Yeah, yeah, after the heat wave it's been pretty spectacular on the east coast!

Most vivid rainbow I've ever seen (and, no, the pic does not do it justice). Also the only one where I could see the entire thing, end to end. Was byooful. And I didn't have my camera.

Attachment 45134

sub-megapixel phonecam pic, moving at ~35mph, while driving

Even HDTV (only the American version) does not work at that speed.

Upstream from me they got another 6.5 inches of rain last night, and over South Jersey the lightning was so intense they were warning people to stay indoors. :unsure:

Grav - tis beautiful.

Rain and storms holding off here, thank goodness.
Am no longer really affected by the heat because I leave early-early, and work in an air-conditioned store above a chiller counter. I'm only hot when I leave, but it takes me 25 minutes to walk home and then I can just collapse.

Because I've been working overtime I'm tired enough to crash out between 19.00-21.00. I pretty much sleep through until 05.00 if I don't count Diz-related wake-ups. But he's been tolerable recently; his system's out of whack with my new schedule. He can't work out why the food lady is up in the middle of the night. That was his job.

Sorry, back to the weather.
Selfishly I want the rain to hold off.
Walking in will be thoroughly miserable in the rain.
And I'm beginning to appreciate the turning of the seasons. Since I started training it's already getting lighter later. I need to get Dads to check the overhead light in my room, which hasn't worked since I tried to clean it back in June.
It's going to start making a difference SOON.

Thankee, ma'am.

It hailed here.

Back in June.

For about a minute-and-a-half.

You could almost see the hailstones.



Yeah, I'm bored as hell.

George Jr said the grid is antiquated. We have done nothing replace that antiquated grid. And so another hot summer with no major failures of an 'obsolete' grid. As pockets of electric shortages occurred, the 'antiquated' grid identified those problems and averted them in advance. Many TLRs and load relief actions occurred this summer. And none made news. Because an antiquated grid was smarter than George Jr.

And because they did a hell of a lot of tree trimming a couple years ago.

If you ever have to remove a trimmed/broken limb from a powerline, always grab it (if you must) above the powerline.

Electricity runs downhill.

ugh.

it's not even 9 am and already it's 78 deg in the house, and it's raining. sweaty, muggy, miserable.

Hey, if you have clear skies Saturday morning,
get outside before sunrise... it's crowded over there in the East.

The flooding in northern Colorado has stranded my daughter in Fort Collins. She was supposed to fly to DC today but all bridges are closed/damaged and all roads and highways closed. She lives in a neighborhood on slightly higher ground than the evacuated areas, and so far is safe. I'm fervently hoping the rain doesn't persist until Sunday, as it's forecast to. If the dam at the Horsetooth Reservoir fails, it'll be very bad.

Eta - the reservoir isn't close to full and the dam is fine. That's a relief.

Today is September 13, 2013. The high for my piece of KY today was 73.

Up here in Can a da it was a breezy 54 degrees...bbrr

Today it (the high) was 71.

:jig:

Today's high 23C. The low? 3. Now I know why adults wear zip off pants in Michigan. (They shouldn't, but they do)

We went camping on Saturday, and even with me advising everyone to pack enough warm clothes because it was going to be 50F in the evening and when we wake up Sunday morning, I was the only one who had a nice heavy weight fleece. They were all uncomfortable when the sun went down. Fortunately, I had thrown in a few fleece blankets for extra warmth in the tents, so everyone wrapped up in those. Hard to believe it was 90F just a couple days ago.

Excellent little camping trip though. Good sleeping weather.

The first winter storm of the season is just off the Oregon coast now, and in 24 hours
will be hooking around to hit the shore 5-6 inches of rain predicted overnight !
It looks as tho it will come ashore right at my G-son's place in Tillamook (lower right).

Attachment 45503

This will be another test of the multi-year program of the
Army Corp of Engineers, the State, the County, and the City.
The area has been completely re-surveyed via satellite and traditional means.
Roads have been re-routed and drainages have been cleared and "improved".
Laws and regulations have been strengthened to convince landowners
to do their part in keeping the channels flowing freely.

Wow ! What a storm.
The winds and rain came through in 2 "blows", but it is subsiding now.

Even our local rivers are showing the effects (70 miles from the coast).
Here is the Sandy River that drains the west side of Mt Hood
into the Columbia River just on the eastern edge of PDX.

Attachment 45513


The old record (at this guage) was 10.5 ft back in 1921.
Last night it peaked at 10.86 ft

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A big storm on the last weekend of the month
helped make for the wettest September on record in many parts of Oregon.

The National Weather Service reports the 6.21 inches recorded through Sunday
in downtown Portland was the most since record-keeping began in 1872.

