The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Freuds_Cat on January 27, 2009, 04:15:18 PM
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The temperature here in Adelaide today has been forecast as 111 F (44C) and at 9.00am its already 102 F (39C).
Man its hot! :o
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hey mr cat , .... small world , i live in adelaide SA too ..... i wonder if we know each other , i'm a pretty active player on the local scene .... blues , jazz , .....
:o yeh , not very pleasant is it ! thank goodness for airconditioning , although i have heard that there are power blackouts across the state , .... now that would be terrible !
..and the forecast is that its gonna be like this the next 2-3 days .... >:(
dexter
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In Dallas, Texas it is just the opposite. High was 34. Ice storm tonight, may get to stay home tomorrow...... :mrgreen:
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Fricken' snowed here today..............We've had (no exageration) 17 inches in the Seattle area this year. Not much compared to where Scott (GoT59 or Barkless Dog) John live, but we have a much, much higher idiot factor here............ ;)
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Mark, I have a mate who lives in Seattle called Mike. He is complaining about the same things as you :)
Just hit 113 F (45 C)shortly after midday.
Yeah Dex I'll PM you.
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Topped out at 3pm with 45.7 C (114 F)
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sheeet,we're expecting 4" to 9" of snow tonight here in NYC
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The high in my part of southern california was 65 today and the rest of the week is supposed to be in the mid 70s and lows in the 40s.
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One of the main train lines in Adelaide has been closed due to the rails buckling :o
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Sheesh Bret, that is hot!
I went to work this morning on my bicycle and my fingers were frozen when I arrived. It's c-c-c-cold in The Netherlands.
Can't wait till spring comes.
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we got more of 44 C temps tomorrow and next day , us humans are lucky , we can stay cool in our houses ,
i really feel for the poor birds and animals out in this heat , it must really be distressing for them.
freuds cat , you got a pm
dex
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It's cold here too, like 100 miles from Rob. My central heating doesn't work (again) and I keep calling the repair guys. Not my problem, cos I live in an appartment but I already hd nine days without central heating this month :rolleyes:
But now the sun shines into my appartment and it's a bit better now.
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Come to Chicago, where have nothing but snow and below freezing and sub zero weather!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/Garden/sun.jpg)
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If it weren't for that big 'ol lake by Chicago I think we might have you beat in Minnesota! -8 this morning.
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Detroit has been is in the same boat. Having a heatwave today though, in the 20s as I watch a fresh 6-7 inches of snow falling as I write this.
Rick
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Sorry to hear about your Central Heating Chris. Thats as bad as being here without an Aircon.
What Dex was saying about the animals is true. Check out this little guy. He is only a young one. Possum that is. Came down onto my Sons Cubby house looking for a drink. These guys are usually pretty shy and as you can see from his eyes, they are night animals. Very rare to see them during the day. Especially high noon. We left him some water and a bowl of bread soaked in water. Its night now and he was out there about an hour ago so he seem to be OK. Got a lot of heat to come yet though :-\
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/possum.jpg)
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Sorry to hear about your Central Heating Chris. Thats as bad as being here without an Aircon.
What Dex was saying about the animals is true. Check out this little guy. He is only a young one. Possum that is. Came down onto my Sons Cubby house looking for a drink. These guys are usually pretty shy and as you can see from his eyes, they are night animals. Very rare to see them during the day. Especially high noon. We left him some water and a bowl of bread soaked in water. Its night now and he was out there about an hour ago so he seem to be OK. Got a lot of heat to come yet though :-\
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/possum.jpg)
That is so friggin cool, our possums are the huge ugly rat like creatures with mangey fur
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That little guy still has some of his baby fluff on his hind quarter and is still quite dark. They turn a mottled grey as they get older.
Local paper headlines:
Record overnight temperature during Adelaide heatwave
SOUTH Australia will suffer six consecutive days of 40C-plus temperatures in the hottest such stretch in a century - and yesterday the mercury has topped 45C.
Tomorrow is the Big Day out (Kinda like Lola Palooza) here. Glad I'm not going.
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6462013,00.jpg)
(http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6461791,00.jpg)
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Kind of feel bad for my friend now cause he is leaving tonight for Austrailia.
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3 days in a row over 42C (108 F)
From the Newspaper:
A SIGNIFICANTLY higher than average number of sudden deaths have occurred across Adelaide on the third consecutive day of 42 C-plus temperatures.
Since midnight, police have attended deaths at 18 separate addresses across the metropolitan area.
Most of the people who died have been elderly.
Police could not confirm the deaths were heat-related - however, they did say the number of deaths was "significantly higher" than average.
Earlier, South Australian Health said at least 60 people have already ended up in emergency departments across the state with heat-related conditions.
Heat to continue
Respite is still at least a week away in South Australia, where the state's electricity supply was cut in rolling blackouts amid record demand.
Yesterday's temperature in Adelaide reached 43.4C at 3.10pm after an overnight minimum of 33.9C at 12.30am, which surpassed the previous record of 33.5C on January 24, 1982.
Daytime temperatures are forecast to remain at 38C or above for the next seven days, before rising to 40C again next Thursday. Experts say Adelaide could match or exceed last year's record heatwave of 15 days of temperatures above 35C.
Rail workers toiled through the night to prepare buckled tracks for morning commuters and perishable food was ruined in supermarkets.
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Elderly people die during hot summers in Germany too - they just don't drink enough liquids and dehydrate. It happens every year. In winter they die from colds turning into pneumonia, in summer they don't wake up from sleep for dehydration. (Flash thought: Dave, please always carry a water bottle with you!)
I marvel at that pic of buckled tracks. I try to rationalize that 45 degrees centigrades should not be able to warp metal, but of course that is the shade temperature and the glaring sun is so much hotter. Still. Is it a quality issue of the used metal?
Finally, my inquisitve mind asks: Is that koala tame and kept as a pet?
Be safe and cool!
Uwe
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That's just horrible. In Chicago we had a bad summer not long ago with record heat & drought that took a lot of elderly people's lives.
Koalas are yummy when filled with chocolate though
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Finally, my inquisitve mind asks: Is that koala tame and kept as a pet?
Uwe
Koalas do not make for very good pets and are hard to keep. Apart from that its next to impossible to get a licence to be able to do so.
There are lots of them here. I would bet my favourite Cattle dog that its just a hot young Koala. Too small to be an adult.
When I lived in London in the early 90's I remember a lot of elderly deaths due to an extended cold period.
Here is what happens when you try and run a mile long Iron ore train over tracks that have done the same thing as the ones above.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200901/r334953_1516269.jpg)
This happened up in Northern Western Australia today.
Some kind of irony (oops0 happening when an Iron ore train derails on Iron rails pulled by an Iron Horse. :rolleyes:
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That koala's facial expression looks a lot like mine before I've had my first cup of coffee.
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Koalas are yummy when filled with chocolate though
Oh I love those cookies and my friend just found a store that sells them too so we had a few when we went to Disneyland earlier this week.
My friend said it was pretty nice in Sydney when I talked to him a bit last night.
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That koala's facial expression looks a lot like mine before I've had my first cup of coffee.
After?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/Basenjis/nast.jpg)
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Well, except for the collar, that's pretty close. 8)
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Update:
Adelaide suffered six consecutive days of 40C (104F) plus temperatures with a change that brought 35C (95F). Today back up to 43C (110F) and 42 (107F) forecast for tomorrow.
9 days straight above 35C (95F). A lot of animals have died. The morgues are full (I know I work near one), and Fruit and vegetable crops have been scorched to the point of being unsale-able. One of our biggest exports is our wine industry and right now it is harvest time. Things don't look very good.
Rolling power blackouts to thousands of homes for over a week now has been blamed for a lot of elderly deaths.
Yesterday's Temperature
Maximum: Marree, SA 47.0°C (116.6F) (small town north of Adelaide)
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OK so today we not only have the heat but we have the wind :-\
Townships under ember attack as fires rage
Fires are raging across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, with tens of thousands of fire fighters on stand-by across all three states.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337173_1529332.jpg)
We drove into the nearest big town near us (Mt Barker) and as we drove through each smaller town to get there it was like a Firemans version of a military red alert. Every person who is a member of the Fire services was not just on call but actually at the stations with the trucks ready to go.
Man it is just disgusting out there.
More news:
Wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour are being experienced, along with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.
It was already 37C in Adelaide at 9:00am ACDT.
More than 10,000 firefighters and 11 water bombers are on stand-by in strategic positions around the state.
One water bomber has already been sent to help contain a forest fire at Nangwarry near Mount Gambier.
National parks at Mount Lofty and on the Fleurieu Peninsula are closed because of the bushfire threat, and Monarto Zoo is also closed.
I live in the Mt Lofty ranges (Adelaide Hills) right near Monarto, which is a large open area zoo dedicated to endangered African animals.
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Small Riverland town of Cobdogla, a few hundred Kms East of me reached 46.3C (115F) a few hours ago.
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That's insane. What are the average temperatures for this time of year?
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The mean maximum temperature in Adelaide for the last week of Jan / first week of Feb (our hottest time of year) is about 30C (86F) with peaks on the occasional day of up to 36C (97F).
We had a cool change come through a few hours ago and the temp dropped down into the high 20C's
Phew! its weird but its now down to 18C (its 10.30pm) and it actually feels cold.
We fared a lot better than other places.
14 dead in Victorian inferno
Fourteen people are dead and at least 100 homes have been destroyed as fires burn over tens of thousands of hectares in Victoria and New South Wales.
Six have been killed at Kinglake, four at Wandong, three at Strathewen and one at Clonbinane. Police fear up to 40 people may have died.
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More hot animal pics
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Koala2.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Koala3.jpg)
This little guy is quite young. Some of the full grown buck Koala's around the hills are as big as my 4 year old son.
This is not normal for these animals. They are usually very shy and generally nocturnal.
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The death toll from the Victorian bushfires now stands at
49, with 640 houses destroyed *Edit: 84 dead and 700+ homes destroyed
It is now Australia's worst bushfire disaster.
Man we got off lucky. It was hotter here and we have less people on the ground to deal with it when it happens, combined with a bigger area to cover.
Meanwhile 1/2 of Queensland is underwater ??? Its a bizarre world we live in.
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Queensland is underwater.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337377_1530746.jpg)
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337361_1530657.jpg)
And Victoria is burned.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337312_1530304.jpg)
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337418_1531021.jpg)
What a country :sad:
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wow........Just wow :o
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Death toll now 108 :sad:
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337276_1530073.jpg)
Firebugs relighting Victorian fires
At least one firebug is adding to the misery of Victorians and hampering the efforts of exhausted firefighters.
The Country Fire Authority says it is unsure of how many arsonists there are, or their identities, but has confirmed that some of the fires raging across tens of thousands of hectares are being deliberately relit.
Steve Warrington, the deputy chief of CFA said:
"We had predictions yesterday that we thought there would be spotting of about seven or eight kilometres," he told ABC Local Radio.
"We know we do have someone who is lighting fires in this community. While we often think it's spotting, we also know that there are people lighting fires deliberately."
But he says even without arson, the fires have burned more intensely than anyone anticipated.
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The death toll from the fires has risen to 131.
Twenty-eight fires are still burning.
Smoke from bushfires in the Gippsland region east of Melbourne spreads out across Bass Strait on the afternoon of February 7, 2009
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337791_1533123.jpg)
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I saw a special on Australia. They said it is one of the worst continents for mass fires, which happen regularly. I can't imagine this being a regular occurrence.
They also said that Eucalyptus trees are like incendiary devises that literally bursting to flames they are so flammable.
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These Victorian fires are worst in recorded history. 173 confirmed dead now.
This is our 4th straight year of drought.
This is from Wiki and is a pretty accurate account.
The Ash Wednesday fires were a natural disaster that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by winds of up to 110 km (68 mph) per hour caused widespread destruction across the states of Victoria and South Australia.Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create one of Australia’s worst fire days in a century.
Only the 2009 Victorian bushfires have claimed more lives.
In Victoria, 47 people died, while in South Australia there were 28 deaths. This included 17 volunteer firefighters who died across both states that day. Many fatalities were as a result of firestorm conditions caused by a sudden and violent wind change in the evening which rapidly changed the direction and size of the fire front. The speed and ferocity of the flames, aided by abundant fuels and a landscape immersed in smoke, made fire suppression and containment impossible. In many cases, residents fended for themselves as fires broke communications, cut off escape routes and severed electricity and water supplies. Up to 8000 people were evacuated in Victoria at the height of the crisis and a state of disaster was declared for the first time in South Australia’s history.
Over 3,700 buildings were destroyed or damaged and 2,545 individuals and families lost their homes. Livestock losses were very high, with over 340,000 sheep, 18,000 cattle and numerous native animals either dead or later destroyed.
The emergency saw the largest number of volunteers called to duty from across Australia at the same time – an estimated 130,000 firefighters, defence force personnel, relief workers and support crews.
South Australia was let off the hook last week and while it is cool atm the temp will be rising back up to the high 30's during the coming weekend. Its not over yet.
The Ash Wednesday fires in '83 did to the Adelaide hills where I live, the same as the current fires did to King Lake in Victoria.
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25 bushfires still burning. 181 confirmed dead, 50 still missing.
Have a look at how the radiant heat from the fire has just vapourised the tyres on the tractor.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r337973_1534013.jpg)
There is a helicopter that comes from the USA to Australia each year called Elvis. This has become the most famous helicopter in Australian history. There would be very few people in this country that had not heard of Elvis the fire fighting helicopter.
I spotted this great pic of Elvis. I have seen him it fly over my house once or twice before.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r338247_1535742.jpg)
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Somebody dial down the sun please.
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That would be an CH-54 Skycrane..............looks good in orange.
