Up With The Sun The Second Monday Of November Thinking About Incoming Japanese Floating Balls

The dawn of the 2nd Monday of the next to last month of 2011 has arrived with the sun illuminating what appears to be a clear blue sky.

Even though currently the sky is clear, rain is in the forecast for today. A 20% chance of wet stuff falling. With a greater chance of getting wet tomorrow.

Currently, at this early hour of the morning, the outer world is being heated to 67 degrees. The high today is scheduled to reach the low 80s.

I had my windows open all night long. I do not previously remember leaving my windows open, at this location, all night long in the middle of November. This almost switches me back to being a global warming believer.

I saw two interesting things in the news this morning. Both involved Japan. I was surprised to learn that Japan's economy expanded at a 6 percent rate during the most recent quarter. That is a much bigger expansion than the American economy experienced in the most recent quarter.

And, unlike Japan, we in America have had no HUGE earthquakes or tsunamis to deal with.

Speaking of which, that's the other interesting news this morning that relates to Japan.

The debris field washed out to sea, following the Japanese tsunami, a debris field the size of California, is due to start washing up on our west coast shores any day now.

That should make for some interesting beach combing.

When I was a kid I recollect beach combing on the Pacific beaches in the Ocean Shores/Copalis zone of the Washington coast. At that point in time the Japanese fishermen still used glass balls to float their fishnets. Those glass balls would  break loose from the fishnets and make their way to west coast beaches. I recollect only finding one. A small one.

Speaking of small balls floating long distances, it is time for my morning swim before it gets any hotter.

Admiring Tandy Hills Art Installations While Spotting A Wildfire & Thinking About West Coast Tsunami Damage

I think of all the art installations in the Tandy Hills Natural Area the Rusted Hulk of twisted metal you see in the picture may be my favorite.

The Rusted Hulk seems a more permanent art installation than the recently arrived Tandy Bamboo Teepee. Which still stands.

Near the Rusted Hulk art installation I was appalled to see that someone had drug a log on top of the Tandy Escarpment, above the currently dry Tandy Falls.

And lit the log on fire.

I took a picture of the burned log, but my photo skills did not do it justice.

Why would someone do this? Particularly when Fort Worth and its environs are under a Red Flag Warning. Which means conditions are ripe for wildfires. As I drove away from the Tandy Hills today I heard on the radio that I-287, near Rhome, was shut down due to a wild fire.

From part way down Mount Tandy, looking north, I saw the plume of white smoke you see in the picture. I've no idea if this is the Rhome wildfire.

It does not look like the smoke from previous wildfires that I've seen in Texas. They've all been a big wall of smoke.

Change of subject.

I am being a bit surprised that the tsunami from the Japan Quake has actually done damage on the West Coast. The recent bad quake in Chile brought similar West Coast tsunami warnings. But no damage was done.

The Japan Quake Tsunami has swept 5 out to sea in California and Oregon, with 4 making it back to shore and one still missing, he being a photographer taking pictures near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, California.

Crescent City, California has again suffered tsunami damage.

17 people died on the West Coast due to the 1964 Alaska Quake tsunami, with 11 of the dead in Crescent City. Damage estimates in Crescent City are already in the millions. Other coastal towns, like Santa Cruz also sustained damage.

I have never seen a tsunami. But I have been caught by a rogue wave. This was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. It was in the Ocean Shores area of the Pacific Coast of Washington, at the rock jetty that juts out into Grays Harbor.

The Ocean Shores zone has very wide sandy beaches. It was a Sunday. I was with my little sister, walking on the beach with a lot of other people. Suddenly it was apparent an incoming wave was way bigger than the norm. We were nowhere near the water's edge.

People who were at the water's edge began running away from the ocean. As the water kept coming I picked up my little sister and started running. The water caught up with us. I got up on a big piece of driftwood. The surging water knocked us off and pushed me forward, clinging to my little sister.

Eventually the power of the wave subsided, with insufficient water to drag us back out with it as it receded. Everyone on the beach made it out safely. I will never forget the image of an older lady wearing a big fur coat, totally drenched. And laughing. Like she was counting her blessings that she'd survived something quite phenomenal.

I do not recollect ever seeing scenes like those I've seen coming out of Japan today. Some of the tsunami images look like the tidal waves of tsunami legend.

The Japan Quake has had me on edge all day. Then again, that feeling may have been caused by staying in the pool way too long this morning, thus activating another severe case of the shivers.

It is currently 76 in my zone of Texas. No earthquakes. No chance of a tsunami.

Sarah Wonders What Was On The Top Half Of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram If Not The News Of Japan's Quake

Above is the 3 in the afternoon screencap from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Earlier today I blogged about the differences in how 3 of the online newspapers I look at every morning shared the news of the Japan Earthquake Disaster. With the Fort Worth Star-Telegram not giving much of an indication that this is a big story.

Sarah R then commented with a question....

Sarah R has left a new comment on your post "Japan's 8.9 Earthquake & Tsunami In Seattle, Fort Worth & Dallas": 

"So what was the top half of the Star-Telegram? I'm just wondering what made the cut as "big" news this morning in FtW."

I went back to the Star-Telegram so I could tell Sarah what was at the top of that lame newspaper's front page.

This is what I told Sarah...

Sarah R---It is coming up on 3 in the afternoon. Checked the Star-Telegram again, figuring by now they'd have moved the Japan Quake and Tsunami to the top.

Nope.

Instead, big headline "Chuck Greenberg resigns as Texas Rangers CEO." Above and to the right of that, "NFL mock draft" with a little blurb. To the left of that a "Spring forward" note. An ad for JC Penney. Then several little headlines with links to a story. Top of those is "North Texans with ties to Japan keeping close watch" and "TCC to begin voluntary buyouts for longtime workers." Stuff like that.

Then if you scroll down to the bottom half of the front page, the original blurb about the quake has been altered, with the headline now "Strong quake strikes central Japan, felt in Tokyo." Adding a couple links, one of which is "1 missing, 4 rescued as tsunami hits West Coast."

Below is a screencap from the 2:41 pm version of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The blurb about the Japan Quake is still on the bottom half of the front page. It now does make mention that the tsunami has hit the west coast. One man was washed out into the Pacific in Oregon. Crescent City, California was badly damaged, again, with no deaths, unlike when it was hit by the tsunami generated by the 1964 Alaska Earthquake.

Japan's 8.9 Earthquake & Tsunami In Seattle, Fort Worth & Dallas

Above is a screencap of the front page of this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, taken this morning around 7. The death toll is now in the 100s. And likely to rise much higher. An 8.9 quake is one of the worst ever recorded in the world and the worst ever in Japan. If I remember right the Seattle transit tunnel is built to withstand a 9.0 earthquake. I would not want to be in the bus tunnel or one of its stations should an 8.9 earthquake occur.

I learned Japan had had a bad quake and tsunami when I read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning. As we learned recently, from Anonymous, if the Star-Telegram is not reporting it, it isn't news. The Star-Telegram had the Japan quake news on the lower half of their front page. This struck me as odd.

Below is the screencap with the Japan quake/tsunami news from the front page of the Star-Telegram.

I thought maybe the low key way the Star-Telegram was reporting this major disaster, so differently than the Seattle P-I, might have been due to the fact that Seattle is a Pacific Rim city, in the path of the incoming tsunami, with a lot of trade with Japan coming in and out of the Port of Seattle, while Fort Worth is a long ways from the Pacific Ocean with little trade coming or going with Japan.

And then I went to the Dallas Morning News. Dallas is also landlocked and a long ways from the Pacific Ocean. Dallas likely does a little more trade with Japan than Fort Worth does, which may account for the more prominent BIG NEWS way the Dallas Morning News reported the Japan quake,  as you can see below.

That is one scary looking tsunami in the picture from the Dallas Morning News. When I heard on the radio that tsunamis were hitting Hawaii I turned on the TV. There was live video of the beach by Diamond Head in Honolulu. But it was dark in Hawaii, you really could not see anything. The talking head described the water receding and the first tsunami flowing in. As he described that the water was receding again, but you could not see it.

I've got a bad feeling this is going to end up being one of the worst natural disasters ever.

Up Early The Second Friday Of March With No Tsunami From Japan Expected To Hit Fort Worth

It is the second Friday of the third month of 2011. In two days Daylight Savings Time starts up. Which means I may be doing my morning swimming in the dark for awhile.

This morning it is 44 degrees out there. I believe the 24 hour average has been over 50 degrees. So, I am going swimming this morning in that blue oasis you see in the picture.

I have myself a big backlog of blogging fodder this morning. Subjects ranging from gators to tsunamis.

Speaking of tsunamis.

I suspect the Galtex's, this morning, up in Seattle, are experiencing their first tsunami watch, as waves generated by Japan's worst earthquake ever, an 8.9 shaker, are expected to hit the west coast. To get to Seattle a tsunami has to makes its way in from the Pacific Ocean through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and then on to Puget Sound.

I remember one time heading out to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island to watch a possible incoming tsunami. No detectable wave was seen.

In my current location, hundreds of miles from saltwater, north of being deep in the heart of Texas, there will be no incoming tsunami today.

Just sunshine and semi-warm temperatures.

I think I'll go outside and work on my suntan right now. Talk to you later.

Massive South Pacific Earthquake Sends Deadly Tsunami To Samoa & American West Coast

I've been intending to find out where, in the South Pacific, Samoa is located ever since Survivor Samoa started up. I now know exactly where it is.

This morning news of a powerful 8.3 magnitude earthquake striking about 125 miles from Samoa, causing 4 tsunami waves, 15 to 20 feet high, to crash into Samoa and American Samoa up to a mile inland.

So far the death count is at 99 on Samoa and American Samoa, with dozens missing. Tsunami warning sirens got many people to high ground before the big flood arrived.

There are 180,000 people on Samoa, with 65,000 on American Samoa.

10 hours after the quake, Japan was hit with very weak tsunami waves. On the U.S. west coast strong currents and dangerous waves were forecast from California to Washington. Los Angeles lifeguards cleared beaches by 8 pm due to the possible dangerous currents.

I've seen the damage caused by a tsunami from a massive earthquake in Alaska. If I remember right that one killed a couple people and did a lot of damage in Crescent City, California. That tsunami also flooded on to shore on the Washington coast, doing damage at Ocean Shores and other low lying locations.

I was hit by a rogue wave years ago while on the beach at Ocean Shores. All of the sudden it was obvious the incoming wave was bigger than the norm. Everyone started running. I picked up my little sister and ran, climbing up on a big driftwood log. The wave hit, knocking us off the log, getting us soaking wet. Every time I see images of the effects of a tsunami I think of that rogue wave. A tsunami would be like a rogue wave on steroids. Very very scary.

We may be getting natural gas drilling caused earthquakes here in North Texas, but there is very little chance any of those little temblors will be causing a tsunami.