Busy Night For Making Memes

I have been a little inspired tonight. Not sure why.

Not sure who is making ghostly howling noises meme

7 Day Forecast for Perth meme

Tomic to consider his future meme

Felix Baumgarnter - new diving champion meme

Don't Trust A Forecast Predicting Rain In Perth

The weather forecaster who predicts rain in Perth can never be trusted. I've seen it happen before whereby rain was predicted all week and we didn't get a drop. This week they've forecast wetness from Tuesday to Sunday. Let's see if they're right, even if it is winter.

There's an old saying - "Everyone talks about the weather but no-one can do anything about it." Perhaps that should be updated - "Everyone talks about the weather but no forecaster can ever predict it correctly."

Let's see if anyone trys to steal credit for this meme of mine.

Perth's Weather Forecast meme

Beautiful Winter Sunrise

Yesterday was an interesting day weather-wise. Dark clouds were looming in the west but the east was bright orange and pink. I didn't take an umbrella as I thought I'd miss any rain and it would be dry by the time I left work. Just after I took the photos below I noticed a rainbow to the west. It began to rain just before the bus arrived at my stop but it wasn't heavy enough to worry anybody. However later in the morning it poured although Perth only received 4.8mm officially. When we went for a lunchtime walk there were ducks in the parkland area wading in water that was lying around. It had been a heavy shower but I need to keep in mind that the land level is only about 1m above the nearby Swan River so drainage isn't great. And it did rain later on the way home. Very contrasting weather.

Beautiful winter sunrise

Very bright morning before the rain

This photo doesn't do the scene justice as there was high level cloud above another well formed cloud which looked very strange indeed.

Weather Shots

I enjoy taking photos. If you are like Jimmy Olsen, and always have a camera at the ready, you'll get a few shots that are worth the effort. The weather offers a wide variety of photos - be it a storm, autumn leaves, God light or whatever. I've put a few together and will probably expand on the package at a later date.

Weather Shots photo album on Facebook.

Redefining Pathetic

I don't think too much of the regional TV news in Australia but prefer watching Channel 7 if the ABC or SBS are unavailable. Channel 10 is quite watchable but I refuse to watch theChannel 9 news even though they have the same stories as Channel 7.

Two nights ago I was most annoyed with the weather girl, Natalia Cooper, with her report from a drought-ravaged area of the state. Not so much the story was the issue but this weather girl made a heartfelt plea for rain in the area which appeared to be stage-managed. Ok, she doesn't have a science communications degree covered climate change, environmental subjects, geography and a bit of meteorology like her rival on Channel 9, Angela Tsun, but she does have a journalism degree. The fact of the matter is that weather is a science, not an exact science (I'm waiting for some teenager or American to comment "exact same science"), and this passionate display was quite pathetic. All she needed to do was report that rain was greatly needed. Pleading for it is not the way to go and unproffessional journalism. And this was after telling us that they need the rain next year so what's it got to with this year then? Not a very well managed weather report from a very dry area of Western Australia.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but the regional TV stations try to introduce too much heartfelt sympathy and I'm not buying it.

More Proof Of Global Warming?

Global warming this. Global warming that. I'll have you know that Perth has just experienced 15 consecutive nights where the temperature dropped below 5°C. A record. The previous record was nine consecutive nights. Not that I can find a decent link to the record but this site is close.

I blame global warming.

Candlelit Dinner - But Without The Romance

On Sunday afternoon the weather forecast was for a thunderstorm to hit Perth's northern suburbs at around 8pm. They were expecting 20-25mm of rain and the storms could hang around until Tuesday morning. Surprise, surprise but there was no storm and no rain on Sunday night.

I took the umbrella to work on Monday though. Just in case. At 4pm, when I left from work, there was an eerie light outside. And the street lights were already on. The clouds were foaming and I was in half a mind to video them. Only minutes later and it started raining and reasonably hard too. As soon as I got on the bus it started hailing. The hail was only the size you normally see though. By the time I reached my stop it had ceased raining.

The Boy and I went to taekwondo training. It's a fifteen minute drive south of our house. All of the traffic lights from Carousel Shopping Centre down to the taekwondo centre were out. We parked the car and walked to the centre. It was still dry. Within 10 minutes, before our class started, the wind was blowing fiercely and the driving rain was incredible. You could barely see house lights only a few hundred metres away. I was very glad to be commencing my training and not leaving in that weather.

Minutes later I spoke with my instructor. My words were, "All of the lights are out from Carousel to," and blooomp!! All of the lights went out. I continued, "From Carousel to here!" He sent me to the back corner for being a jinx. The lights didn't come back on. They grabbed a couple of torches and we trained in torchlight. The instructor even mentioned that "It doesn't matter if you're not doing your exercise properly as I can't see you." It would have been interesting had we been able to do sparring in the dark. I guess the risk of injury was too great however.

No rain at the conclusion of training so it was a dry walk back to the car. As I was heading home in front of the council depot near our house I thought to myself, "I'm not driving my wife's relatively new car through that." The roadway was flooded whereas just an hour and a half previously it was dry.

Water is a bit deep on the roadway.

Would a temporary bridge be too much to ask?

Someone wants to go aquaplaning.

Miky had been battling a flood in the sewing room whilst we were away and there was no power. The sewing machine had been doused in water so it will be interesting to see if it has survived. Amazingly she still managed to cook a marvellous meal of bulgogi that was hot when served. We ate dinner by candlelight but it wasn't entirely romantic. Not that having the power on would have necessarily added to the romantic aspect but I think that it may have helped.

Complete lack of power meant that The Boy got out of having to do some homework. For a kid that is still apprehensive about the dark, which has a lot to do with a horrible video on YouTube that one of his classmates showed the class, he took it pretty well. We watched a few music videos on the laptop and had an early night.

Perth had 40mm of rain overnight and 23mm came within one 30 minute period. It was only a storm but you'd think that a cyclone had hit us. Apparently there is some A$100m worth of damage that's been suffered and somewhere between 75,000 and 150,000 homes lost power. Perth is not equipped for even a little storm.

Oh yeah, it took Western Power 25 hours to return power to us. Just enough time to almost defrost the freezer.

Branch-laden power lines.

Power lines seem to attract branches.

Fallen tree.

Is this a knock-down sale?

Pedestrians watch your step.

Watch your step alright.

If you want to see some of the real damage that I didn't experience then check out the following Websites.

Perth Now - Storm could rival 2005 deluge as one of the worst to hit the State

ninemsn - Freak storm dumps on Perth

ABC - Photos

Herald Sun - Thousands in the dark as storm batters Perth, Western Australia

ABC - Damage bill mounts as storm causes chaos

Just How Warm Is It?

It was supposed to be a reasonably warm day today. At lunch time a group of us go for a walk around the lake. One of the guys asked, "What's the temperature?" I looked at the Bureau of Meterology's Website and it said currently Perth was at 24.9C. He was a bit surprised at that and I guess he wouldn't have been in the mood for a walk if it was too hot.

We stepped outside the building and you could feel the sun and almost drink the humidity. It felt a lot warmer than 24.9C. I commented that it was probably warmer than that when I was walking to the bus in the morning. As soon as we returned from our walk I checked the Website again. The current temperature was 36.5C. That's more like it. And further investigation revealed that it was 25.3C when I was walking to the bus stop earlier that morning. So my assumption was correct.

Did I read the temperature incorrectly earlier or had there been a glitch? Either way, the body is a reasonable indicator of the actual temperature.

The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Shoes On

This morning I just experienced the most fun you can have with your shoes on. At least if you don't wear shoes within your abode, that is. On the way to the bus stop, following an overnight shower, I noticed that the snails were out in force. I managed to squash a total of 47 snails and 3 slugs during my 10 minute trek to the bus. That's one snail every 13 seconds you know.

There are rules to squash by:

- Snails on footpaths must be squashed.
- Snails on grass next to footpaths are fair game if you have the time.
- Snails on walls and fences are generally safe. You don't wish to pull a muscle or be seen to be acting like a weirdo by passersby.

