China is second guessing, third guessing Mother Nature. The Middle Kingdom launched its third geostationary meteorological satellite - the Fengyun-2-06 as part of its Long March Series.

The satellite weighs in at 1,390kg and was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology in cahoots with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The 2-06 is the third in the series and is to play a part in weather forecasting (weather guessing) for China and her neighbors, all in hopes of reducing the impacts of disasters.

China has sent 115 missions into space as part of China’s Long March Series of Rockets launched in 1970. China also hopes to be a better player and partner in international meterological organizations.

I don’t know what this satellite launch costs, but I wonder if money might not have been better spent on the ground, shoring up mountains and providing break walls and dams and such.

What do you think?

Source: Xinhuanet

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe free for our updates via RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and please do come back!

The halos we think are magnificent are not the kind that comes in a box - think Halo 3 - but the ring of light that can be seen encircling and extending outwards from the sun or moon. The halo is created ( I love this word) when the sun or moonlight is refracted when passing through ice crystals. There are two types -a 22 degree halo which is created via randomly falling ice crystals and 46 degree halo which is a refraction of light through hexagonal column-type ice crystals. And, all that by chance, mind you…..NOT!

(more…)

Unusual Collection of Interests to Discuss Land Use and Environmental Issues at This Week’s Hurricane Science for Safety Forum.

Attendees of this week’s Hurricane Science for Safety Forum in Orlando, FL, will see what happens when you get environmentalists, free market thinkers, and insurance interests together to discuss vital issues like protecting sensitive wetlands, minimizing the damage and loss of life from hurricanes, promoting conservation and sustainability, and long term financial security for home- and business-owners.

Gathering these strange bedfellows to discuss critical environmental and landuse issues may look like the recipe for a catfight. However, event organizers are confident that common ground can be identified, and the discussions will focus on developing constructive, solutions based strategies to balance the needs of communities with protection of sensitive coastline

Panelists will include Eli Lehrer from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, David Conrad and Amanda Staudt from the National Wildlife Federation, Sarah Owen Gledhill from the Florida Wildlife Federation, and Catharine Ransom from the Reinsurance Association of America.

Attending delegates represent business organizations, environmental groups, insurers, manufacturers, the legal community and others.

If you are not able to make the event in person, a virtual conference center is now available, and it will be updated following the conclusion of each forum event. Visit the virtual conference center or add the conference center RSS feed to get updates as-they happen.

Reporting: Ray Richardson, WeatherPredict Consulting Inc.

If the Earth had a personality of its own, if Mother Nature were a real entity … we would be able to see the results of when she gets mad. Really really mad!

The Dasongshu Village of Xishelu Township in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China’s Yunnan Province was cut in half by a landslide. From the pics I can count 20+ other landslides in the area, but without a village at the bottom.

Some 40 people were killed and the area was isolated by the landslides and mud-flows. Helicopters had to fly in relief materials. So far, 43 are missing, 10 are injured, 60,800 people have been evacuated and 1.27 million people have been affected.

A more pertinent question - do we really want to know what happens when Mother Nature gets really really mad? If we don’t start taking better care of our planet, we are too sure to find out. And something tells me, we really really don’t want to know.

Source: Sina

We are all aware by now of the effects of global warming which is soon to cause a major hazard to the earth. Unless and until we make efforts to stop or reduce greenhouse emissions we are to witness a complete shift in the ecological balance.

According to David Jones the head of climate analysis at the Bureau of Meteorology the severe droughts affecting the south-west Western Australia, south-east South Australia, Victoria and northern Tasmania have been the worst in centuries.

The temperatures are higher than the normal drought, showing a degree that clearly tells us that global warming has begun to take its toll.

Jones also specifies that every one degree of warming will decrease the runoff water by 15%. Rainfall has been close to nil for a long time now. If we do not act fast we will witness the destruction of our earth in front of our very own eyes. - via ClimateProgess

Image via Georgie Sharp

Judgement day comes early for California maybe? California state is burning in the north on Angel Island and in the south at Marek.

The fires are different - Angel Island is, well, an island that sit in the Bay near Sodom, um, San Francisco. And we know what happened to Sodom, don’t we? Well, those of us who went to Sunday School know.

Angel Island burned 250 acres and scared the nonsense out of a bunch of campers.

