ALERT NEWSLETTER – September 2021

Hi everyone,

I hope this newsletter finds you well.

Our newsletter has grown in scope from a local newsletter to one reaching far and wide. How many readers we have and where they are located, we will probably never know, but they are deeply appreciated.

That it has grown popularity and coverage is gratifying experience for me.

And so, I would like to dedicate this month’s newsletter to YOU our readers from Alabama to Hawaii and beyond

I hope you enjoy it.

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NWS Social Media Changes

The NWS will no longer be posting all severe weather warnings on Facebook. These will still be available on Twitter where you can access timely weather updates and the latest watches and warnings.

They did not make this decision lightly, but Facebook’s algorithms simply is not currently built for short-fuse warnings. On Facebook warnings often experience serious delays in reaching the public and sometime can be delayed for hours, or even days in the Facebook feed. Sometimes they are so completely buried by the regular postings and updates from groups and friends that they NEVER appear. They are lost in the feed.

In a circumstance where seconds may mean lives, this is clearly not sufficient and can create a false sense of security where people think they will receive timely warnings, but none appear.

As mentioned for timely weather updates you can visit the NWS Twitter page at www.twitter.com/NWSBirmingham.com

Please note that you do not have to have a Twitter account to view this link or it’s feed.

It is to be remembered however, that the most reliable means of receiving watches and warnings remains via NOAA Weatherradio, which broadcasts continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office 24/7, covering nearly the entire continental US.

Another good method is receiving alerts from broadcast media apps.

I subscribe to ABC33/40, CBS 42 and WVTM.

Having multiple ways of receiving information is the smart move.
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Emergency Water Purification

As you read this people of Louisiana and Mississippi are enduring the effects of Hurricane Ida. They will be dealing with the aftermath of this storm for weeks if not months.

Whether due to power outages disabling the pumps that force the water through the pipes, polluted floodwaters overwhelming and contaminating the water supply and aquifer making it unsafe to drink. Or as in the case of Hurricane Katrina, the storm surge overwhelming the natural flow of rivers and creeks forcing them to flow in reverse with the salty waters of the Gulf moving upstream well inland and temporarily contaminating the aquifer with salt water, the result is the same – potable water may be a scarce resource.

The following article is a minicourse in Emergency Water Management, both pre-emergency and post emergency. Hopefully it may help someone somewhere or their loved ones as they deal with this emergency.

Whatever the reason for the lack of water may be, the result is the same and the consequences can be the same. With some time, variation dependent upon the temperature and the humidity, the human body will begin dying after 3 days without water. This includes your mental functions being compromised as well as your bodily functions as organs begin to shut down, since your blood is losing its normal liquid nature and beginning to thicken like ketchup. This of course causes an added strain on your heart as it struggles to force the thickening blood through the body.

The human body requires one gallon of water per day to replenish the liquid lost through sweat, urine, transpiration through the skin and respiration. Whether you are properly hydrated or not can be determined by your urine output. If your urine is clear and there is a lot of it, you are properly hydrated, if this is not the case – it’s dark or there is none being produced. You are in serious danger. Thirst is NOT an accurate indicator of hydration. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

Emergency Water Management consists of six steps:

1. Pre-emergency water storage
2. Resource location
3. Procurement
4. Filtration
5. Purification or Sanitization
6. Consumption and Storage

Pre-emergency water storage can be as simple a process as buying a couple of large cases of bottled water and keeping it in a closet. You can gradually drink it and replenish it to keep the supply fresh. This method has the added benefit that no one will think you are being weird, just “health conscious”. If you have to use this supply in an emergency, don’t throw the bottles away. You will find out why later.

To carry this step further, you can store water in larger containers; some commonly available containers hold 7 gallons each. Rotate the supply once a year.

Three gallons is a three-day supply for one person. 21 gallons a 21-day supply. Three 7-gallon containers will last 1 person three weeks. For more than one person, just multiply the total by the number of persons.
At this stage we must consider an often-overlooked point – the weight of water.

One 16.9oz plastic bottle of water weighs roughly 1lb. A case of 24 bottles therefore will weigh 24lbs. One gallon of water weighs 8lbs. So, a full 7-gallon container will weigh 56lbs.

The point being, that IF as one gentleman on a forum once sarcastically remarked “I would just walk to the Red Cross and get some water”, instead of storing any, you might better to take your daughters pink Hello Kitty wagon with you to haul it back. Because it’s heavy and if you are like me and usually end up hyperventilating just travelling from the sofa to the “chapel”, you will never make it back.

I’m slightly exaggerating of course, as I am a prime specimen of He-man vigor and vitality.

If one knows in advance that the water supply could be compromised, they could quickly fill up every container they can get their hands on, including pots, pans, sinks and bathtubs. However, realistically speaking, except for coastal locations expecting a tropical system, this is seldom a practical option, due to the lack of lead time.

One final item before we move on is taste. Stored water may not necessarily taste like bottled water or tap water. The water may have a chlorine taste or acquire the taste of what was previously stored in the container. Orange juice, for instance. The water is still good water.

Likewise, if you obtain, filter and purify water from a “natural source”, it may still retain some or much of its original taste. If you got the water from a frog pond, it may still taste like frog pond water, even though it is perfectly safe to drink.

The taste can be “disguised” by using it with coffee, tea or mixing it with flavor packets, such as Hi-C, Crystal Lite, PowerAde, etc. Even a pinch of salt will help.

Resource location is simply finding potential sources of water for use if your primary supply is lost.

Unless contaminated by flood waters or other outside pollutants, one source is your “hidden residential supplies”. This includes water stored in the water heater, water in the commode tank, which is clean, despite what you may initially think, and water in the houses water pipes., which may be obtained by placing a container under the lowest spigot, and then opening first the highest and then lowest valves.

Do you have a swimming pool? You can view your pool as “backup” water. Keep it treated, for you never know when this water will be needed. Maintenance of the free chlorine residual will prevent establishment of any microorganisms. Maintenance levels should be kept to 3-5ppm free chlorine. To monitor this, you’ll need a supply of chlorine testers. The problem with using swimming pools is that organics can enter through dirt, sweat, body oils and the inevitable “Mommy Look!” kiddie tinkles. This can form chloramines which are not good to drink.

Also, imagine going in and out of your drinking water a hundred times and then drinking it. Plus, after a disaster every imaginable type of debris, including formerly living creatures could be floating in your pool. The water will have to be filtered and purified before it can be safely used. Fortunately, neither process is as involved as it sounds, as we will discuss later.

Next, we look for outside sources. The most obvious of which is rainwater. With rainwater you would think it would be pure and readily safe to drink. However, this is not the case. We live in an urban area and as the rain falls it collects smoke, chemicals and other particles from the atmosphere. These need to be filtered out. Also, once the rain hits an object whether a roof or in a puddle, then it can be biologically contaminated and must be purified.

Collection can be done by placing containers at roof downspouts, roof gutter outlets or at the “valley” of the roof, or with a tarp rigged into a v shape to collect the water.

Ponds and streams are other sources of water. I live one half mile from Shades Creek, and ¼ mile from one of its tributaries. In its natural state I would no more drink the water from it than I would from a fully loaded urinal. But, properly filtered and purified, preferably by boiling, it would be perfectly safe to drink, taste, as mentioned earlier, notwithstanding.

Again, water from “emergency” or “outside” sources probably will not taste like city or bottled water. Funky tasting as it may prove, if it has been filtered and purified, it is safe to drink and will save your life.

Procurement simply means carrying the water from the source to the filtering location, which may be at the source or at the base of operations, which ever you deem the most convenient spot.

Filtration of water will remove the majority of chemical and waste products from water. This can be achieved by passing water through a filter or by distillation, which we will discuss later.

To begin the discussion on filtration let me say that most commercial water filters designed for use on your residential supply or kitchen sink are neither designed for nor sufficient for filtering polluted or biologically contaminated water. There are filters commercially available designed for camping and survival use such as Aquamira filters. This straw like filter will allow you to safely drink from streams, puddles and other sources normally considered chemically and biologically unsafe. Having one in your emergency kit isn’t a bad idea.

Effective homemade filters and filtration systems can be made.

How elaborate the system or method needed depends on the condition of the source water.
Water from a clear, fast moving stream may only need straining through cloth or a sand filled cloth. Water from a murky or stagnant source will need more serious attention. Water from either source will need to be purified.

The murky source understandably, but even water from the fresh flowing “pristine looking” sources needs purification, as you never know what may be decomposing in it 100 yards upstream. Or as was pointed out in the John Wayne movie “The Horse Soldiers”, “the coffee will taste better if the latrine is located downstream”. You never know what may have been tinkled into the stream 100 yards upstream.

Let’s examine the filtration process using the worst-case scenario – Shades Creek or even better yet, Village Creek.

First you need four containers: A one- or two-liter bottle with a cap for the untreated water, which we shall affectionately refer to as “swamp water”. A similar bottle is needed for the partially filtered water. You need yet another container for the filter itself and finally a container for the filtered water.

1. Collection. Collect your “Swamp Water” into the two-liter bottle with a cap, preferably with
a cloth covering the opening, as this acts as a filter. Fill ¾ full, then cap the bottle.

2. Aeration. This next step in the filtration process adds air to water. It allows gases trapped in the water to escape and adds oxygen to the water. Vigorously shake the bottle for 30 seconds. Continue the aeration process by pouring the water into the second bottle, then pouring the water back and forth between the bottles about 10 times. Once aerated, gases have escaped (bubbles should be gone). Pour your aerated water into your second bottle.

3. Sedimentation This process allows gravity to pull particles to the bottom of the bottle. Allow the water to stand undisturbed in the bottle for 20 minutes. At an actual water treatment plant, there are settling beds that collect solid particles that float to the bottom, allowing the clear water to be drained from the top of the bed and continue through the process.

4. Draining. Pour the upper two thirds of the water contents into the filter, the construction of which we will now detail.

5. Filtration. A homemade water filter is constructed in the following manner. Take one of your bottles and cut the bottom off. Turn the bottle upside down and line the inside of the spout with a cloth, such as a handkerchief or bandana. Pour in layer of gravel or pebbles roughly 2 inches thick. Add a layer of charcoal that has not been exposed to lighter fluid 1 inch thick. This will help absorb chemicals and the bad taste. Add a 3-inch layer of coarse sand. Finally add 4 inches of fine sand.

This filter will remove most of the contamination remaining after the sedimentation process. It is a similar arrangement to the Clapp’s Water Filter dating from 1908, except that that filter is made from a barrel and uses multiple layers of filtration. It is also the exact design currently in use in the Manz Slow Sand and Biosand Filters used in third world countries. The only difference being that they are much larger in size and have different outlet arrangements. One exception with the Biosand filter is that it has a fifth biological filter called a Schmutzdecke, which is a layer of mud and slime that develops over time. This layer of “good bacteria” literally eats the “bad bacteria”. These filters are for long term or open-ended emergencies, which is beyond the scope of this series, but, mentioned so it may pique your interest.

To prime your homemade filter run water through it a couple of times. Now take following Step 4 above pour your water into the filter. The water emerging from the filter may not look crystal clear, but it will be “mostly free” from contamination. I say “mostly free” because it is not wise to claim perfection.

The water will still need to be disinfected.

Purification or Sanitization. Water can be sanitized by three different methods – by boiling, chemical treatment or by a process called “SODIS”.

Boiling the water for 1 minute will kill 100% of harmful pathogens 100% of the time. It is the best and preferred method. The water, after it is cooled may need to be shaken in a clean ¾ full container to add oxygen to remove the “flat” taste. But this water is now absolutely biologically safe to drink.

If you can’t make a fire to boil water, you can use the chemical options – purification tablets, iodine or chlorine bleach.

Dropping a water purification tablet, such as the Coleman Potable Aqua with PA Plus tablets, into a quart of water will make the water bacteriologically safe to drink within 30 minutes.

Iodine can be used if you are not pregnant or allergic to iodine, otherwise don’t try this method. Add 5-10 drops per 32 fluid ounces (about 1 liter) of water. If the water source is a lake or some other still body of water, or if the water is cloudy, you want to add closer to 10 drops.

