NWS: Dry weather continues

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/10/27/nws-dry-weather-continues-2/

NWS: Dry weather continues

Dry and mostly clear conditions will persist through Saturday with highs near 60.

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Another day of frigid wind chills and brutal cold across much of the U.S. (AP) Brutally cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills stayed put across much of the U.S. Monday, promising the coldest temperatures ever for Iowa’s presidential nominating contest, holding up travelers, and testing the mettle of NFL fans in Buffalo for a playoff game that was delayed a day by wind-whipped snow. About 150 million Americans were under a wind chill warning or advisory for dangerous cold and wind, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, as an Arctic air mass spilled south and eastward across the U.S. Sunday morning saw temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6.7 degree Celsius) to minus 40 F in northern and northeast Montana. Saco, Montana, dropped to minus 51 F (minus 26 C). Subzero lows reached as far south as Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and parts of Indiana, Taylor said.

Migrant deaths in Rio Grande intensify tensions between Texas, Biden administration over crossings (AP) After Texas fenced off a park along the U.S.-Mexico border and began turning away Border Patrol agents, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott explained why at a campaign stop near Houston. “We are not allowing Border Patrol on that property anymore,” Abbott said Friday, drawing applause from supporters. He relayed frustration over migrants illegally entering the U.S. through the border city of Eagle Pass and federal agents loading them onto buses. “We said, ‘We’ve had it. We’re not going to let this happen anymore,’” Abbott said. Later that night, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said three migrants, including two children, drowned near the park after Texas officials “physically barred” Border Patrol agents from entering. Mexican authorities pulled the bodies, each of them wearing jackets, from the water on the other side of the Rio Grande.

Guatemala’s New President Is Sworn In, Despite Efforts to Stop Him (NYT) Despite staunch resistance from his opponents in the government, the anticorruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo was inaugurated early Monday morning as Guatemala’s president, a turning point in a country where tensions have been simmering over widespread graft and impunity. His inauguration had been scheduled for Sunday, but members of Congress delayed it, and concerns persisted about whether it would happen at all. But after an international outcry and pressure from protesters, Mr. Arévalo was sworn in shortly after midnight, becoming Guatemala’s most progressive head of state since democracy was re-established in the 1980s. His rise to power—six months after his victory at the polls delivered a stunning rebuke to Guatemala’s conservative political establishment—amounts to a sea change in Central America’s most populous country. His landslide election reflected broad support for his proposals to curb graft and revive a teetering democracy. But as Mr. Arévalo prepares to govern, he must assert control while facing off against an alliance of conservative prosecutors, members of Congress and other political figures who have gutted Guatemala’s governing institutions in recent years.

Columns of tractors gather in Berlin for the climax of a week of protests by farmers (AP) Columns of tractors rolled into Berlin on Monday as farmers gathered for the climax of a week of demonstrations against a plan to scrap tax breaks on the diesel they use, a protest that has tapped into wider discontent with Germany’s government. Over the past week, farmers have blocked highway entrances and slowed down traffic across Germany with their protests, intent on pushing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to abandon the planned cuts entirely. The farmers’ protests come at a time of deep general discontent with the center-left Scholz’s government, which has become notorious for frequent public squabbles and lengthy wrangling over sometimes poorly communicated decisions. Scholz acknowledged concerns that go well beyond farming subsidies, saying that crises, conflicts and worries about the future are unsettling people.

Lava from Icelandic volcano eruption engulfs homes, roads (Washington Post) A volcano that erupted in southwestern Iceland over the weekend sent lava pouring into a nearby fishing town, swallowing up roads and setting at least three houses alight, footage shared by national broadcaster RUV showed. The volcano erupted around 8 a.m. local time Sunday after a series of earthquakes, the country’s meteorological office said. Molten rock from two nearby fissures streamed into the town of Grindavik, the agency said. “Lava is flowing into Grindavik, a thriving town where people have built their lives,” Icelandic President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson said in an address to the nation Sunday evening, describing “tremendous forces of nature” at play. It was the first time in more than 50 years that lava had flowed over Icelandic homes, he said.

