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Posted

The weather today has been cold, but clear. In a bit of a tangent, the predominating news, both local and CNN national, has been on the rescue effort for the 3 lost mountain climbers on Mt. Hood. I have watched about 6 hours straight now of the inane babble and speculation carried out by the news anchors, and I find all the attention to it a waste of resources.

 

Having spent a lot of time in the mountains, both alone and in parties, I understand the thinking that if I were lost or injured I would hope someone came looking for me. However, these 3 guys were out for a jaunt and knew the risks and the rescue effort for them has lasted a week now and cost 10's of thousands of dollars in resources. That they are being portrayed as some kind of heroic brave figures (evidenced by the air time they are receiving as well as comments to this effect) is in my view a dishonor and disgrace to our military personnel, firefighters, police, and other public servants who are risking their lives for more than a lark.

 

Update: One climber confirmed found dead in a snow cave. Stay tuned for video of crying family memebers. :sherlock:

 

Tomorrow is forecast as clear and cold. :offtopic:

Posted

Who of you are expecting to see a "white Christmas" this year? Of course, we won't have that in South Africa unless something severe upsets the world's weather patterns! I'm looking forward to warm weather and sunny skies. :)

Posted

Oddly enough, NJ is quite warm right now, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. (about 10 Celcius) while usually at this time of year it's between 20 - 30 Fahrenheit (-6.5 to -1 Celcius). I'd complain that we're not going to have a white Christmas, but I like the warm weather too much :).

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

It's been raining for 2 days straight, a really strange event in Texas where it doesn't tend to rain for more than 20 minutes straight... Now, temperatures are falling, water everywhere below freezing and continuing to drop.

 

:hihi::snowflake: :snow: :snowflake: :winter_brr: :snowflake: :rolleyes: :snowflake: :winter_brr: :snowflake: :snow: :snowflake: :winter_brr:

 

 

Not good conditions. Schools closed, businesses closed, and it's only going to get worse. The thing to remember is that nobody down here is used to this weather, nor is there infrastructure in place to deal with it (salt for roads, sand trucks, and the like)... 96 EMS calls since midnight... that translates into roughly 6 called ambulances per hour in the Austin Metro area alone...

 

Brrrr.... Looks like I'll have tomorrow off from work as well. You might think that sounds good and all, but it really just means I'll have twice as much to do Wednesday. :D

 

Posted
It's been raining for 2 days straight, a really strange event in Texas where it doesn't tend to rain for more than 20 minutes straight... Now, temperatures are falling, water everywhere below freezing and continuing to drop.

 

Contrast that with yet another dry 40oC day here in South Australia. It's so damn hot! :weather_hot:

 

It looks like all you North Americans are getting the rain we need! :eek:

Posted

It's not too bad if outside with a snifter of cognac and a cigar. :shrug:

 

 

It's since turned to sleet... This is fun. Reminds of being a kid in New York and Connecticut.

 

 

 

The weather outside was frightful, but the fire...was so... delightful... :shrug:

Posted
It's snowing... in AUSTIN!! :D

 

Wow, I thought that virtually never happens.

 

 

It is very dry in S. Oz

 

Getting a bit scary

 

Victoria is on fire

 

Not nice

 

Poor Victoria. Yesterday they had 40oC, bushfires all over the place and no electricity. There may be a thunderstorm for them today :lightning

 

Adelaide is so nice and cool now. Rain is forcast for today and I can see grey clouds gathering :confused:

Posted

It is V dry here.

 

The footpath grass is dying

 

Level 5 restrictions are looming- 130 L PP Per Day

 

 

PS

But you can fill up your (4,000+L) pool if you pay extra.

You get a some watering-cans full (for $5) if you plant a tree.

Makes it hard to believe anyone is taking this seriously

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

According to the bees, the drought in Oz may be breaking.

 

We already have massive flows in the Outback "Channel Country"

(Which the bees predicted ?!)

 

Now on the E coast bees are cranky, aggressive and collecting lots of bee glue a gummy substance that helps waterproof hives

 

We live in hope the next month will tell

 

Bee behaviour points to more rain for central Australia. 29 January 2007. Alice Springs News

Australia : NT : Alice Springs

Monday, 29 January 2007. 13:07 (ACST)

Bee behaviour points to more rain for central Australia

 

It seems more rain is on the way for central Australia after recent falls of up to 250 millimetres.

 

Apiarist Keith Brooke says his bees are indicating that further falls are coming.

 

He says they are always accurate and are still pretty jumpy.

 

"Still got all the stores down in the brood nest, if the rain finished they'd just start pulling the stores out and moving it up onto the super or the outside combs and brood nest," he said.

 

"They haven't started doing that yet, they are just sitting on it, meaning there's more rain out there. I reckon we'll get 75, 80 millimetres out of it in February and March.

He says his bees are showing signs of rain coming

 

SA Country Hour - 05/05/2004: Unorthodox forecasts tip rain

 

And meanwhile in the Channel country (The miiddle bit of OZ)

Record rains may fill Lake Eyre

PRINT FRIENDLY EMAIL STORY

PM - Tuesday, 30 January , 2007 20:16:42

Reporter: Nance Haxton

LISA MILLAR: It's normally a huge saltpan but something quite spectacular may about to happen to Lake Eyre; it could end up filled with water.

 

Heavy rain in outback South Australia and Queensland's channel country have started to spill into the lake, but the surge from Queensland's Diamantina River will take at least a month to make its way downstream.

 

Tourist operators are already fielding phone calls from people wanting to see what's become just a once-in-a-decade event.

 

As Nance Haxton reports from Adelaide.

 

NANCE HAXTON: Lake Eyre is usually a lake in name only, nothing but a dry crust covering a vast expanse in South Australia's outback.

 

When it does fill with water, an estimated 400 million tonnes of salt dissolves, making it ten times saltier than seawater.

 

This natural phenomenon then starts a chain reaction that brings life back to the dry outback, as Lake Eyre specialist and University of New South Wales environmental scientist Professor Richard Kingsford explains.

 

RICHARD KINGSFORD: You just get this incredible cascade of events both from the microscopic level right up to the sort of landscape level.

 

There are literally millions of native fish species that will start to, I guess breed up over that flood plane.

 

Some of those flood planes will be 60 kilometres wide.

 

And essentially what then happens is that those fish will move up and down the river and make for a huge food web for all sorts of different types of water birds. From fairly small water birds like sand pipers, right up to pelicans.

PM - Record rains may fill Lake Eyre

Posted
According to the bees, the drought in Oz may be breaking.
Yeah, but you've exported it to California! :)

 

In January, San Francisco got less than half an inch (actually about a centimeter) of rain, when we normally get ten times that amount...Luckily the last two years have been way over normal, so the reservoirs are full, but we had a brush fire in Malibu...in the dead of winter!

 

Topsy turvy,

Buffy

Posted
Yeah, but you've exported it to California! :)

lol

Please blame Mr and Mrs. El-Nino

 

In January, San Francisco got less than half an inch (actually about a ce

 

Topsy turvy,

Buffy

Last month we had half the normal rainfall. Sydney Dams are down around 45%. Local dams 14%.I am keeping my plants alive with bathwater.

Many country areas in NSW and Vic are in dire straits almost running out of drinking water. Most of NSW is "Drought declared" whatever that means. (I think it means the farmers can get some Government help.)

The Murry-Darling River (never much more than a creek by world standards) has stopped flowing in many places.

This drought has certainly been a Wake-Up call for Australia.

 

The Channel Country should be amazing to see in a few weeks with flowers, vegetation, birds, frogs etc. First serious rain there in 10 years. It is an area probably as big as the UK

Channel Country Bioregion

 

The Channel Country Bioregion is one of few bioregions that span several Australian states. Its 28,885,384 hectares incorporate an area in the NT, a large section of southwest Qld, the northwest corner of SA as well as a small section in the far northwest of NSW.

Channel Country Bioregion
Introduction:

Cooper Creek flows for about 1,400 km through the Channel Country of western Queensland and into northeastern South Australia. Its drainage area is around 296,000 km2 of cattle-grazing country and desert.

Nice pics here:-

Untitled Document

 

 

The "bee"-predicted, drought break, is next month. We will see.

 

PS

PM - Record rains may fill Lake Eyre

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