Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 18

B8 TUKSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2002 WEATHER The Arizona Republic TODAY'S FORECAST Wednesday Chance of rain High 64 Low 45 Thursday Friday Partly cloudy -C Mostly cloudy High 63 High 61 Low 44 Low 41 v- Saturday Chance of rain High 60 Low 40 Sunday Partly cloudy High 64 Low 40 Monday Partly cloudy High 65 -Low 43 Mostly cloudy High 69 Low 48 rv.rid-Yninirkri.fiin,:ii-njni ik urn u'lkU 33T UTAH Today's forecast lake VALLEY 101 NEVADA vmtm: onumen' Four Valley Corners Arizona at a glance s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, r-rain, f-fog, sh-showers, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, w-windy, th- thunderstorms, i-ice, t-trace, nr-no report, cl-clear, c-cloudy. Monday 73 45' 0.00" 5118 29.87 A Phoenix Sunday High temperature: 71" Low temperature: 44 Rainfall: 0.00" High, low relative humidity: 6019 Barometric pressure at 5 p.m.: 29.91 Record high today: 81" in 2000 Record low today: 23' in 1964 Normal high, low today: 65743 Statistics for Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002 lake Mead Phantoms RinrH Canyon deChelly VT77 CLAY THOMPSON CALIFORNIA Grand Canyon Window" Rock ran 1 HWH i i Kingman nmamsQ Winslow 58" 5" 4.6 mph 36726" trace 0.39" Average temperature: or normal average temperature Average wind speed: Peak wind gust: 12 mph Irom east High, low dew point: Rainfall to date: or normal to date: The Arizona Republic Tumbling tumbleweeds ride on wind 4T -i- Pr.nri1 VIA rrTrrr- 1 Los Angeles Show Low 1 Wickenburg Fireplace 1 Springerville i i. 7 ill tr'--rf i Parker vrra Springs yTTTTi La-. Monday Today Wednesday Hi LoPrc Hi LoSky Hi LoSky Alpine 5311 5123 pc 3929 Benson missing 6933 6338 Bisbee 6428 6231 5734 pc Buckeye 7133 7146 pc 6645 pc Bullhead City 7039 6542 pc 6240 pc CnyndeChy 5514 5231 pc 4525 pc Carefree missing 6846 pc 6443 pc Casa Grande 7431 7144 pc 6542 pc Coolidge 7733 7145 pc 6443 pc Cottonwood 6126 6848 pc 6145 pc Douglas 7327 7033 6534 pc Flagstaff 4913 4726 pc 4020 pc Gila Bend 7535 7245 pc 6744 pc Globe 6135 6035 pc 6443 Grand Canyon 4912 4926 pc 4016 pc Greer missing 4722 pc 4025 Heber 6114 5732 pc 5025 pc Holbrook 6218 6334 pc 5634 pc Kingman 6627 5831 pc 4929 pc Lk Hvsu City 6741 6743 pc 6340 pc Nogales 7228 7036 6539 pc Organ Pipe 7437 7547 pc 7344 pc Page 4528 5436 pc 4826 pc Payson 5919 6238 pc 5535 pc Phoenix 7345 6948 6445 sh Pinetop missing 5126 pc 4427 Prescott 6020 5533 pc 4827 pc Saftord 6727 6934 6534 St.

Johns 6115 6333 pc 5635 Sedona 6432 6242 pc 5540 pc Show Low 5625 5531 pc 4830 Sierra Vista 7231 6839 6336 pc Springerville 6111 5725 pc 5025 Tucson 7639 7444 pc 6941 pc Wickenburg 7127 6942 pc 6242 pc Willcox 6917 6930 6435 Williams missing 5029 pc 4323 pc Winslow 6515 6335 pc 5635 pc Youngtown 7237 7046 pc 6643 pc Yuma 7441 7251 pc 6545 pc Monday Today Wednesday Jake gfc Casa Gila Bend ri Grande San Diego urios i lake cv- ItSSt -ri'rT I restrictions Call (602) 506-6400 to find out if no-burn rules are in effect Road conditions (602) 651-2400 (then dial 7623) or 1-888-411-7623 Pima County (Tucson) (520) 547-7510 Pollution Good: 0-50 Moderate: 51-100. Unhealthy: More than 100 Carbon monoxide 31 Ozone 22 Particulates 38 Central Phoenix for 24 hours ended 1 Tuma 1 Tucson Tijuana ili' MFXIC0 Latest weather online aztentral orn weather.ucentral.com bri Sierra ODouglas weather, com Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) yesterday 3 p.m. Gulf of Baja California Carbon monoxide Ozone California The nation Monday Hi Lo Pre today Wednesday 24 33 N. Phoenix S. Phoenix HI Lo Pre Hi LoSky HI LoSky Hi LoSky Hi LoSky 33 30 20 43 29 22 W.

