Monday, July 7, 2014


CONGRATULATIONS!

to Joe and Kelly Falk!

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It's Garbage Day
60 degrees and overcast at 6:30 a.m.


The Weather Forecast from TWCNY:

"A Warm & Unsettled Start to the Week, Storms Could be Strong
Today will be warm and breezy and you will notice it feeling increasingly humid. Highs will end up between 80 and 85 degrees. In addition to all of that, scattered showers and storms are expected to develop.
Showers and storms remain a part of our forecast on Tuesday due to an approaching cold front but out ahead of this front, temperatures should manage to top out in the middle and upper 80s. We'll see highs drop back into the 70s getting into
Wednesday and it looks like the return of high pressure will result in drier conditions toward the end of the week."




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Special Note:

"Snoopy" has been found!!!

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Here & There



Green!  The color we dream of in Wintertime!
View Westward from "Hanover Green."


I hope that Virginia Keith will forgive my unauthorized use of this photograph. I don't remember where I found it, but I loved the picture AND her description, which read something like, "Clouds pulled (or dragged) their shadows behind them across the fields of Hanover."

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Along roadside Wild Sweet Peas are blooming ....


..... and there are Daylilies everywhere.
(Click the image!)




Pat's gardens are worthy of a slow drive along "Maiden Lane" (South Babbott Avenue.)




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In the Lally Memorial Garden, behind the Waterville Public Library, the first of many showy Hemerocallis are blooming ......




........ as well as some plants whose names I don't know.  
(A Hosta, perhaps?)

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A SPECIAL VIEW



Facebook "friends" of photographer Jody Hildreth have been treated to a series of pictures he took, recently, at the Grand Tetons National Park.


To me, they are "indescribably beautiful!"

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SPECIAL EVENTS

AT THE LIBRARY

Monday

"Kids' Movie Matinée at 11:00


"Every Monday we'll show a movie on our big screen!
Kids can bring a little snack and enjoy a movie with their friends."

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Tuesday



"Pitch Club at 2:15"

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Teen Craft at 6:00
"Popsicle Stick Bracelets"


Ages 10 & up | Sign up at the library
"Turn simple popsicle sticks into beautiful bracelets by molding and painting them." 

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Movie at 6:00

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Wednesday

"Drop In Craft: Jellyfish"

"All ages can stop by the library anytime today to make a jellyfish craft!"

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Kids' Movie Matinée at 11:00



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From Doris Stephan:


The Waterville Book Discussion Group


"An  engrossing glimpse into one family's fractured past.  With  the discovery of an unknown family, Stolen treasures, and  the Danish resistance, Susan Wiggs tells a layered, powerful story of love, loss, hope and redemption."
Reserve a copy of The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs, at the Waterville Public Library, 841 4651.  Come and bring your lunch to the Meeting Room at the Library on Wednesday, July 23rd at noon.  Coffee, tea and dessert will be served. 

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EXTRA-SPECIAL EVENTS


sponsored by the Village of Waterville
for your enjoyment!

The Floyd Community Instrumental Ensemble's programs include patriotic tunes as well as old favorites from the America's "Big Band Era."  Concert-goers also will enjoy toe tapping medleys made famous by groups and musicians such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Count Basie, Glen Campell, and Disney as well as tunes from shows like Mama Mia!, Titanic, and Grease.

Join us in the Park at 7:00.  It's Free!

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ALSO AT 7:00

"WATERVILLE  FIRST"

Special Community Meeting at the Library!



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On Friday

Yes!  The Farmers Market will be back at the 
Waterville Public Library from 3:00 - 7:00

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Next Sunday



Everything you need to know about the Boilermaker,
HERE.

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IN THE NEWS

A few days ago I found this Letter to the Editor from Doris Biederman of Oriskany Falls in the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

"Area food banks rely greatly on volunteers
  • When most people see the Food Bank of CNY truck delivering food to the local food pantries, they might not realize (I didn’t) that the local food pantry has to buy that food. It costs the Waterville-area pantry thousands of dollars a year for such deliveries, as they must offer a protein source such as chicken, hotdogs or hamburger to their clients.
  • Many organizations donate generously food and money. But it’s a constant struggle for the volunteers to keep the shelves and freezers full. Many more people every year are seeking food from the pantry. So to those who donate food, money and their time to the area pantries we thank you for past donations and hopefully future ones.
  • DORIS BIEDERMAN, Oriskany Falls"

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I have not driven through any of the areas South and East of Waterville where a great deal of damage was done by last Thursday's storm, but you'll find several good photographs taken by Virginia Keith posted on the Town of Brookfield Historical Society's Facebook page.


FOR THE RECORD

Here is an entire Blog Post from the WKTV "Weather Blog," written and posted by Jill Reale on Saturday evening,  which I think is well-worth reading.


Straight Line Winds vs. Tornadoes

There has been some confusion on social media over the past several days on why the damage in Madison, Herkimer and Montgomery Counties from Thursday’s severe weather were not from a tornado but were actually from straight line winds. The first problem is that people automatically assume that a tornado means the worst. Worst damage, worst destruction and highest winds. I guess the media can partially be blamed for this. Living in an area that does not see many tornadoes, people get the idea of a tornado and its destruction from the national news or national weather stations. These tornadoes that people see on television are usually spotlighted because of how strong the storm was and how vast the destruction was. Not every tornado that occurs is an EF 4 or EF 5.  So why was the damage on Thursday NOT a tornado?

Whenever there is significant damage from a severe thunderstorm, it is the job of the National Weather Service to send out a team of experts to survey the damage to determine what caused it. The meteorologists closely look at all the damage, such as a building or a tree and use a toolkit to give them an idea of how strong the winds had to be to destroy the building or to snap a tree in half.  In addition, the group of meteorologists look at the direction of the damage to help conclude the type of severe weather.
Straight line winds and downbursts
Straight line winds are gusts of wind that comes out of the base of a thunderstorm. These winds are produced by the downward momentum in the downdraft of a thunderstorm. Picture a gust of winds falling down quickly and once it hits the ground, it pushes outward. Straight line wind damage pushes debris in the same direction the wind is blowing.  Now with the storm in Madison County, trees were knocked down due north on the northern edge of the damage path while the southern edge of the path, the winds knocked trees down pointing to the southeast. This damage was actually classified as a microburst, which is straight line wind damage that is less than 2.5 miles wide and lasts less than 5 minutes.  As for the damage in Herkimer and Montgomery Counties, there were a series of downbursts that caused straight line wind damage and NOT a tornado. The damage path was very sporadic and discontinuous, something you do NOT see with tornado damage.
Tornadoes
While straight line wind damage is over a large area, tornadoes tend to produce damage in narrower path with a long distance. This is because tornadoes may only be a few yards wide with the damage in the center of its path.  The damage with a tornado is very scattered in a variety of different directions because all wind flows INTO a tornado. Debris is often laying at angles due to the curving of the inflow winds. Here are 3 myths debunked by the NWS:
Why downbursts are often mistaken for tornadoes
  • Both can have very damaging winds
    • Tornado winds range from 40 to over 300 MPH. Downburst winds can exceed 165 MPH
  • A loud "roaring" sound
    • Wind speeds of 75+ MPH will often sound very load - leading some to believe they heard a tornado when if fact they only heard a straight-line wind
  • Trees were "twisted" off - so it must have been a tornado
    • This is one of the most common mistakes - the fact that trees were "twisted" off doesn't necessarily mean a tornado has gone through. If you could draw a line straight down a tree, you'd see that the tree isn't exactly alike from one side to the other. Differences in limbs and leaves may cause the tree to have more wind resistance on one side than the other. The tree begins to "twist" (much like a stop sign "twists" in strong winds), if wind speeds are high enough the tree will begin to tear apart in a twisting motion -even though the winds are relatively straight!

So in conclusion, just because a tornado didn’t happen it does NOT mean that the damage wasn't severe. For those who think straight line wind damage is not as dangerous as a tornado, it actually can be worse. For example: EF 0 Tornado wind speeds: 65-85mph,   EF 1 Tornado wind speeds: 86-110mph. This week's straight line wind damage: 90-100mph AND covered a larger area than a tornado would. Straight-line wind intensity can be as powerful as a tornado.


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