The Oregon coast received (Astoria) 10.51 inches

Fortunately, this rainfall came at the end of summer with little snow in the mountains.
But still... the run-off is now hitting the coastal and Willamette Valley rivers.

Attachment 45523

Look out Kansas... it's heading east !

Sunny in the sixties, perfect Fall weather for leaf-turning and all manner of outdoor nonsense.

Battoning down the hatches for the storm tomorrow (Sunday) night.
Nowhere near as ferocious as storms in other parts of the Cellar, but predictions suggest damage, localised flooding etc.

I'll be okay tomorrow morning (esp after an extra hour in bed, clocks go back, yay!) but Monday morning I'll be leaving the house while it is still stormy, at 06.00.

And to think Mum wanted me to give Abigail my waterproof jacket to protect the twins if it was rainy?! Errr, no - she is going to Great Yarmouth on holiday in October. She has 2 18 month olds, not me. And her partner, parents and brother will be there. I willl be walking to and from work, you know, in my customer facing job. I have suitable clothes. For me.

It's not a competition for affection. But I think I'm the more deserving anyway. So I win. I keep my cagoul and showed Mum how to get some off Amazon, she was made up.

PDX does not have fireflies... maybe they are present in other areas of Oregon.
But here, something interesting happens in autumn when the maple leaves have fallen.

The lady glowworms start crawling about under the leaves looking for friendship.
During the day, they are very hard to see, they snuggle under small rocks.
But at night, if you let your eye become accustomed to the dark, you can find them.

Oh, they do give a delicate light.

Attachment 45824

But in daylight, not so handsome...

Attachment 45825 - Attachment 45826

Of course, all the kids know this one...

Are you Brits staying battened down? I hear it's high winds over there.

We got nothing. Ppft. Boring old Vale.

It's pretty blustery up here in the village. But nothing like what's happened in some of the South.

But yeah. High winds and sideways rain.

Spookie, spook day. Also very damp.

Thackray:

The rain is on the mountainside,
The beast is in the silent meadow,
The north countryside is patiently waiting again.
Blackbird is dumb in the juniper,
Lapwing shivers in the dripping thicket,
Down in the stone-faced town, one door opens.

For though the weather blow wild
I see the shepherd step up to his moorside;
And in despite of the cold
The poor farmer going to his meadow below,
Going to his meadow below.

When the birch tree is agonised
And when the little river is tormented,
The land on its knees, the house on its hunkers,
There is a figure moving by the wall,
Leaning for breath upon a stony shoulder,
His eyes to the skies seldom lifted.

For though the weather blow wild
I see the shepherd step up to his moorside;
And in despite of the cold
The poor farmer going to his meadow below,
Going to his meadow below.

North-Country countryside,
The grim indifference of your nature,
Most other men would turn, stumbling homeward.
But this one is a different kind:
He knows the pinches of an older hunger;
A greater storm than yours in his heart rages.

For though the weather blow wild
I see the shepherd whistling on his moorside;
And in despite of the cold
The poor farmer singing in his meadow below,
Singing in his meadow below.

At first I thought this was a poem of William M. Thackeray ... but I should've known you would never misspell a name, f3.

As much as I've seen, so often I realize I've seen nothing.

That's lovely. Very evocative of the country round here.

He was your countryman, Dana.

@ Ortho, I've put some of his songs on that disc for you...

Aye. I love Jake Thackray. I think I may have posted the odd toob clip on here.

He always reminded me of my English teacher at high school. Different accent, but similar manner.

Couldn't find a vid of him performing North Country Song, but a kind toob person has uploaded the song from the album:



Always better to see him perform though. There's just something about the guy.

This is one of my favourites:

Molly Metcalfe



And on a lighter note, but also a favourite:

The Bull

I just realised something. He looks like someone merged Rowan Atkinson and Peter Capaldi.

Also: cultural note - the Yan Tan Tethera counting system exists in slightly different forms in many areas of the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera

blocked in my country, darn you EMI

Blast!

Just the first video, the other two play.

Just to clarify: the country round here meaning within easy distance from my village. I'm in West Ridings of Yorkshire, and Swaledale is in the North Ridings. Slightly more uncompromising countryside as you move further North. Though the moors near here are pretty bleak (Wuthering Heights country).

2+ inches of snow!

And the home of the original "Frog and Peach" restaurant.

Thank you, foot!

The Baltimore/Chicago football game at Soldiers Field, Chicago,
has been delayed due to a lightning storm.
All the fans in the seating are were asked to move under cover,
and everyone on the field left for locker rooms, etc.

The squares on this radar map were lightning strikes...

The above map of lightning strikes shows both positive and
negative strikes. Here is a brief explanation...