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Thanks Mark. I have heard them refer to it as a Skycrane before but I didnt know the model/type. I've flown in a few military helicopters including Blackhawks, Iriquoi's and old Russian MI8's but Elvis is quite an amazing beast.
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Thinking some cold thoughts for you. Hope things have gotten cooler.
It snowed last night hopefully these pictures will give you a tiny bit of relief
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/Garden/P1040413.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/Garden/P1040412.jpg)
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Thats beautiful John :)
You know the sad part is that during the first week of August that is pretty much what the area of Victoria that got burned out looks like, albeit Gum trees.
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Here is a great pic of how the smoke from the fires has drifted across the Tasman to New Zealand.
There is smoke haze high in the air here too which is kinda weird because we are west of the fires by about 800kms and our weather comes from the west to the east.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/2009_Victorian_bushfires_smoke_plume_over_NZ.jpg/800px-2009_Victorian_bushfires_smoke_plume_over_NZ.jpg)
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It's hard to imagine that something like that can be caused by one or several nut jobs. Just horrible.
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There are a lot of Californian firefighters here helping apparently. Not having been there I wasn't aware that California has a lot of Eucalyptus trees also. I knew they had bad fires like we get but not that the trees were the same.
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Sorry about the big pic load here. Delete as required Dave or Uwe.
These are some pics from the bushfires. Pretty amazing some of them. You can actually see some of the fireballs that the preheating causes.
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-9.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-1.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-11.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-12.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-13.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-14.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-15.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-16.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-17.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-2.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-27.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-3.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-4.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-5.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Extras/Bushfires09/Bushfires-8.jpg)
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For those that thought the fires were ended, unfortunately they are still burning and as the temperature is rising again they are gaining more power.
Concerns are again growing in Victoria, where bushfire conditions are expected to return to extreme tomorrow with hot temperatures and northerly winds forecast.
Warburton Valley and Enoch point residents are being told to get out of the area tonight.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r338443_1536767.jpg)
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This thread is pretty incredible - but the whole situation is extreme. :o
Hang in there!!!!
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Thanks Pilgrim. Where I am in the Adelaide hills is historically in the extreme danger areas for South Australia and in the last 150 years this place has been wiped out 3 times. Most of the state was completely amazed that we got away without a major fire during the week of plus 40C temps when the Victorian ones started. Last one was on Ash Wednesday (Australians love irony) 1983.
If anyone is really interested Wiki does a pretty accurate job here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_fires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_fires)
28 People died in my area at that time. The toll is over 209 currently in Victoria which kind of puts things in perspective I guess.
After Ash Wednesday here the Govt put a plan in place which included a system where all known and suspected arsonists were put on a watch list. These people are graded into most likely to offend through to low risk. The people at the very top of the list during the high temp week were actually physically monitored. The next were watched for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the late afternoon and contacted to make sure they were aware that they were being watched. As it goes down the list people are contacted and or watched to lesser degrees. The suspected ones of the lowest risk are simply telephoned by police and told that they are under surveillance. These people get spot checked on a rotation only. There is also a public awareness scheme that is like something out of a WW2 British movie as far as educating the public in what to watch for in peoples actions in the hills.
This system is not in effect in any other state and most of us here are convinced that this combined with the 3 minute standby water bombers in the hills (the planes are at any spotted or reported fire within 3 mins) is the only reason we didnt burn like Victoria.
The other irony is that Half of Queensland is underwater and has been for weeks now with floods.
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r340400_1548024.jpg)
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Even the snakes are over it
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200902/r338866_1539127.jpg)
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About 7:45am on 2/26/09 here in Seattle. My humble home :)
It doesn't usually snow much here, in fact the winters are noted for being mild.
(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/Line6076.jpg)
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The slugs are going to want to bunk with you.
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Great shot Mark, looks beautiful.
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Temperatures are on their way up again today. There are still 4 fires burning out of control in unpopulated areas from the last big fires. One has a front of over 600kms apparently
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/27/2502674.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/27/2502674.htm)
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for those interested and happen to live in Australia ... although the residence is not so much a requirement:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=422195998&blogId=469610120
i have a few friends that are working on this, one from New Zealand and one a slide blues player in Aussieland. its basically musician to other muscians with its intent.
the blog has a voice player that explains it when you open the site.
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Thanks for that OP. There is usually a music industry push for fund raising when stuff like this happens. A few years back we did a free (donated proceeds) for the bushfires over on the west coast of Sth Aust. Also during the Ash wednesday fires in '83 we were touring Western Australia and did a large benefit gig with about 7 other bands. Some of which included Rose Tattoo, The Divynals and The Baby Animals.
Nothing has been mentioned yet but I'm sure it will. However, I do like the idea of helping musicians directly to get their musical lives back on track.