The iodine needs time to completely purify the water. You need to wait 30 minutes before you can drink the water. After you have waited 30 minutes, your water is purified for drinking.

Common household Clorox Ultra, Clorox, or Purex chlorine bleach may be used to disinfect water in the following amounts. Use four drops per quart in clear water. This amount should be increased to eight drops in cloudy water, and sixteen drops per gallon of clear water. You should be able to get a slight odor of chlorine after the waters sits for the 15 minutes. If not, add more bleach.

Clorox recently changed its formula to “Clorox Concentrated” bleach. Since this has a higher amount of chemical agents, the amount used for purification should be adjusted to 2 drops per quart, 6 drops per gallon, or if the water is cloudy, 3 drops per quart and 12 drops per gallon.

Avoid using bleaches that contain perfumes, dyes and other additives. Also, one thing that organizations which recommend the chlorine method don’t tell you is that chlorinated bleach loses its strength with time. After one year on the shelf, it will have lost 50% of its strength, so double the dose on old chlorine.

The “SODIS” method is perhaps the simplest method of all. In this you take clear plastic PET bottles, like the ones “bottled water” water comes in (you’ll remember me saying don’t throw them away) fill them ¾ full of water to be purified, shake them for 20 seconds to improve the oxygen saturation of the water, and then complete filling the bottles. Expose the bottles to direct sunlight by placing them on a slanted surface, such as a roof, so that they receive direct exposure. By exposing them to continuous sunlight for 6 hours the UV radiation from the sun will disinfect the water. This is a method recommended by the World Health Organization for water treatment and storage, especially for areas located between latitude 15°N and 35°N, and 15°S and 35°S. Birmingham’s latitude is 33.5N.

Distillation will allow you to bypass the filtering and purification steps.

After Katrina, survivors well inland found their water, including well water contaminated by salt water. They were able to purify their water by taking a large stock pot or a canner, turning the lid upside down and suspending a smaller pot from the handle. The “Swamp water” was placed in the large pot, brought to boil and the smaller pot collected the purified water that the steam and condensation produced.

The water was biologically and chemically pure and had no hint of saltiness.

An even simpler desalinization method recommended by Richard Graves, the former Commanding Officer of the Australian Jungle Survival & Rescue Detachment in WW2. With this method, designed to help downed airmen survive on tropical islands and jungles, consists of gently boiling sea water or salt contaminated water is a large pot and covering the pot with a towel, sheet or any other clean cloth covering and wringing out the water that collects in the cloth in a container. It is then ready to drink.

Distillation is the recommended purification process for water from swimming pools.

Consumption and Storage is fairly self-explanatory. Drink as much water as you can and store as much water as you can process. It’s far better to have too much rather than too little.

I will caution that you should not just chugalug an entire glass of water, but sip it slowly so your bodies tissues will have a chance to absorb the water and not just be urinated out.

Also, sports drinks are ok for a once one-jug drink to help replenish your electrolytes, but the body absorbs water much more quickly. This being due to the fact that sports drinks are so loaded with minerals that the body misidentifies the juice as food and waits for it to be digested before sending it on to the lower innards to be absorbed into the body.

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Mark’s Almanac

September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month of the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.

Temperatures are still hot at the beginning of the month, but, by months end, fall will definitely be felt.

Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.

Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and then back again. Storm activity resembles the August pattern, but the Bermuda High starts shifting southward and begins weakening, which weakens the blocking effect that has hampered fronts attempting to invade from the northwest.

September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the effects of the solar and lunar gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.

From 1851 – 2020 there have been 624 Tropical Storms, 1 Subtropical Storm and 413 hurricanes, 109 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable September hurricanes are:

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which was a Category 4 Storm whose storm surge overwhelmed Galveston Island, killing 8000 people, and is still the deadliest weather disaster in US history.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1936, the most intense storm to strike the US, was a Category 5 storm which moved through the Florida Keys and along West Florida, overturning trains and literally sandblasting people to death.

Ivan, the category 3 storm which struck Alabama & Florida in 2004, caused tremendous damage to Gulf Shores and extensive damage to the state’s electrical grid. At the height of the outages, Alabama Power reported 489,000 subscribers having lost electrical power—roughly half of its subscriber base.

