The Return of the Rain

[Steel Tiger]

I'd like to introduce you to a great Australian pastime, talking about the weather. All Australians can do it and do frequently as it is vitally important to us. Recently it has become just about the only topic on the news.

A couple of weeks ago it started to seriously rain on the east coast of Australia for the first time in maybe three or four years. Last week we had positively cyclonic conditions which resulted in fifteen metre waves crashing onto the shore from Port Macquarie to Woolongong (about 500km). There have been winds in excess of 12km/h right along the coast. It may be the demise of El Nino and the return of La Nina (hope so).

It was so bad that a massive coal ship has become stranded on Nobby's Beach in Newcastle (this beach is quite famous in surfing circles) by a 17m swell. It's still there days later, and has 700 tonnes of fuel aboard, a potential environmental disaster.

In the last two weeks Sydney has received 470mm (about 19") of rain, the third wettest winter on record, and we're not even half way yet. The rain is wonderful to see, but it isn't falling in the catchment, just in the urban areas where it basically just runs off into the sea.

Where I live, in Canberra, it has been raining for two days now. Fortunately it is falling in our catchment so our dams are filling again.

Its nice to see the rain again. Thought you might be interested

 

[tellner]

Thank the gods it's raining. That was a really terrible drought you had going there. How is the rest of Australia doing?

 

[Steel Tiger]

Thank the gods it's raining. That was a really terrible drought you had going there. How is the rest of Australia doing?

Here in the eastern states the rain is easing the situation, but the west is still very dry. West Australia would be considered to still be in drought I guess, and that's about a third of the country.

 

[Kacey]

I'd like to introduce you to a great Australian pastime, talking about the weather. All Australians can do it and do frequently as it is vitally important to us. Recently it has become just about the only topic on the news.

Sounds like a good topic to me - we had a nice wet spring for the first time in nearly a decade, but now we're getting daily temperatures 15 degrees above normal, which puts us in the low to mid 90s F instead of the upper 70s to low 80s F... so much for my grass being healthy for the first time in years.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Sounds like a good topic to me - we had a nice wet spring for the first time in nearly a decade, but now we're getting daily temperatures 15 degrees above normal, which puts us in the low to mid 90s F instead of the upper 70s to low 80s F... so much for my grass being healthy for the first time in years.

Now you see this could the results of the El Nino/La Nina weather pattern inverting. Australia and South America are the most directly affected places but everywhere around the Pacific, and even into the Southern and Indian Oceans, feels it. If the inversion is anything like it has been, you're in for a lot of hot, dry weather I suspect.

 

[Kacey]

Now you see this could the results of the El Nino/La Nina weather pattern inverting. Australia and South America are the most directly affected places but everywhere around the Pacific, and even into the Southern and Indian Oceans, feels it. If the inversion is anything like it has been, you're in for a lot of hot, dry weather I suspect.

I dunno... Denver's pretty inland to be affected totally by Pacific weather patterns; at least as much of our weather comes up from the Gulf of Mexico as anywhere else. I'm not saying we don't get Pacific effects - we do - but at least as much of our weather comes from the Gulf, and some of the Pacific effects are lessened by the Rocky Mountains - the Western Slope of Colorado gets a lot more Pacific effects than we do, on the Front Range (eastern slope).

 

[Steel Tiger]

I dunno... Denver's pretty inland to be affected totally by Pacific weather patterns; at least as much of our weather comes up from the Gulf of Mexico as anywhere else. I'm not saying we don't get Pacific effects - we do - but at least as much of our weather comes from the Gulf, and some of the Pacific effects are lessened by the Rocky Mountains - the Western Slope of Colorado gets a lot more Pacific effects than we do, on the Front Range (eastern slope).

Oh yeah, I forgot you guys have genuine mountains. The Gulf huh? Thats no so good either. What with the water temps getting up so high and creating hurricanes and other extreme weather patterns.

The interesting thing I have discovered about El Nino though is how far its reach extends. Archaeological finds in Mesopotamia indicate that the Sumerian civilisation may have been destroyed by an El Nino effect that lasted about 100 years.

So it effects reach right around the globe it seems.

 

[Kacey]

It kind of depends - the jet stream also influences our weather; when it comes south it brings cooler air with it - and some of that is influenced by water temperatures and currents. The weather across the planet is all interrelated at some level.

 

[donna]

Here in the eastern states the rain is easing the situation, but the west is still very dry. West Australia would be considered to still be in drought I guess, and that's about a third of the country.

Yes we are still mostly in drought over here, although some of the far south coast , and the area around Esperance have had some good rain.
I live in Kalgoorlie and we havent had any significant rain for a good while.
The mines around here are using the underground water and have dropped the water table so much that old established trees are starting to die.
We also pay for every drop of water we use, our average three monthly bill is usually around $300 for our household. And we have been on water restrictions for years now.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Yes we are still mostly in drought over here, although some of the far south coast , and the area around Esperance have had some good rain.
I live in Kalgoorlie and we havent had any significant rain for a good while.
The mines around here are using the underground water and have dropped the water table so much that old established trees are starting to die.
We also pay for every drop of water we use, our average three monthly bill is usually around $300 for our household. And we have been on water restrictions for years now.

