested that the San Diego City Council enlist his aid.

  Hatfield called himself “the Moisture Accelerator,” but to those who were familiar with his work he was simply “the Rainmaker.”

  In the early part of the 20th century, Hatfield had traveled from California to Alaska and was considered the most successful rainmaker of the time. He had been successful in bringing rain to the parched farmland of the Central and San Joaquin valleys of California. In 1904 the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce said they would give him $50 if he could cause it to rain in that city. He set up his apparatus and promised that the rain would fall in less than five days. On the fourth day over an inch of rain fell on the dried-out city.

  After arguing for almost three years, the city of San Diego decided to enlist Hatfield’s help. He promised to produce 40 inches of rain provided the city paid him $10,000. They agreed.

  It was January 1915 when Hatfield and his brother started mixing the secret chemicals at a site 60 miles east of the city. The next morning, rain clouds had formed and by noon there was a downpour, filling neighboring ponds and streams. Hatfield continued his work. Bridges washed away and homes were flooded. A stranded Santa Fe train had to unload passengers by boat. And the rain kept coming down.

  A city official decided that enough was enough and tried to telephone Hatfield to tell him to stop, but the telephone lines were down because of the flooding.

  By the fourth day the land was saturated. More bridges washed away, railroad tracks loosened, all roads within a 60-mile radius were submerged, and muddy water covered farm and ranch lands. Finally, the rain stopped, but only for a few days.

  When the rain started again, one dam simply disappeared, another dam ruptured, and the water at Morena Dam starting rising at the rate of two feet per hour. Frantic dam engineers opened the two main safety valves to let water run out of the dam into the canyon below. When the rain stopped for good, the water in the dam was only five inches from the top. Some estimated that enough water had been released from the dam to fill it twice.

  Surveying the damage and hearing that a lynch mob was after them, Hatfield and his brother used aliases when entering the town. The San Diego City Council refused to pay his fee, fearing that if they did they would be responsible for the millions of dollars in damages caused by the flood. Hatfield countered that he had delivered what he had promised and the city should have taken more precautions.

  Hatfield lost the court cases that followed. The California Supreme Court ruled that the rain was “an act of God” and not an act of Hatfield’s. He never received a penny for producing one of the greatest rainstorms in San Diego history.

  When Hatfield died in 1958, his rainmaking secret died with him. Today a small granite plaque with the words HATFIELD THE RAINMAKER stands near the Morena Dam.

  FACTOIDS

  In 1994 during Super Jam IV at Athens, Georgia, the band Widespread Panic was ready to play the song “Hatfield” (based on the story of the famous rainmaker). As they started playing the sky got dark, and before the song ended it was raining so hard that the generators had to be shut down and the band was forced to leave the stage. Perhaps Charles Hatfield was plying his trade agai
n.

  The official name for a rainmaker is “pluviculturalist.”

  Some think that Burt Lancaster’s role in the 1956 film The Rainmaker resembled Hatfield.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  In the history of almost every civilization there is the story of a great flood. Many aspects of the story are similar. People have become evil and must be destroyed. The few good people are saved by building a boat, climbing a mountain, or climbing a tree.

  One such flood story is from an ancient Mesopotamian myth. Enlil, the senior diety, is upset with humans because they make so much noise, so he decides to wipe out the entire human race. He tries various plagues, but none of them does the job. Finally, he decides on a flood. Enki, the god of wisdom, warns Atrahasis, the king. Atrahasis, his family, his possessions, and animals and birds all board a reed boat. They ride out the flood that lasts for seven days and seven nights. When the waters subside, Atrahasis makes offerings to the gods. Enlil finally gives in and decides to let the human race continue, provided Enki and his mother make sure the humans no longer bother Enlil with their noise.

  What is ball lightning? (Don’t try playing catch with it.)

  We typically think of lightning as a “bolt” that streaks down from the sky to the earth in a brilliant flash. However, sometimes a blazing ball will move through the air parallel to the earth. This luminous ball, which can be as small as an orange or as large as a cantaloupe, is called ball lightning.

  Although it usually moves parallel to the earth, ball lightning will often make vertical jumps. It not only descends from thunder clouds but can often magically materialize indoors or outdoors.

  Until recently, the scientific community did not believe that ball lightning existed because of its strange behavior.

  The ball moves rather slowly, a few miles per hour, floats about three feet off the ground, and can make erratic changes in direction. It is not affected by the wind and may move into the prevailing wind rather than away from it. It may last for less than a second or as long as several minutes, but it typically has an average life of around 25 seconds. It has been seen in houses, in airplanes, and passing through closed glass windows without affecting the glass in any way. If it is blue or orange, it tends to last longer than if it is some other color. The ball either disappears silently or extinguishes with a violent explosion that often causes extensive damage.

  Sightings of ball lightning have been well documented and have been reported since the time of the ancient Greeks. People who have seen this strange phenomenon claim that it is truly beautiful. Witnesses also note that there is a bad smell at the same time.

  For decades, scientists have proposed theories about the nature of ball lightning. However, there is still no accepted theory. The origin and nature of ball lightning remain a mystery even today.

  FACTOIDS

  There are normally 2,000 thunderstorms in the world at any point in time, producing over 100 flashes per second.

  Each year, approximately 10,000 forest fires are started by lightning.

  The largest number of people killed by lightning at one time was in 1963 when lightning hit a Boeing 707 jet. It crashed with the loss of 81 passengers.