United Nations seeks $4.2 billion to help people in Ukraine and refugees this year (AP) The United Nations appealed on Monday for $4.2 billion to help people in Ukraine and displaced outside the country this year, saying that people on the front lines have “exhausted their meager resources” and many refugees also are vulnerable. About three-quarters of the total, $3.1 billion, is meant to support some 8.5 million people inside Ukraine. The remaining $1.1 billion is sought for refugees and host communities outside Ukraine. A recent wave of attacks “underscores the devastating civilian cost of the war” and a bitter winter is increasing the need for humanitarian aid, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement from Geneva.

War or No War, Many Older Ukrainians Want to Stay Put (NYT) They sit in ones and twos in half-destroyed homes. They shelter in musty basements marked in chalk with “people underground”—a message to whichever troops happen to be fighting that day. They venture out to visit cemeteries and reminisce about any time other than now. Ukraine’s elderly are often the only people who remain along the country’s hundreds of miles of front line. Some waited their entire lives to enjoy their twilight years, only to have been left in a purgatory of loneliness. Homes built with their own hands are now crumbling walls and blown-out windows, with framed photographs of loved ones living far away. Some people have already buried their children, and their only wish is to stay close so they can be buried next to them. Almost two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with war at their doorsteps, older people who have stayed behind offer varying reasons for their decisions. Some simply prefer to be at home, whatever the dangers, rather than to struggle in an unfamiliar place among strangers. Others do not have the financial means to leave and start over.

After attempts to meddle in Taiwan’s elections fail, China takes stock (Washington Post) Taiwanese voters have made it clear—for the third time in a row—that they don’t want a leader who will kowtow to China. The democratic island on Saturday elected as president Lai Ching-te, the current vice president and former independence advocate whom Beijing views as a dangerous “separatist.” Now, Beijing must craft a response. For Beijing, Lai’s victory is a loss that deepens anxiety about its ability to bring Taiwan under its control, a long-held goal of the ruling Communist Party and a key part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s legacy. The result gives Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Beijing refuses to engage with, an unprecedented third term. “A Lai win will mean that Xi loses face,” said Chen Fang-Yu, assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei. “It means his Taiwan policy has failed. So now he must do something to show his muscle.” China’s initial response to Lai’s victory was predictable: Officials issued the usual strongly worded statements on Sunday, and Beijing’s embassies in countries that congratulated Lai condemned them for “interfering in China’s internal affairs.”

Australia celebrates Australian-born queen of Denmark (AP) A day after an Australian became queen of Denmark. her native land on Monday celebrated the unlikely fairy tale with cocktails, picnics and a “Danish Fiesta.” Mary Donaldson’s journey from Tasmania to the world’s first Australian-born queen has captivated both Danes and Australians. People gathered to mark the occasion across Australia, including Queen Mary’s hometown of Hobart, the capital of the southern island state of Tasmania. “It’s not something that happens every day that you have an Australian becoming queen. I don’t know if it will ever happen again,” Danish Club Vice President Lykka Borup told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Mary’s husband, Crown Prince Frederik, was proclaimed king of the European nation on Sunday, two weeks after his 83-year-old mother, Queen Margrethe II, announced she would be the first Danish royal to abdicate in about 900 years.

Grief and vengeance: 100 days of war in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank (Washington Post) It’s been three months since Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostage. In response, the Israeli military unleashed a level of force unprecedented in Gaza, killing more than 23,900 people. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks on rural Palestinian communities, accelerating Arab displacement as the war and large-scale arrests fan a new generation of Palestinian militancy in the cities. Israel today is a nation heavy with shock, looking for answers and often also for vengeance. The streets are slowly coming back to life, but they feel anything but normal. Young reservists must take their weapons as they go about their business. The faces of the Israeli hostages are reproduced in shop windows and on government buildings alongside three words that are now a rallying cry: “Bring them home.” Newsstands and television screens show over and over the scenes of Hamas’s crimes. They show the Israeli army in Gaza. But they rarely show what is happening to civilians. Palestinians there are frantic and bone-tired. The pace of death is so fast, the possibility of famine so close, that residents say they have little time to mourn or to process their losses. Fear—how to survive the night, how to find a little food—is a more pressing constant. With more than two-thirds of homes now destroyed, much of Gaza is effectively gone.

Houthi rebels strike a U.S.-owned ship off the coast of Yemen (AP) Houthi rebels fired a missile, striking a U.S.-owned ship Monday just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after they launched an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea. The attack on the Gibraltar Eagle, later claimed by the Houthis, further escalates tensions gripping the Red Sea after American-led strikes on the rebels. The Houthis’ attacks have roiled global shipping, amid Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, targeting a crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe. “The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey,” the U.S. Central Command said.

Cyclone causes heavy flooding, 1 death in Mauritius after also battering French island of Reunion (AP) A tropical cyclone caused heavy flooding and at least one death in Mauritius on Monday as cars were washed away by surges of water in the Indian Ocean island’s capital city and elsewhere. A motorcyclist died in an accident caused by the flooding, the government said and imposed a curfew. The government issued an order that everyone except emergency and health workers, members of the security services and those requiring medical treatment must return home and remain there. Some people were also being evacuated as the floodwaters caused by Tropical Cyclone Belal threatened houses and other buildings. Schools were closed and hospitals were told to only keep their emergency departments open.

Heat Advisory issued July 27 at 7:39AM CDT until July 28 at 9:00PM CDT by NWS

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT FRIDAY... ...DENSE FOG ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 8 AM CDT THIS MORNING... * WHAT...Peak afternoon heat index values of 100 to 107 degrees. * WHERE...In Illinois, Kendall, Southern Cook, Northern Will and Eastern Will Counties. In Indiana, Lake IN, Porter and Jasper Counties. from Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Cook (ILC031) Illinois Issued by the National Weather Service https://ift.tt/b0kyvX2

Smoke from more than 1,000 wildfires burning across Canada has wafted over the northern US, bringing poor air quality and pollution that threaten residents’ health to northern US cities including Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit, Michigan, were ranked among the most polluted cities in the world as of Tuesday evening, according to global pollution tracker IQAir.

The smoke has drifted over the Great Lakes region, in particular, as about 1,090 active fires blaze throughout Canada, more than 670 of which are considered “out of control,” according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. That’s up from more than 880 fires there last week.

The bulk of the country’s wildfires are burning in British Columbia, where more than 460 fires are ongoing, the agency reports.

In the US, the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued air quality alerts for millions of people across Michigan and parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.

The blanket of hazy skies follows a belt of Canadian wildfire smoke which stretched across the US last week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont, with some smoke reaching as far South as Alabama.

The smoke is expected to shift eastward through the Great Lakes region through Tuesday and disperse by Wednesday – just as the upper Midwest is forecast to see some of its hottest temperatures so far this year. Minneapolis could reach 100° and Chicago will be in the upper 90s.

The EPA in Illinois has declared an “Air Pollution Action Day” through Tuesday due to the “persistent” wildfire smoke causing elevated air pollution in the region. Similar advisories have been declares in Michigan and Wisconsin.

The city is recommending that those with chronic respiratory issues limit their activities outdoors and is advising against strenuous activity for children, teens, seniors, people with heart or lung disease, and pregnant people.

“All Chicagoans may also consider wearing masks, limiting their outdoor exposure, moving activities indoors, running air purifiers, and closing windows,” the city said in a release Monday.

Wildfire smoke is packed with tiny pollutants – known as particulate matter – that can infiltrate the lungs and blood stream if inhaled. Particulate matter can commonly cause difficulty breathing and eye and throat irritation, but has also been linked to more serious long-term health issues such as lung cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Canada suffers worst fire season on record

The US is likely to see the downwind effects of Canada’s prolonged wildfires as the country continues to experience its worst fire season on record.

Almost 29 million acres of Canadian land have been scorched so far this year, according to the national fire center. Smoke from the blazes this summer have so far touched the American South and traveled across the Atlantic and into Europe.

The crisis has elicited a flood of international support, as fire and emergency response personnel have deployed to the country from nations including the US, Australia and Brazil. At least two Canadian firefighters have died while battling the flames.

Hard-hit British Columbia will receive federal assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces, Public Safety Canada announced last week.

