Weather Thread

[American Patriot]

It was around -5 or so last night before I went to be (about 10PM ish) here.

[American Patriot]

I'd personally say that the weather in the Shire would be very similar to, oh, say New Zealand.... where the Hobbit is filmed. LOL

What's the Weather Like in Mordor? Climate of Middle Earth Mapped

By Michele Berger Published: Dec 10, 2013, 11:52 AM EST weather.com

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The Shire, where the hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien's books lived and seen above in a movie set, is most similar in climate to Leicestershire and Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom and just north of Dunedin, a city on New Zealand’s South Island. (hjjanisch/Flickr)



Follow @MicheleWBerger “We had no idea what the weather was going to be like when we started,” scientist Dan Lunt, Ph.D., told weather.com. How could they? They were looking at Middle Earth, after all, a fictional fantasy world built from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Yet when Lunt plugged in the necessary data from Middle Earth — home to hobbits, elves and wizards from Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy — the climate modeler at the University of Bristol actually mapped the weather world of these otherworldly creatures.
Through this process, Lunt discovered that The Shire, where the hobbits live, looked similar in climate to Leicestershire and Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom and just north of Dunedin, a city on New Zealand’s South Island. Not only that, but also the place where the elves set sail in the books, a site called Grey Havens, actually has strong easterly winds.
Mapping Middle Earth’s weather is all in good fun — especially for Tolkien fans like Lunt — but there are also practical applications, Lunt said.
In his day job, he uses models to study past climates, from thousands to millions of years ago. This work not only shows us how climate has changed, but also validates the models we use to look at future climate. “The assumption, if you like, is if the model does a good job in a past high CO2 world, we can gain more confidence in a future high CO2 world,” he said.
Using Tolkien’s realm was a way of reaching a broad audience on a typically dry topic, he added. “The whole Middle Earth thing grabs people’s attention, but then actually the paper that we wrote … is aimed at the general public. It’s aimed at someone who is interested in climate science but has no background.”
Naming Radagast the Brown as author paper helped. Radagast is one of several wizards in the books; he watches over the forests and communicates with the animals. “Originally I thought Bilbo Baggins because he’s the most well known character,” Lunt said. But Radagast, “I see him as a bit of an environmental scientist.”
All in all, it seems the weather in the beloved places of Middle Earth are quite pleasant. Just be glad you don’t live in Los Angeles, west Texas or a place in Australia called Alice Springs. Mordor, the fiery evil lair of villain Sauron who yearns to turn all of Middle Earth into darkness, is most similar to these spots.

[Ryan Ruck]

[American Patriot]

We're not getting any snow here. It's gonna be in the 40s and 50s

[Toad]

It was -22 real temp when I woke up this morning. Wind chills in the -40s. At least a foot of snow on the ground.

[Malsua]

We're going to get some scattered snow showers here, nothing is going to stick. It was 60+ yesterday.

[Malsua]

It was -22 real temp when I woke up this morning. Wind chills in the -40s. At least a foot of snow on the ground.

I always wanted enough snow to run a snow machine reliably all winter.

Then I realize it comes with dealing with -20 and colder...fuck that. I've had that in Ohio in Jan 94...hit -26 where I lived. Was like that for a few days but it was -10 or colder for a month.

[American Patriot]

When you have -20 or lower and snow, the snow is really just a powder. The colder that metal is, the more of it that sticks to it. lol

[eversman]

Here in Iowa where i live, the Avg temp through november was 4 degrees. the average so far in december is 1 degree. We just got 6 inches of snow, on top of the 8 we've gotten previously. It's a whopping -8* real temp right now, with windchills at -24* and expected to bottom out at -35* tonight. This weather F'ing sucks. In a big way.

-ev

[Ryan Ruck]

Wow, you guys are really getting a winter!

[American Patriot]

And here in Colorado it's sunny and 40s... (ok, the sun ain't actually up yet, and it's really in the 30s right now, but it's gonna be in the 40s today)

[Ryan Ruck]

Maybe we're getting a white Christmas after all, if you can call this one, if this sticks around.



Guess we got a dusting overnight. It's certainly cold enough right now for this to be around tomorrow.

[American Patriot]

Yeah, no chance here.

[Ryan Ruck]

I'm keeping an eye on the 5th-7th...





Of course with it still being a ways out, things can definitely change.

[American Patriot]

Good luck with that, and better you than me. -35??? Sheesh

That damned Global Warming!

[Malsua]

Holy shit that Jan 6 storm is a whopper...looks like I'll catch somewhere round about 20 if the model holds.

Looks like I could get 10-14 Thurs/Fri...add on another 20, ugh.

[American Patriot]

Plus... it's bloody hell cold, Mal!

[Malsua]

It's showing -10c...that's 14F for me, no big deal really, that's normal.

[Ryan Ruck]

This is a recent model run through Friday for a system that is supposed to move through before the big 5th-7th system:



Those are totals assuming a 10:1 ratio. I'm seeing some people say it could be 12 or 15:1.

Same with that 5th-7th system. Could have higher ratios as well.

[American Patriot]

I didn't see the thing I should have looked for "All temps in Celsius". LOL