Weather thread

[RickyDean]

17 minutes ago, mizapf said:

Weather is getting better again ... well, April. The rapeseed is out.

 

That is a beautiful picture, nice and peaceful, Michael

[+OLD CS1]

Tornado came through town this morning, right across the TCC (Tallahassee Community College) campus.  Power is knocked out in that area, FSU sustained damage to the baseball stadium and the circus' tent is gone.

 

We do not get these often, so I am sure, even in the light of damage, we are counting our blessings.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2024/05/10/leon-county-under-tornado-warnings-as-severe-storms-sweep-across-area-tallahassee-weather/73638607007/

[+Ksarul]

On 4/27/2024 at 11:41 AM, mizapf said:

Weather is getting better again ... well, April. The rapeseed is out.

 

Canola, for those in the land of round doorknobs. . .

[Gary from OPA]

We just had like 6 coronal mass ejections from that sunspot AR3664. We're getting auroras for the important parts of America (and probably most of Europe). So, go outside tonight for a once in 170 year treat!

[+mizapf]

1 hour ago, Ksarul said:

Canola, for those in the land of round doorknobs. . .

Isn't that just the name of a popular brand for rapeseed oil? Used to avoid spelling out a name that happens to share four letters with another term that refers to sexual violence, not even by etymology but by simple chance?

 

 

[+mizapf]

6 hours ago, Gary from OPA said:

We just had like 6 coronal mass ejections from that sunspot AR3664. We're getting auroras for the important parts of America (and probably most of Europe). So, go outside tonight for a once in 170 year treat!

Wow, KP8. When I was in Northern Finland in January 2023, we hoped for KP5 or 6 (and clear skies).

 

They announced visible auroras for regions of Germany as well. Note that you will only see red to violet lights which are created much higher in the sky than the green ones that you see in polar regions. The reason* is that the lower green lights are hidden behind the horizon.

 

(* not for Flerfs obviously)

 

(Edit: We do have green light as well - the intensity must be insane!)

[+OLD CS1]

8 minutes ago, mizapf said:

not even by etymology but by simple chance?

This is enough to cause the faint-hearted to experience certain visceral effects.

 

Anyway, I always knew (may be wrong, whatever,) that canola oil is rapeseed oil processed specifically for food use.  There are a number of canola oil brands, but the name itself is a generic product.

[+Ksarul]

36 minutes ago, mizapf said:

Isn't that just the name of a popular brand for rapeseed oil? Used to avoid spelling out a name that happens to share four letters with another term that refers to sexual violence, not even by etymology but by simple chance?

 

 

This one resulted in an interesting classroom discussion while I was teaching English at the University of Kaiserslautern about 30 years ago. One of the students wanted to know what Rapsöl was in English. Canola wasn't a thing yet, so the direct translation at the time was Rape Seed Oil. I wrote that on the blackboard and underlined the word rape, explaining to the class that this was the only positive use of that word in the English language. One of the more quiet students spoke up to ask what the non-positive use was. I looked across the room and calmly told her the word would be Vergewaltigung in German. She was a bit shocked--but then the whole class realized that I carefully explained the meaning of one of the more not-nice words in English, at which point I had to explain the meanings of half a dozen other not-nice phrases and words that the students had run across but couldn't find in their dictionaries.

[+mizapf]

Not sure, but does it really make sense to point out a mere coincidence of letters?

 

If you never told the students about this coincidence, no one would have asked, since Raps and rapeseed is an obvious and easy-to-learn relation. I, for my part, never thought about the first four letters in isolation before you mentioned that a while ago (when I posted a picture of a field of rapeseed some years ago). But I feel that I did not gain anything from that knowledge. It's like a red herring.

 

It reminds me of a discussion in German that feminists in particular have been bringing up for decades - the pair "herrlich" (splendid) and "dämlich" (stupid). While it is true that "herr-lich" and "Herr" are related (an expression of honor towards a man, a bit like "Your Splendor"), the words "Dame" (lady) and "dämlich" are not etymologically related at all; Dame is from French (< madame), while "dämlich" is of Germanic root, related to "dumm" (dumb). Nevertheless, this is repeatedly brought up as a proof of sexism in the language.

[+mizapf]

Aurora visible over Germany right now. I have some clouds above, but below them there is a green shimmering light.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Guess I can't complain......I reside in the Okanagan Valley, warmer than what most non-Canadians would expect. 

Hitting some highs next couple of days. Here is our month.

Celsius 

Fahrenheit

Edited May 10 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[+mizapf]

Even better.

[+mizapf]

OK, this one's really nice. I hope you're also lucky during the next nights.

[+OLD CS1]

1 minute ago, mizapf said:

OK, this one's really nice. I hope you're also lucky during the next nights.

Beautiful.  I am nowhere near this stuff, but I know of a couple of webcams which should be in good enough position to catch something.

[OX.]

We never get this shit in the North East England UK, but tonight :-

 

 

Unseasonably warm weather for May as well, were all going to die I tells yer.

[+OLD CS1]

19 minutes ago, OX. said:

Unseasonably warm weather for May as well, were all going to die I tells yer.

[atrax27407]

Shades of "The Day of the Triffids".

[RickyDean]

Here's our area southeast Ga.

[Gary from OPA]

[+OLD CS1]

14 hours ago, RickyDean said:

Here's our area southeast Ga.

SE GA??  Holy cow!  Then there was a chance for me to see it last night.  If I read NASA's page correctly, tonight will be more intense and should extend even more southward.

 

EDIT: Apparently, the aurora was visible in the Keys!

[RickyDean]

50 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

SE GA??  Holy cow!  Then there was a chance for me to see it last night.  If I read NASA's page correctly, tonight will be more intense and should extend even more southward.

 

EDIT: Apparently, the aurora was visible in the Keys!

Get somwhere in the dark preferrably not around street lights or bright porch lights and look northward. Maybe your backyard may be a perfect spot.

[+OLD CS1]

4 hours ago, Gary from OPA said:

I dunno... some of those Mexican weather girls could tell me I am going to die in a hell storm of hurricane-driven fire and I would be okay with it.

[+mizapf]

Kp8/9, but nothing to see here. The Bz vector is bad (+10).

 

The Bz vector is the field component of the interplanetary magnetic field in z direction (up/down, taken the orientation of the Earth north pole as up and the south pole as down). When the vector points up, the field lines of that magnetic field and of the Earth magnetic field diverge (like the same pole of two magnets, N vs. N, S vs. S). When the IMF flips the orientation in z direction (caused by solar wind turbulences), the fields couple and attract each other (N-S or S-N). Then the particles race down toward the Earth's atmosphere and we can see aurorae. This may happen at any time.

 

[Gary from OPA]

Meanwhile, in my neck of the woods this meme is correct...

[+OLD CS1]

The official word from NOAA and NWS, we had three tornadoes on Friday, two of which converged.  The combined EF-2 power of that one then swept past me about 1/2 mile to the south.  I was in the EF-1 wind damage zone.

 

I have not seen any concrete word on whether this one touched down or if it remained aloft, but it did cause a good bit of damage for about a 30 mile path nevertheless.