WEATHER FORECASTING - traditional way

Indicators of Deteriorating Weather:
Clouds lowering and thickening, ceiling lowers.
Puffy clouds begin to develop vertically and darken.
Sky is dark and threatening to the West.
Clouds increasing in numbers, moving rapidly across the sky.
Clouds at different heights moving in different directions.
Clouds moving from East or Northeast towards the South.
Heavy rain occurring at night.
Barometer falling steadily or rapidly.
Smoke from stacks lowers.
Static on AM radio.
Wind shifting North to East and possibly through East to South.
There is a ring (halo) around the moon.
If on land, leaves that grow according to prevailing winds turn over and show their backs.
Strong wind and / or a red sky in the morning.
Temperatures far above or below normal for the time of year.

Indicators of Impending Strong Winds:
Light, scattered clouds alone in a clear sky.
Sharp, clearly defined edges to clouds.
Yellow sunset.
Unusually bright stars.
Major changes in the temperature.

Indicators of Impending Precipitation:
Distant objects seem to stand above the horizon.
Sounds are very clear and can be heard for great distances.
Transparent veil-like cirrus clouds thicken, ceiling lowers.
Hazy and sticky air. Rain may occur in 18-36 hours.
Halo around the sun or moon.
Increasing South wind with clouds moving from the West.
Wind (especially North wind) shifting to West and then South.
Steadily falling barometer.
Pale sunset.
Red sky to the West at dawn.
No dew after a hot day.

Indicators of Clearing Weather:
Cloud bases rise.
Smoke from stacks rise.
Wind shifts to West, especially from East through South.
Barometer rises quickly.
A cold front has passed in the past 4 to 7 hours.
Gray early morning sky shows signs of clearing.
Morning fog or dew.
Rain stopping and clouds breaking away at sunset.

Indicators of Continuing Fair Weather:
Early morning fog that clears.
Gentle wind from the West or Northwest.
Barometer steady or rising slightly.
Red sky to East with clear sky to the West at sunset.
Bright moon and light breeze at night.
Heavy dew or frost.
Clear blue morning sky to West.
Clouds dot the afternoon summer sky.

Weather Glossary : A

Acid Rain: Rain that is more acidic than normal precipitation because water vapour has condensed on to particles of sulphate or nitrogen oxide.
Adiabatic: Changes in temperature caused by the expansion (cooling) or compression (warming) of a body of air as it rises or descends in the atmosphere, with no exchange of heat with the surrounding air.
Advection: The transfer of heat by the horizontal movement of air or water, such as a warm wind or ocean current.
Advection Fog: Fog caused by the condensation of water vapour when warm, moist air crosses cold ground or sea.
Air: A naturally occurring mixture of gases, chiefly nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, and water vapour. Air also usually contains dust and pollen.
Air Mass: A large body of air with the fairly uniform temperature and humidity of its source region.
Air Pressure: The weight of the atmosphere pressing down on the Earth's surface. The effect is caused by gravity. Also called 'atmospheric pressure'.
Albedo: The measure of the reflectivity of a surface.
Anabatic: Rising, as when air moves up a hillside.
Anemometer: An instrument for measuring the force and speed of wind.
Angular Momentum: The energy of motion of a spinning body or mass of air or water. Its value depends on the mass of the body, its radius of spin, and its rate of spin.
Angular Velocity: The rate at which a spinning body, such as a planet, rotates. The Earth rotates at 15 degrees per hour, which is its angular velocity.
Anticyclone: A large area of high atmospheric pressure, characterised by outward-spiralling winds - a "high".
Atmosphere: A layer of gases surrounding a planet - on the Earth, chiefly made up of the gases Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen.
Atmospheric Pressure: The weight of the atmosphere pressing down on the Earth's surface. The effect is caused by gravity. Also called 'air pressure'.
Atoms: The smallest parts of an element - such as hydrogen or oxygen.

Different Feb

Happy Valentine's Day!

This valentine's day in Chennai was hot & humid.
In the morning like in mid November, it was threatening to rain.
Heavy cloud formation was there... but no rain.
Last 3 days, the humidity is going down and even the minimum temperature is also going down.
We might face a small period of DRY CHILL before we march into the HOT hotter days.
The February so far is unusually hot & humid, and with 2 good mini showers.

Take a look at the latest temperature forecast.

Unusual Rain

The whole of north India is reeling under severe winter cold.... but here it's a totally different story.

Today(9-Feb-08), from morning it was cloudy with lots of rain bearing clouds and... moreover the humidty level was also high.
The air current and cloud movement was from surprisingly South-east.... and from the bay-of-bengal.
The cloud movements where like a November rainy day.
Around 2 PM, it started to rain .... sharp shower for 10 minutes.
This rain was around the south and eastern parts of Chennai.