We've had a wet start to spring. So far we've experienced rain on 17 out of the 18 days of September. The average is for 15 days of rain for the month (although stats I found indicate that it's 11.6 days with greater than or equal to 1mm of rainfall). And the forecast is for showers every day the next week.

And still the snails keep coming. There's no end to them. And now you can see why I'm not allowed to wear shoes in the house.

Perth Forecast from Bureau of Meteorology


Perth Monthly Figures from Bureau of Meteorology


Perth Climate Statistics from Bureau of Meteorology

Bureau of Meteorology

Something Wrong With The Weather Bureau's Gauge?

I wonder. It has rained for practically the whole day. People coming into work this morning were complaining about it having poured on them. Luckily I started a little earlier and missed it all. It was pizzling in the morning and came down a bit more strongly, with a good deal of wind mind you, when we went for our lunch time walk. We even took umbrellas and waterproof jackets with us but cut the walk short. All afternoon it continued to rain. All evening it has rained. And still the weather bureau tells me that Perth has had only 12.8mm (1/2") of precipitation in the 12 hours since 9am. Rubbish! The rain has been quite a bit heavier than 1mm/hr. I can remember only one other time where it rained all day and that day had a minimum temperature of 10 degrees C and a maximum of only 11 degrees C. Diurnal range of 1 degree Celsius is almost unheard of.

I wonder if their rainfall gauge is broken.

My Wife The Weather Girl

My wife should really get a job as a weather girl. When I mentioned this morning that it was going to rain and that I should take my umbrella she said that it wouldn't rain today but would tomorrow. So, I didn't take my brolly. Lo and behold it starting raining before I arrived at the bus stop. Alighting from the bus I had to make a quick dash to work. At least I didn't get drenched like a few other people.

Just for the record we've had 26.8mm of rain so far today, just over the inch mark, and it rained nearly all the working day. Apparently we are in front of the average rainfall for the year. Mandurah, about 60km south, had 60mm. Miky appears perfectly suited to inform us of the coming weather.

Boxing Day 2007 - Stinker Of A Day

Remember how I said Christmas Day was the second hottest on record this year? Well, Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, was an absolute stinker. The temperature hit 44.2 degrees Celsius (111.5 degrees Fahrenheit), with 44.5 reached at Perth Airport, so it was boiling.

I think that pumpkins, who aren't that keen on the hot weather, have an amazing built-in defence mechanism. During the hottest part of the day they wilt but when it becomes a bit cooler they spread their leaves out again. Quite extraordinary actually. One could go so far as to say one of nature's miracles. One could also stop blabbering now.

I took the photos below when the temp was 41 degrees Celsius. The temperature rose until it peaked at just over 44 degrees and I wouldn't have thought that the pumpkins enjoyed it too much. Thankfully it doesn't appear to have killed them off. Another couple of days of that weather would though.

Large Pumpkin Plant Hot - the temp was 41 degrees Celsius.

Small Pumpkin Plant Hot - the temp was 41 degrees Celsius.

Large Pumpkin Plant Cooler - the temp had dropped to the low thirties.

Small Pumpkin Plant Cooler - the temp had dropped to the low thirties.


My first tomato plant from out the back had died off. Seeing as it still had one or two tomatoes on it I decided to keep watering it. To my amazement it had a second growth spurt and once again looks like quite a healthy plant.

My crazy tomato plant out the back that has a second lease on life.

Hot Couple Of Days

It usually starts heating up in November and this year is no exception. Still spring time but that doesn't seem to be the point. On Sunday it was going to be warm and so that meant an ideal opportunity to clean the air conditioner. And it needed it. And we needed it a bit later on in the day as the temperature climbed to 37.0 degrees (98.6 F). I also replaced one of the garden sprinkler heads and the aerator on the bathroom tap. Didn't get around to fixing the laundry tap but that will happen.

Yesterday, the start of the working week, was even hotter. The mercury rose to 39.8 degrees (103.6 F) which meant only a short walk at lunch time. By the same time next week it's supposed to be only 22 degrees (71.6 F) so things can turn around quite quickly.