Comments on: the old sou’wester http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/ about pretty much nothing at all Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:29:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: andrew http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37477 andrew Fri, 09 May 2008 23:36:18 +0000 http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37477 @adrian: you're quite right - this does appear to be the new norm. It's just that I've been a bit of a weather nerd since as long as I can remember and I feel like the pattern which I knew for 30 years has, in the last 10 years, fundamentally shifted, with the passage of low pressure cells passing about 0.5° north of where they used to. Not much, but for Melbourne at least, it seems significant. @adrian: you’re quite right - this does appear to be the new norm. It’s just that I’ve been a bit of a weather nerd since as long as I can remember and I feel like the pattern which I knew for 30 years has, in the last 10 years, fundamentally shifted, with the passage of low pressure cells passing about 0.5° north of where they used to. Not much, but for Melbourne at least, it seems significant.

]]> By: Adrian http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37371 Adrian Thu, 08 May 2008 01:20:14 +0000 http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37371 "Obviously we are still in drought..." Hmm, "Drought" implies a temporary condition, something that ends. In the 19th century, a whole lot of farmland was created in South Australia and for twenty of more years wheat and other crops were grown, then "the drought" arrived and the crops dried and died. After five or ten years they realised that it wasn't the drought that was unusual, it was the previous wetter weather. That area is now all semi-arid pasture. Just because its drier than you like, or drier than you remember, might not mean that its a "drought", it might just mean that this is normal, or the new normal... “Obviously we are still in drought…” Hmm, “Drought” implies a temporary condition, something that ends.

In the 19th century, a whole lot of farmland was created in South Australia and for twenty of more years wheat and other crops were grown, then “the drought” arrived and the crops dried and died. After five or ten years they realised that it wasn’t the drought that was unusual, it was the previous wetter weather. That area is now all semi-arid pasture.

Just because its drier than you like, or drier than you remember, might not mean that its a “drought”, it might just mean that this is normal, or the new normal…

]]> By: flipsockgrrl http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37323 flipsockgrrl Wed, 07 May 2008 02:57:28 +0000 http://www.woowoowoo.com/2008/05/06/the-old-souwester/#comment-37323 Yep, the directional shift has been worrying me too, for a couple of years now. I've had to adapt some household chores to accommodate -- eg making sure I clear the roof gutters on the east side more often, to prevent overflows. (This used to be a once-a-year job.) And yes, one of the factors that attracted me to Melbourne in the late 1980s was the summer pattern of 3-4 hot dry days followed by a cool change and a bit of rain to clear the head (and the spirits). I was comparing it with Sydney, where it was seemingly all sticky-humid, all the time -- bleh. Yep, the directional shift has been worrying me too, for a couple of years now. I’ve had to adapt some household chores to accommodate — eg making sure I clear the roof gutters on the east side more often, to prevent overflows. (This used to be a once-a-year job.)

And yes, one of the factors that attracted me to Melbourne in the late 1980s was the summer pattern of 3-4 hot dry days followed by a cool change and a bit of rain to clear the head (and the spirits). I was comparing it with Sydney, where it was seemingly all sticky-humid, all the time — bleh.

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