Hundreds of British Columbia’s fires have been ignited by lightning strikes from thunderstorms, according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service. Some of those thunderstorms were “dry,” producing insufficient amounts of rain to help quench any fires – a dangerous prospect in a province experiencing severe drought.

As the human-driven climate crisis intensifies, scientists expect wildfire seasons will increase in severity, especially as droughts and heat become more common and more severe across the world.

A winter storm produced record-setting snowfall in parts of the Midwest on Sunday, with more than a foot of accumulation in some areas.

The National Weather Service said the storm system brought heavy snow to the region, with accumulations of 12 to 18 inches in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. In Chicago, O'Hare International Airport recorded 11.6 inches of snow, the most for a single day since records began in 1884.

The storm also caused significant disruptions to travel, with hundreds of flights canceled at airports in the Midwest.

Hearken to Your Clients. They may Let you know All About Healing

ARG characterizes the traction vector per unit reference surface area. CT. The watch area stretches from Dallas to San Marcos. Winds ahead of the storms will blow at 30 to 35 mph, which also makes fire conditions difficult just west of the severe risk area. CT, posing a dangerous scenario of nocturnal storms. The storms will push east Wednesday, again posing a Level 4 out of 5 "moderate" risk of severe weather for more than 4.5 million people. More than 14 million more people are included in a Level 3 out of 5 "enhanced" risk for severe weather Tuesday, including those in Dallas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Omaha, Nebraska. Kansas City weather service office said. Jeff Schild, meteorologist for the weather service office in Bismarck, told CNN early Tuesday. National Weather Service office in Bismarck, North Dakota. National Weather Service office in Dallas said. A Level 4 out of 5 "moderate" risk for severe weather is expected for about 800,000 people across parts of Iowa, with Sioux City, Ames, Mason City and Fort Dodge in the bull's-eye where the biggest storms are likely to develop, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

A large Level 3 out of 5 "enhanced" risk surrounds the moderate risk, stretching from northern Louisiana to northern Indiana. Here are the latest key messages for a significant and potentially historic blizzard that is likely to develop over the northern Plains today. The storm system will bring quite a different setup to parts of the northern Plains, with blizzard warnings up for portions of the Dakotas and Montana. There's still uncertainty about where the heaviest bands of snow will set up, but regardless, there will be widespread, impressive snowfall rates, the Bismarck forecast office said in its forecast discussion. After dumping the first-ever measurable snowfall in April on Monday in Portland, Oregon, the storm system's severe threat broadened Tuesday. Much of the region is in drought conditions, so the snowfall will be beneficial, Schild said. Whiteout conditions will make travel nearly impossible in some places. Make sure to have multiple ways to be alerted late tonight if a warning is issued for your location. While breathing out, make a loud humming sound.

Did Gilbert Gottfried's voice always sound like that? Other cities like Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas and Detroit also will remain under the threat of storms Wednesday. CT. In addition to the threat of tornadoes, large hail -- up to tennis ball-sized -- and wind gusts up to 75 mph are also a concern. Places like Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville and St. Louis are all in this zone. Temperatures soared Tuesday afternoon in places like Dallas, where the high temperature reached the mid-80s. For deep glabella lines, London-based cosmetic doctor Sarah Tonks says that while fillers can be used, because the blood vessels in this part of the face are small, if you block them there’s a high risk of necrosis. Steps 1-7 are repeated until a desired number of excited states is obtained. A unique feature of non-Hermitian (NH) systems is the NH skin effect, i.e. the edge localization of an extensive number of bulk-band eigenstates in a lattice with open or semi-infinite boundaries. Self-healing i.e. the capability of a system in a good state to recover to another good state in face of an attack, is desirable for such systems. It is easy to see that a regular i.e. non-heir node can be in either wait or deployed state.

POSTSUBSCRIPT can easily be compared. Considering how busy our lives can get these days, stiff muscles and sore backs are almost a painful, and expected normality. He was 67. "We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In 출장홈타이 to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor," his family wrote in a post on Twitter. In a recent study by York University in Canada, women who did two 75-minute sessions of hatha yoga for eight weeks reported better moods and reduced stress. We simulated (i) the classic scenario where the network evolves with an equal amount of joining nodes and leaving nodes (i.e., equal join and fail rate probabilities); (ii) a case similar to the previous one, but nodes to be removed are those nodes that might have some important role in the network, i.e., we performed two types of simulations where removed nodes were those with highest degrees in one case, and those with highest betweenness in the other case; (iii) the case when only failures occur.

