3 Punch Hole Clouds in the Same Spot

Wesley-Tyler

Quote:
Considered a mystery for many years, punch hole clouds appear on rare occasions all over the world, sometimes attracting widespread attention, e.g., the famous Moscow UFO cloud of 2009. Recently meteorologists have penetrated the mystery: punch holes form when airplanes fly through thin layers of high altitude clouds. If water droplets in the cloud are supercooled (below freezing but still liquid), they can suddenly turn to snow when shocked by the passage of the plane. This mini-snowstorm occurs over a circular area much wider than the airplane itself.

Not all flights through banks of clouds will produce snow. According to Wired Magazine, only about 7.8 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with clouds at the right elevation for supercooled droplets to form. Because jet aircraft don’t generally cruise at those altitudes, they may only form hole-punch clouds when they take off or land.

Wesley-Tyler

The apparition of three rare cloud-holes in one small area suggests a busy airspace around Myrtle Beach. Indeed, the Myrtle Beach International Airport is just miles from where the photo was taken. Or maybe punch hole clouds are a bit of a mystery after all.

And IF you thought that punch hole clouds was just a one time occurrence, Austin, Texas captured one:

Pretty cool, eh? Have you ever seen one of these in your area of the world? Let me know.

Punch Hole Clouds …. as the green future unfolds.

Texas Is Still In Drought Conditions Despite Rain Falling

agnewsarchive.tamu.edu

All around Texas, there continues to be dangerous water conditions – even with the recent rain. According to experts, Texas would need 6 more months of rain like they’ve had in the past few weeks to just get out of the current drought.

This isn’t a surprise to the residents of Groesbeck, a small central Texas town that could run out of water by Christmas. Or in Austin, where it is expected to hit stage 3 restrictions by April, resulting in an outdoor water ban. And at least a dozen other cities have already told state officials they don’t have enough water to make it till spring. 

After the summer wildfires, the soil in the burn areas is very susceptible to erosion by downpours. The rains so far has caused erosion in some areas and in others, the water is just being soaked up by the soil as if it were a sponge.

Luke Metzger, Environment Texas Director has announced the launching of the Water Our Future campaign.  Their goal is to raise $18,000 by December 31. They will be working feverishly through the end of the year to make sure they have the resources in place to hit the ground running on the first day of the new year.

Please make a generous year–end donation before 12/31 to help us reach our $18,000 goal.

This is the worst drought Texas has seen since 1789, and too many people think there’s nothing that can be done. They couldn’t be more wrong. You and I may not be able to make rain fall, but researchers have identified numerous ways to save water and cut waste.

With your immediate financial support, Environment Texas can mount an aggressive push in the capitol and around the state to:

Increase badly needed funding and implement stronger standards for water conservation
Launch leak detection programs to curb water wasted en route to our homes
Audit the largest water users and issue incentive programs for conservation
Educate the public on how each individual can save water at home

By coming together today, we can guarantee water for communities desperate for relief. And our efforts will ensure Texas’ treasured lakes and reservoirs will still be there for future generations.

Thanks for doing your part,

Water is needed everywhere …. as the green future unfolds.

The stylings of Jack Johnson who is a singer and songwriter. He is not one
of the musicians who wreck hotel rooms, smash their guitar to smithereens,
or the normal shenanigans. He is just the opposite. He is setting an example
of using a completely carbon neutral platform for his tours or commonly known
as “going green”.

He refuses to tour in the winter as that is when the best waves hit his native
Hawaii islands. He is a low keyed individual of the likes of Paul Simon.

He likes to play on stage barefoot, unplugged, 33 years old and is going
to the top of the charts. His path to fame is really unique.

He is self taught on the guitar (something to do when the waves are not inviting)
and starting writing his own ballads. Before long, his songs were being
bootlegged all over the islands. He became popular and began touring the world.

He noticed as his group kept growing and that the footprint they had was
getting bigger. When he saw Neil Young and Willie Nelson fuel their buses with
biofuel, Jack took it to the next level.

