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Weird Weather

Postcard seen in local pub:
umbrella.jpg

Now that's what I call a cloud formation!
 
Get yer wellies and brollies out:
UK 'can expect extreme rainfall'

Britain can expect more tropical-style rainfall as climate change gathers pace, according to research carried out by Newcastle University.
Scientists said extreme conditions that are likely to lead to flooding have become more common and intense over the last 40 years.

They found that rainstorms have doubled in intensity in places like eastern Scotland and north-east England.

Storms are also becoming more intense in autumn, threatening flood defences.

Dr Hayley Fowler, a member of the research team, said the increased frequency of such downpours will lead to more severe flooding like those experienced in Boscastle in north Cornwall in 2004.

She said: "If the trend continues, which is likely, this suggests we will have an increase in flooding over the coming years which has major implications for flood risk management."

Water storage

The team predicted that the five million people in the UK who live near to rivers can expected to be flooded with increasing regularity in the future.

Dr Fowler thought water companies should respond by thinking of ways for water storage during extreme weather conditions, which could then be used during drier periods.

"One solution could be to build storage facilities such as small reservoirs close to rivers to catch the excess water following extreme rainfall events.

"This could also help alleviate the potential for flooding as well as solve the water shortage crisis we are likely to experience in the summer months."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5310452.stm
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Surfers to ride hurricane waves

Surfers are gearing up for the first big wave contest in Cornwall as a hurricane tracking across the Atlantic creates a big swell.
Waves of 12ft (3.6m) high are expected in Newquay on Thursday as Hurricane Gordon moves towards Britain.

Parts of the UK face the threat of localised flooding and gusts of up to 75mph (120km/h) on Thursday and Friday.

The British Surfing Association (BSA) got special permission from the RNLI for the contest at Fistral Beach.

'Raise the bar'

Karen Walton, of the BSA said: "We've had the ambition of running a big wave short board competition in Britain for some time now and we've been patiently waiting for perfect surf to do it.

"Thursday is going to be as good as it gets and our 16 invited surfers will have a unique opportunity to illustrate that Britain can be a surfing nation to be reckoned with.

"This event will raise the bar of competitive surfing in this country and really prove which surfers can hold their own in the most challenging waves."

E-mails and texts have been sent to surfers in the contest with a £1,000 top prize.

Among those invited are Llewellyn Whittaker, former Welsh student champion Kieran Evans, former junior European champion Ben Baird, Mark Harris and two times European champion Grishka Roberts.

Hurricane Gordon, which passed Portugal's Azores Islands in mid-Atlantic on Wednesday, appears to have been losing power as it hits cooler waters.

However, winds of 40mph (65km/h) attributed to the tail-end of the hurricane led to a three-hour delay during a training session at golf's Ryder Cup, south west of Dublin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/5364502.stm
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Climate change is a funny old thing.

On the one hand we have as a species enjoyed a period of relatively stabilised weather conditions for many millennia which has lead to our dominance upon the planet and our resulting contribution to what has become known as Global Warming.

On the other the planet has been through so many different climate states, ranging from ice ages to tropical rain forests, that you really have to start questioning what is the 'normal' climate for this world.

We can talk about saving the planet all we like but the real inconvenient truth of it all is that we are maybe heading towards extinction as a result of the planet undergoing a perfectly natural process in its life cycle.

Even if the world temperature increases by 20 or 30 degrees or more, there are some forms of life that will survive, flourish and in time emerge as the new leaders of the food chain. And that's going to happen no matter what we do.

Yes, we release too much carbon into the atmosphere, but that's where it came from in the first place.

Save the planet you might say?

This planet doesn't need saving is what I answer.
 
MY TERROR AS LIGHTNING STRUCK PLANE'S WING
PETRA MANN

11:00 - 28 November 2006
A businessman has relived the terrifying moment the plane he was travelling in was hit by lightning.

Peter McGahan, 38, was one of 35 passengers, including families, aboard the Air Southwest twin-engine aircraft when one of its wings was struck.

The plane, which had taken off from London's Gatwick Airport on Saturday afternoon, was 15 minutes into its descent to Plymouth City Airport when there was an ear-splitting bang.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Plymouth before taking off again for Newquay.

Mr McGahan, a married father-of-three, who lives in Mawgan Porth, near Newquay, said: "The sound was unbelievably loud - it was as if somebody had hurled a huge firecracker into the cabin.

"People were screaming - it was simply terrifying.

"I actually saw the lightning hit the wing - the light which came off it was incredible.

"The pilot was very calm and simply said: 'Ladies and gentleman, we have just been hit by lightning. I will get us down as speedily and safely as possible.'

"Fifteen minutes later when we landed, the pilot got a round of applause from the passengers - everyone was so relieved."

Mr McGahan, managing director of a financial firm based in Truro and Wadebridge, joined other passengers bound for Newquay on a bus arranged for them by Air Southwest.

The plane had been flying close to Dartmoor when the lightning struck.

Over the weekend, the Westcountry experienced lightning, strong winds, heavy rain and flooding.

A Plymouth couple survived a double lightning strike on their house.

Malcolm Naylor, chief executive of Air Southwest, said: "It is relatively rare for aircraft to be struck by lightning but it can happen and we have been experiencing severe weather over the past few days.

"Our 12.45pm departure from Gatwick to Newquay via Plymouth was struck on Saturday afternoon when it was about 15 minutes from Plymouth.

"The captain informed the 35 passengers on board immediately.

"The aircraft's systems were unaffected by the strike and it landed as normal at Plymouth shortly afterwards without the need for emergency services to be in attendance.

"The 27 passengers bound for Newquay continued their journey by coach.

"Subsequent inspections have shown that the aircraft suffered only very minor damage but it needs to be checked over inch by inch and will remain out of service for approximately 48 hours.

"In the meantime, we have chartered an additional aircraft to maintain our regular scheduled services."

A spokesman for the Met Office warned that the Westcountry could expect little change in the stormy weather.

"We are going to see the same sort of weather over the next few days," he said.
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http://tinyurl.com/uvv57
 
..not only in the air...
60FT WAVES POUND CORNISH COAST

11:00 - 28 November 2006
The awesome power of the sea was unleashed yesterday as some of the biggest waves ever seen in the Westcountry slammed the coastline.

Generated by a huge Atlantic storm, the waves got up to an estimated 60 feet in places on the north coast of Devon and Cornwall.

The massive swell drew crowds of storm watchers to witness the spectacle as waves smashed on to rocky parts of the coastline.

Scores of people gathered at Newquay's infamous Cribbar big-wave spot in the hope pro-surfers would ride it.

However, Dan Joel, who has previously ridden the Cribbar using jet-skis to tow on to the wave, said it was too windy to surf.

"I watched it for about three hours and it is the biggest I think I have ever seen it," he said.

"The waves were maybe 40 to 50 feet and it would have been perfect, but it was physically impossible because of the wind.

"It was blowing really strong from the south-west which was making the waves too bumpy.

"It's such a shame because we were totally prepared for it and it has been a real anti-climax for us."

While the Cribbar was breaking at up to 50 feet, waves of up to 60 feet or more could be seen breaking over a reef about two miles off the coast from Newquay, known as Zorba's.

The wind blew so hard that it sent up plumes of spray 100 feet high or more off the back of the waves, creating mini rainbows.

Surfers made the most of the conditions by taking to sheltered areas of the coastline, where waves were more manageable at about 10 feet.

Forecasters are predicting the swell to diminish slightly during the week, but the waves will still be far bigger than normal.

Dan Joel and his big-wave riding colleague, Sam Lamiroy, said they will be keeping a close eye on conditions to see if the Cribbar becomes rideable during the week.
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http://tinyurl.com/y6n2jl
 
Maybe one for Climate Change...?
WET AUTUMN WARMEST ON RECORD
LOUISE VENNELLS

11:00 - 28 November 2006
Freak hail storms, torrential rains and flash floods have lashed the Westcountry this autumn, but the season holds one more surprise - it looks to be the warmest ever.

Skies have been bright blue one minute, then inky black the next as conditions change throughout the day. But, despite the need for an emergency raincoat, the winter woollies have remained in their drawer as temperatures have been two degrees above average.

Thermostats have shown the average temperature for September to November is at least half a degree higher than the warmest autumn on record.

The season's temperatures look set to smash the all-time high of 11.8C, set in 1730.

The average temperature for central England has so far been 12.5C, and forecasters said Devon and Cornwall had experienced similar conditions.

The WMN's nature expert, Trevor Beer, said the warmer weather was turning the timeline of wildlife on its head. Hedgehogs and dormice are roaming woodlands when they should be hibernating, roses are in bloom for a second time and strawberries are sprouting when the plant should be dormant.

Mr Beer said: "What the heck is going on? I don't think even the sharpest scientific brain knows what's going to happen over the next few years.

"Climate change is definitely here, and things are altering, but we have no idea what effect it's going to have.

"So far nature seems to be adapting to it, and so are we. I've hardly worn a coat all autumn."

But the warmth has been accompanied by heavy rains, which have brought flooding to some parts of Devon and Cornwall.

Padstow experienced freak hail storms in mid October which brought the town to a standstill. Yesterday, the Met Office forecast another torrential downpour overnight, but predicted it would be clear by this morning.

The Environment Agency had placed an area of East Devon, near the River Exe, on flood watch.

But, by yesterday evening, the only Westcountry area to be on flood warning, the more serious alerts, was the Stour area of Dorset.

But the weather did play havoc in waters off Salcombe, South Devon, yesterday, when two lifeboats were involved in the laborious rescue of a crabbing vessel.

The Emma Jane, which is registered in Salcombe, was initially being towed by her sister crabbing vessel, the Peader Elaine. The Salcombe lifeboat was asked to oversee them coming in to the port, because of the rough conditions making it difficult to cross the notorious bar at the entrance to the estuary.

But the tow line broke repeatedly, and the lifeboat crew decided to take over and tow her around to Kingswear, near Dartmouth.

The tow line parted on several occasions, and the larger Torbay lifeboat was called in to take the strain. A helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was called in to stand by.

The vessel was finally brought to safety in mid afternoon - around eight hours after it first reported difficulties.

Peter Hodges, RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Salcombe, said the rescue had been "long and tiring" for all involved.
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http://tinyurl.com/uu3w9
 
skinny46 said:
(Nope. You prefer pink on lilac? :) )
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I'm an old git, with old-fashioned tastes - black on white works for me....


...otherwise I wouldn't be hanging around the FTMB!
 
Weekends really are wetter than Mondays
By Bojan Pancevski and David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 1:07am GMT 11/03/2007

If weekend sunshine seems a rare treat - that's because it is. Clouds and rain really do tend to arrive with the weekend, to be replaced by better weather on a Monday as most of us head back to work, a study has shown.

Analysing 14 years of weather data from 12 sites, researchers found that the weather is colder, wetter and less sunny at the weekend on average.

Monday and Tuesday are the sunniest days, statistically, while Saturday is the most humid and least sunny. Scientists found this to be the case in industrially developed regions, and have blamed it on "aerosols" - tiny particles from traffic and industry suspended in the air.

The particles, which reflect sunlight back into space and increase cloud production, build up during the main working days and affect the weekend weather.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research in Karlsruhe, Germany. They said the findings offered more evidence that human actions could be affecting the climate.

"Weather might be proverbially bad in England for natural reasons, but human activity is what makes it worse at the weekend," said Dr Dominique Bäumer, a co-author of the study. "The aerosol levels rise during the working week and reach their peak on weekends, and the cycle stars again on Monday."

The average weekend temperature is 0.2 degrees lower than on weekdays and there are at least 15 minutes less sunshine on Saturday and Sunday than during the week, according to the study.

