What's the weather where you are?

[Scottie]

This ha s caught my attention today: Lightning Strikes 14 People In California. A 20-year-old man died.
_http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/27/california-lightning_n_5625404.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

Don't know if it's an ordinary occurence in that part of the world.

I just posted this article in the Suggestions for SOTT (did a search first, but this thread didn't pop up )
I don't know if its typical for the beach in LA, but lightning seems to be getting more frequent and more deadly all over. I kinda freaked out when learning lightning can jump thru windows, electric outlets, plumbing and what not. Always thought the house was a "safe zone". Makes me wonder if it'd ricochet off mirror as well.

Lightning can do "weird" things. But it's not so weird when you think about it.

Fun sort-of-facts about lightning:

- Average of 40 lightning strikes on the planet every second (mind you, that's normal, and the times now are NOT normal)

- Average power in a lightning strike: about 1 TW (terawatt - trillion watts, or 1,000,000,000,000 W). Your average modern nuclear reactor can output many hundred MW, up to 1 GW... that's 1000 times less power than your average lightning strike at max reactor output.

- Voltage of lightning strikes is usually on the order of tens of millions up to a few hundred million volts. Voltages this high will exceed the breakdown voltage of many insulators, including glass. If you want to be really safe, encase your house in diamond, which has a dielectric strength 200 times higher than window glass. :D

- Typical current in a lightning strike varies, but can be 10,000 A (amps) up to 300,000 A. Your average power outlet is usually on a 16A or 20A circuit breaker. So, with that much current flowing through pretty much anything, you get massive instant heating, explosions, and generally catastrophic failure of the conducting material. Keep in mind that at a high enough voltage, pretty much anything will conduct electricity. Once the conductive path is established, the huge currents flow and cause the "kaboom".

So, that's just a "mainstream" look at lightning strikes. Now add in Electric Universe stuff, and things we don't understand about electricity, and I reckon things are gonna get waaaAAAAY more interesting!

Added: Interestingly enough, Tesla patented a different kind of lightning rod. Usually, lightning rods are vertical spikes with a sharp pointed end. The idea is to "attract" the lightning and conduct it into the earth. Tesla said this was an idiotic premise. He said that since lightning usually "connects" with the ground like so (note the blue streamer reaching up towards the red streamer):

That a better idea would be to make a lightning "rod" like so:

The idea is more or less that the rounded, not-pointy, not-sharp-edged design will result in a gentle disperson of charge that will actually prevent the formation of the blue streamer that would have connected to the red streamer from the cloud, thereby "repelling" lightning strikes on the rod/building. Pretty clever idea, actually! If you are surrounding by large trees or other structures that are taller than your house, about the dumbest thing you could do is install a standard lightning rod... unless your house is made of solid copper or gold or something. ;D

 

[LQB]

Lower 50s this morn in mid-south Tenn - way below normal for this time of the year. This is the second time this has happened this month.

 

[Breton]

It is very unusually hot in Finland, and has been lasting an unusually long time: I just checked the thermometer near 1:30 pm and it shows 31 degrees on the shaded side of the house. I have been pouring sweat as I have been carrying moving boxes for a couple of hours.

Sun is relentlessly shining as it has been for quite a long time, with no relief, except for just a few sporadic brief cloud bursts of rain.

However there is severe thunderstorm warning in effect for later today in town of Salo.
(coincidentally, there is also one in effect where my kids live, 380 km North of here, hmmm...)

Many Finns are struggling a bit, since the houses are mainly built for cold weather, with only narrow openings beside the windows to let air through, and air conditioning is not that common, so especially the older folks are getting worn out. My 80+ neighbor lady finally complained! So much for Finnish stiff upper lip! :)

I think that mainly people are trying their best to enjoy this unusual summer weather, because summer is so brutally short anyways.

EDIT: Interesting bit for you Southerners -- Length of day is 17 h 6 min today.

 

[Anthony]

Unusual amount of rain in Croatia today and yesterday as well. So far we
hardly had a summer.

 

[Persej]

Thanks for the fun facts about lightning Mr. Scott. :)
Would you recommend any of those power surge protectors? In this moment I don't think I have enough money for the diamond encapsulation. :D

Unusual amount of rain in Croatia today and yesterday as well. So far we
hardly had a summer.

That's certainly bad for your tourist season.

 

[Chad]

NW England’s heat wave ended about 3 days ago, with an hours worth of seriously heavy rain at about 2AM - it was so loud my mother commented on it the next morning as it woke her up; I had to pop outside to check it out because it was so tropical! It was warm with with a spot of sunshine the next day so i think we were lucky - the other areas of the UK have been experiencing flooding.

I think being on the west side of the isle means the systems that build up on the Irish sea, for the most part, get dumped a little further inland - i may be wrong but it seems such.

The last 2 days have been a comfortable 15C but really overcast with little sunshine getting through, the odd really dark cloud but nothing in the way of storms.

 

[suelarue]

Broke a record this morning for low temperatures in Atlanta. We hit 59 degrees F where the previous record low on this date was 61 degrees back in 1936. The normal low is 71 degrees.

 

[SeekinTruth]

After a couple of weeks of being pretty hot with occasional torrential rain and thunderstorms, last couple of days cooled off after another torrential rain and strong thunderstorm a couple of nights ago. Now overnight lows are around 12C.

 

[Persej]

This is interesting. How often does this happen?

SMATSA controls the sky of Croatia

Belgrade - flight control of Serbia and Montenegro took over the air traffic control over the whole of Croatia and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina due to bad weather over Croatia.

Director of Flight Control of Serbia and Montenegro Radojica Rovčanin told that due to bad weather there was a complete system failure of air traffic control over Croatia and 45 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is controlled by Croatia, so that job took SMATSA.

"Absolutely all aircrafts in the airspace of Croatia remained in those two hours without navigating from the ground, so they rushed to the aid of other providers. We intensified the shifts, a large number of people returned to work. We helped them a lot, this day is a big accomplishment," said Rovčanin.

Rovčanin added that he was informed by Croatian colleague in a phone call that the country is slowly establishing a system, but that SMATSA still has "intensified shifts" and is ready to continue to hold "everything under control".

SMATSA performs air traffic control over Serbia, Montenegro, part of southern Adriatic sea and 55 percent of upper airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

_http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2014&mm=07&dd=30&nav_id=882841

 

[Anthony]

Saw this on the news today as well. The PTB would have a heck of a job
covering up another plane's disappearance.

 

[Human]

This is interesting. How often does this happen?

SMATSA controls the sky of Croatia

Belgrade - flight control of Serbia and Montenegro took over the air traffic control over the whole of Croatia and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina due to bad weather over Croatia.

Director of Flight Control of Serbia and Montenegro Radojica Rovčanin told that due to bad weather there was a complete system failure of air traffic control over Croatia and 45 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is controlled by Croatia, so that job took SMATSA.

"Absolutely all aircrafts in the airspace of Croatia remained in those two hours without navigating from the ground, so they rushed to the aid of other providers. We intensified the shifts, a large number of people returned to work. We helped them a lot, this day is a big accomplishment," said Rovčanin.

Rovčanin added that he was informed by Croatian colleague in a phone call that the country is slowly establishing a system, but that SMATSA still has "intensified shifts" and is ready to continue to hold "everything under control".

SMATSA performs air traffic control over Serbia, Montenegro, part of southern Adriatic sea and 55 percent of upper airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

_http://www.b92.net/biz/vesti/srbija.php?yyyy=2014&mm=07&dd=30&nav_id=882841

Apparently, very rarely, if ever since records are kept.

The front came from Adriatic, flooded city of Zadar and nearby islands (where the amount of rain in several hours almost reached the tenfold average amount for month July and some parts of roads were "taken away"), created two waterspouts near island of Čiovo (near Trogir), caused heavy hail in city of Sisak and caused "chaos" in Zagreb where, near airport in Velika Gorica, it apparently poured cca 1/4 of yearly precipitation level in few hours (53 L/m2 in 1/2 h). There was also a mini-tornado (dust-devil; "pijavica" in Croatian) pulling goals and benches at Zagreb city stadium Maksimir.

Some videos and images can be seen here (sites are in Serbian and Croatian):
_http://kontaktradio.com/2014/07/potpuni-mrak-nad-zagrebom-zadar-pod-vodom-ciklon-stize-u-srbiju/
_http://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/jaka-kisa-potopila-zadar-na-molatu-bujica-odnijela-cestu---346062.html

 

[Yozilla]

Air traffic control had lost power due to flooding in it's facility, following torrential rain in capital of Croatia in Zagreb. Power was back after approx one hour. Melissa (cyclone is that named) it to blame... There was even tornado like waterspout near Orebić, Dalmatia few days ago, recorded by some brave Hungarian tourist: _https://www.youtube.com/embed/6dnA9AusqMc

 

[Nević Nenad]

Belgrade, Serbia, rainfall with thunders last evening (the left overs from Croatian super strom :) ) but nothing too much or too strange. Photos stolen from friend's facebook profile. Thunder over the city of Kragujevac.

_https://www.facebook.com/aleksandar.dunkic?fref=ts

Beside that, the weather in the last days are more or less usual for this period of the year. Maybe some colder than previous years. BUT, there is more rain and especially much more thunders and lightnings, even without any rain.

I also noticed the smell in two cities in which I live. There is some strange garbage like smell all around. Something symbolic :) (or maybe it is just me )

 

[Scottie]

Thanks for the fun facts about lightning Mr. Scott. :)
Would you recommend any of those power surge protectors? In this moment I don't think I have enough money for the diamond encapsulation. :D

Surge protectors protect against minor surges on the power line (sometimes including those induced by nearby lightning), but they won't do anything against a direct lightning strike.

 

[Chad]

2 things: Another UK heatwave predicted in August and a 'rhombus' shaped cloud spotted 30th July. Pics attached.

I've snipped the article and kept only what i thought was relevant, it is from a tabloid paper. It's interesting because they speak with Piers Corbyn and it appears to be a jet stream issue - how will this affect the US? it's already had record cold? - and also i expect if the UK is experiencing this, Europe may expect something similar?

As for the cloud, it may just be a contrail, though perhaps the changes in the atmosphere kept it in place for longer than we would expect.

SHOCK WEATHER FORECAST: Hottest August in 300 YEARS on way as jet stream BOILS Britain
An "explosion" of unstable air high in the atmosphere has created an "unusually elongated” jet stream which is poised to drag SCORCHING highs in from the Continent and Africa sending thermometers soaring to dangerous levels around the UK.

The entire country will swelter in the highest summer temperatures for more than 300 years, putting even The Great Heatwave of 1906 firmly in the shade.

The warning that Britain now faces an even WORSE blast comes just days after scientists revealed "highly unusual activity" on the surface of the sun which sent huge solar flares spiralling towards earth.

Official Government figures reveal July is on course to be one of the warmest and sunniest on record.

The average temperature so far this month is 61.3F (16.3C), 2.3F (1.2C) above the long-term average according to the Met Office.

Piers Corbyn, forecaster for WeatherAction, said a colossal swathe of roasting air is poised to flood in from Spain and the Sahara Desert.

He said: “This is due to the jet stream which is going to stay unusually elongated keeping high pressure to the east.

“We are going to get a steady flow of air from Spain, Africa and the Sahara with the extreme heat also triggering some thunder storms.[...]
Forecasters say the UK heatwave in August will be the hottest in 300 years. Forecasters are warning of record UV levels in August as the 'super high' temperatures hit [GETTY]

Mr Corbyn added: “We are looking at an average temperature which could be the highest since central England records began in 1659.”

We are looking at the highest temperatures since records began in 1659

The UK is braced for more thunder and lightning in August as the weather heats up again. The August heatwave is likely to trigger yet more enormous thunderstorms across Britain [PA]

“However, this could activate some heavy and potentially thundery showers in places as it does so.”
_http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/493781/SHOCK-WEATHER-FORECAST-Hottest-August-in-300-YEARS-on-way-as-jet-stream-BOILS-Britain

From the 30th:

Rectangular cloud spotted in Devon

By North Devon Journal | Posted: July 30, 2014

People took to social media after spotting a perfectly shaped rectangular cloud in the Devon skies.

The straight-edged formation was seen in Exeter and images were posted on Twitter .

One picture of the rhombus-shaped cloud was snapped by Philip Mussel - and another put online by Laura Gilchrist, an employee at the Met Office.

Laura used her @weathergil to tweet on July 26: "So this evening, over Exeter, there was a rhombus-shaped cloud".
Related content

A spokesman for the Met Office said the cloud had been formed by a jet engine moving through the a pocket of air with the "right conditions".

He said: "This cloud has been formed from the exhaust of a jet engine - known as a contrail.

"In this case an aircraft has moved through a pocket of air with the right conditions for the contrail to form, meaning there is just a short section.

"The wind is blowing at right angles to (ie across) the contrail, and due to the right atmospheric conditions this is causing the ice crystals in that trail to spread outwards - creating this rectangular shaped cloud.

"It's unusual to see the cloud edges quite so well-defined as in this example but the processes involved are very common."

_http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Rectangular-cloud-spotted-Devon/story-22016806-detail/story.html#uYwkDi8qLG3qAFgi.99