Weather, sea, and ice (past, present, or future — on Earth or elsewhere): discussion

[Randi]

This topic is for sharing interesting information and asking questions!

[Randi]

Other old weather studies:

British Naval Logbooks from the Late Seventeenth Century: New climatic information from old sources (PDF)

Marine Observations of Old Weather (PDF), by Philip Brohan

[Randi]

Not all contributions are required to be excruciatingly edifying...

I thought this might amuse any weather addicts out there!

I've got a rather old paper copy but luckily someone else has already done the hard work and transcribed it

http://www.mileskington.com/The%20Colum ... Scale.html

In a similar vein from an American point of view:

As we approach the winter heating season some people find it difficult to decide just how cold it is based on a numerical weather forecast. As a public service I present the following guidelines

John Dulak


AN ANNOTATED THERMOMETER
60F 15C 289K
Californians put on sweaters (if they can find one in their wardrobe)

50F 10C 283K
Miami residents turn on the heat (if they have a heating system)

40F 4C 277K
* You can see your breath
* Californians shiver uncontrollably
* Minnesotans go swimming

35F 2C 275K
Italian cars don't start

32F 0C 273K
Water freezes

30F -1C 272K
* You plan your vacation to Australia
* Minnesotans put on T-shirts
* Politicians begin to worry about the homeless
* British cars don't start

25F -4C 269K
* Boston water freezes
* Californians weep pitiably
* Minnesotans eat ice cream
* Canadians go swimming

20F -7C 266K
* You can hear your breath
* Politicians begin to talk about the homeless
* New York City water freezes
* Miami residents plan vacation further south

15F -9C 264K
* French cars don't start
* You plan a vacation in Mexico
* Cat insists on sleeping in bed with you

10F -12C 261K
* Too cold to ski
* You need jumper cables to get the car going

5F -15C 258K
* You plan your vacation in Houston
* American cars don't start

0F -18C 255K
* Alaskans put on T-shirts
* Too cold to skate

-10F -23C 250K
* German cars don't start
* Eyes freeze shut when you blink

-15F -26C 247K
* You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo
* Arkansans stick tongue on metal objects
* Miami residents cease to exist

-20F -29C 244K
* Cat insists on sleeping in your pajamas with you
* Politicians actually do something about the homeless
* Minnesotans shovel snow off roof
* Japanese cars don't start

-25F -32C 241K
* Too cold to think
* You need jumper cables to get the driver going

-30F -34C 239K
* You plan a two week hot bath
* The Mighty Monongahela freezes
* Swedish cars don't start

-40F -40C 233K
* Californians disappear
* Minnesotan button top button
* Canadians put on sweaters
* Your car helps you plan your trip South

-50F -46C 237K
* Congressional hot air freezes
* Alaskans close the bathroom window

-80F -62C 211K
* Hell freezes over
* Polar bears move south

[Randi]

The Northwest Mounted Police measured -79F at the Whitehorse Barracks on Christmas Eve, 1917. There were lower temperatures measured further north. At Pelly, the temperature that night fell to -86F. Sadly those temperatures are "unofficial" because the original thermometers were never calibrated in a professional lab. The official lowest temperature recorded for North America is -81F set at Snag, Yukon on Feb. 3, 1947. The observer used a nail file to mark the spot on the thermometer, and the thermometer was taken to Ottawa where it was cooled to the point at which the mercury reached the mark. It is said that it was even colder in Mayo on that same day, but the observer didn't mark the thermometer.

The coldest I experienced was -58F (-49.8 C) I really was hoping to experience -50C, but I never did. One of the observers I worked with said,

Everyone says that below -40 it's all the same, but that isn't true. You haven't felt cold until you've been out at -55.

-55C is -67F.

[Randi]

Thanks to Michael: Lewis Fry Richardson: The man who invented weather forecasting


Thanks to AvastMH: Network for Lightning and Thunderstorms in Real Time


Thanks to Kevin: U.S. ship of the line in a gale

Night-shining 'noctilucent' clouds have crept south this summer [2019]
An uptick in atmospheric moisture may be fueling clouds that catch the sun's rays after dark.

[Randi]

Having spent many years forecasting snow, I have an abiding interest in the subject. Years ago a meteorologist analyzed a large number of reports of snow and related the visibilitiy to the rate of snowfall. Although his data was taken from observations on the Canadian Prairies, I analyzed data from New Brunswick, where the winters aren't as dry as the ones there. Interestingly, my analysis matched his.

The thing that sparked my interest was that Storis has been spending the winter around Juneau and they frequently report snow. Their visibilities are often in the 5-8 mile range, which seem very high to me, or the snow is not all that significant. Tomorrow I will look at some of their reported precipitation amounts for those days.

Here are the results of our combined results...

I forgot about this. Storis visibility numbers are codes, so they are generally much less than miles.

For January 12, Storis reported:

• 0800 Visibility 6 miles in snow
• 1200 Visibility 4 miles in snow
• 1600 Visibility 4 miles in snow
• 2000 Visibility 4 miles in snow
• 2400 Visibility 6 miles in snow

Juneau reported 15.7 mm of precipitation that day, which would be ~ 16 cm of snow. With about three six hour time periods covered by these observations we expect about 5 cm of snow per period which would imply a visibility of 1 mile. A typical weather observation location has a chart with the distances to prominent objects marked so an observer can make a very good estimation of prevailing visibility. You would think that with Juneau being surrounded by mountains that the observers would be able to make a decent estimation of visibility. Visibilities of four miles might give 3 cm of snow that day, but not 16.

[Randi]

Weather Proverbs

[Randi]

Winter waterfalls are spectacular, but how do they freeze?

[AvastMH]

Weather Proverbs

Wow - this is a long list. I understand the seagulls one - we used to see them over our garden in Dagenham on the Thames Estuary when the weather was too wild out at sea. A real sign of an eastern blast from Russia on its way.

Interested in the coffee cup bubbles theory. Given that you can measure the tide in a cup I wonder what effect that might have? If the air pressure is high, denting the centre of the coffee, but the moon is full (attracting the liquid to create a dome in the centre), do you get confused bubbles wondering which way to go next?

[AvastMH]

Winter waterfalls are spectacular, but how do they freeze?

I remember one very cold weekend in the Yorkshire Dales when I took a walk and discovered that the recent rain had washed away a path and the waterfall that arose had frozen. It wasn't big but it was very beautiful.

[Randi]

Surreal moment a wave breaks vessel in half during rough weather

[Randi]

Antarctic ice reveals Martian mineral that's rarely found on Earth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarosite

[Michael]

[Randi]

Secret ice pillars hold the winter snow above the river

[AvastMH]

Secret ice pillars hold the winter snow above the river

Oh my - that's quite breathtaking!

[AvastMH]

The log of the Belvedere mentions Frost Smoke on 7th September 1898 . It is recorded in both of the twin logs for that voyage.
Collins Dictionary defines this as:
'an ice fog caused by extremely cold air flowing over a body of comparatively warm water, esp. in polar regions Also called: barber'
Wiki has a section for it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_smoke and includes the names 'Sea smoke, frost smoke, or steam fog'

Tape ODHS545: https://archive.org/details/logbookofbe ... 7/mode/1up


Tape ODHS222: https://archive.org/details/belvederest ... 0/mode/1up

---

Another mention of frost smoke: Hunter 1882-1883, 18830922 & 23

[Randi]

Frosty air serves up 'ice pancakes' during cold snap

[Randi]

210 pound human versus a 193 km/h wind gust in Alberta

[AvastMH]

210 pound human versus a 193 km/h wind gust in Alberta

Time to wrap it up and go home for a nice hot cup of tea I reckon!

[Michael]

How well I remember having to forecast winds for that area!