A spokesman for the Met Office in London said: "Our research has shown that aerosol pollution can have an affect on the weather. It could well be that it helps to make weather worse at the weekend in some areas. But the changes are relatively small and another factor could be that we notice the bad weather more on our days off because it makes us feel fed up."
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http://tinyurl.com/27rprx
That said, it's nice and sunny here now! :D
 
I just love the first line of this piece:
Britain to enjoy best of Europe's Easter sunshine
Martin Wainwright
Tuesday April 3, 2007
The Guardian

An egg-melting hot spell is on its way to Britain for Easter, :D potentially ambushing millions of people booked on holidays on the continent. Cold and rain are expected to linger a little longer in much of Europe before resorts there catch up with sunshine and a belt of high pressure which will move into the West Country and Wales late on Wednesday.

An estimated 2.5 million Britons are planning to go overseas for the traditional break, according to the Association of British Travel Agents. Thousands bound for mainland Spain, France and assorted city breaks may find that they read the temperatures back home a little wistfully.

"It's looking pretty good for the United Kingdom over Easter," said a spokesman for forecasters MeteoGroup. "After some cloudier and cooler weather over Tuesday and Wednesday, high pressure will dominate." Temperatures are likely to top 16C (61F) in the south and the whole country is expected to find things "very pleasant". The spokesman said that the high pressure belt would cover most of Europe eventually, probably before the end of the holiday period next week.

Major roadworks are being suspended over Easter weekend by the Highways Agency in readiness for the traditional flight to the coast and national parks. Stay-at-home holidaymakers have been encouraged by the warm spell, which has seen tortoises emerge from hibernation.

The weather has not been warm enough, however, for a rare red-flanked bluetail which flew into East Yorkshire at the weekend. It was found dead in a garden at Easington yesterday, almost certainly from cold. :(

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story ... 48,00.html
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The same message here:
Wish you were here? It’s rain in Spain and clear skies at home
Marcus Leroux

Record numbers have jetted off to spend the Easter weekend abroad, but those who are still in Britain have been rewarded with better weather. Most of the country will bask in unseasonable sunshine today and tomorrow, while many continental destinations will be overcast and threatened with rain.

Temperatures in southeast England are forecast to rise as high as 20C (68F) today and 21C tomorrow.

On the Costa del Sol, meanwhile, it is likely to rain and remain relatively cool at 18C, and the Canary Islands will have showers.

A record 2.5 million Britons are spending Easter abroad, with Spain and its islands the most popular destination.

Tony Burgess, a Met Office forecaster, predicted that the good weather would probably remain until the middle of next week. He said: “Across the South of England temperatures will get up to 20C, just below 70F. There’ll be a bit more cloud across the South, but we are probably going to see more sunny spells in between.”

Northern and western parts of Scotland, he added, would be cloudy with patchy rain, which may spread to the north coast of Northern Ireland and into the far North of England. But he said that on the whole the weather in Britain was likely to remain better than in many of the destinations that holiday-makers have fled to.

“We’ve got quite a lot of unsettled weather over Spain. The coastal resorts will remain fairly warm, but anyone in Madrid will be disappointed with temperatures of 13C.”

The warm weather is due to an area of high pressure settling over the UK, where it is likely to remain for the next week. But this weekend will generally be slightly cooler than earlier in the week, when the temperature in the seaside resort of Bridlington, Yorkshire, exceeded 20C.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 624182.ece
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Houses damaged in freak weather

The strong winds lifted the car wheels off the road
Freak weather conditions wreak havoc in Carrickfergus, ripping roof tiles off homes and endangering motorists.
Residents around the Thorndene Park area described the winds as a mini-tornado, which struck at about 2100 BST on Wednesday.

Local woman Helen McGuinness said "all of a sudden the sky got dark".

"The back of a guy's car lifted off the ground and he hit a lamp post. He went to hospital but he's just a bit shaken up with sore shoulders and back."

The police had earlier advised motorists to take extra care as heavy rain spread across Northern Ireland, but there was no mention of tornadoes in the warning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/nort ... 641097.stm
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The day jellyfish reached the skies over Britain . . .

Lewis Smith

Unusual jellyfish clouds have been spotted floating across the skies thousands of feet above Leicestershire.

The clouds, photographed on Wednesday evening, are seen a few times each year over Britain and are properly named altocumulus castellanus with trailing virga. They are formed when warm air laden with water vapour rises in columns and condenses as it gains height and reaches colder air. The strands of cloud that trail from the bottom of the main structure and resemble jellyfish tentacles are formed by rain that reevaporates before it can fall far.

Dave Britton, of the Met Office, said: “These aren’t your bog-standard clouds, but they aren’t that unusual. I see them two or three times a year.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 189472.ece
 
Today at work a customer tried to pay for his purchases by credit card, but the system wouldn't accept his card.

"Ah!" he said, "That's my Cayman Island card - that'll be the hurricane messing things up!"

I had heard that power on Jamaica had been turned off in case power lines came down (as they did), and perhaps the same happened in the Caymans, although it seems the centre of Hurricane Dean actually passed south of the islands.

Still, it's odd that a faraway storm could directly affect things in our shop!
 
It serves these posing types right doesn't it? if they didn't have several international bank accounts this sort of thing wouldn't happen.

I am living in Cayman and there has not been much damage here, the storm was too far away. Yes they always turn the power off as a precaution and the water. All businesses are closed during the alert and there was a curfew in effect on Monday i.e you are not supposed to go on the roads ect. so that is why the cards didn't work probably. I don't remember having any problem with my card though. Maybe he just didn't have enough money in his account.
 
From Breaking News:

Just after Christmas an odd dark spiralling cloud or plume of smoke was sighted slowly descending towards the Northumberland Strait over Prince Edward Island. The Quigleys were passing by and caught it on film and it is murky footage there is certainly something odd at work and the authorities (airport, Mounties, Environment Canada and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada) were unable to explain it. Here is their own description:

"When we first saw it, it was going so slow. We said, is it a meteorite, or what the heck is it? So when we did start to tape, it was above the cloud and that's the part we missed," said Marie Quigley.

"When it came out of the cloud, we have it from there until it's out of sight. I have no idea. I mean I didn't think it was a UFO or anything but to me I thought something was in trouble, but it was going so slow. I mean it was at least a half an hour from the time we first spotted it till it went out of sight."
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Lots more here, including video:
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndat ... piral.html

Like the Uzumaki reference, but it doesn't look like a spiral to me, it looks like a drifting contrail.
 
'Upside down rainbow' caused by freak weather
By Jessica Salter
Last Updated: 11:01am BST 16/09/2008

Freak atmospheric conditions rarely seen outside the polar regions have been credited with causing the formation of an "upside down rainbow".

Normal rainbows are made when light penetrates raindrops and re-emerges out the other side in the same direction but the inverted types, known as circumzenithal arcs, are caused when sunlight bounces off ice crystals high in the atmosphere, sending the light rays back up.

This picture was reportedly captured on camera by astronomer Dr Jacqueline Mitton near her home in Cambridge last Sunday.

She said: "I've never seen anything like it before - and I'm 60.

"The conditions have to be just right: you need the right sort of ice crystals and the sky has to be clear.

"We're not sure how big an area it was visible over, but it was certainly very impressive."

A spokesman for the Met Office confirmed the inverted rainbows are occasionally spotted in British skies.

He said: "It is convex to the sun and is formed by refraction in suitably-oriented ice crystals and may show vivid rainbow colouring, as in this case."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.j ... bow116.xml
 
More clouds (with pics):

The cloud with no name: Meteorologists campaign to classify unique 'Asperatus' clouds seen across the world
By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 1:05 AM on 01st June 2009

Whipped into fantastical shapes, these clouds hang over the darkening landscape like the harbingers of a mighty storm.
But despite their stunning and frequent appearances, the formations have yet to be officially recognised with a name.
They have been seen all over Britain in different forms - from Snowdonia to the Scottish Highlands - and in other parts of the world such as New Zealand, but usually break up without producing a storm.

And some experts believe the stormy weather phenomenon deserves its very own classification.

Experts at the Royal Meteorological Society are now attempting to make it official by naming it 'Asperatus' after the Latin word for 'rough'.
If they are successful, it would be the first variety of cloud formation to be given a new label in over half a century

'It is a bit like looking at the surface of a choppy sea from below,' said Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, who identified the cloud from photographs sent in by members.

'We try to identify and classify all of the images of clouds we get in, but there were some that just didn't seem to fit in any of the other categories, so I began to think it might be a unique type of cloud.'
He added: 'The underside of the clouds are quite rough and choppy. It looks very stormy, but some of the reports we have been getting suggest that they tend to break up without actually turning into a storm.'
The Royal Meteorological Society is now gathering detailed information for the days and locations where the asperatus clouds have been seen in an attempt to understand exactly what is causing them.

Officials will then apply to the UN's World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva to have the new cloud type considered for addition into the International Cloud Atlas, the system used by meteorologists across the globe.
Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive of the RMS, said: 'There would probably need to be quite a lot of heat around to produce the energy needed to generate such dramatic cloud formations.

'They are quite dark structures so there must be a lot of water vapour condensing in the cloud.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... world.html
 
It's June...so it must be snowing: Great British summer goes from sweltering to shivering in just a week
By Colin Fernandez
Last updated at 2:18 AM on 06th June 2009

Five days ago we were flocking to the beach, queueing for ice-creams and slathering on the sunscreen.
Yesterday, we were shivering in summer's first dusting of snow. Yes, snow.
After the hottest spell of the year so far, sleet and snow swept in across northern parts of Britain while the rest of the country also cooled down considerably.

The Cairngorms in Scotland were the chilliest, with temperatures falling to zero while the Pennines and Cumbrian fells managed a mere 3c (37f).

Even by British summer standards, that is a remarkable weather turnaround.

In the Cairngorms, two inches of snow meant visitors were able to build a rather surprised- looking summer snowman.
And in the Pennines, snow was clearly visible on peaks above 2,300ft.

'It was already a chilly day before heavy rain falling across the Cumbrian fells and the north Pennines helped to lower the temperature sufficiently for the rain to turn to sleet, and then to wet snow,' said meteorologist Stephen Davenport from the Meteo Group weather forecasters.

etc...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ummer.html
 
Hi folks. This probably isn't the best thread to post the article below, but it caught my eye as it's a beautiful hypothesis - Gaia again, I suppose.
Grey sky research

Richard Hollingham
Presenter, Frontiers

Clouds are not as pure as they look

On the edge of an east London rooftop stands an increasingly bedraggled man. Arms outstretched, the rain lashes at his face and cascades down his beard onto sopping clothes.

In each hand he holds out a dish containing tiny metal crucibles; he grins as the raindrops ping against the containers.

Just another day at the office for University of East London scientist Bruce Moffett and the perfect weather to investigate the biological properties of rain.

The idea that bacteria in the clouds cause rain might, at first, rank as one of the more bizarre scientific theories.

However, over the past 25 years a small group of scientists has been studying the role bacteria in the clouds might play in our weather and, with papers published in leading scientific journals, the evidence that they're right is beginning to stack up.

"It takes something like a quarter of a million rain drops to make one litre," Moffett shouts to me through the wind.

Fortunately we don't need a litre. "I've got to make sure I have a raindrop in each." And then it's back to the lab to see what's in there.

Ice makers

Before rain can fall - at least in temperate climates - the water in clouds has to freeze.

But - and you may not believe this - sometimes, water doesn't freeze at 0C. Pure water will not freeze until -40C, and clouds rarely get that cold.

So to get water to freeze you need some help. A catalyst such as soot or dust will do the trick but if you want water to freeze at relatively warm temperatures, say around -5C or -6C, bacteria turn out to be the best "ice nucleators".

Cindy Morris, a plant pathologist at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture in Avignon, has identified a particular bacterium, Pseudomonas syringae, which is extremely effective at making water freeze.

In her lab she takes a tube of water, cooled to -6C (and not frozen), and puts in a single drop of bacterial culture. Within about two seconds, the water has turned to ice.


Bacteria found in crops may make the best "ice nucleators"


It's an impressive demonstration. "There's nothing magic about it," laughs Morris. "You can't break the laws of physics."

Pseudomonas syringae is found on the leaves of plants. By forming ice, the bacteria damages cell walls, releasing nutrients that it can then feed on.

But these organisms can easily get carried off by the wind and, once airborne in the clouds, pull off the same trick and persuade water droplets to freeze. At least that's the theory.

"It's a big question," admits Morris. "Are they involved in the events that lead to rain formation? Because if they are - these bacteria are the products of agriculture - does agriculture have any consequence for the amount of rain that could be formed?"

Rain makers

This theory of a natural cycle between crops and clouds is one of the most exciting ideas to emerge in this new science of what is sometimes called bioprecipitation.


Could planting the right crops be a tool to control rain?

Morris has a series of experiments underway to try to demonstrate, beyond question, that these bacteria can be carried into the air. Proving that would at least complete part of this scientific jigsaw.

So if - and it's a big if - these scientists can prove that biological particles play a significant role in rainfall, might it be possible to manipulate the process?

David Sands, professor of plant pathology at Montana State University, suggests that without the right crops, there won't be the rain.

"In Darfur, or even in Australia, where they haven't had rain, we could do the wrong thing by not controlling our overgrazing, by not growing varieties of wheat or barley that can support these bacteria," says Professor Sands.

Crops to change the weather? Perhaps that researcher standing on the roof in the pouring rain isn't so crazy after all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8097966.stm
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I'm not too sure we should use the idea to deliberately change the weather...
 
I'm currently sitting through one of the strangest thunder storms I've ever seen. If I was superstitous I'd think it was the end of the world. For the last couple of hours the sky behind where I live was a dark grey, then about half an hour ago the first rumble of thunder was heard. Now all hell as broken loose. Hail the size of a 20p piece and torrential rain has reduced visibility to about 50 feet.
 
Heatwave forecast triggers the first UK alert over health fears
Met Office uses government warning system to put hospitals on standby for a rush of heatstroke cases

Mark Townsend and Euan Ferguson guardian.co.uk,
Saturday 27 June 2009 20.54 BST

Hospitals were put on high alert today as the Met Office issued its first ever heatwave warning, designed to signal impending extreme weather events. Temperatures are forecast to reach 33C this week and it is thought that the UK could be placed on the highest level of the government's Heatwave Plan by midweek, a category that denotes a state of "emergency".

As temperatures peaked at 28C in London today the Health Protection Agency began monitoring for cases of "heat-related illness", particularly among the elderly, and the NHS prepared for increased admissions.

The country was placed on amber level 2, the "alert and readiness" category in the Heatwave Plan, meaning there is a 60% risk of high temperatures being reached in at least one region on consecutive days and the intervening night.

Met Office experts expect level 3 to be reached early on Monday and level 4 possibly by midweek. Level 4 is the highest rung and in effect denotes a state of emergency. The government defines this as when a "heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside health and social care, such as power or water shortages, and/or where the integrity of health and social care systems is threatened".

Met Office forecaster Tim Thorne said: "This is the first time we have released a heat warning since we introduced the system a couple of years ago. It is designed to allow the NHS to plan for increased admissions and ensure it does not buckle under the strain. They can get their plans in place and ensure they have the space and manning to deal with an increase and notify other organisations such as the military."

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/2 ... met-office
 
Sod's Law
Editorial The Observer, Sunday 28 June 2009

Buy a kite and the wind dies; book a skiing holiday and it stops snowing; spend £80m putting a retractable roof on your Centre Court and the sun comes out. Call it Wimbledon's Law: if the weather can spite you, it will.

Last year, rain interrupted the most exciting final ever. In 2001, it ruined Henman's chances of winning a semi-final. In 1982, 10 out of 13 days were all but lost to rain. This year, nothing! It isn't fair. The only solution is to provoke a downpour by planting Sir Cliff Richard in the Royal Box. Or, just for once, pray for the heavens to open. We want to see this expensive new toy in action. :D

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -editorial
 
Just had a phone call from my golf instructor, telling me not to bother tonight as the weather's horrendous over there - cold, heavy rain, possibly thunder.

It's warm and sunny here, 13 miles away. :shock:
 
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