Warmer and wetter

Were I to ask ten of my dear readers where in the world is Tonga? Well, maybe my friend Satya who is the manager of McCook’s Quality Inn and Suites Motel would respond correctly. You see Satya and his spouse are natives of Figi not far from Tonga in the broad expanse of the tropical South Pacific. Still, I’d bet that no more than two of my readers have any idea of the importance of Tonga or more properly its nearby active volcano named Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai.

That volcano erupted on January 14, 2022, and to my recollection that event was not covered by any news source that I personally prescribe to. For days before the eruption, with a caldera only 500 feet below the surface of the ocean, it had been sending huge amounts of water into the stratosphere. Atmospheric scientist Luis Milan, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated that “We’ve never seen anything like it!” Studies indicate that the additional water sent into the Stratosphere was estimated to be equal to 10 percent of the normal value that the atmosphere contains. Another estimate to illustrate the water sent into the atmosphere would be equal to more than 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Others estimated 30 trillion gallons. No matter the amount is more than has ever been seen before in Earth’s history so it will be intensively studied.

Normal volcanic activity sends particulate matter into the atmosphere which reflects the sunlight and causes cooling. It takes two to three years for the additional particulate matter to precipitate out of the atmosphere and return to normal. Water vapor though has the opposite effect and causes global heating and will take up to ten years to return to normal.

Other atmospheric scientists have estimated that the amount of water vapor will cause average earth temperatures to increase in the amount of one to one- and a half degrees Celsius or roughly two degrees Fahrenheit. Climate change and that is exactly what is currently happening.

Okay, the astute reader will note that there is no mention of CO2 or any of the products of combustion from fossil fuels. Ah bad old non-green energy. That whole political effort is a way of politically controlling the masses. I see it as a scam and is making people like John Kerry, and Al Gore rich. Look at the consequences wrought on our nation by President Biden’s shutdown of the petroleum industry. So sad!

Grannie Annie and I tripped down to watch neighboring Indianola’s Old Settlers Day parade. One hundred fifty years since the community was incorporated and good reason to celebrate. Nicely done and no kid along the sidelines should have been hungry for candy for a week. The parade participants were more than generous. I didn’t drive my Model T down to participate as the family was busy and I didn’t have backup if it decided to quit en route. There were lots of events scheduled, great opportunities to eat and enjoy each other just as such events should be.

With the beautiful weather that we have been having Grannie Annie and I take leisurely walks around our neighborhood. This is the time of year that our 17-year cicada are active flying from place to place but mostly singing. Each lifecycle is 17 years long from starting as an egg until producing eggs. Hard to believe but that is the way the good Lord designed them. Now a disadvantage to the recent rains is pesky mosquitoes and I can’t recall that any spray rigs have been up and down our alleys as was normally done in the past.

This old farm-raised kid, who has been a farmer, has an annual tradition of eating one ear of field corn and this was the week. Grannie skips but in both our youth that was where roasting ears and home-canned corn came from--the nearby field. It is a good reminder of how much better the specially bred sweetcorn with an extra sweet gene really is. The ear that I grabbed was a perfect maturity but compared to its sweeter cousin not the same. This nice cool weather and comparatively wet summer points to a bumper corn crop this year. The dryland fields are looking as good as the irrigated ones.

The only complaint that I’ve heard of the cooler weather is that people can’t get their cantaloupe to ripen. That is tradition though because you seldom find one in the agricultural business that can’t find something to complain about. How about fearing an early freeze that catches our corn and soybeans not quite ripe?

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail