A random thread for weatherish things that don't warrant a thread of their own.

[ian]

From an 11 year old girl who's just moved from Hong Kong to a New York winter:

In Hong Kong, ... as soon as school was over, I'd revert to sandals and bare skin in the sun. I was used to seeing the tips of my toes, my bare calves and shoulders; now that they had to be constantly covered, I missed myself.

I suppose it's more a climate thing than a weather thing, but I empathise and sympathise. The feeling of lightness you get from living in a place where minimal clothes are required is wonderful. It also makes dressing up more dressy!

A while back I met a north German friend of mine who'd moved to Singapore. I confess I'd assumed he'd been sewn into a chunky sweater at birth, so it was quite horrific to find that he had skin.

I like seasonality. Though I think it's a function of age, the older you get the more you just want things to stay warm. I don't think I could do Canada again.

[T42]

Back in the 80s a couple of blokes from our Johannesburg dealer came to our head office in Stuttgart: from +30°C to -30°C in just one flight.  They had bought overcoats but hadn't thought about trivia such as hats, gloves, scarves and winter-weight trousers. Shock & awe ensued.

[Cudzoziemiec]

From an 11 year old girl who's just moved from Hong Kong to a New York winter:

In Hong Kong, ... as soon as school was over, I'd revert to sandals and bare skin in the sun. I was used to seeing the tips of my toes, my bare calves and shoulders; now that they had to be constantly covered, I missed myself.

I suppose it's more a climate thing than a weather thing, but I empathise and sympathise. The feeling of lightness you get from living in a place where minimal clothes are required is wonderful. It also makes dressing up more dressy!

A while back I met a north German friend of mine who'd moved to Singapore. I confess I'd assumed he'd been sewn into a chunky sweater at birth, so it was quite horrific to find that he had skin.

I like seasonality. Though I think it's a function of age, the older you get the more you just want things to stay warm. I don't think I could do Canada again.

Yes, seasons are wonderful.

[LEE]

Back in the 80s a couple of blokes from our Johannesburg dealer came to our head office in Stuttgart: from +30°C to -30°C in just one flight.  They had bought overcoats but hadn't thought about trivia such as hats, gloves, scarves and winter-weight trousers. Shock & awe ensued.

I lived and worked in Minnesota in the '90s.  An Australian came to join our assignment in January and brought all his Australian winter clothing (heavyweight cotton shorts, long sleeve T-shirts and insulated flip-flops.... I exaggerate for effect).

He quickly went shopping... at a Minnesotan outdoor clothing shop.  Minnesotan winters redefine "chilly"for most people.  When you go outside and your nose starts bleeding..it's below "chilly".

I found that there's a week in Minnesota, around mid June, that is very pleasant.  After that it gets steamingly hot followed by a 5 month winter, epic rain, tornadoes, massive Mosquitoes.  It's a lovely place to leave I think but they do have very definable seasons, that's for sure.

[Chris S]

It was pouring with rain and -10c when I went to Minneapolis, back in the day. It took bloody ages to deice the plane before we could leave. Better that than end up in the river, I guess.

[Mr Larrington]

My only visit to Minnesota was the Labor Day weekend in 2009.  The weather was absolutely spot-on.

[ian]

I confess one of the significant reasons I moved back to the UK was the thought of winters in Michigan (which would have been my future).

Back when I lived in New England, the first snow dump of winter had coated the roads for my commute home. In front of me was the slowest, most tentative driven car ever. Creeping down the middle of the road despite the chorus of beeping. For the entire seven miles and into my apartment building's parking lot. Turned out it was my downstairs neighbours, who were from Indonesia and had never seen snow before never mind tried to drive in it. I let them off (the first time I encountered heavy snow I sent my car slowly pirouetting down a steep hill and into a ditch, though the only damage was my bank balance for the tow and a snapped front license plate).

[Pingu]

Ah yes.  That's why my Cowon iAudio7 MP3 player has been left on a shelf all of these years. Great battery life, good sound quality. Awful control interface 

That is a random weatherish thing.

[T42]

Municipal incongruity: village stream so dried up that the animals in it are close to the surface, desperate for oxygen while our idiot cantonnier draws water out of it to water the irrelevant municipal flowers.

[hellymedic]

Some 31 summers ago, I flew from CPH - LHR expecting London summer to be similar to Danish.
WRONG!

It was 28C at LHR which hit me very hard as it had been but 16C at CPH 90 minutes earlier.

[ElyDave]

In ten years of this job, one definite rule is dress for where you are going, even if that means short sleeves and zip-off trousers at lhr in December,

[Basil]

Phew. Worra wossname.

[T42]

Last day of our heatwave. Thunderstorms & hail on the menu, then back to meh with rain.  El Prez will trot out his usual "in Alsace summer ends on 15th August" as if it's the BVM's fault, then we'll get back to trogging round coffee-shops and dodging downpours.

-20180807-[lestitres-colgauche/titre2]Animated ozone map for the last month.

[Mr Larrington]

There were a few drops of rain hitting the window earlier but when I looked outside the road was still unadorned with puddles chiz

[Wowbagger]

I felt two drops earlier. The Met Office are pretty certain it's going to rain (80% they say) but they have withdrawn the thunder promise. Gits.

[ian]

Raining here over the North Downs with some skyward borborygmi but not nearly enough to qualify as very, very frightening. Petering out now, which is a bit disappointing as I'll have to keep watering the bloody garden.

[Andrij]

From the forecasts I thought I might need a boat to get home this evening.  I've gotten wetter from a car's windscreen washers than from what fell out the the sky. 

[Beardy]

We’ve had two sessions of falling dihydrogen monoxide today, but rather than clearing the air and cooling things down some all it has done is raise the humidity to stupid levels and make the whole place just more uncomfortable for not sleeping. 

[T42]

Flickering beyond the hills at second bladder o'clock* but nowt locally bar a single gust of wind.  We're supposed to get a pasting this afternoon, though.

* second occurrence of bladder o'clock, not o'clock of the second bladder.

[Mr Larrington]

Things I didn't need last night: duvet.
Things I did need last night: fan.

Oi! Met office! No!  Unless you send TV's Georgina Burnett round to apologise personally.

[Beardy]

Heavily overcast this morning in the Angles of the East which is in stark contrast to the weather of late. Still wearing my shorts to the office though. what a rebel

[Beardy]

Normal British summer weather service has been resumed here in the Angles. It's been raining pretty since about 10:30 and it doesn't look like it's going to ease off any time soon.

[T42]

I am running round opening & closing various windows in an attempt to flush the hot air out of the house while the wind gusts from zero to 80+ kph. The ticklish bit is keeping the pictures on the walls.

[Cudzoziemiec]

For the second day running I am wearing not-shorts. Actually Humvees, or the Altura equivalent, but worn for civilian use (which I reckon they're better at than for cycling) so not full-length trousers either, but still not good.

[rafletcher]

Blimey, real rain in leafy Bucks!