Still there are lots of signs for further showers durin the day tomorrow(10-Feb-08).

Take a look at the latest satellite pic....

Here you can make out there is some cloud activity.
Previous days there were news of light showers thru out extreme southern tamilnadu.

Hottest Winter !

For the past 15 days or so the max and min temperature was rising, rising above normal.
Take a look at the temperature chart for the past 5 days....

You can see a steep increase in max & min temperature.

For example yesterday(8-Feb-08) it was High 31.3°C @ 12:15pm Low: 26.0°C @ 6:22am.
Today (9-Feb-08) it was Hi: 31.0°C @ 2:20pm

This hot & humid conditions are due to the warm & wet air current prevalent from North-east. This is odd.
Usually this time of yr it'll be dry & cold.

Some previous years records show that February has recorded some LOW temperatures.

US satellites find cause of winter pollution in north India

New Delhi, Mar 8:
American have found the reason for haze and smog during winter that leads to cancellation of and brings day-to-day life to a standstill in north India.Analysis of data from instruments onboard satellites has shown that ash from coal-fired thermal power plants is the main culprit.The found that aerosols (particulate matter) in the northern plains, especially Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, pollute the air and create haze in the entire Indo-Gangetic basin and not bio-fuel or burning cow-dung as previously thought. About 600 million people live in this basin.The joint Indo-US study was carried out by Professor Ramesh Singh and his Anup Krishna Prasad of the Department of Civil Engineering in IIT Kanpur and Professor Menas Kafatos of the George Mason , US.Their report was today in the online edition of 'Geophysical Research Letter', the prestigious journal of the American Union.Singh's group analysed the MODIS and MISR satellite data and found very high "aerosol optical depth" - a measure of particulate pollution - especially over the coal-burning thermal power plants in the Ganges basin."These power plants use thousands of tons of very low grade coal daily (with 30-45 per cent ash content)," Singh told PTI

North India cold

After a relatively warmer beginning to the New Year, it is back to the typical winter shivers, as large parts of the plains of North and West India reel under a severe cold wave.

In Delhi, going to school or office on Tuesday morning felt worse than usual. It was the coldest in five years.

Adampur near Jalandhar in Punjab was the coldest place in the northern India plains on Monday with the temperature touching minus three degrees Celsius.

Temperatures in nearby Amritsar touched minus one degree and large parts of Haryana also reeled under the cold wave with temperatures between one and five degrees below normal.

Further North, Srinagar is freezing at minus five degrees. And Jammu is virtually paralysed. While the hill states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal continued to see their regular share of sub-zero temperatures and rain and snow.

The plains from Kolkata to Kutch were also caught in the grip of the cold with temperatures around one degree.

Almost rain

From 24-Jan-08 to till date there's lot of activities for rain.
On 26-Jan it almost rained... and the subsequent day also.
There was no cold whatsoever....
The minimum temperature was around 24.0°C this is very high as the Month is concerned.
Even the high is even higher at 33.3°C... i think this is a record temperatures for the month of January.
Moreover North-India is reeling under a severe cold weather, even the schools are shut till Sunday (3-Feb-08).
Take a look at the temperature forecast for next 7 days... It shows the present temperature is going to rise..

Is that a rock or a man on Mars?

Elephant killings blamed on Orissa mining

Elephants in Orissa face extinction if they continue to die or be killed at the current rate, according to official and unofficial counts.

Spreading mining activity in the region is blamed for man's conflict with the elephant.

At least 60 elephants have been killed in the past two years, official estimates say - and unofficial reports say 200 elephants died during the same time.

Reports also point out nine elephants died in November.

Iron ore and manganese mining has destroyed the forests where the elephants used to roam freely forcing them into farmers lands.

"It is after all this mining that elephants have started to come here to our fields," said a villager.

The RFO in Keonjhar says, "we are understaffed". "Fifty percent vacancy, there is not enough equipment and roads are bad," he added.

Human casualties

Villagers are also being killed in the man-elephant fight for survival. In the last six years 62 people have died and 75 others were injured.

Over 1500 houses have been destroyed, and 3000 acres of crops damaged, as a result over 4000 families have been affected.

The forest department blames the situation on mining activity in the area.

"We try to do our job but the fact is this increase in mining has really destroyed and disturbed traditional elephant habitats," Suresh Mohanty, the PCCF in Orissa said.

But the minister for mining has denied any responsibility.

"That is not our problem," said Padhmanabhan Behera, the Steel and Mines Minister of Orissa when he was asked about measures taken to deal with the situation.

"That is not our job it is up to the forest department to control any problems with elephants and wildlife," he said.

Chief minister of Orissa Naveen Patnaik has promised to look into the situation, but he is also about to grant two more massive mining contracts in the region, which is likely to mean an even sharper increase in elephant killings.

NDTV website dated 16.11.2006