27.09.2024 Buy a ticket for The Ark?

 ~o~

  Friday 27th 54F/2C [7.45] The heavy rain is easily audible indoors. Fortunately the extreme rainfall warning has moved westwards. Though we are still near the eastern edge of the affected area. The rain is supposed to ease off after 10am. 

 20mm of rain fell yesterday according to my gauge. So I must deduct that from what fell overnight and this morning. I should have emptied it! It is already full but still raining hard! I risk a soaking. It was showing 40mm and now emptied. So 20mm of new rain overnight. 

 Unfortunately I was cleaning the gauge to be rid of green algae when we had a half hour cloudburst the day before. I have moved the gauge to stand a couple of meters outside a north window. Where the lack of sunshine will [hopefully] greatly decrease algae growth. While not impeding any rainfall by the house roof. It really needs an extension rod to bring it up to eye level. Not to mention more exposed. Now done as per the image alongside.

 I have a doctor's appointment this morning to test my wind capacity. I ought to take a list of ailments. So I don't forget anything. 

 10.00 Fierce gusts, but is has stopped raining. More rain expected this afternoon. The sky was black to the north as I drove home. The news reports numerous crashes on the motorway. Allegedly due to standing water and morons driving too close to each other.  I felt sorry for the girl on her bike as several cars pushed past her at a narrow crossroads in the village. She was clearly struggling against the crosswind. But hey! These drooling morons have to get to the supermarket. Or kill trying!

 It is reported that my breath capacity is normal for an old fart like me. The loss of voice complaint has resulted in plans for a chest x-ray and an examination by an ear, nose and throat specialist. The same good lady. Who attends to my ear wax at intervals at her clinic in town. And finally, the local garden centre had no tomato feed with extra potassium. [kalium på dansk]

 11.20 Still gusting wildly! Another 10mm this morning since I last emptied the gauge. Makes 50mm in total since yesterday morning! I am going to potter round to check the water level in the bæk beside/underneath the neighbour's new drive. It can't be seen from here due to the many trees. 

11.45 Talk about windy! I was being blown all over the place. The wooded back gardens of the houses beside the beck are flooded as usual. Fortunately they all sit on top of a fierce drop. So, no risk of their houses getting damp underfoot. A large area of the back field had standing water but nothing obvious to worry about. No doubt the ground had been compacted from the tractor mowing. I'll keep an eye on the situation. There may be water yet to run off the hills. 

 15.30 55F/13C. Heavy overcast. Returning from a builder's merchant. With an oversized [Giant] rain gauge and a bottle of tomato fertilizer. It rained while I was away but the roads were dry as I neared home. Still blowing a gale with fierce gusts. 

 The funnel of the large rain gauge is 12cm wide. The clear, graduated tube is 48cm high. I seriously doubt it is weather station accurate but it is a bit of fun. It holds a lot more more rain 125mm/5" [instead of 40mm] and is easier to read from a distance. Saving me going outside to read it when it is cold and wet. A yellow float rises on the surface of the collected rainfall. Probably helping to reduce evaporation in sunny and showery weather. So it can stand in a more exposed spot. 

 I believe the ideal situation is not in the open but surrounded in trees. With a clear view of the sky down to 30º all around beyond ten feet. The more exposed a rain gauge is the greater the chance of rain being blown outside the funnel. Rather than falling  directly into it. My own situation is more enclosed because of high trees but still well away from them or any buildings. Good enough for my hobby interest. 

 Precision rain gauges cost much more and are carefully designed to read to fine tolerances. The professional weather forecaster's standard is even higher and based on an 8" Ø funnel. This design goes back to the turn of the 20th century.

There is a more popular 4" standard used in the USA. For which a couple of clear plastic models now compete for popularity. The long established Stratus and the much later Tropo. Both claim to be able to measure rainfall to 1/100th of an inch/0.254mm] Even a few droplets of rain adhering to the funnel can make a measurable difference here!

 Members of a large group with 26,000 members [all volunteers] call themselves CoCoRaHS. They send in their readings of rain and snowfall. Which covers North America. The data are shared on their website and the data used by professional meteorologists and climatologists. America is a very big place and can find room for lots of reporting stations.

 CoCoRaHS - Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network

Interestingly, electronic and automatic rain gauges are not allowed to be used for the CoCoRaHS reports. None has been found to provide the stable and reliable readings of the manual instruments. There are other groups who cater for readings from these instruments. 

 No doubt other countries have their own weather enthusiasts and reporting groups. Each with their own local conditions and levels of expertise. I smile when I see an amateur report of a light breeze. Blowing in the opposite direction to the widespread storm flattening trees. Then discover that their anemometer is mounted under the eaves of their bungalow. In a large forest and closely surrounded in dense shrubs. Rain gauges seem to find themselves similarly mounted. Perhaps they hope that a few drops of rain will bounce off something nearby? The complete opposite to the desired situation. Where all splashing is to be strictly avoided!

 This sudden interest in measuring rainfall follows half a century of interest in wind speed measurement. Recent rainfall has broken as many records as has extreme heat. My interest in climate goes back to the 1970s and the warnings of a new ice age and alternative energy. I was always interested in insulation and solar heating. 

 Only moving to Denmark finally allowed a south facing, "solar greenhouse." Which proved to be an oven but only when the "free heat" wasn't needed. The heat can be used indoors in spring and autumn when the sun is shining from a clear blue sky. In winter the sun is so low as to be hidden by almost any hurdle in its path. Like a front hedge. Or tall weeds. In summer heavy shading and ventilation is needed to limit temperatures to 100F/40C. The doors to the house remain firmly closed! 

 That was quick! I have an appointment for my x-ray next week. On Thursday. Which means I'll miss both physio and cooking classes. I'll try, on Monday, to see if this date can be changed.  Gently, of course. 

 Esbjerg had a record breaking 145mm of rain [for September since records began in 1874.] Vejle city centre was flooded yet again.

 Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast with halved tomatoes. I lit the stove earlier to lift the room to 66F from 64F. 19C from 18C. It made all the difference. I don't want it hot. Just more comfortable. A fleece jacket and trousers help too.

 

  ~o~