NWS: Cold tonight, mild this weekend

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/10/13/nws-cold-tonight-mild-this-weekend/

NWS: Cold tonight, mild this weekend

Breezy conditions will diminish after sunset, and overnight lows will drop into the 30s.

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Canada’s wildfires (Washington Post) The Kimiwan Complex wildfire was an out-of-control monster in May when Dustan Mueller arrived in northwestern Alberta to command the response to the blaze. In two weeks, the fire had more than quadrupled in size, whipping through 270,000 acres of boreal forest, threatening oil rigs and driving people of the Peavine Metis Settlement from their homes. Mueller, a U.S. Forest Service deputy fire chief at Lassen National Forest in California, had 20 fire seasons of experience, but this was his first deployment abroad. One aspect of his time in Canada stood out. “I’m used to, in California, having upward of 5,000 to 6,000 people underneath us working on a fire the size of the Kimiwan Complex,” he said. “In Canada, we might have had 250 people at the most. That’s a vast difference.” That disparity is, in part, a reflection of how Canada’s worst wildfire season on record—an Indiana-sized expanse of 23 million acres has been charred and a record 155,000 people have been driven from their homes, and there are still months to go—has challenged the provincial firefighting resources on which the country relies. As punishing drought and unrelenting heat fuel blazes raging from coast to coast at once—an unusual occurrence—some 3,200 international firefighters, Mueller included, have joined 3,800 Canadians in the battle.

U.S. Students’ Progress Stagnated Last School Year, Study Finds (NYT) Despite billions of federal dollars spent to help make up for pandemic-related learning loss, progress in reading and math stalled over the past school year for elementary and middle-school students, according to a new national study released on Tuesday. The hope was that, by now, students would be learning at an accelerated clip, but that did not happen over the last academic year, according to NWEA, a research organization that analyzed the results of its widely used student assessment tests taken this spring by about 3.5 million public school students in third through eighth grade. In fact, students in most grades showed slower than average growth in math and reading, when compared with students  before the pandemic. That means learning gaps created during the pandemic are not closing—if anything, the gaps may be widening. “We are actually seeing evidence of backsliding,” said Karyn Lewis, a lead researcher on the study. National exams last year showed that students in most states and across almost all demographic groups had experienced troubling setbacks, especially in math, because of the pandemic.

Northeast Flash Floods (1440) Heavy rainfall in New England has generated widespread flooding across the northeastern US, including in southwestern New Hampshire and southern Vermont, drawing comparisons to flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011. At least one person has died in New York state, while the National Weather Service warned of life-threatening flooding in Vermont through today. The severe weather has led to road closures, transit disruptions, and power outages across the region. Separately, at least 22 people are dead in India’s northern Himalayan region following flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains. Additionally, at least two are dead and six are missing in southwest Japan following floods and mudslides. The floods come as extreme rainfall events are becoming more common worldwide. Experts say for every 1.8-degree Fahrenheit increase in global temperature, the amount of moisture in the atmosphere increases by 6%-7%, resulting in more intense and frequent precipitation.

Florida is now America’s inflation hotspot (Yahoo News) Florida is America’s inflation hotspot, thanks to a persistent problem with sky-high housing costs. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area has the highest inflation rate of metro areas with more than 2.5 million residents, with a 9% inflation rate for the 12 months ended in April. That’s more than double the national average of 4%, according to data from the Consumer Price Index. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro had the third-highest inflation rate in the country, at 7.3% for the year ended in May.

Mexico arrested 2 cartel suspects. Thousands besieged a state capital. (Washington Post) Thousands of protesters, angered by the jailing of two alleged drug cartel members, besieged a state capital in southern Mexico, battling police and national guard troops, taking government employees hostage, and crashing an armored vehicle through the gates of the legislature. The violence in Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, was an unusually stark challenge to the government by an organized-crime group. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has sought to break with the U.S.-backed “war on drugs,” establishing social programs to lure people away from narcotics-trafficking gangs. But the demonstrators’ ability to paralyze the city of about 300,000 people underscored the pervasive grip of crime gangs in many parts of the country. Two alleged leaders of Los Ardillos—the Squirrels—were arrested by state police last week and indicted on drug and weapons charges Monday. That triggered the massive march by residents of villages around Chilpancingo. Los Ardillos is one of 16 crime groups in Guerrero that battle over drug-trafficking, kidnapping and extortion rackets, according to Defense Ministry documents cited by the daily Milenio. The state is a top producer of opium poppy, the main ingredient of heroin. After more than 24 hours of chaos, the Guerrero state government defused the violence Tuesday afternoon. The demonstrators freed 13 hostages—state police officers, national guard troops and civilian government officials—and ended their blockade of the toll road from Mexico City to the tourist resort of Acapulco.

Wagner fighters neared Russian nuclear base during revolt (Reuters) As rebellious Wagner forces drove north toward Moscow on June 24, a contingent of military vehicles diverted east on a highway in the direction of a fortified Russian army base that holds nuclear weapons, according to videos posted online and interviews with local residents. Once the fighters reach more rural regions, the surveillance trail goes cold—about 100 km from the nuclear base, Voronezh-45. In an exclusive interview, Ukraine's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said that fighters reached the nuclear base and that their intention was to acquire small Soviet-era nuclear devices to "raise the stakes" in their mutiny.

Russian diplomats warn West over Ukraine ahead of NATO summit (Reuters) Russia warned on Tuesday of “catastrophic consequences” for Europe if the Ukraine war escalates, as NATO leaders prepared to deliver a “positive message” to Kyiv at a summit on its future prospects for joining the military alliance. Moscow has cited NATO’s eastern expansion as a key factor in its decision to invade Ukraine nearly 17 months ago. On Monday the Kremlin said that if Ukraine joined the alliance, this would pose a direct threat to Russia’s security to which it would react clearly and firmly. In a series of statements by senior Russian diplomats ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Konstantin Gavrilov, a Vienna-based senior Russian security negotiator, accused the United States of fuelling the conflict by pouring arms into Ukraine. In an interview with Russia’s RIA state news agency, Gavrilov said Europe would be the first to face “catastrophic consequences” if the war escalated further. He did not specify what those consequences would be.

Why China’s Young People Are Not Getting Married (NYT) It has been a brutal three years for China’s young adults. Their unemployment rate is soaring amid a wave of corporate layoffs. Draconian coronavirus restrictions are over, but not the sense of uncertainty about the future they created. For many people, the recent turmoil is another reason to postpone major life decisions—contributing to a record-low marriage rate and complicating the government’s efforts to stave off a demographic crisis. Grace Zhang, a tech worker who had long been ambivalent about marriage, spent two months barricaded in the government lockdown of Shanghai last year. Robbed of the ability to move freely, she spiraled over the loss of control. As she saw the lockdowns spread to other cities, her sense of optimism faded. Now, as she sees rising layoffs around her in a troubled economy, she wonders if her job is secure enough to sustain a future family. She has a boyfriend but no immediate plans to marry, despite frequent admonishments from her father that it’s time to settle down. “This kind of instability in life will make people more and more afraid of making new life changes,” she said. The number of marriages in China declined for nine consecutive years, falling by half in less than a decade. Last year, about 6.8 million couples registered for marriage, the lowest since records began in 1986, down from 13.5 million in 2013, according to government data released last month.

Winning friends by training workers is China’s new gambit PONOROGO, Indonesia (Washington Post)—The rice fields in this part of East Java are still plowed by buffalo. There is little in the way of manufacturing or tourism. Every year thousands of residents follow a well-worn path to jobs as domestic helpers in Hong Kong or construction workers in Saudi Arabia. Ziofani Alfirdaus, however, believes he will have a career and a future here. The 16-year-old is clear on the source of his optimism—China. His local school hosts a Luban Workshop, a Chinese-funded and -directed vocational training program that teaches students how to service Chinese electric-vehicle engines, operate Chinese commercial drones and assemble Chinese robots. The educational assistance, all provided at no cost, has revolutionized the provincial school here with new technology and machinery to train students, as well as trips to vocational schools in China to build the skills of Indonesian educators. Students who have gone through the workshops emerge sold on the merits of Chinese technology and, by extension, China itself, teachers and alumni say. When they were first introduced in 2016, the workshops were a component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global network of infrastructure projects to cement China’s industrial power and economic influence. They have expanded in reach and sophistication, emblematic of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to extend his country’s soft power alongside its economic might, especially in the Global South.

Israelis block highways in nationwide protests of government’s plan to overhaul judiciary (AP/NYT) Israeli protesters blocked highways leading to Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv at the start of countrywide demonstrations Tuesday against the government’s planned judicial overhaul that has divided the nation. The demonstrations came the morning after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition gave initial approval to a bill to limit the Supreme Court’s oversight powers, pressing forward with contentious proposed changes to the judiciary despite widespread opposition. The legislation is one of several bills proposed by Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies. The plan has provoked months of sustained protests by opponents who say it is pushing the country toward authoritarian rule. Netanyahu risks setting off social unrest by proceeding with the overhaul, or the collapse of his hard-line coalition if he halts it.

Cold temperatures to continue in South Africa but no further snowfall is predicted (AP) South African weather officials warned on Tuesday of continued extremely cold weather, but said no further snow was predicted for the rest of the week after parts of the country experienced unusual flurries. In Johannesburg, residents experienced snowfall on Monday for the first time since 2012. On Tuesday, parts of Johannesburg remained very cold, with temperatures falling to 1 degree Celsius (34 F).

Where Does New York City Office Furniture Go When No One Wants It? (NYT) Herman Miller is one of the most revered makers of office furniture in the world, its designs so esteemed that its Aeron chair, which became a fixture of New York City cubicles, was put in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. This month, some Herman Miller chairs, which can retail for over $1,000, met a less dignified fate: an appointment with the crushing metal jaws of an excavator. More than three years after the coronavirus pandemic began, only about half of the office space in the New York City metro area in June was occupied. So what do you do with all that office furniture? The answer can often be found in the back of a moving truck—en route to the auction block, a liquidator or, more likely, a landfill. “The amount of waste in this industry would boggle your mind,” said David Esterlit, the owner of OHR Home Office Solutions, a refurbishing company and liquidator in Midtown Manhattan that has resold equipment from big office tenants. Despite efforts to reuse and repurpose office equipment, most still ends up in the trash, said Trevor Langdon. Based on 2018 federal statistics on waste, the latest year with available data, Mr. Langdon estimates that more than 10 million tons of office furniture in the United States end up in a landfill every year.

Heat Advisory issued July 26 at 3:17PM CDT until July 27 at 9:00PM CDT by NWS

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Peak afternoon heat index values of 100 to 105 expected. Highest values away from the lake in Lake and Porter counties. * WHERE...In Illinois, Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, De Kalb, Kendall, Southern Cook, Northern Will and Eastern Will Counties. In Indiana, Lake IN and Porter Counties. from Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Cook (ILC031) Illinois Issued by the National Weather Service https://ift.tt/kQHuEeg

A Note About the Recent Weather

Mark 4.41

They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'

Those of you who live in the midwestern and northeastern United States are probably aware of the recent stretch of destructive weather that has been sweeping these areas.

I live in Central Pennsylvania, at the northern end of the Appalachian mountain range. As you drive west or northwest from here, the land becomes less mountainous and levels off until you reach the flat land of Ohio, which is considered a Plains state.

On Tuesday, a large destructive weather system swept through Indiana and Ohio, leaving devastation in its path.  In the Dayton, Ohio, area, a 'swarm' of tornadoes—by some counts 61 of them, packed so closely together that they were crossing each other's paths—destroyed everything in its path and left the area without power and water.

The weather system was moving east, directly toward this area, and the National Weather Service had issued multiple warnings.  I was tracking the system on AccuWeather's radar and watched it move into the Pittsburgh area in western Pennsylvania, then into Johnstown, and the NWS issued a warning that severe weather would impact us within the hour.  But an hour passed and nothing happened.  When I checked the radar again, there was nothing there. The storm system had vanished!  I did a double take and wondered, 'Where did it go?!'  It just was no longer there.

