Last Saturday afternoon and evening possibly posed hearing problems for our pets.  Claps of thunder are produced when the intense heat and lightning causes the air to expand.  This sends a vibrating pressure or shock wave outward at the speed of sound.  When a person, or a dog, is near a stroke of lightning, thunder is heard as a single sharp crack.  At a distance, thunder can be heard as a continuous rumble as the sound waves move away from random points along the lightning stroke.   If you count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder and divide that by 5, you will calculate, from your location, the approximate number of miles where the thunderclap occurred. On April 12, 107 years ago at  11:40 PM, the Titanic sank. Weather was never considered in the early stages of the investigation.  Weatherwise Magazine's research noted that weather patterns in the winter and early spring of 1911-1912 were to blame for the ship’s demise. Changes in atmospheric pressure at sea level caused strong north winds that propelled the icebergs farther south than normal, placing them into the Titanic’s course. Iceberg season in the north Atlantic is April through July where more than 80 percent of the total number of icebergs cross south of latitude 48 north. Additionally, in April, 1912, more than 900 icebergs floated in the North Atlantic. Here's a mention from The Almanac of The Infamous, The Incredible, and Ignored. On April 14, 1912, before the Titanic hit an iceberg, Rev. Charles Morgan of Winnipeg fell into a fitful sleep filled with frantic voices and crashing waves. He heard the hymn, “For Those in Peril on the Sea.” Morgan shared his nightmare with his congregation, leading them in singing the hymn. News of the disaster reached Winnipeg the next morning.  On April 14, 1935, William Reeves, a lookout on a steamer from England to Canada, sensed danger, realizing it was the anniversary of the Titanic disaster, 23 years earlier. Sounding the alarm, the ship stopped, surrounded by ice bergs. The name of the ship was the “Titanian.”