Happy pongal 2008

Lasting for over four days Pongal, a harvest festival is celebrated in the month of Shravan. Pongal literally means, "boiling over". The Tamil harvest festival is celebrated with decorated cows, processions and decorative Rangoli. Pongal is a sweet porridge made from newly harvested rice and eaten by all, even the animals. Each day of this festival has a special significance, however, it is celebrated more grandly in the villages, while the city folk mainly celebrate on the second day only. It is widely celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The festival is celebrated for four days. On, the first day, Bhogi, the old clothes and materials are thrown away and fired, marking the beginning of a new life. The second day, the Pongal day, is celebrated by boiling fresh milk early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel - a tradition that is the literal translation for Pongal (in Tamil). People also prepare savories and sweets, visit each other's homes, and exchange greetings.

The third day, Mattu Pongal, is meant to offer thanks to the cows and buffaloes, as they are used to plough the lands. Jallikattu, a violent taming the bull contest, marks this day. On the last day, Kanum Pongal, people go out to picnic. During the Pongal season, people eat sugar canes and decorate the houses with Kolam.

Even though Pongal was originally a festival for the farming community, today it is celebrated by all. Coinciding with Makara Sankranti and Lohri of the north, it is also called Pongal Sankranti and thus celebrated in some form in various parts of India.

Heavy Snow Kills Dozens in Asia

Iranian Red Crescent aid workers help motorists stuck in snow on the Zanjan-Qazvin highway northwest of Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2008.

An Afghan walks through snow in the capital city of Kabol (Kabul) on January 5, 2008. At least 34 people have died due to heavy snowfall in the strife-prone country, according to the news agency AFP.

People walk through the snow in northern Istanbul, Turkey, on January 7, 2008.
The capital city of Ankara was beset by snow-caused traffic jams and accidents, according to the Associated Press

China Bans Free Plastic Bags

Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms, and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old—steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.

The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.

The ban takes effect June 1, barely two months before Beijing hosts the Summer Olympic Games, ahead of which it has been demolishing run-down neighborhoods and working to clear smog.

The games have added impetus to a number of policies and projects, likely boosting odds for the bag ban's implementation.

Under the new rules, businesses will be prohibited from manufacturing, selling, or using bags less than 0.025 millimeters (0.00098 inches) thick, according to the order issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The council's orders constitute the highest level of administrative regulation and follow-through is carefully monitored.

More durable plastic bags still will be permitted for sale by markets and shops.

The regulation, dated December 31 and posted on a government Web site Tuesday, called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets to reduce the use of plastic bags."

It also urged waste collectors to step up recycling efforts to reduce the amount of bags burned or buried. Finance authorities were told to consider tax measures to discourage plastic bag production and sale.

No significant change

For the past 10 days there's no significant change to temperatures.
Minimum is around 21 degrees and maximum around 29 degrees.
This is going to be the weather till 20-Jan-2007, after that the minimum temperature will go down a bit and the humidity will also go down.
Take a look at the past 5 day humidity chart... it shows sudden rise in humidity during the past 3 days, otherwise it's DRY.

Take a look at the latest satellite pic...
It suggests some showers OR drizzles might creep into south-south-tamilnadu during this weekend.

Automatic weather station

An automatic weather station, which could predict weather changes, has been installed at the TVS Agriculture Sciences Research Institute, about 120 km from Madurai.

The station, built at a cost of Rs 5 lakh, is capable of predicting 23 parameters of weather changes, an official of the institute said on January 2.

The station, run by solar power, would collect data every 10 minutes. It would include wind direction, solar radiation, air temperature, humidity, soil temperature and rainfall registered at the station, which would be sent to ICRISAT.

At first, the report would help farmers of Nanguneri taluk and Radhapuram, as it could forecast weather for a 6 km radius.

The service would be available to farmers in the two taluks shortly. It would be extended to the entire Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi districts later, the offiical said. (Agencies)

Oregon scientific - Weather Hub

A stylish and versatile weather product. Simple to use and easy to set up, the Weather Hub is an ideal weather accessory to any home, office or dorm. At a quick glance, know the indoor temperature and what the 12 to 24-hour weather forecasts will be. Besides the traditional desktop display and wall mount options, a magnet mount has been included for additional set-up convenience on metallic surfaces.

WEATHER:
Displays 12 to 24-hour weather forecasts with graphical icons (Sunny, Partially Cloudy, Cloudy, Rainy)

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE:

TEMPERATURE:
Displays indoor temperature in C° / F ° (user selectable)
Temperature measuring range: 23°F to +122°F (-5°C to +50°C)
Temperature resolution: 0.2°F (0.1°C)

HUMIDITY:

MISC:
Desk top display, wall, and magnet mount options
Low battery indicator

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.