A network of amateur radio operators trained as severe weather spotters served as crucial "eyes and ears" in advance of last week's devastating tornado-producing storms, according to local weather officials. The SKYWARN network provided crucial information that in some cases confirmed the violent nature of storms that were appearing on the radar screens of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, said Meteorologist in Charge Lans Rothfusz. That data helped enhance the warnings issued by the office, giving concrete information to match the "radar signature" displayed on the NWS screens, Rothfusz said. The difference is that the radar may mislead as to the actual ground conditions, and the spotters provide real-time data as to what really is happening, he said. "It could be worse, it could be not as bad, or it could be exactly what we think," Rothfusz said. "There is a tremendous value of having human eyes out there giving us reports." Weather officials call those reports "ground truth," he added.

Rain in Kealakekua is falling at 3.4 inches per hour according to National Weather Service rain gages. Kona is experiencing heavy rain due to a nearly stationary system. Hawaii County Civil Defense reports heavy ponding on Alii Drive and Mamalahoa Highway. Drivers should use caution on roadways and should not try to cross fast moving water. Related Posts Flash flood watch in effect through Friday (Feb 25) Flash flood watch issued tonight through Thursday (April 5-7) Flash flood watch...

- visit Hawaii 24/7 to read the full story -

NORTHERN UTAH -- Flood danger will surge this weekend in Utah. State leaders and flooding experts warn everyone to prepare, rather than panic. "Things are going to rage this year. They are going to go very, very big," said National Weather Service Hydrologist Brian McInerney. "If you fall in or have ...

The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a winter weather advisory for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa until 9 a.m. Saturday (May 7). Sleet and snow are possible on the summits will cause difficult driving conditions on roadways. As of 8:30 a.m. the Mauna Kea Access Road is open to the public but visitors are advised that conditions are foggy, cold and windy with temperatures below freezing. Related Posts Winter weather advisory for Big Island summits Winter weather...

- visit Hawaii 24/7 to read the full story -

Rising floodwater stretching from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico are driving many to higher ground – and that includes all creatures great and small, fanged, tusked and hoofed.

Coyotes, deer and feral pigs are entering Greenville, Miss., in a steady stream from swamped islands, according to a report by the Associated Press. In Tennessee, where gentle waves splash at the base of Beale Street, emergency-management officials are warning the populace about wildlife intruders that are concentrating on dry ground. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is encouraging people to “observe the animals from a safe distance,” especially cottonmouth water moccasins, which are in their mating season and thus “more aggressive.”

In southern Illinois, biologists are monitoring a “mass exodus of critters” from the lowlands, according to The Southern:

"The levees are crawling with wildlife," said Rich Whitton, an Illinois Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist. "It's kind of a rally point for all wildlife to be on the levees. Raccoons, opossums, woodchucks and badgers are all up on the levees.

"The first place is up on the levee, and then they're going to start moving inland. They could potentially overburden an area and become a public nuisance."

How bad is the flooding? Melting snow and rain are pumping up the water levels from Canada to the Dakotas down along the Mississippi River states. Nearly 200 locations in the U.S. are flooded, 44 with “major flooding,” according to river gauges. Thousands of folks have been evacuated in Kentucky, and today many homeowners in Memphis found notices on their door urging them to leave. Port officials in New Orleans are scurrying to dredge out all the sediment collecting in the river and clogging boat routes.

Although the Mississippi won’t crest until Wednesday, high-water records dating from the 1930s have already been broken. The National Weather Service predicts that new flood records will be set in the coming week for Vicksburg and Natchez, Miss., Caruthersville, Mo., Baton Rouge, La. and a couple other cities.

To appreciate how widespread the flooding is, take a look at these false-color images of Cairo, Ill., from NASA’s Terra satellite. The top shot is from April 29, 2010 while the bottom is from a few days ago, on April 28. Where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers join is just awash in flooding:

And here's where the flooding will likely progress in the next few days:

The National Weather Service is your best source for complete weather forecast and weather related information on the web! [Discuss] [Link]

Recruitment for: Desktop Support Technician
Location: Seattle, WA (Harbor Island)
Closing Date: May 27th, 2011

---

Vitality - Intensity - Stamina - Staying Power - Strength… This is VIGOR!

Vigor Industrial LLC is a thriving provider of innovative industrial services. Our dynamic operations are united by a 100 year history that reflects pride of craftsmanship. You can find Vigor Industrial companies along the West Coast and in the Puget Sound.

Vigor Industrial’s shipyards in Portland and within the Puget Sound have a history rich in ship repair and ship building. Vigor Shipyard, located in Seattle on Harbor Island, is the largest marine employer in the State of Washington. Vigor Industrial’s corporate operations, in Portland Oregon houses six companies on Swan Island, doing industrial work ranging from ship repair to specialty coatings to machining and marine construction.

We value hard work and smart thinking, and appreciate that the reward is our ability to provide good jobs and contribute to the communities in which we operate. Our approach is simple. We hold everyone accountable for the success of the company. We don’t accept that the status quo is right. We minimize barriers within departments and crafts so that everyone can perform what is needed to accomplish the work. We respond quickly to market conditions and our customer’s needs. We take safety and our responsibility for environmental protection seriously.

We are adding to our expanding operations a Desktop Support Technician to provide desktop technology support across company via the phone and at customers’ desks. To be successful in this role, you will need good technical skills, and the ability to think on your feet to figure out what needs to be done. You will have frequent contact with your internal customers and will be expected to approach each encounter with a calm and friendly demeanor. Being a hard worker with good written and verbal communication is important in this role. Please note that this is a part-time, temporary position, working a flexible schedule of 20 hours per week for about six months. .

DUTIES CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING: (This is not an all inclusive list of the regular job duties. Other responsibilities within the accepted job scope will apply.)

• Collect information from users about problem and lead user through diagnostic procedures to determine source of problem.
• Provide Windows XP and Windows 7 desktop support in-person and using remote control access for Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma and Everett locations.
• Assist in the maintenance and administration of user workstations, laptops, printers, network equipment and wireless devices.
• Support Microsoft Office applications and other customer applications, including AutoCAD.
• Do Blackberry and other PDA setup and troubleshooting
• Document work done in Help Desk tickets from initial request through request completion.
• Coordinate user problem resolution with other IT department staff as necessary.
• Develop and maintain system documentation regarding physical topology, equipment, environment and/or software.

EDUCATIONAL AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• A two (2) year of associate degree in Computer Information Systems or similar degree program is preferable.
• 2+ years experience in desktop support role.
• Familiarity with ITIL practices (certification preferred, but not required).
• Experience working in a multi-platform environment with Windows XP and Windows 7 as primary platform.
• Solid working knowledge of the MS Office suite of products.
• Sufficient understanding of TCP/IP networking protocol to do preliminary network troubleshooting.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Excellent customer service. The Desktop Support position provides technical support for the company’s employees and, as such, must provide professional and courteous service to the users. This includes a clear understanding of the difference between working "the problem," not "the person," and maintaining a calm, non-alarmist demeanor when troubleshooting.
• Excellent listening and communication. Qualified candidates will have a listen-first, respond-second approach to desktop support and convey the details and progress of the computer issue to the user in a timely manner. Further, he/she will report and document all user support issues and their resolutions.
• Excellent organization and time management skills. Qualified candidates will be comfortable prioritizing Help Desk calls in their queues, be able to balance competing priorities, effectively work on the calls in their queue, and escalate calls as necessary. Ability to manage technical support requests from multiple company locations required.
• Additional requirements: Ability to adhere and enforce documented processes and procedures, ability and patience to teach others effectively.

REQUIRED SOFT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES:

• Poise – is ready to act or change direction as the situation requires; maintaining calm and organized when unexpected problems arise
• Flexibility – Adjusts rapidly to new situations warranting attention and resolution
• Written Communication – Presents information, analysis, ideas, and positions in writing in a clear and convincing manner
• Oral Communication – Tailors formal and informal conversation/communication to the level and experience of the audience
• Attention to Detail – Monitors and checks work or information; plans and organizes time and resources efficiently
• Judgment – Adequately contemplates various available courses of action and makes the appropriate decision
• Self Motivation – Identifies what needs to be done and takes appropriate action with limited direction or no direction from superiors

WORK ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS:

Work is conducted in a dynamic, fast-paced office setting with moderate to loud noise levels from production activity in the shipyard. May be required to be in production areas in yard. Must be able to walk to and from job sites. While in production areas, will be exposed to all weather conditions, noise, dusts and odors. Must be able to frequently climb inclined stairways. May be required to work more than 8-hour shifts and weekend work. Bending, twisting and crouching may be required when installing computers. Must be able to frequently bend, squat, crawl and twist. Good finger, hand and wrist dexterity required for extensive computer operations. Extended time sitting in front of a computer terminal. Must have good hand-eye coordination. May be required to lift up to 25 pounds. Local travel and out-of-town travel up to 50% of the time with notice and up to 25% of the time without notice.

This position will be primarily based in Seattle, with travel to Everett, Tacoma, or Bremerton as needed. Typically 2 – 4 days per month on an as-needed basis. Must have own transportation.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• Please apply online at http://vigorindustrial.com/companies/vigor_shipyards/job_1144.php

---

VIGOR INDUSTRIAL CODE:
Be Smart - Be Careful - Be Productive - Be Flexible - Be Considerate

We welcome qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds. Vigor Shipyards is an Equal Opportunity Employer, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or status as a qualified individual with a disability or a protected veteran.
Vigor Industrial provides Equal Opportunity Employment and Drug Free Work Environments.

• Location: Harbor Island (West Seattle)
• Compensation: DOE
• This is a part-time job.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Warm temperatures and thunderstorms forecast for weekend offer huge relief for UK firefighters tackling hundreds of wildfires

A weekend of high temperatures and heavy rain will bring headaches for barbecuers but relief for firefighters battling heathland fires scorching parts of the UK.

A "Spanish plume" is predicted for the next two days, with warm air from the Spanish plains triggering thunderstorms. The rain will prove a valuable ally to crews struggling to contain heathland fires, most of which were started deliberately.

April was the hottest on record, with England Wales receiving just a fifth of the usual rainfall, helping create vast areas of parched, tinder-dry land, much of which went up in flames, many started deliberately.Helicopters have been dropping water on the worst-affected regions.

Tom Tobler, from Meteogroup, said the moist, warm air would create a mixture of sunshine and heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday: "It's going to be very warm. We are expecting temperatures to get up to 25C today, and over the weekend close to that but a few degrees lower. By Saturday night, central and western parts of the country should get a 'decent amount' of rain.

While the Royal Berkshire fire and rescue service is still tackling heathland fires in Swinley Forest – up to 30 fire appliances were at the scene today – crews across the rest of the UK seem to have tamed most blazes, despite strong winds and very little rain hampering round-the-clock efforts of hundreds of firefighters and emergency workers.

Police investigating the Swinley Forestfire confirmed the arrest of two 14-year-old boys on suspicion of arson. Both were freed on bail until next month, officers said. "In-roads are being made into this fire but obviously as the hot weather continues it is still causing a problem," a fire service spokesman said.

Lancashire fire service said almost all the moorland fires in its area had been extinguished, but firefighters were still monitoring two blazes. Five appliances were at a fire in Belmont, which started on Friday last week, while one team was making sure a blaze at Simonswood did not re-ignite.

"Fortunately we had some rain yesterday and it has continued throughout the night, so hopefully that will have some impact," a spokesman said. The fires have occupied 32 of the county's 39 fire stations for most of the week.

Greater Manchester fire crewswere still attending a fire at Turton, near Bolton, while an extinguished fire at Saddleworth was being monitored.

Crews in Northern Ireland have fought more than 1,000 gorse and forest fires over the past four days. Fire chiefs said this had been their busiest time for 30 years, with 200 emergency workers, including soldiers, battling 255 fires in 31 locations since Tuesday, according to the province's deputy chief fire officer, Chris Kerr.

In the Scottish Highlands, wildfires broke out in Inverkirkaig, Lochailort and in Newton of Ardtoe in Salen, while the National Trust for Scotland said at least £100,000 of damage had been caused to its forest regeneration project in Torridon and Kintail.

The RSPB warned that the fires could have affected up to 40% of the English population of twite, a type of finch. In England, nesting twite are confined to the south Pennines, where about 100 pairs nest.

"Even before these fires, the twite was one of England's most threatened birds. But blazes have possibly affected more than a third of the English population," said an RSPB spokesman. "This could be a devastating setback … England's most threatened finch has been hit hard by these fires."

Last week's tornado outbreak was the largest in U.S. history, according to the National Weather Service. At least 178 tornadoes tore across communities in 14 states and caused 327 deaths.

As a marine layer thickens along Orange County shores, cooler and wet conditions are forecast through Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. A warmer Wednesday and Thursday are in store as a weak high pressure moves over the region,...

Better than even chance of a wet weekend ahead for Portland OregonLive.com By Kimberly AC Wilson, The Oregonian Specifically, the National Weather Service calls for mostly cloudy skies this morning, with a 30 percent chance of rain through the afternoon. High temperatures are likely to hit 60 degrees. ... and more »

Fukushima is not Chernobyl, Prime Minister Naoto Kan insists. His government draws comfort from the fact that Fukushima emitted only a fraction of the radiation released at Chernobyl in 1986, that Chernobyl caused a number of deaths and thousands of cancers. In Chernobyl, the exploding reactor threw radioactive material high into the atmosphere, spreading it over a wide area of Western Europe. In Fukushima, apart from the radioactivity released to the sea, the contamination is concentrated within some 400 square kilometers around the plant. Fukushima caused no deaths, at least not so far.

Photo by liebeslakritze

 

However, in some ways Fukushima looks more worrying than Chernobyl, and more hopeless.

Portrait of a pressure group: the nuclear village

The disaster at Chernobyl was triggered by a botched experiment to improve the reactor’s safety in case of an emergency shut-down. The disaster at Fukushima was triggered by a natural catastrophe, a tsunami, but it was allowed to happen, because Tepco, the plant’s operator, and subsequent Japanese governments ignored ample warnings, an earthquake or a tsunami of this magnitude might knock out the emergency back-up systems.

Tepco systematically violated safety rules. In more than 200 instances between 1977 and 2002, the utility submitted false data to the authorities, as stated by a commission of the Japanese parliament, the Diet. The nation’s nuclear safety authorities and government were complicit in Tepco’s blunders.

The Soviet Union was a system in decay, even before Chernobyl. To outside observers, it was no surprise when things went wrong. Japan sees herself at the pinnacle of technology, a major exporter of nuclear power. Despite the fact Japan’s nuclear industry has suffered a substantial number of accidents before, the country did not have any contingency plans to deal with a nuclear accident as it happened in Fukushima. Six days into the catastrophe, Japan had no idea how to get the plant under control. In a desperate attempt, seawater was dumped from a helicopter to cool spent nuclear fuel. Despite warnings, Tepco failed to prevent hydrogen-explosions.

Photo with thanks to daveeza

 

Japan, a nation proud of her safety standards and disaster preparedness, was totally unprepared for an accident that had been predicted by experts. The nation of the industrial robot did not have a single machine to mitigate the crisis. Japan has not learned anything from Chernobyl.

On March, 11, Japan suffered one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, followed by an enormous tsunami. The three nuclear power plants located on the coast hit by the tsunami withstood the tremor, but at Fukushima I the waves knocked out all cooling systems. Although it had been suggested to Tepco, there were no mobile cooling systems on stand-bye.

To make things worse, Tepco initially underestimated the developing crisis. Knowingly or not, the utility did not react with the urgency necessary. The Kan government trusted Tepco, and, according to Japanese press reports, rejected the first offers of foreign assistance, notably from the US to help cool the reactors. It might have been possible to prevent some or all of the four hydrogen-explosions that caused major damage to unit 1,2 and 4, blew off their roofs and splattered the plant with highly radioactive debris.

Photo with thanks to daveeza

 

Fukushima I was not designed to survive a tsunami, any surge of the seawater higher than 5.7 meters would have been fatal. However, the villages and fishing harbors nearby all had tsunami-barriers.

It has been estimated that the waves that hit the plant were about 14 meters high. In some areas further north, they reached 30 meters. Tepco, the Japanese nuclear watchdogs and government officials claim such a tsunami was beyond expectation. When driving along the devastated coast on a hilly road, however, one regularly crosses the line up to which the tsunami wrecked everything. Climbing on, a few meters above that line of destruction, one encounters a road sign, “End of Estimated Tsunami Inundation Area”. In some places, the water flooded these signs, but not by much, in many others, the tsunami did not reach as high as the sign. One can but conclude that Japan’s road bureau and the local authorities knew they had to expect a tsunami the heigth of March, 11, but not Tepco and the nuclear safety authorities.

As historic evidence shows, earthquakes of a similar magnitude struck this region in the years, 869, 1498, 1896 and 1933, causing tsunamis of a comparable strength. For the Jogan-earthquake in 869, Professor Koji Minoru of Tohoku University has shown with the help of sediments that in the Sendai area the tsunami reached 4 kilometers inland. The 1933 tsunami is still remembered by surviving witnesses, there are even historical film documents.

A few years ago, it had been discussed in a Diet commission if such historical evidence of major tsunamis should be taken into account for the safety guidelines for nuclear power plants. There cannot be any doubt that the government and Tepco were aware of the risk of a major earthquake and tsunami, but ignored them to cut costs. In 2006, the guidelines for the safety of nuclear power plants were revised, but their wording remained fuzzy, the threat of a tsunami is only mentioned at on the last two of some 140 pages. Before an earlier revision, Tepco had managed to postpone their implementation so that they would not be applicable for a unit then under construction.

The most detailed warning was made in 2008 by Kobe University’s Professor Katsuhiko Ishibashi. In front of a Diet commission, he drew a scenario of an earthquake knocking out all cooling systems of a nuclear power plant. This would be followed by hydrogen explosions and a massive release of radioactivity into the atmosphere, said Ishibashi. That is exactly what happened at Fukushima I. Only, Ishibashi developed his scenario for the plant in Hamaoka, west of Tokyo. Hamaoka is considered to be the most dangerous nuclear power station in Japan. With certain winds, Ishibashi said, Tokyo might become uninhabitable. Despite his insistence, the majority of Diet commission saw no need to act.

The “atomic village”, as the collusion of the nuclear industry, the nuclear watchdogs and the government has come to be called, didn’t want to hear any of it. “If you were criticizing nuclear power, you were treated as an enemy of the state”, former governor of Fukushima prefecture Eisaku Sato says. He ruled the stricken prefecture from 1988 to 2006, when he was arrested for corruption – on doctored evidence, as he claims.

With a number of lawsuits, concerned citizens tried to force the operators of Japan’s nuclear power plants to improve on their security standards, notably in Fukushima. One of these lawsuits is aimed at shutting down Chubu Electric’s Hamaoka plant, the one Ishibashi developed his scenario for.

As a witness of the defense, Haruki Madarame, then a professor at the University of Tokyo, said in court: “There needs to be a line drawn somewhere. It would be impossible to design a nuclear plant if engineers had to consider every single possibility.” Last year, the same Madarame was elected to chair Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission, the government’s highest body for the safety of nuclear power. Thus, the governments top expert for the safety of the nuclear plants is someone who in court said relative safety is good enough for nuclear power plants.

Japan has clearly accepted insufficient safety standards, and her nuclear authorities failed to to strictly enforce even those inadequate standards.

In Chernobyl, once the magnitude of the disaster had become obvious, the authorities acted with urgency. 36 hours after the explosion, within a period of 2 1/2 hours, they evacuated 49,000 people. In Japan, it took Prime Minister Naoto Kan more than 30 hours to declare a nuclear emergency. Only after four explosions and more than four days of disorientation, he subjected Tepco’s wanting crisis management to his direct control. It took Japan six days to effectively start cooling the reactors and the spent fuel.

For several weeks, the Japanese government refused to publish the results of SPPEDI, a computer program to determine its the effective contamination. The head of Japan’s weather service Hiroshi Niino feared, “this would cause a panic”, as he later said. When the data were finally out, the government failed to draw the obvious conclusion and adjust the zone of evacuation. Only a week after a recommendation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, it decided to do so. To this day, not all evacuation orders have been executed.

The earthquake and tsunami were natural disaster, the nuclear catastrophe could have been avoided. Tepco, Japan’s nuclear authorities and the government bear the responsibility for this calamity, particularly Japan’s previous governments. They allowed the “atomic village” to develop, a quagmire of corruption. The current government made things worse by reacting too slowly, and naively.

The clean, ignored alternatives

Japan has no alternative to nuclear energy, subsequent governments have been insisting for decades. Fact is, Japan has never seriously explored alternatives. Some Japanese companies produce world class generators for renewable power such as wind turbines and solar panels, but they sell them mostly abroad.

When the threat of CO2 to the planet’s climate materialized, Japan’s prime reaction was to redefine her nuclear program as “green”.

The main alternative to energy consumption is saving it. While Japan's industry achieves the highest efficiency in the world, the state, the service sector and the consumers are wasting electric power. Japan consumes about 15 percent more electricity per capita than Germany, a similarly industrialized country. Japanese houses, assembled from prefabricated parts, are hardly insulated at all. In winter, the Japanese are wasting electricity to keep warm, in summer, to keep them cool. In recent years, Tepco encouraged their customers to use more (nuclear) power, namely to switch from gas to electricity to increase the utility’s business.

The low quality of Japanese housing is often explained by high land prices. People who bought land do not have much money left for quality, they say. Japanese companies are manufacturing some of the best insulation windows worldwide, but almost exclusively for export.

The Japanese government justifies its prioritizing nuclear power because of its lack of oil. Japan’s substantial coal reserves are expensive to mine and in remote places. Some critics of Japan’s nuclear program stress further that, although Tokyo has no intention to acquire nuclear weapons, the possession of nuclear technology, especially its reprocessing facility, makes it a virtual member of the nuclear club.

Japan’s proponents of renewable energy believe the “atomic village” is deliberately obstructing hydro-, wind-, thermosolar-, photovoltaic- and geothermal energy.

Currently, about 2.5 percent of the worldwide electric energy is generated by wind-power, a number rapidly increasing. In Japan, a very windy country, the wind’s share is as low as 0.4 percent. To this day, the Japanese government has not adopted standards for wind power, as Eitaro Takayama of Mitsubishi Heavy, a producer of wind turbines, complained in Tokyo early this year.

Japanese companies such as Hitachi, Sharp and Sanyo were pioneering solar energy. In 1980, Japanese households had installed 2.8 million square meters of solar thermal panels. These are simple solar energy collectors used for heating water. By 2005, only a tenth of this capacity remained in place. Helped by the government, the utilities waged a price war against decentralized renewable power sources. They squeezed solar thermal energy generation out of the market. The Tokyo Institute for Sustainable Energy calls this a "political disaster".

In photovoltaic energy generation, solar panels that convert sunlight into electric power, Japan has lost its global leadership both in terms production and installation. In Europe, Japanese companies have been selling photovoltaic solar panels to retail customers for years, but not in Japan where feed-in-tariffs were abolished almost a decade ago (they were reintroduced recently).

Japan is a mountainous country. It has more than 3000 reservoirs, of which only a small fraction is used for hydroelectric power generation. The others were built for drinking water reserve and flood protection. An additional purpose of these dams was pork barrel politics, as is widely acknowledged today. The Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, that ruled Japan for 54 years, used to offer local construction companies large scale jobs. In turn, those companies secured the votes for the LDP to stay in power.

Many of these reservoirs could be used for small hydropower plants for local consumption. But Japanese bureaucrats favor grand solutions.

Japan has 108 active volcanoes, there are more than 10,000 so-called onsen, or hot springs. Geothermal Power is the most important untapped energy source in Japan. A geothermal power plant works just like an oil, coal, gas or nuclear power plant. It produces steam to drive turbines.

After the first oil crisis in 1973, geothermal power was proposed as the ideal solution for Japan, 19 stations were built. However, the government went for nuclear power. Geothermal stations would be located near hot springs, and thus tourist spots, it argued. Additionally, it said, geothermal is too expensive. The “atomic village” killed this clean source of energy.

According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), a kilowatt hour (Kwh) of nuclear generated electricity costs about 5 US-cents, geothermal power is estimated at 11 US-cents. However, the price given by METI does not include the disposal of nuclear waste, and neither the cost of the clean up of Fukushima I, currently estimated at some 300 billion US-Dollars.

According to Tetsunari Iida of the Tokyo Institute for Sustainable Energy, METI refuses to release its basis for determining the price of nuclear power at some 5 cents per kwh. He therefore calls this price fiction.

Professor Hiroaki Niitsuma of Tohoku University, blamed the state for this clean energy’s demise. Keiji Miyazaki, Professor emeritus of Osaka University, a staunch supporter of nuclear power even after Fukushima, claimed recently that geothermal power plants smell bad. Fortunately for those poor people in Fukushima, radiation doesn’t smell.

The politics of nuclear absolutism

According to her constitution, Japan is a democracy. Eisako Sato, the aforementioned ex-governor of Fukushima prefecture, says, when it comes to nuclear power, “Japan is almost a fascist state.” Japan:s doctrine has been, “nuclear power is absolutely necessary for Japan, so it is absolutely safe”, he says. Because it is so important for the nation, Sato goes on, many officials thought it legitimate to cover up accidents and flaws. He calls that “Japan:s nuclear absolutism.”

Originally accepting nuclear power as a necessity, Sato became a critic after whistle-blowers revealed to him how much Tepco was violating safety rules and falsifying protocols. As a consequence, he withdrew his approval for Tepco to use MOX in Fukushima I, a dangerous mix of uranium-plutonium. After that, the prosecution office started to investigate him for corruption.

Behind the governor’s back, Tokyo sent a flock of nuclear missionaries to the 23,000 households around the Fukushima I plant. Their task was to convince the people that MOX was safe, despite what their governor said. These households are now evacuated.

Maybe  Sato was corrupt. But if so, his was at most the petty corruption common among Japanese politicians. If all Japanese MPs guilty of this kind of corruption were banned from parliament, the hall would be half empty, it has been said. Japan’s prosecutors have a free hand to determine whom they prosecute and when; or to turn a blind eye. Thus, Sato’s allegation that he has been singled out for political reasons, namely his opposition to nuclear power, is at least plausible.

The “atomic village” stands for corruption on a much grander scale. The nuclear industry, scientists, bureaucrats and politicians have created a tight network of institutionalized and legitimized corruption. Reciprocity, a crucial point to prove corruption, is not required in the “atomic village”. Its members provide “the village” with construction jobs, research grants, promotions and votes, probably believing it is for the good of the nation. They don’t tolerate criticism. The leading media have been on good terms with this network. They have ignored the critics of nuclear power, including their many lawsuits against unsafe plants, including  Fukushima.

A crucial component of the “atomic village”, as of other tightly knit Japanese networks between politics and the private sector, is “amakudari”, literally “descent from heaven”. Japanese bureaucrats retire at the young age of 55. “Amakudari” is the institutionalized practice to help them join those companies and organizations they used to control before retirement. Thus, while still working for the government, they can expect to be rewarded in the future with the high pay of an adviser for smoothing a company’s dealings with the state. After switching side, they also use their connections and their intimate knowledge of the controlling authority to facilitate permission procedures for the company. This practice has been called the “hidden fabric of Japan’s Economy.” At the time of the Fukushima accident, two former bureaucrats were on the board of Tepco, and the former boss of the nuclear division of Tepco was rewarded by the LDP with a mandate in the Upper House of the Diet.

On top of this, there are the family networks. Many leading Japanese politicians are sons, son-in-laws, grandsons or nephews of top-politicians. They inherited their relatives’ constituencies, and also their networks.

Fukushima prefecture’s current governor, Yuhei Sato (he’s not related to his predecessor) is a nephew Kozo Watanabe, one of the surviving grand old men of Japanese politics. The only job Watanabe never held was Prime Minister, as they say. An MP for Fukushima since 1969, Watanabe was once an independent, then a member of the LDP; now he’s a crucial actor in PM Kan’s DPJ. He is on the record saying nuclear power allows the people to live longer, because it has helped Japan solve its energy problem.

After taking office, Yuhei Sato re-approved the use of MOX at Fukushima I. As a direct consequence of this decision, there were now traces of Plutonium contamination around the plant.

Most of Japan’s nuclear power plants are clustered on remote coastlines in poor prefectures. Tokyo gets the power, the people in Fukushima the problems, one can hear these days. Former governor Eisaku Sato stresses, in Japan, decision are made from top down, from Tokyo to the provinces. However, there’s another side to this equation.

One of the main architects of the “atomic village” was Kakuei Tanaka, PM from 1972-1974, and one of the most powerful men in postwar Japan. Under his premiership, Japan declared nuclear power to be a top priority.

A farmer’s son from rural Niigata, Tanaka served in the Japanese army in Manchuria. There he made his first contacts with the group that was to lead Japan’s post war economy. In hindsight, the command economy Japan imposed on Manchuria, de facto a Japanese colony, served as a laboratory for Japan’s reconstruction. Back in Tokyo, Tanaka married the heiress of a construction company and went into politics, thus becoming part of both sides of the corruption, almost an incarnation of it.

Not only did Tanaka try to get as many construction jobs for his company, but also for his prefecture Niigata. This would help him get reelected, and improve his and his prefecture’s standing in Tokyo. He managed to get his remote province connected to the national highway system and the bullet-train network long before bigger cities. The biggest price, construction work for more than a decade, was erected literally at the doorstep of his birthplace: the world’s largest nuclear power plant, Kashikawazaki-Kariwa.

When he was a member of the LDP, Kozo Watanabe belonged to Tanaka’s faction. Just like his mentor, he helped bring nuclear power plants to his own prefecture, Fukushima.

In the Soviet Union, the communist party was ubiquitous. To ensure loyalty to the party, it sent a representative into every institution, the party secretary. Their second task was to keep the government informed about the needs and achievements of their enterprise. Japanese networking, namely amakudari, other mutual dependencies and the family ties, do the same trick. In its heyday, the LDP was almost as ubiquitous as the CPSU in the Soviet Union.

Chernobyl forced the Soviet authorities to their first steps of glasnost, or openness. Late in 1986, a local youth newspaper in the then Soviet republic of Estonia dodged censorship and published a story of young Estonian liquidators who were exposed to high dosages of radiation. This was the beginning of the liberalization of the Soviet media. Thus, Chernobyl can be considered as one of the starting points to the process that finally led to the collapse of communism.

Just as with the Soviet Union at the time, Japan needs fundamental reforms. For two decades, Japanese politics have been stagnant and petrified. Some academics see the nuclear power plants as monuments of Japanese corruption.