NOAA
National Weather Service

The Positive and Negative Side of Lightning

We got hit with something in Kokomo. I had just picked up my prescription at the Walmart pharmacy, when they started telling customers to go to the back of the store. About 10minutes later we lost the lights and the wind was roaring like a freight train. I left as soon as the tornado warning expired and I saw a lot of damage...roofs and porches blown off, power lines and some trees down and lots of damage to commercial buildings. It seemed the damage followed a path, but it looked really scattered, not as if a tornado blasted through.

Glad you're all right, Pico! That line of storms is incredible. I'm sitting in a small hotel near the Pittsburgh airport, waiting for the storms to come through. I just hope M'town doesn't get hit too hard - my cats are there. I know, small concern in the scheme of things, but they depend on me.

Sorry to divert the weather. Weather thread I mean.
We sell Swaledale Cheddar. I don't like it. Nice enough cheese, but I list it as one of my "dirty" cheeses. Got quite heavy a rind on it and that means an old heave-ho on the cheese wire, and scatterings of powder over everything. Okay when it's quiet, but if the next person is buying St Agur or any of the lovely sticky blues it involves the waiting customer waiting longer for a proper clean-up first (as opposed to selling back to back cheddars for example, which only require a quick wipe).

The 'rents paper is predicting doom and gloom and snow flurries as of tomorrow.
I expect to see none here. Boooooooo.

Yeah....'pparently we have a fortnight's snow and ice to look forward to.

Wish I could send you ours. It is way less fun when you have to walk a dog three times a day. And when there are very few flat roads to walk on.

Is the Gold Dust (or whatever that Steak House was called) still in operation?

It was chillier today I admit.
Clear blue skies but no wind. Leaving at 06.00 skews my opinion though.

Q: do I really have nifty range of outer-weer or do I just not compliment enough?
I have people both in store and on the street stop me to praise my hats and coats. I can't remember ever doing that to others.

Oh, was icy on the little bridge to get to the store. Slippy-icy. Must remember. Stupid constructions. WHY can't paving stones and wooden walkways be made frost-free?! Am entering the period of terror of falling.

If temp drops into single figures I have to stop moaning about it.
Because then it's not due to my medication any more, and everyone will be in the same boat.
I need to ditch the fashion glow-in-the-dark skelly gloves and break out my hot pink Arran sheepskin ones. Am already wearing the handknitted socks when I wear boots.

I've only been here for 11 years and never heard of it. Neither has my husband.

Golden Corral, maybe? There's one of those in Kokomo.

Kokomo is fun to type.

Yeah, I'm pretty easy to entertain sometimes.

The tornado lifted the roof, blew the window in, blew the shade up an out, and dropped the roof on it. :eek:

Bruce is that your house?

It was somewhere west of the Chrysler plant and south of the Kokomo mall.

Also did the Golden Corral there on the south side off 31. While waiting for the steak, I pigged out on the many salsd bars. Suddenly a steak arrived, I had forgotten about the steak - ate too much.

I also remember a place where you catch the catfish, then have it cooked.

Is Denny's still there?

The people there also loved chicken fried steaks.

It was the first venue where I found tornado shelters throughout the building I believe marked by blue lights.

Update: found it-
Gold Rush
Is it still there?

No no, I'm snug in eastern PA. That was a picture I gleaned off the web, which I thought was unusual.

One of the things I love about my country is that the weather is rarely lethal.

That's amazing.

Tornadoes are so freaky. This picture is right up there with the famous pictures of the stalks of straw blown through a telephone pole.

The pinpoint path of destruction always amazes me as well. One house in a tornado's path will be gone, completely leveled to the ground, and the house next door will appear untouched. At least with flooding, you know that all your neighbors got equally screwed.

Or a redneck divorce...

Detailed pictures for Hurricane Andrew in Time Magazine demonstrated why. Look closely. An aerial photo showed the entire block leveled. Look closely at houses across the street. Not one destroyed.

If its roof is not properly attached, it will lift off. Then the entire structure has been compromised - will easily fall like stacked cards. Those houses across the street apparently had hurricane straps. Those roofs did not fly. So those houses remained intact.

Visit a house being framed. Atop each stud are two horizontal 2x4s. It is called the plate. Observe outside corners. Do those 2x4s overlap? Or just butted together.

If corners are not properly constructed, then the house will fall like cards. If those 2x4s are not overlapped, then butted walls easy separate. Also half way up corner 2x4s MUST be blocks. So that intersecting walls are also joined half way up (4 feet). If these required construction practices do not exist (maybe half of homes are not done this way), then the house is an easy victim of any severe storm. And so across the street (on the edges of those Time Magazine pictures) was another block of houses that remained intact.

A devil is found in those details. Since I don't entertain the devil, then god recently visited me. But that's another topic.