Phoenix 43 Pinnacle Peak S.Scottsdale 24 Mesa, Tempe 24 Rain Pi Snow 38 24 sn 58 33 pc 6130 pc 31 27 sn 55 34 34 18 pc 52 29 47 22 pc-33 23 sn 56 37 7 it tilt tot m. Thunderstorms 48 35 pc 46 27 pc 63 44 68 49 49 29 pc 44 28 pc 62 39 65 48 pc Albany, NY Albuquerque Amarillo Anchorage Atlanta Atlantic City Austin Baltimore Baton Rouge Billings Birmingham Bismarck Boise Boston Brownsville Buffalo 32 23 48 22 52 27 41 26 53 39 47 24 66 32 49 28 62 47 27 24 62 44 31 20 38 28 38 31 74 50 41 22 Hot Spot 47 Source: Maricopa County Environmental Services (602) 506-6400 Pollen forecast Predominant pollen: Cedar, juniper and grass. 24 11 si I Cold front 28 6 pc 57 38 pc 30 17 pc 72 50 pc 69 40 pc 48 30 pc 37 24 33 23 sn 43 27 pc 45 27 pc 57 31 22 4 sn 34 12 pc 54 29 46 28 pc 36 23 sn 51 33 42 26 32 16 66 44 62 50 pc 55 40 56 36 51 27 pc 23 11 sn 64 35 44 30 pc Stationary front Low Med. I High 22 10 sn 53 30 21 0 pc 30 12 pc 42 32 sh 74 59 36 25 sn 28 17 sn 16 9'sn 27 14 62 36 42 28 57 29 49 27 30 9 sn hi BSOBIQ S3 II fl 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s 56 41 20 0 pc 28 18 40 24 pc 78 60 31 24 sn 26 12 sn 19 2 sn 19 6 58 36 43 34 pc 53 32 53 37 28 9 pc I I I I I Today .06 Warm front Burlington, VT 29 15 Caribou, ME 27 10 Casper, WY 32 16 Charleston, SC 56 33 Charleston, WV 53 29 Charlotte 50 26 Chattanooga 57 28 Wednesday Thursday 22 5 pc 55 24 nr 24 10 70 53 65 39 pc 45 30 pc 34 27 33 17 pc 42 34 41 24 pc 52 33 24 6 pc 35 15 49 30 46 31 31 22 sn 53 29 4126 29 10 pc 69 48 61 48 pc 56 40 57 36 46 22 pc 24 8 59 37 43 35 sh 64 42 23 8 21 4 27 19 pc 33 18 sn 30 20 sn 66 41 72 55 35 13 51 24 31 26 pc 46 31 pc 39 15 pc 60 29 pc 33 21 North Platte Okla City Omaha Orlando Palm Springs Philadelphia Pittsburgh Portland, ME Portland, OR Providence Raleigh, NC Rapid City Reno Richmond Roanoke Rchester, NY Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Santa Fe Ste.

Marie Savannah Seattle Shreveport Sioux City Sioux Falls Spokane Sprgfield, IL Syracuse Tallahassee Tampa Topeka Tulsa Walla Walla Washington Wichita Wichita Falls Wilkes Barre 39 15 52 33 38 32 65 51 70 44 49 30 50 27 35 24 44 37 40 31 52 26 31 24 54 20 55 25 51 26 38 23 50 38 47 39 36 23 68 39 58 51 52 46 50 44 44 15 18 5 53 37 41 35 64 48 36 28 34 23 37 26 40 35 34 25 51 39 69 57 46 38 53 41 36 31 52 27 49 36 57 37 42 26 Monday Hi Lo Pre Today Wednesday Hi LoSky Hi LoSky I I 0 4 8 40 34 37 31 .02 33 20 pc 28 17 sn .24 30 18 40 30 .02 53 30 45 30 33 11 Cheyenne Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Colo Springs Columbia, SC Source: pollen.com For pollen forecasts by ZIP code, go to health.azcentral.com. 38 24 pc 40 30 34 25 sn 34 26 sn 44 17 pc 31 13 Today's question: Are tumbleweeds a specific plant or is that a generic term for any dead plant that is blown around by the wind? New to these parts, stranger? Actually, so are tumble-weeds, relatively speaking. Tumbleweeds really are a specific plant, the mature form of the Russian thistle, Salsola iberica. We think of them as being a real symbol of the West: wide-open spaces and the Sons of the Pioneers and all that. The fact of the matter is tumbleweeds are immigrants from the steppes of Asia.

I didn't know that before, even though during my Wonder Bread years I spent many extremely boring hours digging them out of the ancestral estate. The first seeds arrived in the Dakotas sometime in the 1870s in shipments of wheat or flaxseed from Russia. They were on the West Coast by 1900. They are considered to be peregrinating plants highly traveled. Russian thistles now are found in about 19 countries outside Asia.

They do not compete well with native plants in undisturbed areas, but give them a farm field or ditch and they'll move right in. They also do well in salty soil. The name Salsola comes from the Latin word for salt. They can grow to be as big as small cars. In the late 1930s, tumble-weeds completely engulfed the small town of Lester in western Maricopa County.

Several chickens were smothered, and the townsite had to be abandoned. I made that up. The whole tumbling business is, of course, how the plant disperses its seeds. When the thistle is mature, it dries up, snaps off from its roots with the help of special cells in its stem and waits for the wind to give it a ride. They can produce up to 100,000 seeds that go flying off as the plant tumbles along.

As far as I know, tumble-weeds are not really good for anything except the annual tumbleweed Christmas tree in Chandler, a pleasantly goofy tradition since 1957. Reach Thompson at clay.thompsonarizona republic.com or (602) 444-8612. 57 33 51 31 62 30 UV index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Monday Today Wednesday Hi Lo Pre HI LoSky Hi LoSky Evansville 53 42 42 25 39 29 pc Fairbanks 31-8 17 2 19 3 Fargo 28 16 22 9 pc 20 -2 Fort Wayne 50 34 .01 34 21 sn 30 22 sn Fort Worth 62 38 61 46 62 38 nr Fresno 44 42 48 31 pc 48 27 Grand Jnctlon 39 18 43 21 pc 36 14 Grand Rapids 44 32 .03 33 21 sn 30 20 sn Great Falls 28 21 24 12 25 7 Green Bay 34 31 .23 29 15 24 10 sf Greensboro 50 23 54 30 49 30 pc Harttord 39 25 39 27 pc 36 21 pc Helena 32 26 25 8 25 7 Honolulu 81 67 81 73 81 68 pc Houston 71 43 67 47 66 54 5 Indianapolis 52 35 37 26 pc 37 24 sn Jackson. MS 64 41 59 32 62 45 pc Jacksonville 54 42 1.62 65 37 63 41 11 39 34 43 35 58 25 57 36 57 39 62 46 54 40 55 24 57 46 79 66 56 28 41 33 30 27 59 49 59 42 62 52 Juneau Kansas City Knoxville Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Lubbock Memphis Miami Beach Midland Milwaukee Mpls-St. Paul Mobile Nashville New Orleans 8 9 10 vtfc Columbus, GA 52 40 Columbus, OH 50 33 Concord, NH 33 24 Corpus Christi 73 38 Dallas 61 40 Dayton 50 34 Denver 38 15 Des Moines 41 30 40 24 pc 48 25 57 38 pc 54 35 62 49 pc 41 25 pc 67 36 52 33 81 64 sh 66 39 32 19 pc 23 10 pc 63 37 47 27 62 43 48 34 pc 56 34 35 16 pc 49 33 54 33 55 36 62 47 pc 37 29 48 25 pc 57 37 77 66 65 33 pc 23 16 20 4 64 46 50 35 pc 65 52 42 31 pc 50 32 A 60 36 26 18 pc 23 16 pc 28 16 pc 37 23 pc 36 23 sn .99 65 35 .78 71 50 pc 40 22 pc 54 37 pc 30 19 pc 50 31 pc 47 27 pc 62 42 38 24 pc Low Mod.

Hish Very 61 34 37 26 35 23 sn 70 57 62 45 36 23 37 14 pc 32 19 pc 35 24 sn 18 1 pc 47 21 pc 67 37 42 23 59 39 pc 38 28 31 9 pc 75 58 61 39 pc 38 26- 29 14 26 11 pc 32 24 sn 18 2 sf 33 13 sn 63 38 pc 41 31 pc The UV index eives a forecast n'8' Detroit .02 43 33 27 25 39 6 62 28 42 37 Duluth Durango El Paso Eugene New York City 44 34 Norfolk, VA 57 29 Hour-by-hour forecast Hot spots Nation's hottest on Monday: 81" at Natchitoches, La. 80" High: 694 -j 70" ----I ffl 1- -4- 50 )-" -a- 40 -l 1- 30- 1 i I (Of for ultraviolet radiation intensity. A higher number means an increased risk for sun damage. During Arizona's summer months it may take only 10-12 minutes of sun exposure to burn unprotected skin. Lawn watering .22" is needed for Rye grass if last watered 3 days ago.

For more information: City of Phoenix Water Conservation Office: (602) 256-3370 Dew point forecast Most evaporative coolers are effective only when the dew point is below 55 degrees. 8 a.m.: 28" Noon: 29 3 p.m.: 28 Sun Moon Sunset today: 5:43 p.m. Sunrise Wednesday: 7:32 a.m. Moon rises today: 9:13 a.m. Moon sets today: 7:51 p.m.

Canada City Calgary Edmonton Halifax Montreal Ottawa Regina St. John's Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg Mexico Acapulco Chihuahua Cabo San Lucas Guadalaara Hermosillo La Paz Mazatlan Mexico City Monterrey Puerto Vallarta The world HI LoSky City Hi LoSky City Hi LoSky 25 12 sn Amsterdam 39 25 sn Manila 85 71 sh 21 10 Athens 46 35 sh Mecca 78 66 pc 34 16 sn Bangkok 91 74 pc Milan 39 24 pc 32 18 sn Beiing 45 33 sh Moscow 35 24 28 10 sn Berlin 38 25 Nairobi 78 56 th 19 10 Bogota 72 48 th New Delhi 77 46 pc 23 19 sn Brussels 41 26 sn Oslo 37 25 sn 36 30 st Buenos Aires 81 53 Paris 40 30 pc 39 27 pc Cairo 60 43 pc Perth 94 67 pc 10 5 Casablanca 69 54 pc Rio de Janeiro 83 71 th Copenhagen 38 28 pc Riyadh 71 52 pc Dublin 41 29 pc Rome 42 32 sh Frankfurt 37 26 San Juan 83 73 pc 86 64 pc geneva 37 24 pc Santiago 86 58 66 42 Havana 80 63 th Seoul 53 40 sh 77 63 Hesinki 4i 30 pc Shanghai 59 46 sh 72 45 pc Ho Chi Minh City 89 74 pc Stockholm 42 28 pc 75 52 Hong Kong 78 64 pc Sydney 76 62 sh 79 62 Jerusalem 54 42 pc Taipei 77 62 sh 76 54 Johannesburg 78 59 th Tel Aviv 56 43 pc 67 44 pc Kiev 36 23 Tokyo 54 43 65 47 on(on 43 28 pc Vienna 37 24 78 58 pc Madrl( 58 42 pc Warsaw 32 22 6 a.m. 9 Noon 3 6 p.m. 9 Midnight 3 6 a.m. Phoenix temperature range Arizona's hottest on Monday: 77 at Coolidge.

Cold spots Nation's coldest on Monday: -8 at Alamosa, Colo. 90 I i 1 a 5 1 11 'J i 30 Average high v. Average low January: i Arizona's coldest on Monday: 9" at Bellemont. 10" New Feb. First Full Jan.

21 Jan. 28 Last Feb. 4 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Weather Central, Inc. 2001 Data for world cities are forecast conditions for today. acentral cyy sjyyy SBajus; hssii aid bjJI thiiK6 jj bvm-m, ni jiiiJjbjiiJjiriLsuijj (idnapped baby is 1 year old Underground fires threaten air quality Read more about the disappearance of the Vasquez baby at links.azcentral.com.

When she came out, the infant was gone. A task force of state, local and federal agencies was set up to find the girl, but it was disbanded June 22 after leads in the case were exhausted. "We've got nothing," Sgt. Mark Lucas, an Avondale police spokesman, said Monday. The best clue is a heart-shaped birthmark on Jacqueline's upper right arm, Lucas said.

He hopes a health-care provider will spot the birthmark and call authorities. People with information are urged to phone Avondale police at (623) 932-3660. Tot taken May 16 from flea market Hy Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic It was a sad anniversary for the parents of Jacqueline Vasquez, a missing Valley infant who turned 1 on Monday. Buckeye resident Olivia Caste-nada, 19, and her husband, Jorge Vasquez, 23, planned nothing special but hoped press coverage about Jacqueline's first birthday would spark some new leads. "We're really sad because we have no news about her," Olivia Cas-tenada said.

"There is never a day that we don't think about her." Jacqueline disappeared May 6 from a swap meet in Avondale, while Olivia was helping an older child in a toilet. She left Jacqueline in her car seat outside the toilet. Mother of dead boy gets 10-year term A 1999 report by the Clean Coal Center of the International Energy Agency concluded that the biggest coal fires, in China and India particularly, "make a significant global impact." "These fires are obviously pumping all this noxious material into the air," said Dr. Glenn Stracher, a geologist and expert on mine fires at East Georgia College in Swainsboro, Ga. "That's got to be having some effects, but no one has been studying it." The coal fires are similar to those that smoldered for three months beneath the wreckage of the World Trade Center in New York City, in that they involved buried fuels and were sustained and intensified by slight drafts of air and heat locked into surrounding rubble or rock.

Geologists and engineers who have studied coal fires offered their expertise and specialized equipment, like firefighting foams, to emergency officials in Manhattan. Firefighters at the scene, though, stuck mainly with the simplest method: pouring endless streams of water on the wreckage as work crews slowly removed layers of debris. Many coal fires start spontaneously, when pyrite and other reactive minerals in coal are exposed to oxygen. They begin to release heat, which, if not dissipated by air currents, builds until the coal itself ignites. New York Times Fires are burning in thousands of underground coal seams from Pennsylvania to Mongolia, releasing toxic gases, adding millions of tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and baking the ground until vegetation shrivels and the land sinks.

Scientists and government agencies are starting to use heat-sensing satellites to map the fires and try new ways to extinguish them. But in many instances, particularly in Asia, they are so widespread and stubborn that miners simply work around the flames. There is geological evidence that grassland and forest fires, lightning and spontaneous combustion of coal have spawned such fires for hundreds of thousands of years. In Wyoming and northern China, broad layers of earth are full of clinker, the brittle baked rock left behind when subterranean coal burns. The frequency of coal fires appears to have risen, experts say, as mining has exposed more and more deposits around the world to fires, both natural and set by humans, and the oxygen that feeds them.

Increasingly, scientists are saying the problem needs to be assessed more carefully, both as a potential contributor to global warming and as a source of toxic air pollution. Judge says she knew boyfriend was abusive the prejudice of a possible life sentence to take away 10 years from a woman not guilty of any crime," said Canby, a county-paid attorney. Kurt Altman, a Maricopa County deputy prosecutor, had asked for the maximum 12 years under the plea deal because he said Neal knew Rakestraw was dangerous. Sobbing in court, Neal said, "I never thought he was going to hurt one of my children." But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson said Neal "was on notice" that her boyfriend was abusive and should have left Jarred with a "caring relative." June 10 and is awaiting sentencing. Neal's attorney, John Canby, had asked for the minimum five years, reasoning that his client wasn't present when Jarred died.

He said he was stunned by the sentence. Outside the courtroom, Canby said, "This is the most shocking day in my 15 years as a lawyer." As part of a plea deal, Neal pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She originally was charged with first-degree murder and could have been sentenced to 35 years to life in prison if convicted. "They (prosecutors) used the prejudice of the death of a child and By Carol Sowers The Arizona Republic Melanie Neal was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison in the beating death of her 3-year-old son at the hands of her boyfriend. Neal, 28, was at work when Brad Rakestraw, her boyfriend, struck 3-year-old Jarred in the head with a kitchen knife June 28, 1999, in Phoenix.

The boy died two days later. Rakestraw pleaded guilty on.