What's the weather where you are?
- Thread starter Maia
- Start date
Here in Southwestern Pennsylvania (USA), we just started yesterday what is being called the longest heat wave in years, with the potential to set record highs. Temperatures in the mid to high 90s (deg F) and triple digits with heat advisories every day, and severe thunderstorms possible. We are being warned of possible electrical outages due to increased power consumption (air conditioners) and warned of heatstroke, etc. Activities are being cancelled and postponed.
I can remember as a kid, the temperature maybe got up to 90 one day during the summer, and it was a big deal. Now, every day, this early in the summer and in this northern area?
I can remember as a kid, the temperature maybe got up to 90 one day during the summer, and it was a big deal. Now, every day, this early in the summer and in this northern area?
I've lived here for 8 years and this is the longest actual spring I've experienced here. The snow on the mountain tops usually stays until nearly July. It will be interesting to see how long it stays this year. As for the Mother Ship, I'm glad it's over -------> there.
It looks like it will be "fun" in Moscow tomorrow. Well, let's see.
https://tehnowar.ru/475427-«Rekordn...noptiki-predupredili-o-nepogode-v-Moskve.html
Завтра в Москве похоже будет "весело". Что же, посмотрим.
We have had some spells of torrential rain in NSW, Australia although its not a deviation from last few years and seems to have become the norm. Also, the last few mornings have been around 2-3 degrees C which is similar to last year but the winter is in full swing. Let’s see if there are any surprises in store. I do notice a lot more people are falling sick for longer durations and sneezing/coughing in the trains.
That was the main blow of the disaster in Moscow. It looked impressive, but something serious didn't seem to happen. From the window of my own apartment, I saw how gusts of wind battered the trees and broke off a branch from a maple tree. It is quite a living branch, 3-4 meters long and 4-5 cm thick. It must have been a considerable force, and therefore I do not exclude that trees could have fallen in some places. I think that nothing serious will happen anymore, but according to forecasts, the danger persists until 22 hours, i.e. another 8 hours. People post different shots, including fallen trees.
Вот и прошел основной удар стихии в Москве. Выглядело это впечатляюще, но чего то серьезного по видимому не произошло. Из окна собственной квартиры я увидел, как порывами ветра потрепало деревья и отломила ветку с клена. Вполне живая ветка, длиной метра 3-4 и толщиной 4-5 см. Это должна была быть немалая сила и поэтому я не исключаю, что в некоторых местах могло повалить деревья. Я думаю, что ничего серьезного уже не будет, но по прогнозам опасность сохраняется до 22 часов, т.е. еще 8 часов. Люди публикуют разные кадры, есть и упавшие деревья в том числе.
Weontv
Jedi
I think we have had more rain in the last few months in Vancouver, BC than we have had in the last year.
Last weekend there were torrential downpours to the point where several areas of the city were flooding.. fast forward to today, and its 30 C with a heat warning in effect.
Reminds me of this statement
Q: How does global warming cause glaciers?
A: Increases precipitation dramatically. Then moves the belt of great precipitation much farther north. This causes rapid buildup of ice sheets, followed by increasingly rapid and intense glacial rebound.
Noticing more and more precipitation increases all over the world, in conjunction of the bizarre weather anomalies.
Seems to me the ice age is approaching closer and closer.
Last weekend there were torrential downpours to the point where several areas of the city were flooding.. fast forward to today, and its 30 C with a heat warning in effect.
Reminds me of this statement
Q: How does global warming cause glaciers?
A: Increases precipitation dramatically. Then moves the belt of great precipitation much farther north. This causes rapid buildup of ice sheets, followed by increasingly rapid and intense glacial rebound.
Noticing more and more precipitation increases all over the world, in conjunction of the bizarre weather anomalies.
Seems to me the ice age is approaching closer and closer.
