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CAT Tracks for July 26, 2012
THE OTHER RIVER |
On July 21st, I posted a picture of the Ohio River gauge at Cairo.
Below is an article about the currently not-so-mighty Mississippi...
From the Southeast Missourian.
River level keeps falling; shippers losing money
CAT Tracks Editor's Note:
I liked the article's definition of "minus":
Reminds me of a story...
Back in the day, when Bob Stout was the voice of WKRO, it was raining proverbial cats and dogs one morning. When I tuned in to 1490AM, there was a long period of dead air space. (WKRO didn't always operate well in rain - something that continues to plague satellite Internet and television providers 40 years later.)
When Bob finally came on, he delivered the weather forecast...reporting that "the chances of rain today are 50%."
Before I could even voice a catty remark, Bob beats me to the punch...
"And for those of you who might suggest that I take a look out the window, I am aware that it is pouring down rain as I speak. What "a 50% chance of rain" means is that if it ever stops raining, there is a 50% chance that it will start again."
With no disrespect to other WKRO announcers, I miss Bob and Harry...
As of Wednesday afternoon, the gauge at Memphis had the river at minus-7.1 feet. The "minus" reading does not mean the river is dried up -- it's just a measurement based on how the river gauge is designed. Essentially, the reading means the river level is far below normal.
Had run across a similar reading when curiosity struck me about the Ohio River when posting the aforementioned CAT Tracks. Seems like the record was something like minus 1 foot. My immediate thought was "Damn, had to take a shovel and dig down to find the river!" (That article did not bother with an explanation of the meaning of "minus".)