Other than the Soviet Union, however, Japan is an open society with free elections that respects human rights. All the levers for reform should be in place.

Reform?

Will Fukushima trigger the changes Japan has been waiting for? In the Soviet Union, well educated people had lost faith in a system that lied to them and failed to provide them with their daily needs, enough milk or toilet paper. They helped to topple the government, and the system.

Japan’s is still an affluent society, the new poverty that emerged in the last decade is hard to discern, since it is marginalized to the provinces and to the fringes of society. The urban middle class still has a very good life, it has too much to lose to ask for change. In their eyes, the Tohoku region hit by the earthquake, the tsunami and the radiation crisis, is a remote place. The media is already stepping back from the more controversial position it adapted at the culmination of the crisis. The government is preoccupied with fighting assessments of Fukushima I that differ from its own. It calls these “harmful rumors”. And the opposition is back to its petty bickering.

There is no Japanese Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Andrey Sakharov, not even a Mikhail Gorbachev, no moral authority and no politician who could lead the nation to reforming itself, and not much can be expected from a government that barely manages to survive. Thus, Fukushima, unlike Chernobyl, looks unlikely to set off the chain reaction of reform that would be the only good to come of it.

Sideboxes

Related stories: 

Japan: from tsunami to change

After Fukushima

Nuclear Follies

A total of 21 tornadoes touched down over north Texas during the April 25-26, 2011 outbreak, the National Weather Service (NWS) says.A NWS public information statement says surveys have been completed on 19 EF0 class tornadoes and 2...

The National Weather Service has issued a high surf advisory for East facing shores of the Big Island until 6 p.m. Friday (May 6). A winter weather advisory was also issued for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island. Sleet and light snow are a possibility Related Posts Winter weather for Big Island summits forecast through Sunday Winter weather advisory in effect for Big Island summits, Mauna Kea access road closed Winter weather advisory for summits with about five...

- visit Hawaii 24/7 to read the full story -

Late Monday night, as we indicated that they might, the Army Corps of Engineers blew up a section of levee on the Mississippi in order to protect the town of Cairo, Illinois from record floods.

The blasts, which were strong enough to register at 3.0 on the Richter scale, breached the Birds Point levee, and sent water cascading over 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland. The decision wasn't without controversy. Or law suit, for that matter. The State of Missouri took the Army Corps decision up to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear it.

When asked whether he would "rather see Cairo or the farmland underwater," Missouri State House Speaker Steve Tilley, told reporters,

Cairo. I've been there, trust me. Cairo...Have you been to Cairo? OK, then you know what I'm saying then.

Tim Murphy, who has been to Cairo and surrounding towns has a great piece in Mother Jones that provides some background on the socioeconomic conditions in the area, as well as its heated racial history, which helps explain why folks on the "other" side of the levee were putting their farmland ahead of their neighbors' homes.

In this Wall Street Journal video, you can see the blasts that busted the levees, and the water flowing into Missouri. It also explains why farm owners have to take a healthy bit of blame—the land they bought and farmed was always clearly marked by the Army Corps as being an emergency flood zone.
 

As Jeff Masters explains, levees on the Lower Mississippi River "are meant to withstand a 'Project Flood'—the type of flood the Army Corps of Engineers believes is the maximum flood that could occur on the river, equivalent to a 1-in-500 year flood." The levees were all built after the Great Flood of 1927—the deadly event that was made famous in the song When the Levee Breaks.

On Sunday night, Army Corps Major General Michael Walsh, the man who ultimately makes flood control decisions, stated (PDF) "The Project Flood is upon us. This is the flood that engineers envisioned following the 1927 flood. It is testing the system like never before."

Here are images of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and the "floodway" before and after the breach.

Before:

After:

It was the first time in 74 years that the Army Corps blew up a levee on this stretch of the river, and by Major General Walsh's comments (PDF), you can tell it was an agonizing decision:

Everyone I have talked with—from boat operators, to labors, scientist and engineers, and truck drivers have all said the same thing—I never thought I would see the day that the river would reach these levels.

We have exceeded the record stage already at Cairo. We are on a course to break records at many points as the crest moves through the system. Sometimes people celebrate with "records"—but not this time. Making this decision is not easy or hard—it's simply grave—because the decision leads to loss of property and livelihood—either in a floodway—or in an area that was not designed to flood.

The destruction of the levee immediately lowered water levels by about a foot and half in Cairo, but only slowed the rise of the Mississippi River below the breach. It's already setting all-time records in the 70-mile stretch below Cairo. Over the next two weeks, this massive surge will snake its way down the rest of the Lower Mississippi, and the National Weather Service is predicting record or near-record flood levels in towns all the way down through Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The Army Corps is already discussing "opening up more floodways," or blasting other levees to ease the main surge.

In some regards, a long, slow disaster like this is easier to manage—there probably (hopefully) won't be any deaths, as towns are already being evacuated and there's plenty of advance warning. Contrast that with the horrible tornado outbreak last week, and this "flood" feels like less of an emergency. Let's just hope that the slow, lazy nature of this disaster doesn't make it something that's overlooked by the rest of us.

Top photo: screenshot from Wall Street Journal video; Satellite images from NASA Earth Observatory

The National Weather Service says it now has confirmed 16 tornadoes hit Virginia last week.

The National Weather Service reported a new record for number of tornadoes in a day, with 312 counted in a 24-hour period last week.

Officially called Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, this small constitutional monarchy is nestled between France, Belgium and Germany. Luxembourg’s population of just over a half million reflects diverse cultural influences. German, French and Luxembourgish (which has similarities with both French and German dialects are the country’s official languages. Luxembourg is one of the founding members of the European Union. The capital city (and also the largest), Luxembourg, is home to several institutions and agencies of the European Union.

Passports & Visas

Passports are required to enter and leave Luxembourg. Visas are not required for US citizens for visits of less than 90 days. For longer visits, contact the nearest embassy.

Obtaining a US passport
The US Government Website is where to start.

Visa information
contact: The Consulate General of the Duchy of Luxembourg in New York

American Offices
Provides consular assistance to U.S. citizens
Luxembourg Embassy in the US

Luxembourg Tourist Information

Culture and History
Luxembourg in a Nutshell

Currency in Luxembourg
As part of the European Union, Luxembourg’s currency is the Euro (available in seven notes and eight coins). ATMS are available throughout Luxembourg, especially in more urban areas, and most machines accept debit cards bearing the Cirrus logo. Before you leave, be sure to call your local bank to find out if you can use your card in Luxembourg and if a special international PIN number is required to retrieve cash. All major credit cards are generally accepted for purchases made in Luxembourg. Banks in Luxembourg are typically open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour off for lunch, and most are closed on weekends.

Driving in Luxembourg
For information on laws, speed limits and safety, see Driving in Luxembourg

Electricity in Luxembourg
Luxembourg operates on 220 volts electricity (as opposed to the United States, which uses 110 volts). Outlets take the continental two-round-pin plug (standard throughout Europe).

Emergency Numbers in Luxembourg
Medical emergency: 112
Fire: 44 22 44
Police: 113

Etiquette in Luxembourg
Meeting People: When meeting someone for the first time or upon arrival to a business meeting or social event, shake hands with everyone (men, women and children). Also shake hands when leaving. Good friends often kiss cheeks, one on each side (similar to France).

Body Language: Luxembourgers are friendly but personal space is to be respected. Do not put your hands in your pockets. Don’t chew gum in public.

Dining: Punctuality is essential for most social occasions except evening dinners, for which you should plan to arrive 15 minutes later than what is stated on the invitation. When finished eating, place your knife and fork side by side on the plate. To quietly signify that you are not finished or that you would like more food, cross your knife and fork in the middle of your plate. It is considered impolite to leave food on one’s plate.

Gifts: When invited to someone’s home, always bring a gift — bouquets of flowers (not chrysanthemums), good bottles of liqueur, or chocolates — to the hostess.

In General: Remain aware of Luxembourg’s individuality. Do not compare or lump the Luxembourgers together with the French, Belgians, or Germans.

Public Hours in Luxembourg
The majority of post offices in Luxembourg are open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour off for lunch. Certain places have extended hours. Banks in Luxembourg are typically open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour off for lunch, and most are closed on weekends.

Safety in Luxembourg
The crime rate in Luxembourg is moderate as compared to other European countries. Travelers should take precautions against petty theft while in Luxembourg, especially in public areas where pickpockets tend to lurk. Luxembourg has many public parks that are safe during the daylight hours, though low-level drug vending has increased in some of the city parks. Tourists should avoid these parks after dark.

Time Zone
Luxembourg is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States. The country is in the Central European Time zone, which is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. During Daylight Saving Time, Luxembourg is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

Tipping in Luxembourg 
A service charge of 15% is added to your food bill at a restaurant.  An additional tip isn’t required, but many people add a Euro or two for good service.

Taxi drivers typically receive a 10% tip; bellhops and doormen, €1.25-€2.50; movie ushers, coat & washroom attendants, €.50-€1.50.

Weather in Luxembourg
With a moderate climate, Luxembourg is a great destination any time of year. However, be prepared for a bit of rain. Traditionally, “in-season” has been defined as anytime from mid-April to mid-October. Peak season is July and August.

Main Sights In Luxembourg

History buffs and sightseers will enjoy Wenzel Walk, which takes you through Luxembourg’s oldest quarters (a UNESCO World Heritage site). Among other sights, you’ll see the Bock Promontory, Castle Bridge (built in 1735 from red sandstone), and the Church of St. Ulric (the city’s oldest church).

Created by Luxembourg-born Edward J. Steichen, “The Family of Man” is a permanent exhibition at the Castle of Clervaux with more than 500 black & white photos by 273 photographs from 68 countries. The theme of this powerful imagery is love and faith. Before its arrival to the Castle, the photos were on display at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.

A visit to Mullerthal , the little Switzerland of Luxembourg is a real treat

Wine aficionados will enjoy the Grevenmacher Wine and Grape Festival in mid-September.

Schueberfouer is a traveling fun fair that visits the country every year for 3 weeks in the summer.

Getting Around Luxembourg

Luxembourg is home to excellent road, rail and air transportation facilities and services.

