todays top weather stories: icelandic eruption and latest info
weather talk: scale and effect Britain is having from this ash cloud
what's reaching today's top blogs? indian cyclone & midwest fireball
Today's Top Weather Stories
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan
BREAKING HEADLINES:
Eyjafjallajökull volcano (ICELAND) shuts down UK Airspace for the first time in history... now other european countries effected
Latest Developments
UK extends air space closure until at least 1300 BST Friday but some from in and out of Northern Ireland and Scotland may begin at 0100 BST Friday
ACCUWEATHER say European Ash Threat to Remain Through Sunday click here for more
All major News Networks across the Globe are covering this unprecidented event 24 hours a day, so check them out for all the latest information... Remember, don't travel to the airport, before checking with your airline. And also, as much as this is frustrating, this IS for your safety! M.V.
MORE UPDATES TOMORROW
(Peter Morrison / Associated Press / April 15, 2010)
Aircraft grounded by drifting ash spewed by a volcanic eruption in Iceland wait at Northern Ireland's Belfast City Airport. Across Europe and beyond, tens of thousands of passengers were stranded in one of most disruptive events to hit air travel in years.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES WEBSITE
other stories reaching today's headlines
hell by land and sky
After the ground shakes, now it's weather that's adding to the misery in China (Mark Vogan)
asia
Breaking News Cyclone Kills Hundreds in Northeast India
AccuWeather Here
Image courtesy of AccuWeather.com
asia
China Quake Rescuers Fight Winds as Bodies Pile
More Than 600 Dead, 9,000 Hurt afer 6.9-Magnitude Earthquake; Bad Weather, Altitude Sickness Hamper Search CBS Here
north america
Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky
CNN Here
Globe's record warm March: NOAA
The Weather Channel Here
Today's Weather across America
New Potent Storm May Hit Western US Next Week
AccuWeather Here
more news at www.accuweather.com
Weather Talk
By Mark Vogan
Discussing the Icelandic Eruption, it's scale and effect on Britain and NW Europe
To provide people here on the ground with peace of mind, this ash is so high up (at or above 20,000ft), we down here will experience literally no effect thanks to high pressure system which has ultimately capped or created an inversion between us at the lowest 5-10,000ft above earth's surface, above that level, there will likely be ash blowing out of the northwest across the British Isles and over mainland Europe. Those with lung issues have been advised to keep medication close by but only as a precautionary measure.
What's amazing to me is that this "invisible" ash cloud which we can't see is creating such vast disruption to air travel to millions of people and across a great distance.. Normally airports will suffer a huge log of cancelled flights, even airport closures due to most commonly, snowstorms or some other extreme "weather" event, but because of volcanic ash?, like this past winter here in Scotland, this is a first and a first for basically the entire British Isles in living memory. All this, brings to mind just how much our planet and it's people depend upon this type of transport and all forms of transport which at one time didn't exist. The best of it is, this tyep of event has occured before, probably many times and probably a whole lot worse than this.. The big difference is that we didn't have aircraft back during the last time this event likely occured... Even 50 years ago, if this had of occured back then, during even that short period of history, we didn't have anywhere close to the amount of aircraft we have today or the demand. This is another example of the "what if" scenario, the doomsday scenario which organisations train and plan for for many years... They have been planning for this for many years in Iceland as well as the Met Office, the airports, geologists and other groups for this exact event here in Britain. The government plan for events in which the general public don't know their training and preparing for... This is one of those events which many have perhaps said, oh, what if this was to happen and this time, is has...
Will the complete absense of aircraft over Britain and much of northwest Europe reduce pollution and effect weather or more importantly temperature here at the surface?
After 9-11 I remember reading an article released about the effect the total absense of air traffic over US airspace had. The temperatures at ground level were said to have been warmer by day and cooler at night. The film of cloud created by thousands of airplanes streaking through the skies at any one time, keeps daytime heat above this film created by planes, by night is usually stays warmer, but the reverse happened the the absense of this aircraft film covering US airspace and therefore warmer days and cooler nights were said to have occured. It's amazing to think about just how much effect aircraft, numbered in their thousnads and cruising at varying levels of the atmosphere above British airspace has on, simply the temperature.. We may find a similar scenario like the Americans did after 9-11 with a warmer day and cooler night, particularly so, since we have high pressure in control of our atmosphere and there is good periods of sunshine in many areas at the moment. This high pressure cell may also be the saving grace to not having more effect from this ash down at lower levels which could effect humans.
What will be interesting is just how long could this last and what next?
What's Reaching Today's Blogs
Tornado Destroys 100,000 Homes, Kills 130 in India
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather Here
Meteor Fireball Thrills Midwest, Caught on Radar
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather Here
Thanks for reading.
-Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment