Stormy Weather

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

sun is shining but it is cooler ....an idyllic Sunday in the bluebells at Rutland Water ... [walk through the woods from the Barnsdale Car Park] ...

[Serial_Apologist]

We do get tornadoes in this country, but lacking the USA's heat sources and geographical characteristics they're not of anything like the scale of the one that hit Oklahoma. Yet.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yet.

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, if the trend of the last 3 years for the jet stream to proceed in huge zig-zags is to replace the previous predominance of straight west > east movement, we will continue to experience more exaggerated versions of the types of weather than those to which we are used.

I notice that Oklahoma is well clear of the cold front that produced the tornado - which is now approaching Nashville, with a long line of storms reaching north-north eastward from that point.

[vinteuil]

We do get tornadoes in this country, but lacking the USA's heat sources and geographical characteristics they're not of anything like the scale of the one that hit Oklahoma. Yet.

... the Daily Wail of course thinks that Britain is a world-beater when it comes to tornadoes -

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-421156/UK-highest-tornado-rate-world.html

[Serial_Apologist]

Past efforts have been made to disrupt tornado formation, including firing cannon balls at the vortex. However, following an intriguing documentary shown on one of our channels back in the late 1990s, I'm surprised that more efforts has not been directed in research and practical solutions.

The documentary was made, iirc, by a Canadian scientist, who sadly died shortly after making it. Following on from experiments in seeding clouds with ice particules in order to make them produce rain in drought-stricken areas - sometimes with disastrous consequences inasmuch that these efforts led to flooding in a number of situations, and the collapse of a dam in America - it had been found that storms judged to have had a high potential for serious hail damage had been weakened as a consequence of ingesting sulphur particles convected from industrial operations under the storms' path. From what I remember, rain drop size was found to be reduced by the presence of the sulphur, and along with that, the potential for hail generation had been neutralised. This was found to be the case from repeated flights just under the cumulonimbus cloud base, in which sulphur seeding had been carried out, and we were shown dramatic footage of aeroplanes being flown straight into intense active thunderstorms over South Africa having sulphur trailed which was instantly sucked up into the cloud. The conclusion that was logically deduced was that the process of severe thunderstorm generation resulting in tornado formation could be literally undercut by this manner of interference - although I do not recall any conclusions being drawn as to possible wider knock-on implications as regards possible minimising of the problem on the local scale leading to exacerbations further down the line.

The programme indicated huge savings to be made, in terms of damage, injury and loss of life, in comparison with the tiny costs involved in cloud seeding in this way.

I wonder if anybody else on here remembers it?

[BBMmk2]

I wish Odin would get his act together!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I wish Odin would get his act together!!

The great god Thor grew aweary of his life amongst the immortals - the battles, the drinking, the Wagner: it had become nought but an eternal ennui that depressed his storm-ruling spirits. At a loss, one day, he chanced to look down upon the world of the mortal beings, and was astonished to see that, for all their tiny lifespans, wracked with cares and diseases and disappointments, humankind seemed - happy. Puzzled, the Thundergod descended to the world of men and, disguised as a wanderer (using garments he had found in the back of his father's wardrobe) travelled the forests and citadels of the mortals, seeking the answer to the riddle "What makes people happy?" Some told him "riches"; but these brought him no joy. Others said "Conquest", but defeating these insects was no solace for the immortal warrior of Aasgard. Still others said "duty", but the helping of the sick and infirm was too easy for the god. One lone voice suggested "Brass bands", and this, indeed, came close to reviving the god's zest in life - close, but not close enough, and, ultimately, the son of Odin wandered the forests in an even deeper mire of dejection tthan before.

Until ...

... just as he was deciding that all was fruitless on this world, he encountered a beautiful young human, gathering wood for her supper - she was very poor, and couldn't afford food. The girl looked up and saw the young, forlorn-looking god and was as instantly smitten with him as he was with her. Helping her to gather wood, the god also felled an Ox with a bare arm, and they feasted that night, before retiring to her humble boudiour where they made love for the whole of the night.

And so the god knew what it was that made the mortals happy.

But, as the sun rose the next morning like a great fried egg in the eastern sky, the Thundergod began to feel the first pangs of guilt at his behaviour: he had taken advantage of this woman without even telling her his name! As she stirred in wakefulness, her eyes caught his and were lit with a glow of adoration that only exacerbated the god's feelings of guilt: he simply had to confess his identity to her.

"My dear," he spoke, "there is something about me that you should know!"

Hearing the anxious tone in his voice, the woman gazed at him with a look of such deep concern that the god was moved to blurt out the rest of his sentence quickly:

"I am Thor!"



There was a moment's pause ...

... before the woman's frown melted into a huge, conspirational smile as she said

"Tho am I, but wathn't it thuper!"

[EdgeleyRob]

Doctor to patient "big breaths".
Patient to doctor "yeth,and I'm only thixthteen".

Turning into a lovely sunny afternoon here.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Doctor to patient "big breaths".
Patient to doctor "yeth,and I'm only thixthteen".

A Webernian riposte to my Wagnerian epic, Edgy!

Turning into a lovely sunny afternoon here.

Here in the Pennines, too.

[marthe]

sun is shining but it is cooler ....an idyllic Sunday in the bluebells at Rutland Water ... [walk through the woods from the Barnsdale Car Park] ...

Rutland Water! Never saw the bluebells there but have fond memories of spending September 1976 working at the excavation of a Romano-British farmstead in what is now a car park overlooking the reservoir. I was fascinated by a road over on the other side that just plunged straight into the water. We were on the Whitwell/Empingham side looking out towards Edith Weston, perhaps.

[Flay]

"I am Thor!"

"Tho am I, but wathn't it thuper!"

Brilliant, ferney!

[BBMmk2]

Biggest laugh of the week, Ferney! Thank you!!

[Serial_Apologist]

The great god Thor grew aweary of his life amongst the immortals - the battles, the drinking, the Wagner: it had become nought but an eternal ennui that depressed his storm-ruling spirits. At a loss, one day, he chanced to look down upon the world of the mortal beings, and was astonished to see that, for all their tiny lifespans, wracked with cares and diseases and disappointments, humankind seemed - happy. Puzzled, the Thundergod descended to the world of men and, disguised as a wanderer (using garments he had found in the back of his father's wardrobe) travelled the forests and citadels of the mortals, seeking the answer to the riddle "What makes people happy?" Some told him "riches"; but these brought him no joy. Others said "Conquest", but defeating these insects was no solace for the immortal warrior of Aasgard. Still others said "duty", but the helping of the sick and infirm was too easy for the god. One lone voice suggested "Brass bands", and this, indeed, came close to reviving the god's zest in life - close, but not close enough, and, ultimately, the son of Odin wandered the forests in an even deeper mire of dejection tthan before.

Until ...

... just as he was deciding that all was fruitless on this world, he encountered a beautiful young human, gathering wood for her supper - she was very poor, and couldn't afford food. The girl looked up and saw the young, forlorn-looking god and was as instantly smitten with him as he was with her. Helping her to gather wood, the god also felled an Ox with a bare arm, and they feasted that night, before retiring to her humble boudiour where they made love for the whole of the night.

And so the god knew what it was that made the mortals happy.

But, as the sun rose the next morning like a great fried egg in the eastern sky, the Thundergod began to feel the first pangs of guilt at his behaviour: he had taken advantage of this woman without even telling her his name! As she stirred in wakefulness, her eyes caught his and were lit with a glow of adoration that only exacerbated the god's feelings of guilt: he simply had to confess his identity to her.

"My dear," he spoke, "there is something about me that you should know!"

Hearing the anxious tone in his voice, the woman gazed at him with a look of such deep concern that the god was moved to blurt out the rest of his sentence quickly:

"I am Thor!"



There was a moment's pause ...

... before the woman's frown melted into a huge, conspirational smile as she said

"Tho am I, but wathn't it thuper!"

Much better than my version

[Flay]

a beautiful young human, gathering wood for her supper - she was very poor, and couldn't afford food.

Still chuckling....