Air
Most major international carriers fly to Luxembourg’s airport (Findel International Airport – LUX) is 5km (3.5 miles) northeast of the city (journey time – 20 minutes). To/from the airport: Coaches and buses run regular services to the city. Taxis are also available (it takes approx.10 minutes to get to the city). A new passenger terminal at Luxembourg Airport opened recently.

Boats and Ferries
Car ferries run between the UK and Calais (from which you can drive to Luxembourg. From Calais, the quickest route is to take the highway to Brussels via Lille (A25, then head south through Namur along the E411 to Luxembourg). In total, the journey from London (including the ferry crossing) takes approximately eight hours.

Rail Passes
Benelux Tourrail will get you through Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands. This pass allows for unlimited travel for any five days within a one-month period throughout the year.

InterRail is for European residents only, and offers unlimited first- or second-class travel in up to 30 European countries. Discounts are available for travelers under 26 years of age, and children’s tickets are reduced by about 50%. Available from Rail Europe.

Eurailpass is available to non-European residents (the passes cannot be sold to residents of Europe, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia or the Russian Federation) and is good for unlimited first-class train travel in 17 European countries. Depending on the type of pass, it is valid for 15 days, 21 days, one month, two months or three months. The Eurailpass Saver ticket offers discounts for two or more people traveling together. The Eurailpass Youth ticket is available to those aged under 26 and offers unlimited second-class train travel. The Eurailpass Flexi allows either 10 or 15 travel days within a two-month period. The Eurail Selectpass is valid in three, four or five bordering countries and allows five, six, eight or 10 travel days (or 15 for five countries) in a two-month period. The Eurail Regional Pass allows four to ten travel days in a two-month period in one of nine regions (usually two or more countries). Children receive a 50% discount. All of the above is available from The Eurail Group (website: www.eurail.com).

There are plans to introduce trams in the capital city of Luxembourg and light-rail lines in nearby areas within the next few years.

Car Rental in Luxembourg
Several major car rental companies have stations at Findel International Airport. Car rental prices can be high,but fuel prices are lower than in most other EU countries. As is the case in any EU country, you’ll need a valid passport, driving license & international credit card to rent a car in Luxembourg. The road network has been significantly expanded and improved in recent years. There are now 147 km of motorways connecting the capital (Luxembourg) to adjacent countries.

Taxis
Taxis are quite expensive in Luxembourg. The standard fare is 0.80 Euros per km, but expect to pay a 10 percent surcharge at night, and a 25 percent surcharge on Sundays. Asking a taxi to wait for you will cost EUR0.21 per minute.
Taxis can be booked by telephone or hailed from a stand outside public buildings such as train stations.

Health

Personal Medications
No permit is required to carry medication in your luggage. However, you should pack your medication in its original containers and/or have your doctor’s prescription with you. Customs officials will have to be satisfied that you are not importing more than would be necessary for your personal use, taking into account the drug type and length of stay (for no more than three months).

Lodging in Luxembourg

Luxembourg offers every type of lodging from couch-surfing, to hostels and agritourism , to 5-Star resorts. Check here to find a hotel that will meet your needs.

Public Holidays in Luxembourg

New Year’s Day 1 January
Carnival February
Good Friday
Easter Monday
May Day 1 May
Ascension Day
Whit Monday 1st Monday in June
National Day 23 June
Assumption Day 15 August
Luxembourg City Fete 31 August
All Saints Day 1 November
All Souls Day 2 November
Christmas Day 25 December
St. Stephen’s Day 26 December

Telephones in Luxembourg

Public phone booths are conveniently located in Luxembourg. Coin-operated phones are quickly being replaced with ones that accept only credit cards and telecards, available at most newsstands, post offices, and major train stations.

Dialing Procedures
When calling Luxembourg from abroad, dial the local international access code, then 352 for the country code, followed by the number. When calling Luxembourg from the United States, the international access code is 011. Please note that there are no area codes in Luxembourg. However, phone numbers range from five to nine digits.

Useful Country Codes
USA and Canada 1
UK 44

Returning to the US

Customs,VAT & Duty Free
When you return to the U.S., you’ll need to declare everything you are bringing back that you did not take with you. If you are traveling by air or sea, you may be asked to fill out a Customs Declaration Form provided by the airline or cruise ship. Keep your sales slips. Try to pack the things you’ll need to declare separately. Read the signs in the Customs area; they contain helpful information about how to clear Customs.
For complete information on Customs, look at the U.S. Government Customs Website

Value Added Tax (VAT or IVA) Refund Information
If you are a U.S. or Canadian resident, you may qualify for a personal exemption which allows you to bring goods of a certain value into the country without paying customs duties, excise taxes, or Value Added Tax. You can be reimbursed for the VAT you pay on large purchases throughout your trip. Save your receipts from large purchases and be sure to visit the VAT office at the airport for refund forms and information.

Duty-Free Items
U.S. and Canadian citizens may bring goods into or from France and the rest of the European Union up to a certain value before having to pay custom duties, excise taxes, or VAT (Value-Added Tax). You should keep the following in mind:

U.S. and Canadian citizens aged 15 and over and traveling by air or sea may bring articles totaling 430 Euros (approx.$545) into France duty and tax-free. Land and inland waterway travelers can bring duty-free goods worth 300 Euros (approx. $380) in their personal luggage

Individuals over 17 may also purchase and import certain duty-free items from France up to a certain limit. This includes tobacco and alcoholic beverages, motor fuel, and medications. Fragrances, coffee, and tea may now be imported into the EU with no restriction on amounts, as long as the value does not exceed the monetary limits listed above. Limits for other items are (be sure to check and make sure these limits are still the same before you leave):

Cigarettes: 200 units
Cigarillos: 100 units (max. 3 grams each)
Cigars: 50 units
Still wines: 4 liters
Beer: 16 liters
Spirits over 22 degrees volume: 1 liter
Fortified wines, 22 degrees volume or less: 2 liters
Medications: Varies according to traveler’s health requirements
Motor fuel: Quantities equal to that found in a normal full fuel tank, or in an emergency can, not exceeding 10 liters.

Duty and tax exemptions are strictly individual. You cannot apply them to a group. Items worth more than the maximum exempt amount will be subject to duties and taxes.

You can bring personal items such as guitars or bicycles to France and not be charged any taxes or fees as long as the items are clearly for personal use. You may not sell or dispose of these while in France. All personal items declared to customs upon entry into France must be transported back with you.

Related posts:

1. The Netherlands Tourist Information
2. Liechtenstein Tourist Information
3. Belgium Tourist Information

Temperatures should decrease a bit and dense fog is projected in some areas Thursday — a taste of the cool-down expected throughout the weekend, the National Weather Service says. Beaches could be foggy throughout the day, forecasters said....

by Patty Azzarello

I recently received some input from a reader that defined the perfect storm of being stuck in the workhorse trap. Here it is…

I’m the workhorse for our volunteer emergency communicator group. There are 4 of us, but here lately I’ve been the only one answering the calls from the City for severe weather (tornadoes, severe hailstorms, etc.) even in the middle of the night. Problem is, by the time the City gets to me, they’ve already tried the other members with no luck. I’ve said something, but so far no results.

Since lives and property may be at stake, I feel it’s important to have someone doing the job. So, I do it—

But I say something to the rest of the group every time since the 5th time in a 3 day period– now, it’s been 13 times in a week that we’ve been called and I’m the only one who would answer the call. Okay one guy had surgery twice this week, first on his eye and again on his foot so he gets a pass. But the other 2? One is a definite flake and the other… well, I really don’t know.

I’m tired, and we still have more shots at being called again in the next 2 days. I feel bad saying “NO, SORRY– I can’t” when it’s the City Office of Emergency Management or the National Weather Service, but I might just have to, and tell them that I’m exhausted. After all, we’re VOLUNTEERS!

First, let’s look at the situation

1. THANK YOU. The world is a better place because of people like you that are willing to make personal sacrifice and step up when others need them.

2. Many people in their jobs feel like this. They feel they are the only one capable or available to the work. The work must get done, so they do it. Even though lives are typically not at stake, their values won’t let them drop the work.

3. In your case, lives are actually at stake! Truly, the work must get done.

4. Because you are all volunteers, there is no official way to insist that people do the work.

5. You have tried to raise the issue to get the rest of the team to step up to no avail – so you are stuck being the workhorse.
What can be done?

The first point to remember is that even if you can order people around, you are much better off if you can persuade them to be emotionally committed to doing the work. This makes everything better.

Second, it’s important to note that when I talk about getting out of workhorse mode, it is never about abandoning the work. The trick is to figure out how to get the critical work done without doing it all personally.

Sure, sometimes you need to work 24X7 when there is a crisis, a deadline, a big opportunity. The problem arises when that becomes a steady-state way of working.

If you want to get out of work-horse mode, don’t expect your manager or business partner to make it better.

YOU need to be the one to invent a new approach to make it better. Stick to your instincts that this is not right. Devise a plan to change it.

Here are some suggestions to improve the situation:

Your desired outcome:  Have other people to share the workload with.

There are two basic ways to achieve that outcome:

1. Get the people on the team to step up?
2. Get new people

Get People on the Team to Step Up

1. Record the data about what has happened. Data is not opinion or emotion. It can’t be argued with. Keep a record of all the phone calls that were made and what the response was from each team member.

Call a meeting of the whole team and share the data. Ask everyone to comment on it.

2. Discuss the team’s desired outcome. What does successful service look like? What will it require? Ask everyone to contribute to the definition of the process and the required commitment and responsibility.

Be really clear what the responsibilities are. Ask everyone on the team to talk about their ability to respond to their share of responsibilities.

3. Create an actual calendar for who is on call each day. Set an expectation that if you commit to be on call that you WILL ANSWER. Have everyone sign off on the schedule as a group commitment to one another.

4. Be super clear that there are only two choices, sign and commit or leave the group. There is no room for broken commitments when it is a matter of life or death.

If you are afraid of losing people on the team by doing this, remember that the people who are NOT answering the phone on a regular basis are not part of the team anyway. (They shouldn’t get to talk big and pretend they are a volunteer if they don’t do the work.)

They are not helping. Ask them to leave. Get new people who will be committed members of the team.

Get new people

A critical factor of getting out of workhorse mode is making sure that you have a team that is capable of doing the job.

No matter how vital the work is, staying in work-horse mode long term is the wrong answer.

You need to take it upon yourself to create a team or a process that can get the work done that really matters, without burning up your time personally.

If your current team can’t cut it, you have to change the team.

If you are an individual, you need to influence. You need re-negotiate the work to focus on the most critical outcomes, and recommend a new, better process that achieves the desired outcome in a different way.

In any organization, volunteer or business, people get burned out, leave, or have other priorities come up in life. It is important that you are always cultivating a pipeline of new people that can (and want to do) the job.

When you look at the people who are not performing, decide “Can’t or Won’t”.

Can’t you can work with, Won’t is not worth the trouble.

Cut them loose. Get people who are motivated to help. That will be your only way out of workhorse mode long term whether you are in a group of volunteers or leading a business team.

Also, there are lots more ideas about workhorse traps and escape routes in Chapter 3 of my book, Rise… They Shoot Workhorses, Don’t they?
What do you think?

IF you have any other ideas for this generous and tired emergency response volunteer, please share them in the comment box below!

Sunny, with highs in the 90s for Las Vegas Las Vegas Sun Sunny skies and afternoon temperatures climbing into the 90s are heading to the Las Vegas Valley for the next few days. Abundant sunshine and warm temperatures will continue across the area through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. ... and more »

Mild temperatures today will likely give way to a gradual warm up as humidity increases and the mercury climbs by the weekend and early next in the Houston region. No rain is likely for at least the next several days, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said muggy heat increases during the next few days as moist air from the Gulf of Mexico flows onshore.

There were about 40,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes during a 30-hour period as a storm moved over Hawaii this week, the National Weather Service said.

...Gene Rench with the National Weather Service said all eyes are on the Mississippi. The tributaries flowing backwards are a big problem for the adjacent communities.

"Right now the Mississippi river is in the process of going through what we call an epic flood, meaning it's more than historic, it's more than a 100 year flood, it's more like a 500 year flood," he said. "We could flood many homes, businesses, close down factories, people could drown."

The river is more than two feet past flood stage; it rose two feet in the 24 hours following the storms. It's expected to crest at 45 feet around May 10th, right when Barbecue Festival teams are setting up their tents...

HICKMAN, Ky. (AP) - People along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries packed their belongings and emergency workers feverishly filled sandbags as high water pushed its way downstream Wednesday in a slow-motion disaster that could break flood records dating to the 1920s.

From Illinois to Mississippi, thousands of people have already been forced from their homes, and anxiety is rising along with the mighty river, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits.

"I've never seen it this bad," said 78-year-old Joe Harrison, who has lived in the same house in Hickman since he was 11 months old. Floodwaters from the Mississippi turned his house into an island - dry but surrounded by water. He has been using a boat to get to his car, parked on dry ground along a highway that runs by his house.

Up and down the Big Muddy, farmers braced for a repeat of the desperate strategy employed earlier this week in Missouri, where Army engineers blew up a levee and sacrificed vast stretches of farmland to protect populated areas upstream.

Forecasters and emergency officials said some of the high-water records set during the great floods of 1927 and 1937 could fall. On Wednesday, for example, the Mississippi eclipsed the 46-foot mark set in 1937 in Caruthersville, Mo., and the water was still rising, with a crest of 49.5 feet forecast for Sunday.

But because of the system of levees and locks built since those disasters more than 70 years ago, the flooding this time is unlikely to be anywhere near as devastating as it was back then.

Tom Salem, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Memphis, Tenn., said flooding is extreme this year in part because of drenching rain over the past two weeks. In some areas, Wednesday was the first day without rain since April 25.

"It's been a massive amount of rain for a long period of time. And we're still getting snowmelt from Montana," Salem said.
Tributaries that flow into the Mississippi are, in turn, backing up because the river itself is so high. And they account for some of the worst of the flooding so far.

The great flood of the lower Mississippi River Valley in 1927 was one of the biggest natural disasters in U.S. history. More than 23,000 square miles were inundated, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and about 250 died.

In the aftermath, authorities were criticized for helping rescue whites while leaving thousands of black plantation workers stranded for days without food or drinking water. The flood found its place in folklore, literature and films, and popular songs including "When the Levee Breaks" were written about the disaster.

Another flood in 1937 was also devastating, submerging 31,000 square miles from West Virginia to Louisiana.

Lifelong Hickman resident H.L. Williamson, 77, was a boy when he and his family fled to the highest point in town. He recalled little of the experience except that his brother wouldn't eat black-eyed peas or grapefruit for years because that was all they had during the flood.

This time, Williamson packed up and left his home, which was still dry thanks to a hill just inches higher than the floodwaters. He took only a few belongings, including the Navy uniform he hopes to be buried in.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' demolition of a Missouri levee on Monday eased flood worries for some communities. In Cairo, Ill., a town of about 2,800 people at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Ohio dropped a foot and a half.

But the relief downstream in Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana is probably only temporary because the water will eventually find its way back into the Mississippi River.

About 3,800 Kentuckians have left their homes because of flooding.
Hickman, a town of about 2,500, has floodwalls and the river isn't expected to top them. But officials are worried about water bubbling up through the earthen levee that adjoins the wall. It has been reinforced with about 100,000 sandbags.

 

Blues kick off centennial bash - Pensacola News Journal | Aviation Week air show: The Blue Angels took to the sky for a special air show celebrating the centennial of Naval Aviation. Greg Walker points out the approaching Blue Angel F/A-18 jets to his three-year-old son, Nathan Walker, during the Centennial ...
NASA - NASA Glenn Joins in the Fun at Indianapolis Air Show from www.nasa.gov | The public is invited to visit NASA's Journey to Tomorrow traveling exhibit at the Indianapolis Air Show in Indianapolis, Ind., May 13-15. Visitors will be able to explore science exhibits and participate in educational hands-on activities.  Journey to Tomorrow is housed in a 53-foot trailer and contains eight interactive kiosks that allow participants to go at their own pace as they learn about the history and challenges of air and space exploration. The exhibit is wheelchair accessible.  ...

Great TN Air Show to soar through Smyrna - The Daily News Journal | The internationally renowed United States Air Force Thunderbirds will be the main attraction at this weekend's Great Tennessee Air Show. / Submitted photo SMYRNA — The ground will be rumbling and the fans will be screaming this weekend as the Great ...

Air Show Forecast - KTBS | Nice weather is forecast for the Barksdale Air Show this weekend. In other words, no storms are anticipated at this time. Both Saturday and Mother's Day will start out cloudy with temperatures in the 60s. ...

N'Awlins Air Show and its death-defying stunts this weekend - NOLA.com | John Klatt, shadowed by fellow Air National Guard Aerobatic Team member Bill Kerns, inverts his plane as they practice for this weekend's N'Awlins Air Show at the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. Air Show Practice Flights ...

Disabled American Veterans Airshow Outreach B-25 Flight Team from davflightteam | New Orleans, LA – Disabled American Veterans (DAV) brings its message of service and volunteerism in support of our nation’s combat-wounded men and women to the N’awlins Air Show on May 7-8, 2011. ...

Local Civil Air Patrol Squadrons To Be A Part Of The N’AWLINS Air Show | New Orleans- Members of the Louisiana Wing Civil Air Patrol assist with the 2011 N’AWLINS Air Show at the New Orleans Naval Air Station in Belle Chase, LA. May 7-8. The Alvin Callender Composite Squadron and the Pontchartrain Composite Squadron have volunteered to help set up the VIP sections tables and chairs. We will have a static display on the flight line and we hope to see you there. The Alvin Callender Squadron is located on the Naval Air Station Base in Belle Chase and the Pontchartrain Squadron is located at the VFW Hall, 1133 Hickory Avenue, Harrahan, LA.   ...

Alabama Disaster Relief Fly-In | In support of the Tornado Relief Efforts in Alabama a fly-in has been organized for Saturday June 4th, 2011 at the Walker County Airport KFJX. A $20.00 donation will get you a Fish-Fry lunch, live music, military fly by, and war bird display. They will also be taking non-perishable canned goods as well as clothing, diapers, forumula, etc. ...

Wings Over Cullman Air Show to Aid Tornado Victims from Alabama Aviator - Aviation News | -CULLMAN AL- Wings Over Cullman Air Show on May 21 will provide aid to tornado victims of Cullman County and beyond. Less than four weeks before the show, violent tornados cut across Alabama leaving Cullman and many communities reeling. Since then, city and county officials have determined, the airport and necessary infrastructure is good to go on with the show. Not only will the plans continue, but the show is now a venue to help tornado victims.  ...

Stalling and spinning at Valdez fly-in - Alaska Dispatch | The May Day Fly-In on May 6-8 will include a Poker Run, flour bomb dropping, spot landing, short-field landing and takeoff events and the famous low tide beach landing, as well as safety events, pancake breakfasts and a Friday night Burgers & Brew at ...

6000 turn out for Grand Air Show - Whitsunday Times | THE Whitsunday community was out in force at the Grand Air Show at Whitsunday Airport last Sunday. More than 6000 people from across the region helped celebrate the airport's 50th birthday. The air show also attracted people from Mackay, Townsville and ...

Flying Circus set to entertain Cosford Air Show crowd - shropshirelive.com (press release) | O'Brien's Flying Circus will be among the top aerobatic teams performing for the crowds at the 2011 Cosford Air Show on June 12. The circus is renowned for its exciting and awe-inspiring 'crazy flying' display and visitors to RAF Cosford for this ...

World's Finest Pilots On Hand For Aerobatic Displays At Exhibtion - Bernama | SUWON (South Korea), May 4 (Bernama) -- The 2011 G-Global Aviation, South Korea's largest aviation and aerospace exhibition, will have some of the world's finest pilots on hand for exciting aerobatic displays in its air show set for this week. ...

AirVenture 2011 from TAKEOFF TUBE | An exciting look ahead to AirVenture 2011, July 25-31. Tributes to Hoover and Rutan! Concerts by REO Speedwagon, Aaron Tippin, and the Lt Dan Band! Daily airshows—including an even BIGGER nighttime show than last year! I will be there, and you? ;-)

Sky is Clear with Aluminum Overcast - Concord, CA Patch | The Aluminum Overcast rumbled off the runway Monday at Buchanan Field and climbed into the blue sky on a mission to show how the venerable B-17G Flying Fortress handled World War ll.   The Overcast is one of the American bombers that helped turn the tide of World War II. The plane is cramped in some places such as the ball turrets, but it got the job done. ...