He built a solar powered studio. Used his rock star leverage to demand a
carbon neutral tour. Instead of asking for green m & m’s, he asks for recycling
stations and green buffets. All of the food on tour is from local farms along
with the seafood. Tour T-shirts are organic cotton. The venues must promise
to offset their electricity use by investing in wind power or protecting a rain
forest.

He believes in recycling, drinking out of reusable bottles. He is among a group
of rock stars that are thoughtful of mother earth. Some of them include Dave
Matthews, Jon Mayer, and Moon 5 who are working with a green tour company called
Reverb, founded by Guster guitarist, Adam Gardner. They helped build Jack’s
village green where fans who car pool to the show get perks, learn about issues
and maybe sign a petition. Sometimes the message is not heard by the kids but
some do.

Music can change the world.

May 2008

The new city council is meeting for the first time.  Mayor Dixson asked Steve
Hewitt to give the administration update.  Steve lets the council know that
the business incubator is fully funded.  Kim Alderfer, Recovery Coordinator,
and Steve visit the business incubator site only to find that 3 days of rain
has slowed all activity.

Tyler Schmidt is running for student body president.  Shane Engelken is also
running for student body president.  They put their flyers together, hung
them in the most unique areas and are getting their speeches ready.

Open House was held at the Arts Center on May 4, 2008.  Studio 804 is finishing
up the last minute punch list.

Steve Hewitt holds a meeting with Mark Buckley, Kansas SBA, Janette Semons,
and Kim Alderfer to explain the business incubator, who dictates
who goes into the incubator and how to manage it. Being as such it will be
LEED Platinum certified.  Ten businesses will be accommodated.

Rhonda Engelken has her temporary hair salon open in hopes of getting into
the incubator.  They sold the land to the city with the understanding the
salon would be part of it.  It looks as if the beauty shop will be part of
the incubator with Steve’s help.

Marilyn and Robin Brown are moving into their unfinished house due to their
contractor taking the money and running.  He got caught, found guilty and
is awaiting sentencing.  Robin and Marilyn travel to Oklahoma City for the
sentencing of their contractor.  He has hurt many more folks in Oklahoma
than in Kansas, so their wish is that he get the maximum.

5.4.7. Arts Center board and Studio 804 met to discuss the funding of the
Arts Center.  Tracey and Chris gave Dan a check for $5000.  Approx. 180K
left to be paid.  The final bill has not arrived.  It will take approx.
6 weeks and then they will find out how much more they owe.  Studio 804
finishes up and goes back to Kansas state.  Good job on the building.  They
are waiting to hear on how many points they got for the LEED certification.

Rebecca and Joe Kilduff are moving into their home.  Bosch donated a washer
and dryer for them.  These are very eco-friendly appliances.  Congrats!

The high school held a tornado drill.  Since they have no bells or pa system,
the teacher starts telling them that there is a tornado, everyone get out.
They all went to their storm shelter boxes which holds 20 students maximum.
They will withstand an F5 tornado.  Once the doors closed, the shelter boxes
become smaller inside with all of the folks in there.  Levi is not convinced
that they are strong enough but will utilize them in a pinch.

The high school had their voting day.  Shane is the president, Connor Staats
is vice president and Kodi Lynn Brown is secretary of the student body!
Congratulations to all!  Taylor is a little bummed but he ran a good race.

Katie Hagan, Director of Sustaniability for Chlorox Company arrives in
Greensburg.  Chlorox has a long history in aiding in disaster relief by
donating bleach and other products.  The high school is being built from
the ground up.  The have their insurance and fema money but are still a
little short on the funding. Katie advised that Chlorox will be donating
half of million dollars to assist in the school building.  Cheers!

Greensburg High School held their end of year band concert for the community.
They were unable to perform last year due to the tornado so they made sure
that this year’s was two times as good.  Literally, half of the school is in
the band.  What a wonderful way to end the school year.  Lots of fun was had
by all.

Taylor and Levi discuss how they will spend their summer.  They will both
be seniors next year and so the summer will be decision making time.

