How Much BP Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Another Quiet Weekend

I spent a largely quiet weekend mostly at home. After working about 43 hours the past week I was glad to have a little time down. Saturday was a cold cloudy mostly rainy day well into the evening. I had to wear sweats to stay warm as the temperature in the apartment was in the mid sixties which was nice. After sleeping in, I watched some baseball and football. I had some homemade beef stew for my supper with carrots, potatoes, celery, and stew meat in a rich thick gravy. I spent the remainder of the evening watching halfheartedly some movies on TV. I did go out momentarily to empty the trash; I also cleaned up my big living room table. I finally retired around 4am.
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Sunday saw an improvement in the weather with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 60s. I watched some baseball before going out around 4pm. I checked my mail; and then went to Checker to see if there was a problem with my truck. The last three days when I came out to start the vehicle the battery was dead. I was thinking the battery was going bad but the tech at Checker determined the problem was due to a loose alternator belt which I tightened. I then went over to Barnes & Noble and did some browsing and reading for about an hour. I never get to spend as much time in there as I would like. I then went over to have some four for a $ 1 tacos at Taco Bell and read my Sunday newspapers. Walmart was up next for some grocery shopping. While I was there Todd called and we conversed for about 10 minutes while I worked on completing the shopping list. I bumped into Brant's wife Sara and we had a conversation for about 10 minutes as well. As a result I did not get back home until after 9pm. About the only item I failed to find was vacuum cleaner belts for my little Dust Devil that I have had for about 20 years. The remainder of night was spent relaxing and taking in some movies halfheartedly while surfing and doing some research on the 'net. I called it quits around 4:30am.
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My hands did hurt some over the weekend and woke me several times both nights with sharp pain, numbness, and stiff tingling. But while I was awake and active, they did not give me any extraordinary discomfort.
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Record Breaking Cold Wet Respite from Summer

After nearly two months of regular summer dry heat and then some, a big change occurred with the weather across the Front Range region in the last two to three days. When I got off work late Thursday night/Friday morning, a unseasonably powerful front had passed through and we were experiencing a strong driving cold rain. The rain continued largely unabated until into Saturday evening. Friday saw a record rainfall of over two inches and temperatures that stayed in the upper 40s all day and night. Saturday saw much the same with close to another inch of rain and temperatures that never got above 53 degrees. Both day's highs were record low high temperatures and more typical of November. With the record setting rainfall from last week, these past two days of rain put the area on track for its wettest August ever. We are within a quarter inch of breaking the record of 6.73 " of precipitation set in 1930. With over two weeks left in the month the breaking of the record is a certainty. We are also ahead of the curve on annual precipitation for the first time this year with the latest flurry of rain. It been enough to even turn the prairie back to more of a green color which is unusual for mid-August
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The mountains in Colorado and Wyoming to the east and south got a decent dusting of snow with a couple of inches being observed at elevations down to 12,000'.
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Strange how things can change so markedly. After a blistering hot July that tied the record for the driest July ever, August has seen quite the turnaround as it has rained for 11 of the 16 days so far. The forecast for the next several days, however, is for more dryer conditions and a return to near normal temperatures. While the heat seen in the first two days of August is done for this year, we might still have a few days left where it can near 90 degrees for about another month. But the trend is towards less hot for the rest of the month as temperatures will probably rise at most to the mid eighties with quite a few days less than that for the most part.
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RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
0923 PM MDT FRI AUG 15 2008
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...RECORD LOW HIGH SET AT CHEYENNE WY...
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THE RECORD LOW HIGH WAS BROKEN AT CHEYENNE TODAY. FRIDAY'S HIGH WAS 49 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD LOW HIGH OF 60 DEGREES SET IN 1888.
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RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
143 AM MDT SAT AUG 16 2008
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...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT CHEYENNE WY...
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A RECORD RAINFALL OF 2.07 INCH(ES) WAS SET AT CHEYENNE WY YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.1" SET IN 1931.
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RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
931 PM MDT SAT AUG 16 2008
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...RECORD LOW HIGH SET AT CHEYENNE WY...
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THE RECORD LOW HIGH WAS BROKEN AT CHEYENNE TODAY. SATURDAY'S HIGH WAS 53 DEGREES. THIS BROKE THE OLD RECORD LOW HIGH OF 62 DEGREES SET IN1875.
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