I feel for you. We've been to level three water restrictions a number of times and that was pretty hard. Can't really imagine what worse is like. I have to say when I was in Hay a few months ago all the irrigation canals were dry, a tough deal when you're growing rice and cotton. That was pretty bad.

I hope you guys get some rain soon.

 

[tellner]

There's an old story about a town that was suffering a terrible drought. Trees were dying. The cattle were parched. The wells were dry, and the crops were failing.

One day a dervish came into town driving a beat up old car. He looked around and said "I can help you."

The people asked "How?"

He said "Bring me a hose and a tub of water."

They brought what he asked for, and he started to wash his car. He got the caked up dirt out of the dents. He washed. He soaped. He rinsed. He did it all again.

The people were angry. "We're dying of thirst and you're wasting our water washing your car? What's wrong with you!?"

He looked at them sadly and said "Just wait a minute."

Just as the dervish finished washing his car black clouds gathered. The heavens opened. Rain came down in torrents. Everything was soaked.

The dervish got back into his car, which was now soaking wet and splashed with mud, and sighed. "G-d and I aren't getting along very well right now."

[In the original it was his cloak. If religion is going to be relevant it needs to speak to us in the modern world ]

I'll be happy to come to Western Oz and wash my car or coat as needed

 

[Steel Tiger]

There's an old story about a town that was suffering a terrible drought. Trees were dying. The cattle were parched. The wells were dry, and the crops were failing.

One day a dervish came into town driving a beat up old car. He looked around and said "I can help you."

The people asked "How?"

He said "Bring me a hose and a tub of water."

They brought what he asked for, and he started to wash his car. He got the caked up dirt out of the dents. He washed. He soaped. He rinsed. He did it all again.

The people were angry. "We're dying of thirst and you're wasting our water washing your car? What's wrong with you!?"

He looked at them sadly and said "Just wait a minute."

Just as the dervish finished washing his car black clouds gathered. The heavens opened. Rain came down in torrents. Everything was soaked.

The dervish got back into his car, which was now soaking wet and splashed with mud, and sighed. "G-d and I aren't getting along very well right now."

[In the original it was his cloak. If religion is going to be relevant it needs to speak to us in the modern world ]

I'll be happy to come to Western Oz and wash my car or coat as needed

It'll need a good wash by the time you get to Kalgoorlie. Its about 600km (370 miles) east of Perth, and 400km (245 miles) north of Esperance. And its all dusty desert in between.

 

[donna]

It'll need a good wash by the time you get to Kalgoorlie. Its about 600km (370 miles) east of Perth, and 400km (245 miles) north of Esperance. And its all dusty desert in between.

And if it is going to rain you usually get a few big drops followed by a dust storm.

 

[Steel Tiger]

And if it is going to rain you usually get a few big drops followed by a dust storm.

:lol2:

 

[Makalakumu]

Oz has always been dry and has always been marginally suitable for agriculture. I think that Jared Diamond summed up your water problems best in Collapse. Anyway, hopefully your government is sensitive and nimble enough to deal with this.

 

[qi-tah]

Oz has always been dry and has always been marginally suitable for agriculture. I think that Jared Diamond summed up your water problems best in Collapse. Anyway, hopefully your government is sensitive and nimble enough to deal with this.

Sensitive? The Howard Government??! :rofl: As a sledgehammer maybe...

But seriously, Murray-Darling irrigation issues aside (what the **** are we doing growing cotton? Or rice? Stupidity...), we really need to revamp our building codes to increase our urban catchment and decrease our consumption. Oh, and while we are at it, maybe also ban the use of those energy-hungry halogen lightbulbs!

 

[Steel Tiger]

Oz has always been dry and has always been marginally suitable for agriculture. I think that Jared Diamond summed up your water problems best in Collapse. Anyway, hopefully your government is sensitive and nimble enough to deal with this.

Yeah I think that Jared got this pretty much right. We certainly should not be using European agricultural techniques. They were developed for some where with more than an inch of topsoil. We need to find our own way.

Sensitive? The Howard Government??! :rofl: As a sledgehammer maybe...

But seriously, Murray-Darling irrigation issues aside (what the **** are we doing growing cotton? Or rice? Stupidity...), we really need to revamp our building codes to increase our urban catchment and decrease our consumption. Oh, and while we are at it, maybe also ban the use of those energy-hungry halogen lightbulbs!

Could not agree more. The vast amount of rain that has fallen in Sydney recently did not go into the catchment. Bad design, well no design really.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Just a little update.

I'd say that La Nina is here with a vengeance. As I write it is raining, for like the ninth or tenth day in the last fortnight. The huge ship was floated off Nobby's Beach yesterday. East Gippsland in Victoria is now flooded. From drought to flood in a couple of months its fantastic. The floods have devastated the farming in the region. Those guys can't seem to win. But that is the nature of the Wide Brown Land I guess.

My Country

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold.
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Dorothea MacKellar


Just a little something to conjure with.