water, water everywhere

Today is an appropriate time to re-run this post from February, 2009. It's not raining at the moment, even though today is completely overcast, cool, and breezy. But it rained all day yesterday, and really the entire month of May except for a few days near the beginning has been a total washout around here.

According to the weather reports I've seen, it will start raining again tomorrow evening and continue raining for the foreseeable future, right through the first week of June.

Usually May is sunny and pleasant. It marks the beginning of the goofy season in the Puget Sound region, when Seattleites get high on the weather. But not this year, I'm afraid.

My young friend Sol C. says what we're seeing is the world's numerous melted glaciers returning as precipitation. "They've got to go somewhere, man," he says philosophically.

The back water done rolled, Lord and tumbled, drove me down the line.
The back water done rolled and tumbled, drove poor Charlie down the line.
Lord, I'll tell the world the water done struck Drew's town.

Lord the whole round country, Lord creek water is overflowed.
Lord the whole round country, man, is overflowed.
(Aside: You know, I can't stay here, I'm bound to go where it's high, boy.)
I would go to the hilly country, but they got me barred.

Now looky now, in Leland, Lord, river is rising high.
Looky here, boys around Leland tell me river is raging high.
(Aside: Boy, it's rising over there, yeah.)
I'm going over to Greenville, done bought our tickets, good bye.

--Charlie Patton
"High Water Everywhere"

According to a new report in the magazine Science, if the U.S. is still around in a couple of centuries Washington, D.C. might look like Venice. Instead of streets our nation's capital will have canals. The president, assuming there is one, would have to live with his family on the top two floors of the White House and take a boat over to Capitol Island.

The report says sea levels will rise because the Antarctic ice sheet will melt.

It might not be so bad. If D.C. looked like Venice, think of the tourist possibilities...the picturesque gondolas...submarine tours of the Lincoln Memorial...the alligators.

Scientists contributing to the report believe sea levels will rise by about three feet by the end of this century...