You will not find that story in your news feed.

In the gospels, we find this account of a storm on Lake Kinneret, often referred to as the Sea of Galilee.

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'  And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush, be still.'  And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, 'Why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?'  They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'  —Mark 4.37-41 (NASB)

Who, indeed, is the One Whom even the storm obeys?  He is the Lord of creation, the great I AM.  And He has given His disciples the use of the power of His Name.

I had not prayed for the storm system to be diverted or removed; I was praying only for protection, as I often do when danger threatens.  But the Father, in His wondrous love, simply removed the threat.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!  —Psalm 8.9 (NASB)

Yesterday the upper Great Lakes area, including the Chicago metro area (which includes Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana), northern Indiana and northern Ohio, experienced the anxiety-inducing effects of developing tornadoes, tornadoes that touched down, tornado warning sirens, screaming cell phone warnings, beep-beep-beep warnings on TV, wind shear, huge hail and torrential rains. One dead in Dayton, Ohio (last I checked). So folk in this part of the country are joining up with the people in the Great Plains and the mid-Atlantic regions, living together in this whacky, wicked weather pattern.

“Uncharted territory” indeed. We all experienced tornadoes or tornado conditions here, but nothing like this year or the past year or so. And as we allow our politicians to escape reckoning while accepting campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry and their conservative billionaire friends, some of us dutifully recycle, sometimes car pool, watch the temperature we set on our thermostats, plant trees and so on. Do any of these really matter, whether measured individually or collectively? Ain’t gonna make a fucking bit of difference, and we all sense it, if not know it.

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

A stretch of severe weather has tormented communities from the Rocky Mountains to the Mid-Atlantic in recent weeks.

In the last week alone, the authorities have linked tornadoes to at least seven deaths and scores of injuries. Federal government weather forecasters logged preliminary reports of more than 500 tornadoes in a 30-day period — a rare figure, if the reports are ultimately verified — after the start of the year proved mercifully quiet.

“From mid-April on, it’s just been on a tear,” said Patrick Marsh, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. “What has really set us apart has been the last 10 days or so. The last 10 days took us from about normal to well above normal.”

Monday, Dr. Marsh said, was the 11th consecutive day with at least eight tornado reports, tying the record. The storms have drawn their fuel from two sources: a high-pressure area that pulled the Gulf of Mexico’s warm, moist air into the central United States, where it combined with the effects of a trough trapped over the Rockies, which included strong winds.

Climate change is increasingly linked to extreme weather, but limited historical information, especially when compared with temperature data that goes back more than a century, has made it difficult for researchers to determine whether rising temperatures are making tornadoes more common and severe.

Kerry A. Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in hurricanes, noted that the science of the connection between tornadoes and climate change is simply less comprehensive that what researchers have compiled on tropical cyclones.

Dealing with tornadoes and climate change, he said, is “absolutely complicated,” and there are relatively few papers that discuss tornadoes and climate because “it’s almost impossible to see any signal in the data.” What’s more, he said, the data of the current generation of radar technology goes back to only about 1990, a shorter period than that for good hurricane data.

But researchers have found that tornadoes are increasingly clustered in short periods of time.

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Lake-effect snow, Chicago, Winter storm, Winter storm warning DuPage County and Southern Cook County in Illinois, as well as northern Lake County in Indiana, will remain under a winter weather advisory through 10 a.m. Friday. According to the National Weather Service, heavy lake … Source link

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NWS: Windy and possible scattered showers today, dry this weekend

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/10/13/nws-windy-and-possible-scattered-showers-today-dry-this-weekend/

NWS: Windy and possible scattered showers today, dry this weekend

Scattered, mostly light showers are possible near the Michigan border through tonight; otherwise, dry weather through this weekend.

NWS: Elevated Fire Danger this afternoon

New Post has been published on https://aroundfortwayne.com/news/2022/10/13/nws-elevated-fire-danger-this-afternoon-6/

NWS: Elevated Fire Danger this afternoon

The National Weather Service is warning of an elevated danger for field fires this afternoon.