Saturday, December 30, 2006

2006 has been eventful,Weatherwise.Some of the "rare" and "Unusual"weather events,given below, that occured during the year 2006 may be of interest to some..Anyway,for me weather extremes keeps one aware of Nature's power and capacity.
A HEAVY storm with hailstones “the size of eggs‘‘ pounded the town of Indwe in the Chris Hani district,South Africa on 26th.Dec..The storm, which lasted for only five minutes, felled telephone poles and street lights, smashed window panes, and damaged vehicles. Some parts of the town still did not have electricity and telephone connections. Buildings affected included Indwe police station and the Emalahleni municipal offices.
“The extremely heavy downpour, accompanied by strong winds gusting at about 120km/h hit the area at about 2.05pm on Tuesday with hailstones the size of eggs." Such a storm had never happened in the area before. “This is VERY UNUSUAL – it was a FREAK."

Jerusalem and the West Bank saw RARE snowfalls on 27th.Dec. night. The extreme weather caused road accidents and several Bedouin were injured as tents collapsed. The Holy Land has seen its first heavy snowfalls since 2004, causing widespread disruption, blocked roads and several injuries. Eight centimeters (3 to 4 inches) of snow fell in Jerusalem.

This year, seven typhoons and seven strong tropical storms have hit the Chinese mainland, including Typhoon Saomai, the strongest typhoon to hit China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, that claimed at least 460 lives. Both the intensity of the disaster weather and the damages caused were "RARE" in the country's history. This spring saw 18 sandstorms in northern China, a RECORD high since 2000

According to figures from the Met Office last month was the warmest September on record in the United Kingdom. The daily mean of 15.4C was 3.1C above the long-term average and smashed the previous record of 14.7C set in 1949. Night-time minimum temperatures proved to be significant with the average minimum across the country calculated at 11.5C, almost a degree above the previous record of 10.6C (1949). In July, the United Kingdom recorded its warmest ever month on record. The average daily temperature (day and night) was 17.8C with the average maximum temperature at 23.1C.

On 7th.Sept.torrential rain in Sydney (Australia) has re-written the record books, with the city experiencing its wettest September day in 123 years. Overnight there was 107mm at Observatory Hill .

Monsoon-related flooding continued across India during August. In Gujarat state, the city of Surat was embattled by flooding.Across the nation, 197 deaths were reported during August 1-9 with 574 deaths since the beginning of the monsoon season in mid-May 2006.

After a four-day heat wave in July, that saw a sharp spike in energy consumption, New York authorities shut down several subway lines over fears of power interruptions. Monday saw 36.6C at LaGuardia Airport - the highest temperature registered since records started being kept in 1948 - and one of the airport's main terminals had to be shut down Tuesday after the power went out.


Hot weather enveloped much of Europe during mid-July, with temperatures surpassing 32C. In Britain on the afternoon of the 19th, temperatures reached 36.5C at Wisley, or the hottest temperature ever recorded in Britain in July. Across Europe, at least 13 deaths were blamed on the heat in Spain, France and the Netherlands.In France , 38C was recorded in the south of the country while Parisians faced a sticky 36C.

Hawaii residents awoke to sun this weekend on 2nd.April,, after more than 40 days of downpours that left a wake of havoc across the islands and broke records for rain at the wettest place on Earth. About 94 inches of rain were recorded during March at Mount Waialeale, considered the rainiest spot on the planet. The previous monthly record was about 90 inches in April 1971, according to the National Weather Service.

In India, frost was observed in New Delhi for the first time in 70 years on 8th.Jan 2006, as cold air sweeping in from the Himalayas produced a low temperature of 0.2C. On January 16, 1935, Delhi reported -0.6C. There were 146 deaths blamed on cold weather in India since early December 2005. India’s Kashmiri Valley has seen temperatures plummet to -6.3°C, with reports of the Dal Lake freezing in Srinagar City

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Temperatures continue to be above normal throughout India,and Pakistan.As indicated in my last blog.The days are still to cool down and the nights are warmer than usual for this time of the year.The day time temperature map of today shows that the days are warmer throughout India with exceptional warm areas on the borders in the west.
The nights too are warmer than normal,as seen in todays minimum temperature map, in the North West and Central India.The only exception is the North East part and extreme South,where it is a little below the normal.
A "W.D." has just moved across the states of Punjab,J.K.,H.P. and western U.P.after crossing Pakistan.It is forecasted that this will cool the plains of northern and central india,including the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the next two days.A cold spell that may bring down the temperatures by 3-4°c in Maharashtra,from the current levels.

Down South,in the southern hemisphere, ,there has been some unusual weather around in parts of Australia this festive season, and bearing in mind that it is summer there at the moment, it just got weirder still.
Snow fell on Victoria’s Mount Buller and Tasmania’s Mount Wellington on Monday,bringing some Australians a white Christmas! In a country often noted for its beach-based Christmas Day barbeques, snow during the summer is not unprecedented, but is unusual.
Melbourne has had some very wierd and unstable weather!Melbourne had its hottest December day for 53 years on December 10th when the thermometer reached a sizzling 42.1C.This was followed more recently on December 22nd with the warmest December night in 45 years with a minimum temperature of just 27C .On Friday,22nd.,the cooling winds had dropped the temperature to just 19C and the thermometer continued to fall throughout the day, reaching a minimum of 10C.The change continued to be felt during Saturday,23rd. with the maximum temperature reaching 17C quite a significant change to the maximum of 37C achieved on Thursday 21st.
The vagaries of the weather !

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Much of Colorado was left paralysed yesterday as a major storm brought snow and blizzards, closing Denver International Airport.Up to 20inches was forecast to fall in Denver, with 2 feet or more in the foothills to the west.
On Tuesday the storm had made its way through New Mexico dumping up to a foot or more of snow over the higher ground.

Much of Colorado.is reeling as the minimum temperatures dropped.
Alamosa Municipal Airport (2299 m) -27°
Springfield (1335 m) -10°
Colorado Springs City (1881 m) -9°
Denver/Centennial Airport (1793 m) -9°
Telluride Regional Airport (2769 m) -9°
Trinidad Perry Stokes (1756 m) -8°
Denver Intl Airport (1656 m) -8°
Aurora Buckley AirForceBase (1726 m) -7°

In London too,thick fog is continuing to cause travel chaos.The D=day temperature in London was 1°c and the night-3°c.
The winter in the sub continent this year,as yet,a has been very moderate with the days still above normal,and nights just around normal with no severe cold waves..This trend seems to be all over,from the plains of N.India,thru Central and Western India.

This is because the rains from the W.D's this year have been largely confined to the hills of N.India.They have been evasive in the plains of Punjab,Haryana,U.P.and Rajasthan.

But as the frequency of the W.D.'s coming this year has been regular,it is hoped these systems stick to their schedule.The plus side is that there are no "blocking highs"in the path of the systems,hence more such W.D's can be expected in the remaing days of this month and next month.With this ,one can ensure low temperatures
to prevail along with some rain in the plains of north and central India.
Below is a list of some N.Indian cities with;
MAX TEMP (DEG CEL)
DEP. FROM NORMAL
MIN TEMP (DEG CEL)
DEP. FROM NORMAL

NEW DELHI (PALAM)
25
4
08
2

NEW DELHI (SAFDARJUNG)
25
2
09
1

CHANDIGARH
24
2
08
1

SHIMLA
15
4
05
1

SRINAGAR
04
-3
01
3

AMRITSAR AP
21
1
04
-1

PATIALA
23
1
08
1

JAIPUR AP
25
1
09
0

UDAIPUR AP
26
0
10
2
LUCKNOW AP
26
3
12
5

VARANASI AP
27
3
13
4
All the readings are as on 22Dec.and are above normal,except Srinagar.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

MUMBAI SPECIAL

It seems like a long long wait for Mumbai. With winter just refusing to set in, the temperatures remain higher than normal. In fact, here is the surprise, the temperature on 14th.December,this year was 36°c, one of the highest ever recorded at Colaba in its 100 year history. 36°c is 5°c above the normal for this day. Subsequently for the next two days too were high, close to the record, at 34°c.
Now this is surely some sort of a heat spell in December!