Metrist
The Living Force
In SC Alaska, we are having a nice solstice. It is about 77°F (25°C) and a little breezy. It's been pretty nice for the last week, except a day or two. Normally wind isn't so notable, since it is usually calm, but this year, it seems more noticeable.
One day this week - after several hot days - it cooled even though it was sunny. It was windier than normal too.
We had a nice sun rainbow the other day as well.
Sunrise 4:20am, sunset 11:42pm.
One day this week - after several hot days - it cooled even though it was sunny. It was windier than normal too.
We had a nice sun rainbow the other day as well.
Sunrise 4:20am, sunset 11:42pm.
XPan
The Living Force
Stockholm, Sweden
1- 23 June 2024
June this far in Stockholm has been decent in our city, in average a notch warmer than normal. There was a coolish period in the beginning of the second week; with brief thunderstorms and short downpours - as well foggy weather in the morning hours (often clearing up after sunrise) The weather then gradually sifted back into the warmer realms above 20°C. Despite the overall somewhat unstable weather, we still got 10 hours sunshine per day in average - which is less compared to the previous 5 years in June.
An unremarkable, pleasant summer month with normal rainfalls (30-35 mm) this far. The sunrises have gotten more colorful lately, with the opportunity to capture really beautiful images.
Photographical journey
1-22 June 2024 in Stockholm
• 5 June 2024 | Sunrise at the metro depot in Southern Stockholm
• 12 June 2024 | Majestic but brief thunderstorms over Stockholm
• 13 June 2024 | Foggy weather in the morning
• 15 June 2024 | Again foggy weather in the morning at Stockholm Gullmarsplan...
• 15 June 2024 | the same view but one hour later. (Every time I turn around the trains on the Skanstull bridge, it gives me a very wide view from north to south)
• 15 June 2024 | Still the same morning - while on way home; the weather is clearing up
• 16 June 2024 | heavy looking clouds over the east coast (seen from Gullmarsplan) early morning at 04.31
• 16 June 2024 | Like a cycle - one hour later the weather clears up into bright sunny views
• 16 June 2024 | In the evening at 22.32 at sunset near the Rågsved metro station - a dramatic burning sky
• 17 June 2024 | the pleasure of watching many different plants; their shapes, colors and changes early morning.
• 19 June 2024 | shower & thunderstorm time - albeit nothing dramatic or longlasting really. I heard perhaps 1-2 thunders... and that was it.
• 19 June 2024 | Nevertheless - the showers made visually a dramatic display
• 22 June 2024 | Midsummers Night. It doesn't get any darker than this.
• 22 June 2024 | Midsummers Day in the Old City / New Slussen of Stockholm. With 18°C and increased cloud cover, a bit on the chilly side.
1- 23 June 2024
June this far in Stockholm has been decent in our city, in average a notch warmer than normal. There was a coolish period in the beginning of the second week; with brief thunderstorms and short downpours - as well foggy weather in the morning hours (often clearing up after sunrise) The weather then gradually sifted back into the warmer realms above 20°C. Despite the overall somewhat unstable weather, we still got 10 hours sunshine per day in average - which is less compared to the previous 5 years in June.
An unremarkable, pleasant summer month with normal rainfalls (30-35 mm) this far. The sunrises have gotten more colorful lately, with the opportunity to capture really beautiful images.
Photographical journey
1-22 June 2024 in Stockholm
• 5 June 2024 | Sunrise at the metro depot in Southern Stockholm• 12 June 2024 | Majestic but brief thunderstorms over Stockholm
• 13 June 2024 | Foggy weather in the morning
• 15 June 2024 | Again foggy weather in the morning at Stockholm Gullmarsplan...
• 15 June 2024 | the same view but one hour later. (Every time I turn around the trains on the Skanstull bridge, it gives me a very wide view from north to south)
• 15 June 2024 | Still the same morning - while on way home; the weather is clearing up
• 16 June 2024 | heavy looking clouds over the east coast (seen from Gullmarsplan) early morning at 04.31
• 16 June 2024 | Like a cycle - one hour later the weather clears up into bright sunny views
• 16 June 2024 | In the evening at 22.32 at sunset near the Rågsved metro station - a dramatic burning sky
• 17 June 2024 | the pleasure of watching many different plants; their shapes, colors and changes early morning.
• 19 June 2024 | shower & thunderstorm time - albeit nothing dramatic or longlasting really. I heard perhaps 1-2 thunders... and that was it.
• 19 June 2024 | Nevertheless - the showers made visually a dramatic display
• 22 June 2024 | Midsummers Night. It doesn't get any darker than this.
• 22 June 2024 | Midsummers Day in the Old City / New Slussen of Stockholm. With 18°C and increased cloud cover, a bit on the chilly side.
Thank you for letting us know, @XPan. In the future, would you please cut back on the number of photos, though. They are large and we have found that there are quite a few people who have trouble loading pages that have multiple tweets and photos in them and are asking everyone to cut back on those things. 
XPan
The Living Force
Please let me explain about my photos, Nienna
When I upload (any) photos here at the Cassiopaean forum, I always make sure they are light in "weight" / highly compressed (often 60-150 kb only). I've always practiced this at the forum, right from the start when i came here in 2020.
Also; I never upload larger photos than what a screen can show; e.g. never exceed high 1200 pixels wide images, which too, keeps the file size exceptionally small / light. If a page slows down, it ain't my photos.
In comparison: When you take a single photo / screen capture photo and upload it directly to the forum - it often weights a whopping 1+ Mb / 1000 Kb. Now, several of such images in an entry - that surely slows things down (as well tweets, YT etc, of course).
Additionally, when I use for example Facebook images (often showing volcanic eruptions other people have taken) - I never upload the original file sizes (which often exceed 0.6 MB), and make them always smaller (max 1200 px wide) as well compress them to below 100 kb (60-150 kb). Only detail rich images can occasionally reach 250 kb, true.
Do my photos here slow your page down ? If yes, I will upload fewer of course.
When I upload (any) photos here at the Cassiopaean forum, I always make sure they are light in "weight" / highly compressed (often 60-150 kb only). I've always practiced this at the forum, right from the start when i came here in 2020.
Also; I never upload larger photos than what a screen can show; e.g. never exceed high 1200 pixels wide images, which too, keeps the file size exceptionally small / light. If a page slows down, it ain't my photos.
In comparison: When you take a single photo / screen capture photo and upload it directly to the forum - it often weights a whopping 1+ Mb / 1000 Kb. Now, several of such images in an entry - that surely slows things down (as well tweets, YT etc, of course).
Additionally, when I use for example Facebook images (often showing volcanic eruptions other people have taken) - I never upload the original file sizes (which often exceed 0.6 MB), and make them always smaller (max 1200 px wide) as well compress them to below 100 kb (60-150 kb). Only detail rich images can occasionally reach 250 kb, true.
Do my photos here slow your page down ? If yes, I will upload fewer of course.
XPan
The Living Force
Learning
Maybe it would be better to learn/teach forum members to make light jpg images instead of uploading heavy png screen dumps directly from their mobile phones. The difference in weight is profound. As the latter png’s are often 10 times heaver (1.5 MB) compared to a well compressed jpg file (150 kb).
Those png files / screen dump photos
It ain’t always the visual size of an image that defines how slow images load. It is the weight of the file. Screendumps from mobile phones are always heavy, at least 1.5 MB. Imagine a thread page with 15-20 of such screen dumps, you end up with having to download 30 MB. That makes a page possibly slow to load.
Many members here appear using direct uploads of screen dumps via their phones. Of course then the pages are slow to load !
I am aware that it is more fiddly to deal with file conversion and resizing images on a mobile phone compared of doing so on a computer
Telegram to the rescue
When i for example have no access to a computer but wish to upload a photo to the forum - i first send the photo (26 MB) to myself via telegram. Save that copy from there, into my “Filmroll” on my phone. Then i use that light weight and resized photo of 114 kb / 0.1 MB in order to upload it to the forum.
That is in truth - a tiny fraction of the original filze size.
Voilá
Maybe it would be better to learn/teach forum members to make light jpg images instead of uploading heavy png screen dumps directly from their mobile phones. The difference in weight is profound. As the latter png’s are often 10 times heaver (1.5 MB) compared to a well compressed jpg file (150 kb).
Those png files / screen dump photos
It ain’t always the visual size of an image that defines how slow images load. It is the weight of the file. Screendumps from mobile phones are always heavy, at least 1.5 MB. Imagine a thread page with 15-20 of such screen dumps, you end up with having to download 30 MB. That makes a page possibly slow to load.
Many members here appear using direct uploads of screen dumps via their phones. Of course then the pages are slow to load !
I am aware that it is more fiddly to deal with file conversion and resizing images on a mobile phone compared of doing so on a computer
Telegram to the rescue
When i for example have no access to a computer but wish to upload a photo to the forum - i first send the photo (26 MB) to myself via telegram. Save that copy from there, into my “Filmroll” on my phone. Then i use that light weight and resized photo of 114 kb / 0.1 MB in order to upload it to the forum.
That is in truth - a tiny fraction of the original filze size.
Voilá
meadow_wind
Jedi Council Member
Thanks for explaining and sharing your tricks! This is a great way to make things more efficient.
A suggestion: adding those (or similar) explanations/instructions to the welcome rules and/or a pinned post might be beneficial.
I've always compressed all the pictures I post to the forum, but I'm not sure I did it properly (as compressed as yours). I'll look into it in the future. I'm on a computer and I use Photoshop. However, there are many options available to achieve the same result.
XPan
The Living Force
I think that is a good suggestion 
meadow_wind; to add that information to the welcome section - so that new members can learn to understand that slimming down images here at the forum is highly welcome, contributing to smoother browsing experience / avoiding a slow down a thread to load.
Using a computer like you do, does indeed make things a lot easier; to compress images in for example Photoshop [-> File -> Export -> "Save for Web (legacy)" ] or though a wealth of other apps, which can do similarly.
Graphics
often (but not always) get the smallest file size when saving them in GIF or 8-bit PNG's. Those two formats actually preserve the quality of graphs, while maintaining small file sizes (as long not too many details are present in the graph). The very strongly compressed JPG on the other hand, creates fuzzy lines, where colors start to "bleed", smooth tones get "stripy".
Yet, even a slightly fuzzy graph, can be good enough to read at the forum - so, perhaps it really that crucial - yet good to know what does what.
First is a PNG-8 while the second illustration shows 25% JPG compression. Notice how fuzzy the strong JPG compression affects the quality of the graph.
Actions in Photoshop
When i resize a photo that is let's say 2500 pixels wide, you can create "Actions" (In which you "record" a set of steps, which henceforth will be executed automatically every time you push an "Action" button)
It allows me for example to resize any photo down to either 1200 pixels or (700 px if it is a vertical photo) - while also adding a white frame around it with a thin darker line to make it look nicer. Those things can be beautifully done in Photoshop and help, when you deal with many photos without having to repeat every step manually over and over again.
Compressions
There is no rule how much or little to compress. For images I like to upload to the forum, i try to avoid that it degrades too much visually, while keeping an eye on the desired filesize (I try to keep it below 150 kb or 0.15 MB) When using an already strong compressed image from the internet, then it doesn't really matter that the compression is strong (but will still keep the already small size small).
Naturally, strong(er) compressions should only be used when posting something online - but not for storing good photos in your private library - because compression throws away image info, that you never can get back (for example when you wish to change an image in terms of color balance, contrast, etc - which doesn't work well with too compressed images).
