Weather Check

Ruth, haha, I'm the same up here! Fan on full here in the office as well as the aircon in the bedroom to provide relief for the rest of the flat. I will confess I am abusing the free electricity I get here though!!

Tomorrow will be a scorcher- 36 by my weather gauge.

Hot, muggy alternating with pissing down in great big buckets. Every day. THis is NOT the good season for Nanning.

A ripper of a storm just blew through here.  Apparently there's a big storm somewhere nearby and we're getting the torrential rain accompanied by electrical and sound effects.  Cooled things down for about 20 minutes so I opened the windows.  Steamy again.  Sigh.

been raining for the past few days in this side of the city here in the philippines but when it the sun comes out, oh dear1 the worst weather because we're sorrounded with beaches

I have been fairly reliably informed that it is probably Lotus' fault.










The storm, not the person.

Thankfully the weather here has cooled down a bit the last couple of days, though I do prefict thunderstorms on both tomorrow and Monday- because I am busy and out and about (and you know Murphy and all that...)

  is having a very wet June.  10 inches, so far this month (average of 5) and it's still coming down!! 

Mind you, we were over 7 inches below "normal" for the Year....so our water tanks and gardens are happy

Rain is GOOD!!  




But it can stop now...

Must be close to 40 these past few days in Jinan. Need cold beers.
Thank god I'm on holidays!

Yeah, pretty unnaturally hot (even for this time of year) in Beijing too. 38 degrees celsius forecast tomorrow.

I wonder if anyone here knows what causes the dust/sand storms in Beijing in March and April?  Is it because it is windier?  Or is it because since there has been like 6 months of drought with virtually no rain by March and April, the soil has become so so dry and desiccated, allowing the wind (though no stronger than at any other time of the year) to carry soil particles and dust and sand into a city like Beijing?

Probably a little bit of both

I remember one of my TCM teachers talking about it. I believe he called it "yellow wind." That's what they call it there, right?   
 
Explanation here:
http://english.people.com.cn/200605/15/eng20060515_265735.html

Cool video here:
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=sandstorm+inner+mongolia&n=21&ei=UTF-8&js=1&fr=moz2&SpellState=n-1811148661_q-NuZCWb4kg2VzVkcIEi5GbAAAAA%40%40&tnr=20&vid=0001334052030

I think there have always been Spring dust storms in the Mongolian deserts...the winds come with seasonal climate change, just as we get winds when Spring comes to our home countries.

However, the dust storms have become MUCH worse in recent years, in the wake of some really bone-headed agricultural projects and policies that took place back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Desertification has claimed vast areas of land, and the Mongolian deserts are growing at a staggering rate.

What was once a local phenomenon now covers a lot of North China, and the dusts- easily identified by their high pollutant levels- are being detected as far away as North America.

The Chinese are frantically planting trees, erecting windbreaks, and doing anything else they can think of to try and turn the tide, but so far no real headway has been made. Weather patterns over North China and the Yellow River valley have been cycling into patterns of increasing drought, making the problems even worse...

Meanwhile, Oklahoma is already settling into what can only be called the "Oh, F##k" season. We've had several consecutive days of highs over 100F (38C), with many more to come. But it's OK, because it's also terribly humid to match.

After about 15 seconds outside, you're making your own gravy in prodigious quantities. Always nice for job-hunting and interviewing.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma is already settling into what can only be called the "Oh, F##k" season. We've had several consecutive days of highs over 100F (38C), with many more to come. But it's OK, because it's also terribly humid to match.

After about 15 seconds outside, you're making your own gravy in prodigious quantities. Always nice for job-hunting and interviewing.

Welcome to Changsha

However, the dust storms have become MUCH worse in recent years, in the wake of some really bone-headed agricultural projects and policies that took place back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Desertification has claimed vast areas of land, and the Mongolian deserts are growing at a staggering rate.

I arrived in Beijing in July 2006.  Apparently, that Spring there were bad sand storms that blew into the city. I was told this by my Chinese MSN contacts before arriving in Beijing, China for the first time.   I understand that in the subsequent 3 years the sand storms, at least, as far as Beijing is concerned, haven't been as bad.  I've been told this by Chinese people.  I've also had first hand experience of this.  I was a teacher in  Huijia college in Changping district, north of Beijing city, from September 2006 to June 2008.  It's a kinda rural area.  I don't know if that means that the government scheme of planting trees is working.  Perhaps, it is, at least so far as Beijing city is concerned.