Hurricane Erika was a weak hurricane that struck northeastern Mexico in August of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Erika was the eighth tropical cyclone, fifth tropical storm, and third hurricane of the season. At first, the National Hurricane Center did not designate it as a hurricane because initial data suggested winds of only 70 mph (110 km/h) at Erika's peak intensity, but it was retroactively deemed a hurricane based on further data. Developing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on August 14, Erika moved quickly westward and strengthened under favorable conditions. It made landfall as a hurricane on northeastern Mexico on August 16. The storm's low-level circulation center dissipated by the next day. However, the storm's mid-level circulation persisted for another three days, emerging into the Pacific and moving northwestward over Baja California, before dissipating on August 20. Two people were killed in northeastern Mexico when their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Erika_%282003%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1807:

Napoleonic Wars: British ships began a raid on Griessie after the Dutch captain refused a British demand for surrender. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Griessie

1918:

National Guards and Sokol volunteers protested in Zagreb, leading to an armed clash with regiments of the Home Guard and former Common Army. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_protest_in_Zagreb

1933:

The prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States officially ended when the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-first_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

1958:

Britain's first motorway, the Preston By-pass, opened to the public. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_By-pass

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

fenny: 1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens. 2. Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen. 3. (obsolete, also figurative) Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fenny

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty. Call the child "innocence". The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be. In my work I try to reach and speak to that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars.   --Walt Disney https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney