At 5:12 A.M. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, an earthquake woke up residents of San Francisco and tossed them from their beds. Little did they know that it was going to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States. Read our article, Remembering the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.””
Daily Calendar for Thursday, April 18, 2024
Question of the Day
What is a cumulo-pileus cloud? How rare is it, and under what conditions is it likely to be formed? Also any information on other rare cloud formations and conditions would be helpful.
A cumulus cloud is a detached, fair-weather cloud with a relatively flat base and dome-shaped top. A pileus cloud is a smooth-cap cloud that forms in a stable layer above a cumulus cloud when air is temporarily forced upwards by the vigorous thermal below. Its shape explains its name, which is Latin for a close-fitting cap used by ancient Romans. We don’t think it would be considered a rare formation. There are so many cloud variations that it is impossible to describe them all, let alone their rarity or lack thereof, but two come to mind. First are nacreous clouds, often called “mother of pearl” clouds because of their iridescence. They form in the stratosphere and are visible at night when illuminated against a dark sky by the Sun from below the horizon. They are frequently sighted in Antarctica and were first described in 1911 by a member of Scott’s last expedition. Second are noctilucent clouds, which are seen in latitudes higher than 50 degrees, usually about midnight. They look rather like cirrostratus clouds with a blue or yellow tinge. They appear to form at altitudes of about 50 miles and travel northeast at 100 to 300 mph, but it is not yet known if they consist of ice crystals or dust.
Advice of the Day
Time flies whether you’re having fun or not.
Home Hint of the Day
If your wood-splitting maul handle is continually getting chewed up when you miss your target, take a 6-inch piece of 1-1/2-inch black plastic water pipe, slit one side, slip it over the handle up by the head and clamp it down with a couple of hose clamps.
Word of the Day
Regatta
Originally, a gondola race in Venice; now, a rowing or sailing race, or a series of such races.
Puzzle of the Day
What happened to the female cat who swallowed a ball of yarn?
She had mittens.
Died
- Edouard Albert Roche (astronomer) –
- Albert Einstein (physicist) –
- Thor Heyerdahl (Norwegian adventurer and author) –
- Dick Clark (entertainer) –
Born
- James Woods (actor) –
- Eric Roberts (actor) –
- Conan O'Brien (talk show host) –
- Melissa Joan Hart (actress) –
- Miguel Cabrera (baseball player) –
- America Ferrera (actress) –
Events
- San Francisco earthquake–
- Beatification ceremony for Joan of Arc held in Rome, Italy–
- Old Yankee stadium opened in N.Y.C.–
- First U.S. public laundromat opened, Fort Worth, Texas–
- League of Nations dissolved–
- Actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony–
- Lighted fishing pole patented–
- The longest professional baseball game started on this night. The 33-inning game spanned 3 days, beginning on April 18, extending into April 19, and ending on June 23. The Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Red Sox beat the Rochester (New York) Red Wings 3-2. Cal Ripken was playing 3rd base for the Red Wings–
- Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney animated film to become a Broadway musical. It opened on this day at New York’s Palace Theater–
- Cardinals gathered in Rome to select Pope John Paul II’s successor–
- Catherine Ndereba, of Kenya, won the 109th Boston Marathon for an unprecedented fourth time in the women’s division–
- Aaron Caissie set a world record by balancing 17 spoons on his face–
Weather
- The temperature soared to 90 degrees F in New York City–
- Logan Airport in Boston reported a temperature of 2 degrees F–
- The Red River in the Fargo-Moorhead region of North Dakota rose more than 20 feet above flood stage.–
- The temperature reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit in Del Rio, Texas–