We are heartbroken to learn that The National Weather Service’s Jerry Orchanian passed away this weekend after a long bout with colon cancer.  Jerry was Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Nashville office.  Many of you know him as a teacher for the Skywarn Spotter Training Classes.  He was not only one of the most decent people that you could ever meet, but his expertise in severe weather and his coordination of the warnings issued by our National Weather Service truly saved many lives in Middle Tennessee.  We all owe a debt of gratitude to him for his service.  Middle Tennessee is safer because of his dedication.

A visitation will be held at Sellars Funeral Home, 2250 N. Mt. Juliet Road in Mt. Juliet Tuesday night October 7 between 5-8 P.M.  The funeral will be at Victory Baptist Church on Wednesday October 8 at 11 A.M. with burial at the adjacent Mt. Juliet Memorial Gardens.  Everything is within a few blocks.  Sellars Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements (615-758-5459, Obituary line: 615-758-8818). His wife, Pat supplied a link to the funeral home:

http://www.sellarsfuneralservices.com/mt_juliet.htm

If you would like to send flowers, a nearby floral center is Moss Floral and Garden Center at 615-758-5972.

His wife Pat would love to hear from any of you.  You can send her a card addressed to:

The National Weather Service

500 Weather Station Road

Old Hickory, TN 37138

Jerry’s friends at the National Weather Service have written an obituary at:

http://www.sellarsfuneralservices.com/obits/obituary.php?oid=c05398d83e7d16d3ba430a54e94f8b2d

You can also leave a condolence message there in the comment section.

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Our friend (and Anne Holt’s nephew) Corey Harrell works for NASA and often sends us some great pictures.  Right now they have two shuttles on the launching pads, one on standby as a possible rescue lifeboat if something goes wrong with the first ship or its crew.  They are not going to the International Space Station, so it won’t be the back up.  The mission is to do repairs on The Hubble Telescope.  This is the first time in almost 20 years there have been two shuttles on the pads and ready to go.

I love the reflections on the water in the top picture.  If you look closely in the second picture, you can see a rainbow from a nearby shower.

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Sharon Prince in Huntland, TN (Franklin County) found this wooly worm while raking leaves in her yard.  He was all curled up.  Everyone has their own interpretation of the colors on the little guys and what it means the upcoming winter will be like.  Sharon says:

The late Helen Lane of Crab Orchard, TN used to make her predictions for the winter every year based on wooly worms, wasp nests, etc.  During the last several years, her daughter took over.  Maybe later this fall we will hear from her on her predictions for the winter.

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This is an anvil of the storm that produced enough wind in Warren County to bring some trees down around the McMinnville area at about 6:45pm.  The photo was taken in Murfreesboro where we also received some wind damage just north on Hwy 231 about an hour earlier.

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Our favorite nature photographer, Mark Fagan of Gallatin, shares some of his buggy finds this spring:

 

This is the work of the Spittlebug, and in the photo on the right:  Voila!  The culprit revealed!

This guy is not quite as cute:  It’s the Florida Leaf-footed bug.

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If you are looking for something to do this Saturday, the 10th annual Granville Heritage Days looks like fun!

Uncle Jimmy Thompson Bluegrass Festival, Antique Car & Tractor Show, Storytelling Festival, Civil War Living History Demonstrations, Childrens Rides & Events, Live Craftsmen Demonsrtations, Craft Booths, 1880 Sutton General Store,

Sutton Ole Time Music Hour, Parade, Historic Buildings and Businesses, Walking Tour and much more.  For more information  call 931-653-4511.

It looks like fun!   Best of all IT’S FREE and the weather will be fine!

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Space Station Visible Pass Prediction Prepared by Bill Alderman in Donelson

 

 

Month/ Day — May/20 Tuesday 

              Appears above SW Horizon  —– 9:16:10  PM CDT

              Highest above Horizon ————– 9:21:02  PM CDT ½ way up South of N-ville 

              Disappears toward NE Horizon— 9:23:18  PM CDT

 

    #          CDT Date & Time  Azm   CDT Time  Alt/ Azm CDT Time Azm  Duration

 

                              9:16:10  SW         9:21:02   up SE       9:23:18    NE       MIN

    20      VIS:      21:16:10  219.5  21:21:02  56 135.4  21:23:18   59.1  0:07:08

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Here is text from our National Weather Service office in Nashville:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT….CORRECTED

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN

755 PM CDT SAT APR 12 2008

…PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE LAWRENCE COUNTY AND THE GILES COUNTY

TORNADO SURVEYS…

A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY TEAM VIEWED DAMAGE FROM THE

TORNADO THAT HIT LAWRENCE AND GILES COUNTIES ON FRIDAY, APRIL 11.

IN LAWRENCE COUNTY…THE TORNADO TRACKED FROM 4.2 MILES NORTHWEST OF

LAWRENCEBURG TO 7.8 MILES NORTHEAST OF LAWRENCEBURG FROM 1205 PM CDT

TO 1215 PM CDT, FRIDAY APRIL 11. THE PATH LENGTH OF THE TORNADO WAS

10 MILES WITH A PATH WIDTH OF 100 YARDS. THE TORNADO WAS RATED A LOW

END EF-3 ON THE ENHANCED F SCALE. EF-3 WINDS RANGE FROM 136 TO 165

MPH. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. MANY HOMES HAD ROOF

DAMAGE. A TVA ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION TOWER WAS BLOWN DOWN.

IN GILES COUNTY…THE TORNADO TRACKED FROM 0.4 MILES WEST NORTHWEST

OF LIBERTY HILL TO 4.4 MILES NORTHEAST OF LIBERTY HILL. THE PATH

LENGTH OF THIS TORNADO WAS 4.8 MILES, WITH A PATH WIDTH OF 100

YARDS. THE TORNADO WAS RATED A LOW END EF-3 ON THE ENHANCED F SCALE.

AGAIN…EF-3 WINDS RANGE FROM 136 TO 165 MPH. MANY HOMES HAD ROOF

DAMAGE. A WELL BUILT HOME WAS COMPLETELY LEVELED AT LIBERTY HILL.

NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED.

THE TORNADO MOVED ACROSS NORTHWEST GILES COUNTY FROM 1220 PM CDT TO

1224 PM CDT, FRIDAY APRIL 11.

RESULTS ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ADDITIONAL SURVEY

INFORMATION FROM THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK WILL BE POSTED AS

SOON AS IT IS AVAILABLE.

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Jerry Morris from Lobelville sent this picture of these stranded hourses. I’ll let him explain the story by posting his 2 e mails:

1) Enclosed are photos of 4 horses stranded by Flood waters of Buffalo River near Lobelville along SR 13 about 2 miles south of Lobelville. One person that has been keeping an eye on them said that he thought the horses may be unbroken or a bit on the wild side. Any attempt to rescue them at this point could make things worse for them as there are submerged wire fence lines, now, that they could get tangled in. It doesn’t appear that they are in danger of drowning, as long they stay put and wait for the flood waters to subside.

I believe that in the close up photo of the horses, the river is just on the other side of the trees that they are standing in front of. It’s open field between the horses and the near bank, but the water does get deeper if they leave their present position. There’s also a good current between them and the near bank.

You can see a feed bucket at the bottom of the drive where an attempt was made to lure the horses to dry ground.

2) The four horses were successfully rescued by local Mennonites with a boat and a couple of Kayakers. The horses were made to swim across the current to high ground. Aside from being hungry, they seem to be fine. I’ll get some pictures to you of the rescue later.

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