Mumbai had only a very brief period, from 8th to 12th when the temperatures actually fell to below normal. Other than those few days, it has remained a warmer than usual December. The first diagram shown illustrates this clearly and the third diagram shows the actual temperatures.

Now compare this with December 2005! The minimum (third diagram), has gone down to almost 11°c! And the blue area in the first diagram is so much more pronounced.

Mumbai has seen some pleasant Decembers in the past. The lowest on record for December at Colaba is 12.8° and at Santa Cruz 10.6°. To reach this level during this year seems impossible.
Already, the heaviest rain in years has fallen in the Gulf region, the result being flow of water in long-dry stream and flooding.
Another big storm has already reached the gulf,and the effect of rain and thunderstorms are set to become widespread Saturday from Saudi Arabia to the middle and northern Gulf and the Gulf states of Kuwayt, Bahrain and Qatar. Two countries Oman and United Arab Emirates, will be on the edge of this storm's heaviest output. U.A.E.will get moderate rain Sunday/Monday and Oman some rain during the same period.

The storm is likely to move east and then pour rain/snow over N.Pakistan by Tuesday/Wednessday and N.India by Wednessday(20th.).

Saturday, December 09, 2006

A renewed spell of rain is headed for southeastern India (northern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh) this weekend -Saturday night and early Sunday. This is much needed after an unusually long dry spell in the midst of the N.E.Monsoon.

Another storm will begin to trigger rains over northwestern Gulf area on Monday into Tuesday. Downpours and thunderstorms are possible in UAE and northern most Oman on Tuesday. Muscat may also get some rain on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, night temperatures have fallen to some extent(though they have now reached normal levels)in North India and Gujarat/Maharashtra region.on the 9th, Amritsar was the lowest in the plains at 4° and Delhi touched 7°. Elswhere in Maharashtra, Nasik and Pune were at 12°. The nights are expected to get much colder in the North after the crossing of the storm coming in from the west. Effectively it should reach 3-5° below normal in the North and Maharashtra from next week.

This map shows the current minimum temperature overall picture of Asia. The yellow area shows temperatures in the range of 15-20° and the green area between 5-10°. The blue is below freezing the purple -10 to -20° and the grey area the coldest, below -20°. Just to know how cold that is, the coldest place in the northern most area of Russia(in the Artic Circle) yesterday was Ojmjakon at -49°.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS: On Dec. 8th through 11th, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars will form a tight triangle in the eastern sky at dawn. All three will fit together in the field of view of ordinary binoculars. (Mars is dim enough that binoculars may be required to see it.) Of special note is the morning of Dec. 10th when Jupiter and Mercury converge within 0.25 degrees of one another. The close, bright pair will be visible to the unaided eye--a fabulous sight in the rosy glow of sunrise.
Finally, a good reason to wake up early!

Best of Luck !

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Last week I had mentioned the storm appraoching from the west,and the result was a fairly good amount of rain and snow stretching from Arabia to India.Places in Arabia got fairly good amounts of rain,and Sharjah getting 67mm is unusual,with various places in U.A.E and Oman getting between 70-90mm of rain,equal to their year's quota.Muscat had heavy downpours too.In Pakistan,rainfall was exceptionally heavy in Islamabad(102mm)in the North,and Karachi getting 67mm,against a normal of 4mm in December.Heavy snow has blanketed the mountains of Kashmir and H.P.

Well,its not over yet.Another low pressure system,milder than the previous one,is tracking along westwards.It is likely to produce moderate(not too heavy)rain in the U.A.E.by Friday.Muscat will be mostly cloudy by Friday.This system will approach Pakistan/India by the 10th.and again produce fairly good rainfall.As the system is less intense than the previous one,the rain may be restricted to the areas north of Sindh in Pakistan,and north of Rajasthan in India.

Maharashtra(and Mumbai),will get colder weather from the weekend.Mumbai should see temperatures falling slightly to 18°and the interiors will have sharper fall in temperature(Pune and Mahableshwar maybe 10°)

  3rd December: