[Cloud Colours]

This is something I have wondered about for a while. Why do clouds vary so much in colour? I'm talking about the white/grey/black spectrum here, not the various effects you can get due to lighting conditions such as sunrise or sunset.

Is a black cloud just thicker than a white one? Or is it lower? Or does it contain different types of precipitation?

[Heavy rain/storms Friday 20th - Saturday 21st (pt2)]

Just driven from Warwick to Birmingham. Along the back road through Lapworth there are big floods everywhere, it's going into the shop fronts in Lapworth. The water was up to the top of cars' wheel arches in several places. Joined the M40 at J15 going north - no other traffic because the M40's closed further down... at the merge of the M42/M40 the police had stopped the M42 traffic because the motorway had turned into a lake. Those of us coming from the M40 were allowed to plough through it. In B'ham it's raining steadily, but not as heavily as it was in Warwick at 3pm.

[The Great Global Warming Swindle]

I am finding this thread hugely interesting, please keep up the arguments all you pros and antis!

My view always was that there are many factors influencing climate, but man is definitely exerting an influence too. I am yet to be convinced how big that influence has been/will be.

I don't expect either the strong pros or the antis to be swayed much - everyone wants hard evidence, and future climate change can't be proved. Let's face it, nobody can prove the sun will rise tomorrow. But the opposing views sure make fascinating reading.

[The Great Global Warming Swindle]

I'd guess (perhaps incorrectly?) that solar panels are like anything else commercially sold in the world - the more you pay, the better the quality.

Hear, hear.

And if your clinic's in Africa, with no mains electricity, a solar panel (even an inefficient one) seems the best option. Would be interested to know whether solar panels are cheaper than generators though.

[The Great Global Warming Swindle]

The point, I think, was that external pressure had limited his options for power (I'll double-check the programme to check this section), but he clearly says that he couldn't get another solar panel because he couldn't afford one!!

EDIT - While Solar Power may be becoming more efficient and relatively cheaper (here in the Western World), it is still far too expensive for those is less well-off nations and the Third World.

CB

EDIT - (George Bush hasn't decreed that I can't buy a Ferrari, but that doesn't mean I can just nip down the shop and pick one up...)

I'd missed the bit about him not being able to afford another solar panel...

But did he buy his single solar panel because he had no alternative, or because it was the best option?

[The Great Global Warming Swindle]

Enjoyed the programme but it didn't convince me that CO2 from human activity isn't playing a role in GW.

What was the African doctor with the single solar panel trying to prove? Has George Bush decreed that he can't buy a generator to power the clinic? And if he can't afford a generator, how about installing more solar panels? That at least would allow him to plug in the light and the fridge at the same time.

[Degrees of Frost]

Thanks Davehsug.

I like the term - it sounds a lot more impressive than "minus three" or whatever! I read an article about Lake Windermere freezing over in the late 19th century and it was used in there.

[Degrees of Frost]

Noticed that in some old books, a cold spell is referred to as so many "degrees of frost". What does this mean - is it degrees Fahrenheit below freezing? So 20 degrees of frost would be a temperature of (32 - 20) = 12 degrees Fahrenheit?

[Poll: Has this winter changed your view about human affect on climate change?]

Yes, this mild winter has convinced me that AGW is real. Seeing the famous "hockey-stick" graph with solar/volcanic and carbon emission data superimposed reinforced this for me.

[Snow/wintry Precipitation Reports 07th Jan 2006]

South Birmingham - light rain/sleet from 10am until 1pm, light snow since then. Settling slightly on grass but instantly melting on everything else.

Temperature 2.6C at 10am, now dropped to 2.2C.

[The Great Snow 1895]

I think Lake Windermere froze over in February 1895, and it's on that event that the Arthur Ransome book "Winter Holiday" is based.

[The Irony Of Global Dimming]

Was it that same Horizon programme that checked pan evaporation rates, and discovered that on the three days in recent history when there were no aircraft airborne (9th - 12th September 2001), the evaporation rates hugely increased? Therefore suggesting that air pollution (from aircraft anyway) is actually acting as a braking mechanism on GW, reducing the amount of heat reaching the earth's surface?

[Storm Reports - Tue 8th November]

Drove back from Warwick to Birmingham along the M40/M42 this evening at 5pm, torrential rain for most of the way including a single fork of lightning just south of J3 of the M42. Couldn't hear any thunder over the sound of the pounding rain.