  Of all people killed by lightning, 84 percent are males.

  There are twice as many lightning casualties in Florida as any other state.

  Although most doctors know how to treat victims of electrical shock, very few are familiar with keraunopathy, or treatment of lightning strike victims.

  Contrary to popular opinion, rubber-soled shoes and rubber automobile tires offer no protection against lightning. However, the steel frame of an automobile will provide some protection if you are not touching any metal. You are typically safer inside your car than outside it.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  If you get hit by lightning and survive, your troubles may not be over. First, you may have to be treated for burns, contusions, and fractures. Injuries like these are easy to recognize and treat. However, problems that are not apparent at first can later cause you a great deal of suffering.

  Some of the effects of being hit by lightning include short-or long-term memory loss, disturbances in your sleep pattern, depression, fatigue, thought impairment, muscular pains, severe migraine or cluster headaches, loss of dexterity, hearing impairment, seizures, and irritability.

  It’s easy to see why getting struck by lightning would make someone irritable. After all, there’s enough electricity in a lightning bolt to power 10,000 electric chairs.

  If getting hit just once would make someone irritable, you can just imagine how irritable a former U.S. park ranger, Roy C. Sullivan, became. He was struck by lightning on seven different occasions. It all started in 1942 when his only injury was the loss of his big toenail. Over the next 35 years, he was struck by lightning six more times with various injuries, including a burned shoulder, hair set on fire (twice), leg burns, chest and stomach burns, and a wounded ankle.

  But lightning never did manage to kill him. He committed suicide in 1983 because he was allegedly rejected in love.

  What is the heat index? (This is a hot topic.)

  The temperature alone does not always tell you how cold or hot it is. The heat index is to summer what the wind chill factor is to winter.

  During cold weather, if wind blows across your skin, it strips the insulating layers of warm air and replaces them with colder air. The faster the wind, the colder you feel. For instance, if the actual temperature is -15°F and there is a 20-mph wind, then it will feel as if the temperature is -60°F.

  During hot weather, heat and humidity can combine to make you feel much hotter than the thermometer indicates. When you perspire, the perspiration evaporates and gives a cooling effect to your skin. If the humidity is too high, perspiration cannot evaporate and you feel hotter. Sometimes during hot weather, water from the air condenses on your skin and makes you feel even hotter still. For instance, if the actual temperature is 95°F and the relative humidity is 80 percent, then the heat index, or the heat you will feel, is 115°F.

  Temperatures from 100° to 110°F can be hazardous, and temperatures above 110°F can be downright dangerous. In fact, if you are doing physical activity or are exposed to heat for a long period of time, you can suffer from sunstroke, heat cramps, or heat exhaustion whenever the heat index rises above 90°F.

  Here are the heat index temperatures that can cause you problems.

  Risk Heat Index Danger

  Be careful 80-90 You’ll get tired faster when you exercise.

  Caution 90-105 You can get either heat cramps or heat exhaustion.

  Danger 105-130 It’s very likely you’ll get heat exhaustion.

  Extreme danger 130 or more You’re definitely going to get heat stroke.

  To avoid these dangerous conditions, you should always rely on the heat index rather then the temperature shown on the thermometer. When the heat index is high, drink a lot of water and juice, wear light-colored and loose-fitting clothing, stay out of the sun and in an air-conditioned area if possible. If you do these things, you won’t risk maladies caused by the heat and you’ll feel a lot better besides.

  FACTOIDS

  Extreme heat can kill. Every year about 175 people in the United States die from heat-related conditions. During the summer of 1901, there were over 9,500 heat-related deaths across the Midwest, and in the summer of 1988, an estimated 10,000 people in the East and Midwest died from the heat.

  Men are more susceptible to illnesses caused from heat because they perspire more and dehydrate more quickly.

  The highest recorded temperature in the world was 136°F at Al Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922. The highest recorded temperature in the United States was 134°F at Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Most people don’t know the differences among heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. The following information might be helpful.

  Heat cramps are usually caused by exercising in hot weather.
You will perspire profusely and have painful cramps or spasms in your legs or abdomen because your body salts become unbalanced. As you become used to the heat, the cramps will not occur as often. The best cure is to just take it easy.

  Heat syncope is just a fancy term for fainting. If you’re not used to exercising and it’s very hot, the heat can cause a fast drop in blood pressure and you will pass out. The cure is the same as for heat cramps; take it easy.

  Heat exhaustion is due to your losing fluid and salt because of excessive perspiring or because you aren’t drinking enough fluids. If you suffer from heat exhaustion, you will perspire profusely and become very weak, and your skin will be cold, clammy, and pale. You will probably vomit and might even faint. Take it easy and drink plenty of water.

  Heat stroke (sunstroke) can kill you! The extreme heat prevents your body’s thermostat from working properly. Your skin will be dry and hot, and your temperature will be 106°F or higher. You’ll become confused and lethargic, and you’ll probably lose consciousness. Seek immediate medical aid. Even if you merely suspect a heat stroke, don’t take a chance. Get medical help right away.

  When temperatures drop below freezing and blizzards howl in the night, most people try to stay indoors and keep warm. If they have to venture outside, they bundle up and take every precaution they can against the cold.

  However, people react much differently in the summer. They enjoy hot weather and like basking in the sun. They play sports and exercise. They seem to think that no matter how hot it gets, the worst thing that can happen to them is a bad sunburn. That’s not true. Excessive heat can make you sick and even kill you.