Rita, a category 3 storm which struck the Texas – Louisiana border in 2005, and, despite the distance, dropped 22 tornadoes over Western Alabama.

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 64.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 53.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 12 hours 52 minutes on August 1 to 11 hours 53 minutes on August 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

September 1 Sunrise 6:21 AM Sunset 7:13 PM
September 15 Sunrise 6:30 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
September 31 Sunrise 6:41 AM Sunset 6:33 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Leo.

At the beginning of the month Mercury, 0.0 in Leo, is very deep in the sunset, about 16° lower right of Venus all week.

On September 5 Mercury reaches his furthest distance from the Sun, or aphelion when he will be 43,689,000 miles from the Sun.

On September 13 he will reach his highest point in the sky, or “Greatest Eastern Elongation”.
He will be 26.8 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.

Venus, magnitude –4.0 in Leo, shines bright white in the west-southwest during twilight. She sets around twilight’s end.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in Aquarius.

Mars, magnitude -1.8 is in Leo.

Dwarf Planet Ceres shines at magnitude 8.9 in Taurus.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.9, in Capricornus, shines in the southeast in late twilight and after dark. At midnight he shines brightly overhead.

Saturn, magnitude +0.3, in Capricornus, shine in the southeast in late twilight and after dark.

Saturn glows 18° (about two fists) to Jupiter’s upper right.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in Aries, is well up in the east by midnight, east of Mars, high in the southeast to south in the early-morning hours.

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, on the Aquarius/Pisces border is high in the southeast to south in the early-morning hours.

The blue giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth or “Opposition”, 2,689,200,000 miles, on September 14. he will be fully illuminated and brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.

Due to its extreme distance from Earth, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.4 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, its ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.4 in Bootes.
Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon faintly shines at magnitude 17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude 18.8 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

New Moon occurs September 7 at 7:52 PM CDT or 00:52 UTC on September 8, when the Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on September 11, when she will be 228,953 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon will occur on September 13.

September’s Full Moon will occur September 20 at 6:54 PM CDT or 23:54 UTC.

The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 23:54 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the “Corn Moon” because the corn is harvested around this time of year.

This moon is also known as the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox each year.

The name “Harvest Moon” dates from the time before electricity, when farmers depended on the Moon’s light to harvest their crops late into the night. The Harvest Moon was especially important since it coincided with the largest harvest of the year.

Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 22 at 2:11 PM CDT or 19:11 UTC when the Sun crosses directly over the equator and night and day is approximately the same length throughout the world. For the Southern Hemisphere it is Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring.

One term that occasionally pops up is “equinoctial storms”. Which are severe storms in North America and the UK that supposedly accompany the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Where this belief originated is obscure. Some say perhaps from the 1700’s when sailors were greeted by West Indies hurricanes, or due to the coincidence of the first fall severe storms sometimes coming in the latter half of September. At any rate, statistics show no evidence to support the belief.

On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.

At this time of year, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) can link up with Earth’s magnetic field, prying open cracks. Solar wind pours in to fuel displays of the aurora borealis with no geomagnetic storm required. Researchers call this the “Russell-McPherron” effect after the space physicists who first described it in the 1970s.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on September 26, when she will be 251,432 miles from Earth

Last Quarter Moon occurs September 28.

High in the Southern night sky an asterism or a group of stars appearing clustered together, but not actually gravitationally bound will be seen that resembles a teapot. This is the Teapot of Sagittarius.

To the naked eye, the Teapot is roughly the size of your fist at arm’s length. Above the spout of the Teapot lies a band of light, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud. A pair of binoculars will reveal a sea of stars and faint grayish patches, the largest of which is the Lagoon Nebula. When you look upon these nebulae you are seeing stars in the process of being born.

The spout, which is tilting and pouring to the right, also points towards the galactic center of the Milky Way, located just beyond the Large Sagittarius Star cloud, but largely hidden by the dust clouds, which lie along the plane of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy.

4472 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of August 16, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

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This month’s meeting will be on September 14 at 7PM.

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting.

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.
Hope to “see” you there Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
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