Gold Team brings Colors to the Skies at MCAS Beaufort from US Army Golden Knights | Gold Demonstration Team painted the skies over Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort for the annual air show “Blues over Beaufort.” The weekend could not have been more perfect, blues skies and cool weather gave the air show the optimal experience for the spectators and performers. The weekend started off with a press show on Friday [...]

Meet Jessica Ambats, aviation photographer from Plastic Pilot | Jessica Ambats is an air-to-air photographer and instrument-rated pilot based in Santa Monica, California. She is a graduate of Harvard University and works as editor of Plane & Pilot magazine. She kindly accepted my request for an interview and accepted to share on this blog. Don’t miss my question about tips for amateur photographers! ...

Take an Aviation Photography Class at Paine Field on May 14th from Airline Reporter | When I look back at some of my photos when I first started this blog, it is very embarrassing. I started with passion and no photography skills what-so-ever. Over the years I have been able to pick up a few tricks and learn from some wonderful people, but still needing to learn some of the basics. ...

F-35Bs hit vertical-landing milestone from DoD Buzz | The Marines' version of the F-35 has demonstrated enough vertical landings that engineers say it's ready to try its first landing at sea aboard a ship.

Recreational flying - Fly Nano! from Military Photos | Everyone’s dreamt of flying free as a bird. Nano is for the fun of flying – no passengers, no cargo - just you, Nano and the endless blue. If you’ve ever had a pilot’s licence you’ll fly Nano right out of the box. The rest of you will need to learn the simple rules of the air. Minimum red tape – maximum thrills.  ...

Kansas governor proclaims May ‘Aviation Appreciation Month’ from General Aviation News | Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has declared May “Aviation Appreciation Month,” noting general aviation in Kansas alone generates over $7 billion in economic impact annually, which is largely attributable to the presence of major manufacturing companies such as Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombadier. ...

Father and Son to Circle the Globe - Ramona Home Journal | As a boy, Stephan Armstrong would bike 1 ½ hours to gaze at planes taking off and landing, dreaming of flying around the world in a small plane. The first step in this quest was to get a pilot’s license, which at age 17 he did, a full year before he would be eligible for his driver’s license, according to Swiss law, his native country. By 20, he would be one of the youngest commercial pilots in Switzerland.  ...

Clark School Team to Test Human-Powered Helicopter from PR Newswire: Airlines/Aviation | The following is being released today by A. James Clark School of Engineering: WHAT: In a step toward winning the Sikorsky Prize, a team of A. James Clark School of Engineering students will attempt for the first time to test-fly their human ...

Kimberly Weis: Why I Want to Fly from Flight To Success | "I am just a normal person. I grew up in a suburb, graduated from college, got married, bought a home and had kids. I have the cookie cutter life, groomed to achieve the American dream by my hard working parents. Is it wrong to want more? To achieve something amazing that isn’t in the normal plans of regular people, a regular girl, and especially not in the plans of a regular mom?  ...

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week,  Peter writes: There is a strange silence, an ominous stillness. It is around eight o’clock Thursday morning but instead of a steady brightening the morning continues to darken, the sky taking on a sinister dark gray hue. The air is heavy and moist and does not stir. Missing is the usual sound of birds, all of which have disappeared. We have been warned by the National Weather Service of the imminent approach of violent thunderstorms, sixty mile an hour winds, large hail, and—the unthinkable—the possibility of tornadoes. It is from the same weather system that has just devastated the South, with much loss of life, moving our way.  It is the livestock that I am worrying about. Kay, a near neighbor, has just phoned to warn me of the impending arrival of the storm, which she has heard is heading directly for us. From my vantage point, an upstairs bedroom window, I notice that the sheep, usually out on pasture at this time crowded around their manger or lounging about on the grass nearby awaiting their morning grain treat, are nowhere to be seen. Clearly, they have taken refuge in the barn. They have done this before. They were, most of them, born in the barn or very close to it and spent their first days in its birthing pens bonding with their mothers. It is in the barn that they get their grain treats and where they shelter from the winter weather and heavy rains. The barn represents for them, at some level, safety and comfort. It is the center of their world. What the barn means to them became clear to me several years ago when one beautiful spring afternoon our barn, to my horror, erupted into flames. The smell of the smoke and the sight of the flames terrified the sheep even though they had never seen fire before, and they could, therefore, not really know what fire is. Instinct, not experience, told them fire was a danger. So on seeing the flames and smelling the smoke, they behaved very sheep-like and rushed into the barn, their refuge. Even when the Germantown fire department crew forcibly ejected them from the burning barn, they returned twice more trying to get in, and finally had to be aggressively driven off.  In their frantic state they apparently could not conceive of any other place of safety. It is my hope today that our sheep are right this time in choosing the barn as their refuge from the impending storm. I move to another window that looks out over the cow pasture, fully expecting to see it empty, the cattle having moved to safety in the cowshed. But, no, there they are scattered about the field, most of them lying down, brilliant white forms against the lush green. I thought that with their recently born calves they would have moved to shelter.  But no, I come to realize, the cowshed is quite a different thing for them, serving only as a temporary refuge from the severest winter weather. It is not where they were born; cows prefer instead a secure spot on pasture, and it is not the place where they are fed. The cowshed, unlike the sheep barn, is not the center of their world. Probably, I conjecture, they will, when the winds build up, take shelter in a nearby low gully, their usual refuge from strong winds. It is not so much for the livestock that we already have, however, as for the livestock whose arrival is imminent that I am most concerned. It is the morning I am expecting the arrival of the day old turkey poults, the start of our Thanksgiving turkey flock.  Despite the imminent storm, and the various things I should be doing in preparation,  I am staying close to the phone expecting the call from the post office requesting me to come to pick up the boxes containing our birds: 120 heritage turkey poults that have come all the way from Iowa. Should we get the full brunt of the storm, will I be able, I wonder, to drive to the post office to get them? And if I do will I be able if we have torrential rain to get them from the house safe and dry up to their brooders in the hayloft of the barn? And if I manage that, will the electricity still be working to power the heat lamps that keep the brooder pens heated to the requisite 90 degrees? And if our power has been knocked out, will I be able to get the generator set up and connected as a fall back? Turkey poults are incredibly sensitive to cold and wet and much more vulnerable than goslings, ducklings, and chicks. In the best of conditions the poult mortality rate is high. As the morning goes on, the deadline for the arrival of the storm is pushed back several times, and for a while things begin to brighten, and then to go darker once again. And then the phone rings and it is, as expected, the post office with the announcement I have been waiting for, and I make the trip to Germantown driving in a light rain. But as I carry the cardboard boxes filled with cheeping poults up to the barn, the rain begins to intensify. Once in the barn and up to the hayloft, we (our farm helper, Darlene, and I) gingerly begin decanting the poults from their tiny box compartments into their heated brooder.  Outside, the heavens suddenly open, and a torrent of rain beats down on the metal roof, the loud drumming occasionally punctuated by claps of distant thunder. Being just beneath a metal roof we are glad the thunder is distant. We count loudly as we decant. They are all there: 40 Bourbon Reds, 40 Spanish Blacks, and 40 Holland Whites. And not missing a beat, they begin their eternal slumber party—tiny, animated fluff balls bopping about, pecking everything in sight, exploring the perimeter of their brooder, quaffing their first water and pecking up their first grain as if they had been doing it forever, oblivious to the passing storm, which fortunately for us all, turned out to be nothing much at all. For the complete archive of past AgriCulture blogs, click here.

At least 178 tornadoes were part of the severe weather that raked the Midwest and South April 27-28, making it the largest recorded tornado outbreak in U.S. history, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.

Source: [b]cnn[/b]

At least 178 tornadoes were part of the severe weather that raked 14 states April 27-28, making it the largest tornado outbreak in U.S. history, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.

The number of twisters surpassed the previous record of 148 tornadoes April 3-4, 1974, ...

Southerners aren’t the only ones facing severe weather this spring. A vigorous storm system on Monday spurting lightning, hail and torrential rain knocked out power to about 60,000 people on Oahu, Hawaii’s most populated island. For the storm’s finale, twin waterspouts appeared in the ocean south of Oahu, crossing over one another in a strange, snaky dance. According to the National Weather Service, they lasted 12 minutes before vanishing into the ether. Here's another view of the waterspouts. (Interestingly enough, today Hawaii is under a winter-weather advisory for slippery ice on the roads of Mauna Kea.)

Dueling water spouts are unusual but no means unique; they have been spotted throughout the world. Here are some other videos of the curious phenomenon:

Waterspout bros menace beachgoers in Miami in April, 2005:

I have no idea where this freaky-deaky footage comes from, but it rocks:

Waterspouts gyrate in Long Island Sound, off of Miller Place, in 2008. Says commenter gamr822: “i remember this day because there was no rain b4 the spouts then it sounded like a train was on the street behind me and like 10 mins after the spouts there was crazy hail. This day was so cool!”

Two spouts thrash the water near Panama City, Oct. 2007:

Southern California can expect another unusually warm day Wednesday, but a cooling-off period should begin Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. A combination of high pressure over the region and offshore winds has caused warm weather the last few...

The rain is going away, the National Weather Service promises, but the chill is going to stick around for another day.

Sunny, hot days are expected through the rest of the week and weekend as temperatures gradually climb to near 90 degrees in the Houston region. No rain is likely for the next several days, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said slightly muggy heat is expected later this week as moist air flows inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

If Tuesday was the finest day this week, Wednesday looks to be the suckiest.

D.C.'s slog into spring's morass continues, with showers expected until early afternoon. Since March 1, the city has been sprayed with nearly an inch more rain than the average amount of 6.7 inches – and that doesn't include the precipitation of the last 24 hours. On the lame side, the latest dousing is joined by an unpleasant plunge in temperature. On the plus, the rain will wash away all those newly emerged caterpillars squished on sidewalks like exploded toothpaste tubes of the foulest possible flavor.

A cold front rolling in from the west has slammed a cap on D.C.'s gusher of warmth. The National Weather Service is warning farmers in the Potomac Highlands that a winter throwback – silent, insidious frost – could kill crops early tomorrow morning, the first day of the mountain growing season. The cold front is responsible for today's cloudy, leaky skies and mercury readings in the high 50s to low 60s. (Graphs/maps/forecasts/weather doohickeys here.) Compare that to Tuesday's high of 82 degrees at Dulles. (Or don't. It is pretty depressing.) A brisk wind will help raindrops loop around umbrellas to pelt clothing. Gusts of up to 25 m.p.h. will do their damnedest to tussle hairdos into formless clumps apparently harboring restless starlings.

The good news? Take a peek at the extended ABC7 forecast. The weather only gets better from here, with a golden ladder of warmer days and a diminished threat of severe weather in the week ahead.

Kingsport Times News

NWS confirms six tornadoes in NE Tennessee, SW Virginia Kingsport Times News National Weather Service surveyors have officially confirmed six tornado touchdowns in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia from last week's historic weather outburst. The six tornadoes are part of a 226-tornado collective archived by the weather ... NBC29Tornado Victims Waiting for Federal Disaster AidNBC 29 News Tornadoes: After the stormsRichmond Times Dispatch Morgan Griffith comes off vacation to tour tornado damageWSLS all 15 news articles »

Teams from the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Army and para-military forces intensified their search today for the Pawan Hans helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others, which went missing four days ago on Saturday.

The helicopter went missing while on a flight from Tawang to Itanagar on Saturday morning. The last contact with it was around 1015 hours, about 20 minutes after it took off from Tawang at 0950 hours.

The search for the missing Bell helicopter has been hampered for the past four days because of bad weather in the area.

A UNI report said that six aircraft of the IAF were pressed into service early this morning, while ground search parties continued their operations through the night.

Two Mi17s, two Cheetah and two Chetak helicopters had set out from Tawang and Tezpur at 0505 hours, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ranjib Sahoo told UNI.

Several columns of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal, the Arunachal Pradesh Police and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were engaged in the search operations in the dense forests of Arunachal and adjacent areas.

A statement from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi said grazers from Arunachal Pradesh were also involved in the search effforts.

The Bhutanese government had also deployed search parties on its side of the border.

According to the Home Ministry, based on inputs received from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellites and the Sukhoi-30 aircraft of the IAF, as well as information provided by some local people, the search operations are now focused on three areas: Nagajiji in Tawang district, the area to the immediate south of Sela Pass, known as Eagle's Nest Reserve Forest, and Phangrong district in Bhutan.

The statement said search teams on foot had reached these areas.

It said that, in addition, IAF helicopters had been making regular sorites to find signs of any aircraft in the areas over which the Chief Minister's helicopter could have possibly flown.

"It may be appreciated that the search efforts have continued without any let up, subject only to interruptions due to bad weather," it said.

According to the statement, there were, at present, about 3500 personnel deployed in the search operations.

"Government of India wishes to assure everyone, especially the people of Arunachal Pradesh, that all possible efforts are being made to locate the Chief Minister’s helicopter. In this time of difficulty, we appeal to the people to remain patient and hopeful and pray for the welfare of the Chief Minister and the other occupants of the helicopter," it added.

Union Social Welfare Minister Mukul Wasnik and Mr V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), have been camping here for the past three days to coordinate the search efforts.

Mr Narayanasamy told reporters that the PMO was constantly monitoring the situation as were the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence and External Affairs.

He said External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had spoken to the Bhutanese Prime Minister after Saturday's incident and the neighbouring country had been rendering complete support in the operation.

Apart from Mr Khandu and the two pilots, J S Babbar and K S Mamick, the Chief Minister's security officer Yashi Chadook and a female passenger, identified as Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup, were travelling by the helicopter.

About three hours after the helicopter was reported missing, there were reports that it had landed inside Bhutan, but there was no confirmation of this from Pawan Hans or from Bhutanese authorities.

(With inputs from United News of India)

NNN

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said a ground team searching for the Pawan Hans helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others, which went missing four days ago on Saturday, had spotted an aircraft crash site as well as some bodies.

"We have some information which is not encouraging. In fact, it is not good news," Mr Chidambaram told mediapersons outside his North Block office.

He said a search party sent by the local circle office had sighted what appeared to be the crash site of an aircraft between Kyela and Lugudhang in Arunachal Pradesh.

"The party also says that they have sighted three bodies," he said.

"This sighting has been made from a height. They have not been able to actually go down to the place where the aircraft has crashed," he said.

Mr Chidambaram said a message had sent to the army post in Kyela and a team had been despatched on foot to the scene.

He said the team would take some time to reach the spot on foot and more details would be available only then.

He said the distance between Kyela and Lugudhang was about ten km and the crash site was about four to five km from Kyela. The place is at a height of 4900 metres.

Official sources said they were waiting for more details before they could say for sure about whether the aircraft spotted at the crash site was the helicopter carrying Mr Khandu. At the same time, they pointed out that the site was on the flight path the helicopter could have taken.

The spotting of the crash site came on a day when teams from the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Army and para-military forces intensified their search for the Bell helicopter after bad weather had hampered the search and rescue efforts for the past four days.

The helicopter had gone missing while on a flight from Tawang to Itanagar on Saturday morning. The last contact with it was around 1015 hours, about 20 minutes after it took off from Tawang at 0950 hours.

A UNI report said that six helicopters of the IAF were pressed into service early this morning, while ground search parties continued their operations through the night.

Two Mi17s, two Cheetah and two Chetak helicopters had set out from Tawang and Tezpur at 0505 hours, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ranjib Sahoo told UNI.

Several columns of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal, the Arunachal Pradesh Police and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were engaged in the search operations in the dense forests of Arunachal and adjacent areas.

A statement from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi said grazers from Arunachal Pradesh were also involved in the search effforts.

The Bhutanese government had also deployed search parties on its side of the border.

According to the Home Ministry, based on inputs received from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellites and the Sukhoi-30 aircraft of the IAF, as well as information provided by some local people, the search operations are now focused on three areas: Nagajiji in Tawang district, the area to the immediate south of Sela Pass, known as Eagle's Nest Reserve Forest, and Phangrong district in Bhutan.

The statement said search teams on foot had reached these areas.

It said that, in addition, IAF helicopters had been making regular sorites to find signs of any aircraft in the areas over which the Chief Minister's helicopter could have possibly flown.

"It may be appreciated that the search efforts have continued without any let up, subject only to interruptions due to bad weather," it said.

According to the statement, about 3500 personnel were deployed in the search operations.

"Government of India wishes to assure everyone, especially the people of Arunachal Pradesh, that all possible efforts are being made to locate the Chief Minister’s helicopter. In this time of difficulty, we appeal to the people to remain patient and hopeful and pray for the welfare of the Chief Minister and the other occupants of the helicopter," it added.

Union Social Welfare Minister Mukul Wasnik and Mr V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), have been camping in Itanagar for the past three days to coordinate the search efforts.

Mr Narayanasamy told reporters that the PMO was constantly monitoring the situation as were the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence and External Affairs.

He said External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had spoken to the Bhutanese Prime Minister after Saturday's incident and the neighbouring country had been rendering complete support in the operation.

Apart from Mr Khandu, 56, and the two pilots, J S Babbar and K S Mamick, the Chief Minister's security officer Yashi Chadook and a female passenger, identified as Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup, were travelling by the helicopter.

About three hours after the helicopter was reported missing, there were reports that it had landed inside Bhutan, but there was no confirmation of this from Pawan Hans or from Bhutanese authorities.

(With inputs from United News of India)

NNN

Sunny weather is expected Wednesday before the next spell of showers returns to Seattle, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service estimates 362 tornadoes swept through seven states from April 25 to 28, killing at least 350 people. The tornadoes the worst recorded in nearly 40 years left more than 2,700 people homeless.

Vegetation and outdoor plants should be covered Wednesday morning when a frost advisory will be in effect in the Chicago area, the National Weather Service said.

The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a flood advisory for the Big Island until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday (May 3). At 12:24 p.m. rain gages in Honaunau showed heavy rain falling at two inches per hour along the Kona coast. Drivers are urged to exercise caution due to runoff and ponding on roadways. Related Posts Flood advisory issued for Big Island Tuesday (Jan 11) Flood advisory issued for Big Island Thursday (Feb 24) Flood Advisory issued for Big Island until 7:30 pm Saturday...

- visit Hawaii 24/7 to read the full story -

The average high temperature in Phoenix for April 2011, according to the National Weather Service, was 86 degrees, which is about two degrees above normal.

 

Scattered showers moved out of southeastern Wisconsin into northeastern Illinois late this afternoon, and the band of scattered showers will swing east through the Chicago metro area this evening. Rainfall will for the most part be spotty and light. Skies are still expected to gradually clear over the entire area from west to east after midnight.

 

The Chicago National Weather Service Forecast Office has officially issued a Frost Advisory covering northeast Illinois between 4AM and 8AM CDT Wednesday morning. With clearing skies and light winds, temperatures are expected to fall into the lower to middle 30s over much of the Chicago metro area early Wednesday morning. Lowest readings will be away from the Chicago "heat island" in the less populated suburbs.

Thanks for everyone who came out to the show! Here are some great photos sent to us by Brian Smith of the 2011 FERMILAB/WGN seminar!






Below is a picture of  this year's speakers. From left to right is award winning extreme weather photographer Jim Reed, Tom Skilling, Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, MD, University of Illinois-Chicago, Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, Director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), Ed Fenelon, Meteorologist in Charge of the NWS Forecast Office-Chicago, Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS Chicago, Dr. Jim Angel, State Climatologist, Midwestern Regional Climate Center, and Brian Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service, Omaha, Nebraska:

Vegetation and outdoor plants should be covered Wednesday morning when a frost advisory will be in effect in the Chicago area, the National Weather Service said. Continue reading →

Vegetation and outdoor plants should be covered Wednesday morning when a frost advisory will be in effect in the Chicago area, the National Weather Service said.

Here’s a map showing the path of the killer tornado that struck 12 years ago, courtesy of the National Weather Service. “We took a direct hit to the middle of town,” Tim Norton, then Haysville’s mayor, told me recently about that tornado. Where the 1991 tornado hit a residential area, the May 3 tornado tore [...]

Levels on the swollen Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois, have fallen more than a foot since the Birds Point levee was breached, according to the National Weather Service. The action sacrificed 130,000 acres of farmland and about 100 homes in Missouri in order to spare Cairo, a town of 3,000 residents.

River levels were starting to fall Tuesday after the Army Corps of Engineers blew a hole in a Missouri levee to prevent the Ohio River from overrunning the small Illinois town of Cairo.