Screendumps / Screenshots
The reason that PNG screenshots are to heavy in file size - is twofold:
Everything is saved as 24-bit PNG (higher bit density) file - but at the same time also creates large dimensions (Read; much larger than what is needed here at the forum) The dimensions from one screen dump test on my iPhone - which dependent on your mobile phone's actually screen size - results into 1284 x 2772 pixels (= 3.6 MB) file. Albeit my iPhone says in this case - its a 8.4 MB file !
That's a lot.
So, why are mobile phones doing this ?
Well, because the modern screens are often made with very high resolution (many pixels). In the Apple world it is called "Retina". In order to achieve that crispy (non-jagged) look on screen, a screenshot (or photo or anything you look at) - everything is (in reality) much larger in dimensions. It is like you take a huge photo, press it into a smaller surface - but on a high very resolution screen, that photo looks unusual crisp and detailed. Therefore the screenshots you make, are much larger in both size as well dimension.
meadow_wind; to add that information to the welcome section - so that new members can learn to understand that slimming down images here at the forum is highly welcome, contributing to smoother browsing experience / avoiding a slow down a thread to load.
Using a computer like you do, does indeed make things a lot easier; to compress images in for example Photoshop [-> File -> Export -> "Save for Web (legacy)" ] or though a wealth of other apps, which can do similarly.
Graphics
often (but not always) get the smallest file size when saving them in GIF or 8-bit PNG's. Those two formats actually preserve the quality of graphs, while maintaining small file sizes (as long not too many details are present in the graph). The very strongly compressed JPG on the other hand, creates fuzzy lines, where colors start to "bleed", smooth tones get "stripy".
Yet, even a slightly fuzzy graph, can be good enough to read at the forum - so, perhaps it really that crucial - yet good to know what does what.
First is a PNG-8 while the second illustration shows 25% JPG compression. Notice how fuzzy the strong JPG compression affects the quality of the graph.
| GIF file: 64 kb | PNG-8 file: 32 kb | PNG-24 file: 98 kb | JPG 90% file: 140 kb | JPG 25% file: 34 kb |
Actions in Photoshop
When i resize a photo that is let's say 2500 pixels wide, you can create "Actions" (In which you "record" a set of steps, which henceforth will be executed automatically every time you push an "Action" button)
It allows me for example to resize any photo down to either 1200 pixels or (700 px if it is a vertical photo) - while also adding a white frame around it with a thin darker line to make it look nicer. Those things can be beautifully done in Photoshop and help, when you deal with many photos without having to repeat every step manually over and over again.
Compressions
There is no rule how much or little to compress. For images I like to upload to the forum, i try to avoid that it degrades too much visually, while keeping an eye on the desired filesize (I try to keep it below 150 kb or 0.15 MB) When using an already strong compressed image from the internet, then it doesn't really matter that the compression is strong (but will still keep the already small size small).
Naturally, strong(er) compressions should only be used when posting something online - but not for storing good photos in your private library - because compression throws away image info, that you never can get back (for example when you wish to change an image in terms of color balance, contrast, etc - which doesn't work well with too compressed images).
Screendumps / Screenshots
The reason that PNG screenshots are to heavy in file size - is twofold:
Everything is saved as 24-bit PNG (higher bit density) file - but at the same time also creates large dimensions (Read; much larger than what is needed here at the forum) The dimensions from one screen dump test on my iPhone - which dependent on your mobile phone's actually screen size - results into 1284 x 2772 pixels (= 3.6 MB) file. Albeit my iPhone says in this case - its a 8.4 MB file !
That's a lot.
So, why are mobile phones doing this ?
Well, because the modern screens are often made with very high resolution (many pixels). In the Apple world it is called "Retina". In order to achieve that crispy (non-jagged) look on screen, a screenshot (or photo or anything you look at) - everything is (in reality) much larger in dimensions. It is like you take a huge photo, press it into a smaller surface - but on a high very resolution screen, that photo looks unusual crisp and detailed. Therefore the screenshots you make, are much larger in both size as well dimension.
