Sunday, September 29, 2024

The Clear Streams

 


My blood pressure has returned to "normal" - 111/71 this morning. It must have been the stress from Hurricane Helene coupled with shitty road food (Chick Fil A and hotel breakfast buffet) that spiked my pressure up into the "elevated" range. I'm not going back on the meds.

I'm actually surprised my blood pressure's not higher after watching last night's barnburner of a football game between Georgia and Alabama. Alabama won by 7, but Georgia rallied back from a 28-point deficit, took a one-point lead with 2:30 left to play, and even got the ball to the Alabama 20-yard line with 1:35 left before QB Carson Beck threw an interception, his third of the night, that ended the game.

Meanwhile, a broad area of low pressure currently located over the western Caribbean is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental  conditions appear conducive for gradual development and a tropical depression could form around the middle of next week as the disturbance meanders towards the west-northwest. The system is then expected to move northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico during the latter portion of this week where it could pick up further strength. It's too early to tell where when and where - or even if - it makes landfall.

Another hurricane is obviously the last thing the American South needs right now. The USGS stream gauge on Peachtree Creek has returned to normal stage at 3.16 feet after cresting at a major flood stage of 23.75 feet at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning, beating the record (23.70 feet) set in 2009. But the groundwater level's probably still pretty high, limiting the amount of additional rainfall the ground can absorb before the creek starts flooding again. Go somewhere else, unnamed area of low pressure over the western Caribbean.

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