Daily Mail A few days ago, lightning from (nearly) dry thunderstorms set off a large number of fires in the Pacific Northwest. It is possible, if the facts justify, to blame them on global warming. And, in France... But these arson-set fires -- which are far more frequent than lightning sparked fires -- should never be blamed on climate change. 

This is a tiny part of the major damage from a violent tornado(es) that began around 12:55pm this afternoon in the south part of the Green Bay metro area. Appleton was hard hit with major damage and with injuries, the extent of which are unknown at this time.  The problem: At 11:30am the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center forecast zero  chance of strong tornadoes anywhere in the U.S. and just a tiny (2%) chance of tornadoes of any intensity. Because of the events in Wisconsin, they were forced to rush out (17 minutes after the tornado began) a product calling for "strong" tornadoes -- that the public doesn't even see.  I believe the tornado will be rated at least EF-3 intensity.  The local Green Bay NWS office did an adequate job with this fast-developing situation, especially since the guidance would not have indicated to them there was any kind of meaningful tornado risk. From radar, the first significant indication of a tornado was at 11:56. Their ...

Wall Street Journal Are you kidding?! This is insane. The mergers of Continental + United and Northwest + Delta never  should have been approved for antitrust/oligopoly reasons. Those mergers, along with U.S. Air + American have killed competition and have directly led to flying being the terrible experience it is today. The 'leaders' of the airlines can't manage what they have; what makes them believe they can manage a vastly bigger company?! Of course, these mergers never seem to bring the "synergy" that is promised so they end up cutting people and service.  When you combine these "too big to care" airlines with Congress being influenced by the airline lobby to make it practically impossible to hold the airlines accountable -- no matter how egregious their behavior -- it makes our airline experience worse than many "second world" airlines.  For our 50th wedding anniversary, we purchased first class tickets on American. Good thing we did! The...

The red areas have an enhanced risk  of winds of 60 mph or stronger. Where you see hatching the forecast winds are 75 mph or stronger. In those areas, power outages are quite possible.  The yellow areas have a significant risk of 60 mph gusts with 75 mph gusts possible in the hatched areas. In South Dakota, the yellow/hatched area includes Yankton and in Nebraska it includes Norfolk and O'Neill.  The greater threat begins after 6pm. 

Kansas City Star NFL training camps have begun. And as much as we love fellow Kansan Travis Kelce, and welcome his new Missus to our state, I can't say I think much of their taste in hats. His chapeau reminds me of a famous scene in a movie about another sport (below):

Happily, the caption says it all. Predictions are that it will be a below average tropical storm season in the Atlantic. Let's hope the tropical meteorologists are correct!