Enjoy The Satellites While We Have Them

Ken AshfordDisasters, Environment & Global Warming & Energy, Science & TechnologyLeave a Comment

It's worth noting that those space images of Sandy that are not only cool but actually help scientists predicts its path and strength — well, they come from satellites which are nearing or past the end of their functional lives, and we have no replacement satellites scheduled to be launched for a few years. And if Republicans have their way … Read More

Best Tweet Ever

Ken AshfordDisasters1 Comment

WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (i'm calling it Sally)..? Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace. — Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) October 29, 2012

Financial Markets Closed Tomorrow

Ken AshfordBreaking News, DisastersLeave a Comment

This is the first time since 1885 that financial markets have been closed two days in a row due to weather. Meanwhile, in Red Hook, Brooklyn…. Also, Sandy this morning, from space… Dangling crane on 57th Street — look out below! FDR drive today… *  Tall ship "Bounty" reported sunk off NC And then there's this:

“It’s The Hurricane Disaster Relief Effort… Brought To You By Federal Express!”

Ken AshfordDisasters, Election 2012Leave a Comment

With Sandy bearing down on us, it's important to remember that Romney thinks things like FEMA should be left to the states and/or privatized.   In this clip, Romney was asked at a debate for the Republican presidential candidates about emergency-response efforts, and he suggested FEMA should be shuttered, moving responsibility to the states. "Absolutely. Every time you have an … Read More

Sandy Frankenstorm

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

Forecasters are predicting that Hurricane Sandy will meet up with a winter storm, creating a rare thing that they are calling "Frankenstorm": Government forecasters on Thursday upped the odds of a major weather mess, now saying there's a 90 percent chance that the East will get steady gale-force winds, heavy rain, flooding and maybe snow starting Sunday and stretching past … Read More

Earthquake in Costa Rica

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

I probably wouldn't normally report on this, but I was just there last year. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck at 10:42 a.m. ET at a depth of about 25 miles and about seven miles southeast of Nicoya, a town of some 15,000 people on a coastal area on the Pacific about 90 miles from the capital San Jose. 7.6 is very strong, … Read More

Texas Tornados

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

Really ugly stuff. This video is hard to see, but stick with it until the end.  It picks up 18-wheelers and tosses them high into the air.  

Conspiracy Theorists Are Going To Love This

Ken AshfordDisasters, Obama OppositionLeave a Comment

Two stories: First, this one about one of the Obama girls going on spring break with her class to Oaxaca Mexico.  Initial press reports about it on the Internet were "scrubbed". An AFP report that President Barack Obama’s 13-year-old daughter, Malia, is spending spring break in Oaxaca, Mexico appears to have been completely scrubbed from the Internet news sites that … Read More

End of The World Starts Tomorrow

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

Here's why: A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. space weather experts said. The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 4.5 million miles per hour (7.2 million km per hour), was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists … Read More

Tornados

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

Not a good time to be in the midwest.  Here's one of many tornados that hit today (this one in Indiana)   Note:  There are reports that Henryville, Indiana is "gone".  This tornado is near Henryville, and may be one of the culprits.

Russian Satellite To Kill Us All

Ken AshfordDisasters, Science & TechnologyLeave a Comment

There's a lot of space debris in space, orbitting the Earth.  When those orbits decay, as they do over time, the debris burns up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.   No biggie. Unless the debris is really big to begin with — like an out-of-use satellite.  Some of the debris survives re-entry and crashes to Earth.  We've seen a few of … Read More

Disaster Reports We Like To Read

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

EDIS Number: PW-20111013-32671-USADate / time: 13/10/2011 16:10:18 [UTC]Event: Power OutageArea: North-AmericaCountry: USAState/County: State of ConnecticutLocation: Greenwich Number of Deads: N/ANumber of Injured: N/ANumber of Infected: N/ANumber of Missing: N/ANumber of Affected: 14507 person(s)Number of Evacuated: N/ADamage level: Heavy Description: A squirrel is to blame for the power outage that left half of Greenwich customers in the dark this morning. CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said there was a problem at the substation in the Cos Cob … Read More