Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2007 (19. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2007-01-12 / 3. szám
Quirks of the Weather and Unusual Phenomena Ring In the New Year Denver Again In Storm's Path DENVER, Dec. 29 — Travelers jammed Denver International Airport on Thursday, trying to get out of town as a new snowstorm threatened to close runways and gum up holiday travel for the second time in a week. By Thursday evening, 8 inches of snow had fallen in the metropolitan area, and snow falling at a rate of 4 inches an hour piled up 18 inches in the foothills west of the city. More than 300 flights were canceled as the storm moved in. Gov. Bill Owens again declared a state of emergency, a week after a blizzard closed the airport for two days, stranded thousands of travelers and backed up flights nationwide. The storm system stretched from the Rocky Mountains into the western Plains; winter storm warnings were in effect for Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas. The Denver airport and airlines called in extra workers, but long lines formed at ticket counters as travelers tried to adjust their plans. Big Snow Comes As a Surprise to Forecaster DENVER, Dec. 30 — It’s been at least a century since the Denver area was hit by two heavy storms in such quick succession: Just after Thanksgiving, climatologist Klaus Wolter released his long-term forecast for this region. The next few months, he said, would be warm and dry. No big snows until at least late February. Oops! Denver and smaller communities along the front range of the Rockies hunkered under a thick padding of snow and ice Friday, buried by the second monster storm in a week, with more expected overnight. Colorado Gov. Bill Owens declared a statewide disaster. Hundreds of ights at Denver International Airport were canceled, and major highways were temporarily shut down, including a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 70 into Kansas. All Greyhound bus trips out of Denver were canceled. And, under leaden skies, residents grimly shoveled out. Again. From his office at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Wolter tried to explain where his forecast had gone wrong. “I wish I could say I was misquoted,” he said. Instead, he could only conclude that Mother Nature had pulled a fast one. Scouring meteorological records, Wolter found that it’s been at least a century since the region has been hit with back-to-back storms of this intensity. “It’s unprecedented," he said. Blizzard Leaves Many Snowbound January 2, 2007 — Pilots in a dozen planes flew over parts of Kansas and Colorado to look for snowbound travelers after a blizzard dumped nearly 3 feet of snow and piled some of it in drifts 15 feet high. As the aircraft soared above the frozen landscape, utility crews struggled to restore electrical service to tens of thousands of homes and businesses that lost power. Many towns and farms in Kansas were isolated by deep snow. “We’re snowed under,” said Bill Hassett, manager of the Sharon Springs, Kan., power plant. “We had 36 inches of snow. Thank God we kept the lights on.” Huge Avalanche Buries Cars On Road To Colorado Ski Area January 6, 2007 — JFor the third time in as many weeks, Denver is in the eye of the storm. A huge avalanche buried cars on a mountain pass today on the main highway to one of the state’s largest ski areas, shortly after crowds headed through on the way to the lifts, authorities said. Seven people had been rescued and one was taken to a hospital, said a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation. “Our crews said it was the largest they have ever seen. It took three paths,” she said of the massive slide on U.S. 40 near 11,307-foot Berthoud Pass, about 50 miles west of Denver on the way to Winter Park Resort. The slide buried at least two cars. Crews were probing the area for other vehicles, including any that may have gone off the road. The avalanche hit between 10 a.m. and 10:30 and was about 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep. The area usually has slides 2 to 3 feet deep because crews trigger them before more snow can accumulate, said Spencer Logan of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Was It Really a Weather Balloon Over Chicago's Airport? It sounds like a tired joke—but a group of airline employees insist they are in earnest, and they are upset that neither their bosses nor the government will take them seriously. On November 7, 2006, a flying saucerlike object hovered low over O’Hare International Airport for several minutes before bolting through thick clouds with such intense energy that it left an eerie hole in overcast skies, said some United Airlines employees who observed the phenomenon. Was it an alien spaceship? A weather balloon lost in the airspace over the world’s second-busiest airport? A top-secret military craft? Or simply a reflection from lights that played a trick on the eyes? Officials at United professd no knowledge of the event which was reported to the airline by as many as a dozen of its own workers. But the Federal Aviation Administration said its air traffic control tower at O’Hare did receive a call from a United supervisor asking if controllers had spotted a mysterious elliptical-shaped craft sitting motionless over Concourse C of the United terminal. No controllers saw the object, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said. The FAA is not conducting a further investigation. The theory is the sighting was caused by a “weather phenomenon,” she said. The UFO report has sparked some chuckles among controllers in O’Hare tower. “To fly 7 million light years to O’Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable,” said O’Hare controller and union official Craig Burzych. Pat Robertson: Major Terrorist Attack in 2007 In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in “mass killing” late in 2007. Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September. “I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,” he said during his news-and-talk television show “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do befieve it will be something like that.” “I have a relatively good track record,” he said. “But sometimes I miss.” Space Junk in Wyoming - Meteorite in N.J. A spent Russian booster rocket reentered the atmosphere over Wyoming and Colorado, NORAD said. Witnesses reported seeing flaming objects in the sky. In New Jersey, a tiny meteorite crashedthrough the roof of a house and landed in the bathroom (at right). Január 12, 2007 AMERIKAI Magyar Hírlap Waltzing in the New Year Viennese-Style with SALUTE TO VIENNA Marion and Attila Glatz, organizers of the Viennese New Year’s Concerts in Canada and North America For decades, the words “New Year’s” in Vienna have been synonymous with the city’s famed Neujahrskonzert (New Year’s Concert). This annual live concert celebration pays homage to the musical tradition of Vienna. The tradition is one of Johann Strauss Jr., Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kalman and others whose music is loved throughout the world. In terms of the number of listeners and viewers, Vienna’s annual Neujahrskonzert is by far the most popular concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It enjoys such popularity that it is now broadcast each year to an estimated 1.3 billion viewers worldwide! In North America, New Year’s Day often conjures up images of college football games, visits to family and friends, and soon-to-bebroken resolutions. For the Viennese, New Year’s is a day of celebrating the musical heritage that makes Vienna one of the most avant-garde and pulsating of Europe’s cultural centers. In 1995, inspired by childhood memories of the Neujahrskonzert and a desire to share that tradition with North Americans, Canadian impresario Attila Glatz and his wife Marion launched Salute to Vienna, a North American series of New Year’s Day concerts modeled on the Viennese Neujahrskonzert. With an emphasis on quality and authenticity, the Salute to Vienna series soon became a runaway success, and now delights as many as 80,000 people each year in concerts across North America. These performances highlight the period’s exhilarating waltzes, lively polkas and beautifully costumed dance segments and occur in some of the most prestigious concert halls in North America. The Neujahrskonzert is a glorious and enduring representation of the spirit, passion, and respect held for the Austrian tradition of music, song, and dance. Its music “encapsulates with precision and sentiment the elegance of an era that blended high art with popular entertainment.” In its faithful recreation of the Neujahrskonzert, “Salute to Vienna” invokes the unique Viennese ‘joie de vivre’ that intoxicates all those who attend each year. With a blend of elegance and love for Strauss and Vienna it promises to endure well into the future. DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 SPECIÁLIS ÁR LAX-BUD-LAX $566.-tól +TX. az ár szeptember 3-tól érvényes Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 AMERICAN Hungarian Journal
