We’ve had a rough couple of days in Cape Town, but this isn’t a photo directly related to them.
This is a photo by local photographer Henk Kruger and was apparently taken in September.
It seems apt to share it after the last 24 hours or so.
Category: in the news
Incoming: Black South Easter
Much talk around about the ‘Black South Easter’ that is expected to hit Cape Town over the next 36 hours or so, bringing with it high winds, dark clouds and much rain. And right from the outset, it should be pointed out that this nomenclature isn’t a racist thing. We don’t have an alternative ‘White South Easter’ which lives very comfortably in Constantia, happily subsisting off its ill-gotten, pre-94 gains and complaining about the ANC. No, this is so named because of the threatening colour of the clouds – a kind of meteorological Swart Gevaar, if you wish to continue the rather tenuous analogy.
The braai-ruining South Easter or ‘Cape Doctor’ which is usually prevalent in Cape Town from October through to (at least) December is due to a pressure area called the South Atlantic High (SAH) which sits just off the Cape coast and fairly regularly joins up with its equally high friend in Durban. These guys hang around together, being high, giggling at nothing in particular, eating Pringles and forming a ridge of high pressure below South Africa, bringing with them the warm Cape Doctor, which, despite its reputation for blowing patio chairs over in Vredehoek, is actually a fair weather wind.
All good so far? Fantastic.
So what goes wrong in this Black South Easter scenario, which is responsible for such nastiness as the great Laingsburg Flood?
At first the rain was gentle as a result of a low pressure system. But from Saturday afternoon to Sunday a high pressure system brought heavy thunder showers to the catchment area. Up to 425 mm rainfall was recorded that week-end, whereas the normal rainfall per annum is only 175 mm.
Well, despite their insistence that a high pressure system was solely to blame, it was actually the interaction between that high pressure system and what’s called a Cut-Off Low pressure area. Please don’t think for a moment that we’re talking about the usual mild-mannered inland low pressure trough that sits over the Karoo in summer here. No, this puppy is a deep low pressure area and it would much rather be with its mates down towards Antarctica at this time of year. Sadly, our South Atlantic High is so out of it that he’s joined up with his Bru from Durbs and unwittingly separated the low from his friends. Awkward.
Let’s explain what’s going on by transposing this situation into a bar room scenario. It would be a bit touch and go.
Ideally, the low pressure area would note the obviously wasted state of the South Atlantic High, politely point out the awkward social situation that had occurred – “Sorry dude, I just need to slip past, please” – and things would be quickly resolved.
Sadly though, meteorological pressure areas are unable to communicate with one another – or anyone else for that matter – and the angry young low has been doing Jägerbombs since lunchtime. He lets fly with everything he’s got, dragging the warm air from our high friends, chucking in some filthy black clouds and several inches of precipitation in his annoyance at not being allowed to sit with his mates over at the other side of the pub.
Fortunately, all this bluster doesn’t last for very long. Whereas a normal winter low pressure area would go on for a few days, the cut off low soon runs out of energy and falls down drunk at the bar. The ridge of high pressure looks on, grinning: “Dude, he totally fell over,” and gets on with clearing the dark clouds over the Mother City. That’s why Sunday actually looks quite nice and summer returns on Monday, when we’re all back at work.
If the forecast is to be believed, we’re in for a lot of rain from Friday evening through into Saturday. So do stay safe and remember these numbers in case of emergency.
Nice introduction, interesting idea
Synthetic living creatures would be released into the wild to save endangered species and clean up pollution under this futuristic proposal by designer Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg.
Called Designing for the Sixth Extinction, the project is designed to trigger debate about how artificial organisms could be used to solve environmental problems.
And here’s how Brian Micklethwait introduced it:
Synthetic creatures could “save nature” says Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg.
Has this woman never seen any horror movies?
Haha! Brilliant!
It’s an interesting idea, but it’s not as revolutionary as you might think. Bio-engineering of microorganisms – although not strictly ‘synthetic’ – is already being used to sort out environmental issues, such as these methanotrophs. But Ms Ginsberg is thinking of things on a larger scale:
“These are bio-remediating slugs that reduce acidity levels in the soil to make it more hospitable. Soils get really acidic due to pollution; their slug trails are very alkali and they neutralise the soil.”
Cute. I think I want a bio-remediating slug as a pet. I’d feed it on sand soaked in vinegar and we’d all live happily ever after.
But seriously, these are interesting and promising concepts and an innovative way of looking at some of the environmental problems we face. Until, that is (as Brian points out), they unite, mutate and quickly take over the planet.
Plans for weekend – avoid falling satellite
Yes. Really. Because the European Space Agency’s GOCE satellite, launched in 2009 to measure the Earth’s magnetic field, is falling back to Earth. This is because it has run out of fuel, which was the only thing keeping it up in a rather tenuous 280km orbit. Now, already having fallen to about 190km above us by yesterday, it’s expected to fall out of the sky completely by Sunday or Monday.
Should you be worried? Well, no.
Not according to Dr Stuart Clark anyway. He says it’s likely that the one tonne unit is “likely to fragment into 25-45 pieces en route”. And although “No one knows exactly when or where it will smash down”, we’ll probably be ok. That’s because those pieces (each weighing an absolute minimum of 22.22kg if his assumptions are correct) will likely burn up before they touch down.
Much like most other meteorites:
According to Cornell University’s Ask and Astronomer webpage, between 18,000 and 84,000 meteorites bigger than 10 grams hit the Earth every year. Not all of these survive to strike the ground.
The total amount of mass contained in a year’s worth of meteorites is about 37,000-78,000 tonnes, or 101–214 tonnes per day. So, another tonne from GOCE represents an increase of just 0.5-1% on the day.
To put the numbers into clear context, the Chelyabinsk meteor that struck Russia on 15 February 2013, injuring people and causing wide-spread damage, is estimated to have been 12,000–13,000 times more massive than GOCE.
All of which is very reassuring, until 20 kilos of hot metal ruins your Sunday evening braai.
North Shields Man ‘Beaten To Death For Putting Chilli Sauce On Nephew’s Kebab’
Presented without comment:
A North Shields man beat his uncle to death and left him with a fork sticking out of his neck because he put chilli sauce on his kebab, a court heard.
Grieving Eligijus Zemaitis, 18, was already angry with Mantas Leonavicius for not attending his mother’s funeral a week before when he snapped and killed him, it is claimed.
Newcastle Crown Court heard during a night of heavy drinking at the uncle’s flat in North Shields, North Tyneside, Zemaitis beat the 22-year-old to death and left a fork sticking out of his neck after he complained about chilli sauce on his fast food.