Steve and Bob Dixson travel to the north end of town where the wind meters
are installed.  They discuss the wind project for the city.  This wind
project will get them off of the grid and will not have to use fossil fuel,
coal or anything else for electricity.

The weather has turned really bad for Greensburg as they are now in a
tornado watch.  Storm spotters are in the area.  Sirens are going off.
Most folks who do not have basements went to the boxcars that are buried
in the ground.  Needless to say, all the folks in Greensburg are pretty
nervous and feeling deja vu all over again.

Until next week.  Be sure to stumble !

I’M STILL STANDING, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!

I would like to let you all know that I am still standing after IKE
came to town.

Ike started hitting us during the early morning hours.  Around 8:20
a.m. lost electricity.  Then the winds and rains started gearing up
for a rockin and rollin day.

There is nothing like trying to crank up a generator (pull start) in
driving rain, 60 mph gusts with flip flops, shorts and a windbreaker
on.  Success is what you can achieve in the most unique of circumstance.
Hercules has nothing on me when fear kicks in the adrenaline.  All of
this just to brew your first cup of coffee.

We survived 75 mph gusts and 60 mph sustained winds.  Rain has been
around 6 inches and will go higher as the evening progresses.

As you have seen on TV, Galveston and Houston got pretty well torn
up.  Here in East Texas, we have lots of trees down, limbs strewn
all over and some flooding.  A couple of tornados cropped up which
makes it even more scary.

Have not been able to venture out to access local damage but we are
not able to get down the road as trees are laying across it.

I know one thing, the tying down of the RV was the only right move to
make.  If it had not been tied down, I would not be writing this.  I
would not recommend riding out a hurricane in an RV.  So don’t do as
I do, do as I say do.  Dumb me…..  Next hurricane season, I will
have better accommodations to ride one out.

The weathermen say that we will have sunshine in the morning.  Thank
you all for the prayers and the good thoughts that were sent this way.
They surely helped.

In the words of Elton John……

I’m still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Well folks, here comes hurricane Ike.  His path is predicted to hit between
Galveston and Corpus Christi.  Should that be the case, I am going to be hit
pretty hard as I will be on the dirty side of the storm.  As of tonight, they
are predicting anywhere from 30 – 60 mph sustained winds, possible tornados,
drenching rains of 6 – 8 inches.  So, it is going to be a rock n roll weekend.

I am battening down the hatches again this week.  We just had a heck of a storm
day before yesterday, got 2 inches of rain in 1 hour, lots of wind along with
ground lightening and thunder that would rip your ears off.  My parents across
the pasture, lost their garage roof.  If they did not have this huge oak tree
in front of their back door, they would of had all of that metal, through the
back of the house.  So, we are in the process of trying to figure out what to
do with the metal since Ike is on his way.  The sides, the door and the rafters
are the only thing left of that garage.  Not sure tarping the garage will even
last with the winds that are predicted to hit us.

I do declare that I have enough of this hurricane season.  So I have decided to
pick my acre up and move it to the moon.  Air is a little thin up there but the
weather is calm.  And I am all into calm right now.

I will give updates as I can.  We will lose power this time around no matter
where it lands on the Texas coast.  Even if it lands in Mexico City, we will
have a sympathy outage!

I moved to East Texas from Houston to get away from these storms with the
knowledge that I would not be hit as hard.  But nobody told me that I would
be in the crossroads of each and every hurricane that hits Louisiana or Texas.

The next self proclaimed genius that tries to convince me that global warming
is NOT having an impact on this planet, I am going to untie myself from this
oak tree and choke him to death.

In other news….. the super collider was tested today in Switzerland and
guess what? We are still here! Yeah!

Never thought of a ‘washer’ in this light before..what a blessing!

‘Warshing Clothes Recipe’ — imagine having a recipe for this!!!

Years ago, an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe:
This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook – with spelling
errors and all.

WARSHING CLOTHES

Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont
blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water.

Sort things, make 3 piles

1 pile white,

1 pile colored,

1 pile work britches and rags.

