On Monday, Apr. 23, 1962, NASA launched the Ranger 4 into space. The Ranger 4 spacecraft, was especially designed to collect data on interplanetary space, but more to the point it was to photograph the moon up close and make a rough landing on the lunar surface, this was for reconnaissance for a future manned mission there.

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It was the brainchild of Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson who was an unabashed environmentalist whose hope was that by creating a lightning rod of attention he could create a rallying unity to grassroots environmental awareness. We can dream all we want of living on other planets but until we become a totally different species of human, dreaming is as far as we will ever get so let’s make sure we make the best of it.

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Legendary Dodger Stadium was built on top of the historic Los Angeles neighbourhood of Chavez Ravine in Solano Canyon. Get this, before the start of their 1976 season, the Dodgers were rained out only once, and that was against the St. Louis Cardinals, on April 21, 1967, ending a streak of 737 consecutive games without a postponement at that time. 

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On the 19th, there were seventeen F2 or greater tornadoes that touched down and that included a jaw-dropping ten in the state of Illinois alone. In Canada, the first tornado that touched down hit the ground running for a staggering 40 kilometres southeast of Owen Sound. A second tornado then touched down farther south and ripped for a 60 kilometre track from Arthur to just southwest of Barrie.

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This was a multi alarm fire involving a total of 17 fire halls, two engine companies and one hose company.  They came from stations as far away as Hamilton, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, to help save Toronto.  The glow of the fire could be seen for miles in all directions and it took close to nine hours to get under control.  A mystery still surrounds this tale because they never did establish the exact cause of the fire.

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A twister touched down in a rural area locally and packed powerful 135 to 167 km/h wind speeds. It was now historical as the first to be recorded as an Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale tornado in Canadian history. And it was rated EF1.

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In some areas, after the full series, there was reported to have been as much as 175 cm of snow. What is that to you and me? That is also known as 5 feet 9 inches of snow!! Because these storms hit while we were getting later into April, many cattle were already out in the pastures.  This was a big problem when you consider over 51/2 feet of snow and the obvious sustained cold that would have accompanied such an event. 

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The entrance to the CN Tower and to the Rogers Centre were promptly closed and a section of sidewalk out front of the affected buildings was also closed off for all pedestrian traffic. The Rogers Centre was far from the only building to have been damaged in this, however. Damage from the ice was also reported to other surrounding buildings.

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The Denver Post reported that, with a total snowfall of almost a foot, along with around 45mm of mixing, of which it was primarily rain, it was reported that the April 14-15 storm was the second worst April blizzard since 1885. Because of the strong winds, the snow drifted to a depth of 7 feet (over 2 meters) in many parts of the metro.  The storm was the worst in 5 years at Colorado Springs.

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Following a frost alert on April 14, winemakers of Chassagne-Montrachet lit fires and heaters to fight the frost. As temperatures then dropped moderately below that 32 F threshold, with a relatively low humidity, luckily damage was limited.  Yet, winemakers trying to limit frost damage on their vines employ a variety of heating techniques to keep their crops warm. Some got "inventive".

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