Winter storm sweeping northern tip of South-Asia

Here are some numbers. But first, the town is Kushka (also spelled Gushgy), which is set in Turkmenistan near the three-way border with Iran and Afghanistan. The big winter storm and cold has left a mark: 19 inches (one-half meter) of snow having water equivalent of 1.7 inches, or 43 mm. For Monday and Tuesday, respective highs of 9 and 11 degrees F (-11.5 and -12.6 degrees C); between them, a low of -8 degrees F (-22.1 degrees C). Normal January daily range is 52 F/11 C to 29 F/-2 C. Normal water equivalent of 1.1 inches (28 mm). Lowest temperature on record is -15 degrees F, or -26 deg C. This storm has, indeed, left its mark.

Elsewhere, I found -20 degrees F (-29 C) at Buzaubay, Uzbekistan; -16 F (-26.8 C) at Yerbent, Turkmenistan; -18 F (-27.6 C) at the notoriously cold Erzurum, Turkey; and at least 16 degrees below zero F (-27 C) at Shahr-e Kord (Zagros Mountains), Iran.

Chennai's lowest temperature

The lowest temperature in chennai in the past 10 years was 62 degrees Fahrenheit i.e. about 16.7 degrees Centigrade. This was recorded on 27th January 1999.

The link I have provided in the source will give you the recorded temperature by days for any day/month or week and you can review the temperatures over December, January and February months over the last 10 years and figure out the coldest days in Chennai.

In addition, in the last 10 years, 64 deg F was recorded on the following days: (with the Max temp in parenthesis)

30 Jan 1999 - 64 (89)
31 Jan 1999 - 64 (87)
20 Feb 2004- 64 (87)
14 Feb 2005- 64 (94)
19 Jan 2006 - 64 (87)
15 Feb 2006- 64 (90)

In addition, you will find that there was this recorded temperature of 41 deg F on Dec 19, 1999 (at 10 am) and also 37.4 deg F on 4 Feb 2004 (at 2 am). Interestingly, within an hour of these records, the temperature was above 70 deg F. Therefore, it is very likely that these were human errors while creating the webpage. I believe the above to be true based on the following, which records that in the NOrth, you do not get temp below 10.2 since 70's!

Elsewhere, you find the following, which is authentic record from weather related sites about Tamil Nadu, and yuo can infer from this, some truth about Chennai (madras):

In Tamil Nadu January is the coldest month when the daily minimum temperature for the state as a whole is 21C varing from about 16C in the north to about 24C in the south. The lowest temperature ever recorded at an individual station in the plain is 10.2C. at Tirupattur on 15th December 1974 which is 5.9C lower than the normal of the coldest month. In the ghat areas Uthagamandalam registered the lowest minimum temperature of -2.1C on 7th January 1976 which is 7.3C lower than the normal of the coldest month.

Finally, some sites state the lowest temp recorded in Chennai as being 15.8, which although authentic (mentioned in many sites and books about Chennai), but possibly not in the last ten years as the temp never went below 62 deg F in the last 10 years (but for those two dates, which i believe are human errors in recording in the internet page!).

btw, 15.8 deg C means 60.44 deg Fahrenheit - almost 1.56 degree F lower than the recorded 62 in the last 10 years

Snow in IRAQ !!!

It may actually not be so rare, at least in this higher west of Iraq. But it did snow Wednesday night into Thursday at a military base along the highway to Jordan. A little snow was also observed in KSA at Badanah and Arar, and in Syria at Hamah and Tadmur. It could be that the area of at least light snow spread widely between these rather far-flung sites which, on the atlas at my fingertips, lie mostly within an area labeled `Syrian Desert`. I believe this is at least roughly equivalent to `Ash Shams`.

Almost constant low temperature

Almost Every day for the past week or so... the low temperature recorded was around 21.1 to 21.8

Going by the latest INFRARED pic... now only u can see clear south & south-east asia.
This is a sign that the North-East current has subsided. So that's it for the 2007-08 season.

Winter ware

Activities for winter

1. Go to Besant nagar beach on a weeknight. Make it really late. Keep any kind of identification with you should the cops decide that you look "suspicious". Walk on the sand. It's really good.
2. Go for a midnight snack. You will be surprised how many teashops and restaurants are open late. Keep you car at home and take a two-wheeler. Enjoy the cold wind on your face
3. Go to the Marina and eat fish. I know that's available all year long, but it tastes better in winter. Trust me.

Cloudy mornings

Chennai is going thru a mild winter.
The low temperature during January is usually around 20°C and sometimes it goes down to 19 or 18°C, but nowadays it rarely crosses the 21°C.
Chennai wakes up to a cloudy mornings... this is because still there is some weak North-East activity. The could formations during 8 AM to 12 PM is a sign of that.
No significant changes are expected for next 2 days.
After pongal (Jan-15) the temperature might go down upto 19°C.

StrikeAlert Personal Lightning Detector

only $69 each or 2 for $135.00
The world's first convenient, dependable and easy-to-use personal lightning detector. Detects lightning in ranges as close as 6 miles or as far as 40 miles away.

StrikeAlert is a small (about the size of a pager) and affordable lightning detector that provides an early warning of approaching lightning strikes from as far away as 40 miles and lets you know if the storm is coming your way. Its designed for personal and portable use.

An audible alarm sounds when there's a strike and a corresponding LED light illuminates accordingly at lightning distances of 20-40 miles, 12-24 miles, 6-12 miles and within 6 miles.
The detector is housed in a small pager-like casing that can be clipped on a belt loop and runs on two AAA battery up to 100 hours. It's perfect for outdoor sporting events and activities.

Who uses it? Television Live Van News Crews
Electric, Cable TV, and Telephone Utility crews
Coaches in charge of sporting events
Golf courses and golfers
Hikers, campers, boaters
Forest Fire crews and smokejumpers
School administrators

North India shivers, south offers linen

As a cold wave sweeps through northern India, faraway in the south a few villages are working overtime to supply thick linen that promises warmth and comfort.
With January temperatures touching one degree Celsius in some northern and central Indian states and dipping below the freezing point in the Himalayan fringe, the demand for cosy, low-cost, jacquard-designed bed sheets made by weavers of Erode in western Tamil Nadu has hit a new high.
This winter, buyers came from Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, where the cold wave has claimed scores of lives, besides Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bhopal.

They travelled over 1,000 km all the way down to this south Indian town to buy woven bed linen for two reasons. "These bed sheets are cheap, good and very thick. I have been buying them for several years now," says Anand Sharma, a trader from Delhi.

A double-spread bed sheet weighing 1,100 grams costs just about Rs. 250. The lesser the weight, the lower the price. A 300 gm sheet in Dobby design would cost around Rs.90 apiece.

Weavers rue that they get only 20 per cent of the prevailing market price. "The prices range between Rs. 20 and Rs. 50 for a bed sheet," says 60-year-old K. Kuppusamy, who has been weaving bed sheets for the past 30 years at Chennimalai, one of the key weaving clusters in Erode district.

In Chennimalai alone, there are about 1,700 power looms with 5,100 weavers, weaving over 17,000 sheets worth at least Rs. 2.5 million.

Besides, the 7,000 handloom weavers produce at least 15,000 sheets daily.

Each power loom produces about 10 jacquard bed sheets or 20 ordinary Dobby-designed bed sheets every day and the handloom weavers just about manage two sheets daily.

Even the state-owned Erotex, a marketing unit of the weavers' cooperatives in Erode, which sold bed sheets worth over Rs. 35 million last winter, has run out of stock this year.

"There has been a steep increase in the demand for our bed sheets," says Erotex Manager, Shanmugham.

Indeed, Erode bed sheets have a long history spanning more than 250 years, when the traditional Tamil weaving community of Mudaliars created weavers' villages at Chennimalai, Vellakoil and Nathakadaiyur, besides in the neighbouring district of Karur.

The weavers began to specialise in what they initially called the 'aettu'. As Erode bed sheets caught the attention of north Indians, 'aettu' became 'dupatta' and now it is the Westernised 'jacquard sheet'.

Dobby and jacquard designs usually have a single-coloured background with stripes and "raised corded waffles" as the surface highlights. Some of them even have a metallic lustre.

However, weavers claim that the future of Erode bed sheets, despite its growing demand, is not bright and the jacquard may lose its sheen. The reason? "Rising yarn prices - from Rs. 280 per 5 kg, it has grown to Rs. 300 now. It will not allow us to retain the pricing edge.

"Besides, the weavers are also demanding a steep increase in wages from the present 20 percent of the selling price. This year, they went on a month-long strike affecting our production badly," says Chennimlai Handloom and Powerloom Manufacturers Association president V.N.Swaminathan.

But, as of now, most looms in Erode are frenetically working day and night, making bed sheets to beat the plummeting mercury in up north. (IANS)

A usual winter day

A normal dry wintery day for Chennai.
Today's low temp was 23.0°C @ 5:14am
In recent days the humidity has gone down and going down...
take a look at this.