To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling
water.

Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub
colored don’t boil just wrench and starch.

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.

Hang old rags on fence.

Spread tea towels on grass.

Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.

Turn tubs upside down.

Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and
rock a spell and count your blessings.

================================================

Paste this over your washer and dryer Next time when you think things are bleak,
read it again, kiss that washing machine and dryer, and give thanks. First thing
each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer, also your toilet—
those two-holes used to get mighty cold!   AND WE THOUGHT WE HAVE IT ROUGH!!!!

For you non-southerners – wrench means, rinse

My, what we can learn from the past, they recycled everything!

Whew!  Hurricane Gustav is now a tropical storm and we believe we got lucky.
We are receiving rain and winds that are gusting no more than 30 mph.
And to top that, Gustav has decided to take a more northerly route through
Louisiana before getting to Texas.

We may get heavier rain throughout the day as movement of the storm continues.
The storm is now covering the length of the Texas and Louisiana border.

I can handle the rain, wind and being on the west side of a hurricane certainly
has its benefits. For those of you who have never been through a hurricane,
the east side is what we call the “dirty side”.  It has the heaviest rain and
wind along with creating tornados like you cannot imagine.  When the storm
is moving through your area, it can take up to 12 to 16 hours of sustained or
continuous wind at the high speeds.  Of course, the more land it hits, the
slower or downgraded it becomes.  The west side of the storm is called the
“clean” side which gives less rain and wind.

The damage in Louisiana was not as extensive as katrina but pretty bad.
However, folks will be going back to their homes probably starting tomorrow
to assess the damage.  Thank goodness, I have not heard of any deaths here
or in Lousiana from the storm.

Thanks to all who have come by and lended support and humor!  I still have
electricity and the day is young.  Now to watch the next parade of hurricanes
that are stretched out across the Atlantic.

Greensburg is in repeats right now so there are no new updates for you
today. Planet Green is taking a holiday along with the rest of us!

Hurricane Gustav is projected in a beeline right for me. So, forgive me
if this is too short and sweet as I need to prepare for the onslaught of
10 inches of rain and high winds starting late tonight and running through
Thursday.

Battening down the hatches, mates, we are in for a big blow but not as bad
as the Gulf Coast, mainly Louisiana, is fixin to feel.

Lessons were learned from Katrina. I will tell you this much, there have
been massive evacuation efforts going on over the weekend. Nursing homes
here in East Texas have gained anywhere from 60 to 100 extra patients.
Hospitals here are wall to wall gurneys. Prisons are being evacuated as well.
Let’s just say that all roads out of major cities have become one way and
folks are taking heed to leave. All Hotels/Motels are booked solid, We are
all hunkerin down cause there is no where else to go.

I will keep you updated as the week continues with hopes of keeping electricity
throughout. LOL, LOL, LOL…. I crack me up!

March 2008

What’s left of Greensburg State Bank built in 1989 is getting demolished.
Dee Corns, employee and wife of the Bank President tells of rebuilding the
bank in the same location.  They will build green using eco-block (icf).
There was a lot of material reclaimed from the bank before the demo
started.

Robert Mitchum, city council member, discusses who might be mayor.

Month 5 of construction on the Allison’s house.  Farrell and Debbie are
doing most of the labor themselves, saving money. They have most of the
the inside framing completed.

March 12, 2008

Studio 804 is getting ready to move the building to Greensburg.  They are
stressed out trying to get it finished.  To get the LEEDs platinum points
and credits, everything has to be watched in the design and construction.
They are putting the finishing touches on the building to get it ready to
move over the weekend.

Lynn Billman and Jerry Shin from National Renewable Energy Laboratory is at
Greensburg school to educate kids and the community about renewable energy.
They give kits for the students to build. The high school students are
building solar powered cars.  The middle grades are building wind turbines
out of balsa wood.  They get hands on experience on how two kinds of
sustainable energy actually works. With the goal being that some or most
will choose to pursue careers in this area, it seems to be quite successful
because the kids were highly involved and interested.

Steve Hewitt is looking at the current radio station as a good site for wind
turbines. He brings Dale Osborn, founder of Distributed Generation Systems who
is doing the wind study.  Dale will be installing instruments at different
levels of the communications tower, gather the data for one year, determine
the output and prediction of every commercially available turbine.  From there,
they will be able to make economic decisions on how to spend the limited funds
they have for the wind project.

The Allisons are getting their energy efficient windows installed. Now they can
get some heat in the house so they are not freezing to death while building their
home.  They are going over their project budget for the home.  They were trying
for $100/foot but it is costing them more than they realized.  They will be just
fine even though they are a little worried.

March 13, 2008

Each 7000 lbs. module of the Arts building is separated to make them portable
for the move.  The 7 portions of the building will be moved to the roadway
ready for the flatbed truck carriers.  The mods are moved out of the warehouse
and wrapped to prevent weather damage.

In Kansas City, a committee led by Steve meet with BNIM to talk about the Big
Well Museum. BNIM takes the Greensburg Committee to the Liberty Memorial World
War I Museum to get some ideas that could help them with the design.  They are
impressed with a glass top floor that over the Big Well would be awesome. Joking
that their only challenge would be the cleaning.  Other than that, it would be
a big tourist draw. They also like the timeline that would display photographs
from 1887 to May 4, 2007, to the present.

The new modern water tower is up and painted with the name of Greensburg and
underneath it has ‘Home of the Big Well’.

Tom Corns, is at the new bank site watching the cement go into the icf forms.
They like the icf due to the strength of the walls.  It may take 6 months to
finish the bank and are looking forward to the lowered utility bills. The
bank is being built to the LEEDs standard.  He feels that Greensburg is in a
building boom and alot of houses are now being re-built.

March 14, 2008

The crane arrives and starts loading the mods onto the flatbed trucks.

Steve and John are discussing the need to get jobs into the town, how the
business incubator will be the first LEEDs platinum building in the state of
Kansas, and applying the FEMA money to get the town rebuilt within their
budgets.

First United Methodist Church is being built by Roble Commercial Construction.
Doug Hansen is in charge of getting the roof sheathing on, while masons are
bricking the building, with a few windows left to put in.  They are 3 to 4
weeks behind schedule simply because of winter.

Farrell gets his geothermal system today from Mike Webber.  It is an open loop
pump system.  They got the duct work in, the unit was set, the hot water tanks
hooked into it, and the fresh air exchange and heat exchanger is in.  It should
last forever, unless he drops it down the stairs bringing it up.  He is hoping
that it works as well as advertised and then he will spread the word.

Marvin Lawson, a transplant from North Carolina, lost everything in the tornado.
With no insurance, the story got out that he was a marine veteran and young
marines from all over donated enough for him to get another house.  He thinks
all of this green talk is “a bunch of bull”. He says, “this green mess is a joke,
it is for the rich and not for the poor”.  He built his the way he wanted.

7 trucks start their long rainy trek to Greensburg, 400 miles away.  It turns
out to be a 6 to 7 hour drive because the trucks can only go 60 mph and the rain
may give them some problems.  Sure enough, they had some stops along the way to
repair some of the coverings due to the wind and rain. Once repaired, onward
they went.

Stacy Barnes and group are excitedly watching the mods arrive.  Her dream is
coming true, one slow step by slow step.  The top of the foundation was grinded
down for leveling.  The crane has arrived. Ray Sawyers with Belger Cartage has
been working with Studio 804 for about 5 years in moving their projects.  They
are placing the mods in place with no help from the winds.  Lots of manual work
involved in getting them into alignment.  Steve came by for a visit and talks
with Dan Rockhill.  Steve asks the professor if the goal is still LEEDs platinum
and the response is yes but with caution.  It is now a race between the Arts
building and the business incubator as to which is the first LEEDs platinum
building in the state of Kansas.

The professor got his $10k from Stacy and Chris.  Stacy and group are really
working hard to get the money raised for the building but the amount is so
overwhelming.