Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Sharkberg!

The Rocky  City Times reports that over 150 sharks have been flash frozen on the Gulf Coast by Winter Storm Leon:

The largest area of concentration appears to be around Gulfport, Mississippi, which has seen at least 67 of the frozen animals. Wildlife officials say that the sharks, who migrate to this area during the winter, were caught off guard by the most severe winter storm in several decades.

“Like many of us, I suspect the sharks did not believe that the area would actually receive any winter weather,” Mississippi Department of Wildlife spokesperson Matt Shepherd tells us. “It is like a Shark-slushy out there. The animals all appear to be alive, so please do not approach any frozen sharks. They will probably thaw later in the week and swim back out into the gulf.”

Yes, you're your first instinct is correct.  It is a joke site.  (I started to say, "you're correct", changed it and never fixed the contraction.)

However, it is true that the South is very cold today.  Cities like Atlanta are not well prepared to deal with snow and ice.  Temperatures in the low 20s are reported across the nearly subtropical panhandle of Florida.  Things are pretty rough in the Southeast.

I was at about 5 degrees this morning.  We'll get up around 40 by afternoon, so we'll survive.  I read where Lileks said that the cold in Minnesota would kill off the ash-borers.  I had some on one of my little ash trees along the driveway this year.  Maybe it will kill ours off, too. 

I remember Leon -- he was the guy who was waitin' at the station.  Might need to bring the 4WD.

2 comments:

  1. 12 degrees and snowing last night. In my experience it has never been that cold and snowing around here. It usually warms up to snow.

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  2. That's true for us as well. Snows, especially the ones with significant accumulation, hit in the upper 20's to about 30. Here in the interior 12-degree air won't hold enough moisture. The cold is dug in, and the warm air is overriding instead of pushing it back, and that sounds more like a sleet recipe.

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