The drought in the West and the northern Great Plains continued while the developing drought in the winter wheat belt has eased a bit.  Over the next seven days, the drought will be dented on the West Coast. More than ten inches of rain in northern California will refill reservoirs. 

Concise piece that I highly recommend. Click here . 

Heavy, in some cases torrential, rains are forecast for the West Coast and inland to the Continental Divide during the next seven days. 

 

 A really, really bad cover of a bad Beatles song. 

This has been a bad week for train accidents.  Last night, a truck hauling automobiles got stuck on the BNSF tracks in far southern Oklahoma in front of Amtrak's Heartland Flyer  with predictable results.  The blue arrow points to the crossings' signal box, which I'll come back to in a moment. A reminder:  If you observe a car or truck stopped on the tracks or other irregularity, call the number on the crossing's signal box immediately. This goes to the railroad and it is the fastest way to get trains stopped. Then, call 9-1-1. If a crash cannot be avoided, get away from the tracks  first then, if possible, run in the direction from which the train is coming (while staying well away from the tracks). That way, any debris from the crash will be carried away from you.  Earlier this week, a Chicago man pulled a man in distress away from a car stuck on the tracks. I appreciate the Chicago man's heroism in pulling the man to safety. Video is below. 

Climate change is a genuine issue. But, almost all of the solutions (other than nuclear and hydro) are grifts. Wind energy is the biggest grift of all .  The FBI, more and more, acts like the KGB. It should be abolished .