Should I know what those acronyms mean? --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Tue, Nov 19, 2024, 12:37 PM steve smith <[email protected]> wrote: > Nick - > > a sub-anecdote from my last missive which I failed (deliberately) to > include was the time my father brought home a weather balloon one of the > ranchers had found on his grazing permit (USFS). He had already sent the > guts of the recording device to the appropriate authorities (US weather > service) but I fiddled with the (latex) balloon itself and the shroud > cables and the weatherproof box housing the electronics (or was it entirely > mechanical like the Fu-Go you reference?). > > I was on a 8 week "walkabout" in 2014 and just leaving the small town of > Thermopolis Wyoming where the first such (Japanese incendiary) device was > discovered when the NPR station I was listening to gave a history of those > events including referencing the small town (hot springs location) I was > just leaving. My final destination was Portland/Seattle/Tacoma so I > included visits to the general location of the other landings in that area > which included Gearhart Mtn OR where 6 people died... the only injuries > from all those (order 10k?) launches. Sobering. > > Last time I was at the ABQ balloon museum they had an exhibit on these > bomb-balloons including the mulberry-paper envelope... all the envelopes > and mechanical "logic" were hand-built apparently, drawing on the rich > Japanese craft traditions . > > I hope your "weather book" is not OBE with the AMOC weakening/collapse? > Has your personal observation over decades in New England included an > experience of the presumed 10-20% weakening over that time? I have lived > in roughly 3 areas of the southwest in my adult life (so AZ, no AZ, no NM) > which undermines my long-term direct apprehension of weather patterns. > Your reports on the "dry line" made me aware that we here in no NM are on > the edge of an interesting variable phenomena and I'd guess that New > England is yet more subject to weather fluctuations? > > - Steve > > > On 11/19/24 11:58 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > As a part of my plan to revise my weather book, I have been working on a > chapter on the jet stream. I am thinking of using the passage below as a > kind of epigraph. I am sending it along because it brings together two of > the salient concerns of Our Glorious Leader. Comments, fact checks, grumpy > comments always welcome. > > *During the winter of 1944-5, in the last desperate days of World War II, > the Japanese military launched hundreds of incendiary balloons into the jet > stream, hoping to ignite fires in American forests. This ingenious scheme > worked. Many balloons made the 5,000 mile trip and some even started small > fires. However, the plan ultimately failed. For a large fire to be kindled > by one of these devices, the ground had to be had to be dry, the > temperature high, the humidity low, the water table depleted, all > conditions that often occur during summer droughts. Winter, however, is > the wet season in the American west. The same jet stream that brought in > the balloons, also brought in waves of pacific moisture that soaked the > ground and covered the high mountains in deep banks of snow. * > > *This bit of military history illustrates the relationship between the jet > stream and the weather we all experience, day by day. The jet stream can > initiate severe weather, can spark it, one might say, but only where > conditions below have been primed. Its seeds can only flourish where the > ground has been prepared. * > > -- > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology > Clark University > [email protected] > https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... > --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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