Latest world wide satellite image

Days becoming cold

The days are becoming cold and humidity is getting low... that means winter is setting in.
Clear skys and mild dry wind from North-North-West. Signs of early winter.
You can see for yourself the latest graphs for "Humidity" and "Temperature".

Take a look at "Hagibis" and "Mitag"

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Nights becoming cold again

It's getting DRY and cold as days go by.
Chennai has only another 7 days left to complete the 80% quota of average rainfall.
This is a BAD monsoon for us, 80% failed.
Before october from June, we had the wettest period in recorded history, but after that the rainfall rate slowed and got to a STOP now. Very odd North-East monsoon.
Here you can see the data for June to September.
Total: 677 mm
June - 94mm - 174%
July - 249.2mm - 254%
August - 166.2mm - 111%
September - 167.2mm - 154%
It's like from next year we can depend on the South-West monsoon.
Look at the latest satellite pic... bad scene

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Astonishing Discovery over the Amazonian Rain Forest

International research team has discovered huge amounts of unexpected organic aerosols over the South-American tropical rain forests

Isoprene, an organic compound generated in large quantities by natural vegetation, was originally thought not to be involved in producing atmospheric aerosols. It has now been found to be a potentially major player in this process. An international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry, Mainz, Germany, the University of Antwerp, Belgium, the Ghent University, Belgium, and the University of São Paulo, Brazil, examined natural aerosols from the Amazonian rain forest, and has found that they contained two previously unknown compounds, which are photooxidation products of isoprene. These compounds are hygroscopic and could impact cloud formation, rainfall and climate (Science, 20 February 2004).

Isoprene is a volatile organic compound that is emitted in large quantities by forest vegetation. Its annual emission is estimated to be 500 million tons worldwide. But although isoprene readily oxidizes to form volatile products, popular wisdom held that it didn’t form products that could contribute to aerosol particle formation. Intensive measurements over the Amazon Basin, however, revealed the presence of two novel 2?methyltetrol compounds. These compounds are formed in the atmosphere through reaction of isoprene with hydroxyl radicals. To exclude pollution of human origin, the measurements were performed during the rainy season in a remote location of the Amazon Basin. Wind trajectories showed that the air had traveled over several thousand kilometers of pristine tropical forest before being trapped and analyzed.

It is estimated that the photooxidation of isoprene results in an annual production of about 2 million tons of the new compounds. This represents between 5 and 25% of the organic aerosol formed by atmospheric photochemistry from biogenic precursors.

This discovery is a breakthrough because for the first time a link can be demonstrated between isoprene emitted by forest vegetation and formation of water soluble fine particles. These aerosol particles give rise to the formation of haze and reduce the visibility in forested areas. They have an effect on cloud formation and influence rainfall and climate. Original work:

Magda Claeys, Bim Graham, Gyorgy Vas, Wu Wang, Reinhilde Vermeylen, Vlada Pashynska, Jan Cafmeyer, Pascal Guyon, Meinrat O. Andreae, Paulo Artaxo and Willy Maenhaut Formation of Secondary Organic Aerosols Through Photooxidation of Isoprene Science, 303, 1173 (2004), 20 February 2004

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science Press and Public Relations Department

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Learn visually from www.accuweather.com

Book mark this link or page. Very useful weather/climate education from accuweather.com. Moreover it's a daily visual dosage of facts and how.

More education, facts and lots coming soon...

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Partly Cloudy and chances of rain

Here i'm after 24hrs of my previous forecast.
Yesterday it was dry and we had cold winds from North-North-West.
Today the wind direction is slightly from North-East, this should be good for the chances of rain.
Our forecast is we might have light showers in the evening OR night of 22-Nov-2007.
You can see the present conditions in this pic...

Also here is the INFRARED pic of south-asia, you can see(Extreme right of the pic) the 2 T.Cyclones (Hagibis and Mitag) near Philipines. Will the "Hagibis" cross land and come into Bay-of-bengal LIVE? 3 more days for this answer. Previously these kind of systems has crossed into bay and grew again.

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Traditional weather forecasting - Interesting

Traditional Methods
Wherever humans have settled around the world, being able to predict the weather has been an advantage. Most activities are closely linked to the weather, and communities often have a store of local weather knowledge or lore, often in the form of rhymes and mottos.

A favourite of traditional forecasters, pine cones open and close according to the humidity of the air. An open cone is supposed to mean dry weather and a closed cone indicates damp weather.

Seaweed and other marine algae also respond to changes in humidity. If the humidity is low, it is more likely to be dry the next day - dry seaweed indicates dry weather.

Can poems forecast the weather?
Oak and ash trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves in winter. In Britain, supposedly if the ash tree has leaves first then it will be a summer of rain; if it is the oak tree first then it will be a fine summer instead. There is a rhyme for this:

Ash leaf before the oak, then we shall have a summer soak; Oak leaf before the ash, the summer comes with nary a splash

Another favourite is the poem:

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight / Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning

The redness of the sky depends on the amount of dust particles in the air. In Britain, where weather comes from the west, a red sunset suggests that dry weather is approaching.

Such lore is based on years of observation and may sometimes be correct. However, it is likely to be wrong as often as it it right.

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Clear sky to start...

At this time(9:03AM) yesterday it was raining heavily, but today at this time it's CLEAR with some thin clouds around. It's like again the North-East has been switched off...mmm
Chennai recorded around 6CM of rain in the past 24hrs.
Here is the latest forecast meteogram for Chennai...

Now here's our forecast for the day, The day will be partly cloudy, mild and high in humidity. Chance of light showers around mid-morning or in the evening.
The rain rate will go down, going by the meteogram.

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