In general I’ve spent a great deal of time in bed lately, which is why for the first time in forty forevers there was no Friday Cat Blogging. Because of daily thunderstorms from a stuck cold front the cats are all hiding, and had I managed to take a picture, I doubt I could have processed it for the site.

My coverage of the Tour continues because over the years I have been able to automate the process to a great extent, so it required no more than the minimum of energy I have had available due to the first actual cold I have had in decades. It has really laid me low and I am still dealing with the aftermath.

We finally have our second tropical weather system, but again that is a relatively automated process, so I can deal with it as I regain strength.

I’m aware that Putin screwed up and gave his thugs in the eastern Ukraine an antiaircraft system that they used to take down a civilian airliner, because they are incompetent.

Israel has again decided that the only response to anything bad happening in Israel is the fault of Hamas, which they addressed by bombing and now invading the Gaza Strip.

There is no shortage of murderous stupid people in the world.

Position: 12.0N 45.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1012 mb.

Currently about 1110 miles [1790 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

Intensity increase is in question because of the dry Saharan Air Layer just to the North of the storm. The Antilles and other islands would welcome a rain event, as they have had a very dry summer.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]