The Marek fire is already 10-12 times bigger than the Angel Island fire and is growing, no thanks to the Santa Ana winds in the area. And the Marek fire is pretty close to Gomorrah, um, Los Angeles. And we know what happened to Gomorrah, us Sunday schoolers do.

It’s not funny, of course. Some 1200 people have been chased from their homes in the Marek fire and LA is just 20 miles away. The causes of the fire are under investigation. Meanwhile, there’s another fire that has burned 30 acres near Santa Paula oil facility.

Maybe California is facing judgment day after all. Remember the vote on Gay Marriage - Proposition 8 is coming !!!

Locals in Nepal are at a loss to explain how some 3,000 trees in a nearby forest in Banke, mid-western Nepal, collapsed in about 10 minutes.

The trees at the Shrikrishna Community Forest, some 360 km west of Kathmandu just started tumbling down. There was no gale, no storm that day. Just falling trees. Not knowing what to think or who to blame/give credit for, the locals are turning to supernatural theories.

“It’s a bad omen.” And, the District Forest Office (DFO) is taking no initiative to see if an UFO or otherwise was involved.

Spooky, eh? What could cause 3,000 trees to start tumbling down? Aslan maybe?

Image courtesy of crashmattb

I can think of two very good reasons to get out of Brazoria County, Texas. First we know where Hurricane Ike is and where it’s heading. Yup, Brazoria County Judge Joe King announced a mandatory evacuation for residents of the 77541 zip code (Freeport and other coastal regions) at 10 a.m. today, while the rest of the county is subject to a voluntary evacuation.

Located right about 125 miles north of the western tip of Cuba and with maximum sustained winds in the center up to 85 mph, meteorologists expect it to strengthen over the next couple of days when it reaches Texas’ coast on Friday night to early Saturday.

“We’re surrounded by a levee,” Freeport Police Chief Jeff Pynes said. “Our levees hold about a 15-foot storm surge.”

The order came during night hours but the authorities will do their best to make sure all the people will get their messages. If you live in the area then take a look at the Hurricane Evacuation Zip Zones below (click to enlarge).

The second reason is that a convicted murder climbed the fence of a prison in the county last night and is on the loose.

heeding the evacuation warning maybe? Name: Marlow Wayne Reynolds. Looks like if Ike and the weather doesn’t get the county Marlow will. Time to get out.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

Global cooling in Kenya? Well, it’s definitely not getting warmer everywhere!

There was a hailstorm in Kenya, about 220km from Nairobi. The heavy hailstorm fell on a deforested hillside in Gikingi Village. Snow followed to children’s delight and snowmen were … well, nothing about the snowmen. Not enough of the white stuff. But perhaps for the first time ever, Kenyans discovered what a cold drink tastes like, no?

“I have not seen such a thing ever since I was born,” said one resident of Nyahururu.

“The hailstones falling on the ground joined together to form expansive sheets of ice or snow flakes occupying a large area, 30 acres,” Kenya’s Meteorological Department said.

There’s got to be a scientist, sophisticated or otherwise reading GP who can explain to me in terms I can understand (remember, I am slow) how snow or in that case ice, can fall in Kenya which sits just 1 degree south of the equator.

Even if I don’t get an explanation, Kenyans had a treat for a day. Now where’s Santa in the middle of summer when you need him?

Sources: 1, 2

The global warming alarmists don’t like hearing there might be other causes to climate change … say, like increased activity from the Sun. A friend, who really is a rocket scientist, sent me a link to the story - Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century.

For the first time in nearly 100 years the Sun passed without a single visible sunspot in a full month. I am not sure how they checked this out 100 years ago, but we’ll take their word for it.

Some scientists/researchers are now predicting another ice age. Talk about contrasts. A room full of scientists and a room full of economists are pretty much the same. Lay them end to end and they will never reach a conclusion.

On climate change - “the effect of sunspots on TSI (total solar irradiance) is negligible, but the reduction in the solar magnetosphere affects cloud formation here on Earth, which in turn modulates climate.”

“The sunspot cycle has strong effects on irradiance in certain wavelengths such as the far ultraviolet, which affects ozone production.”

Hmm … you mean it might not be us humans who are screwing up the climate after all? Go figure.