h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Back in Florida, a lot of low-lying land was developed during a protracted drought. If the buyers looked hard at their new back yards they might have noticed the cypress knees. And when the drought was over they discovered they were living in a swamp, with inoperable septic systems and friendly local alligators.

So, they were stupid. But what about those villagers in Cornwall whose ancient homes are situated halfway up a steep hill face, yet they're still looking up at the crest of a breaker? There's no precedent.

I've stayed in Cornwall. It's wonderful to live by the sea, and the light there is incomparable. But now and again the ocean is going to rise up and remind us that water beats earth.

The old houses have all seen this before and survived, it the new ones Less than 300 years old that haven't had it happen before.

Of which of course there are a lot including the railways and main roads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1703

For Comparison

"New ones less that 300 years old..."

There are few older than that on my side of the pond.

I don't think it is so much the severity of the storms, winds of 70-80 mph are not uncommon along the coast in the winter, its the endless succession of deep depressions that are so unusual. Its starting to give me the hump.

I agree
So far the winds have been nowhere near as bad as 1987, that's not saying they aren't strong gales, but there is much less wind damage to buildings.
The biggest factor is the almost relentless rain, which is stopping flooded areas drying out.

[BB]

Witty
If you see air footage of the floods in Somerset, you can spot all the old farms and villages on slightly higher ground, in most cases still dry (just)

Please send our rain back, we need it here.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/14/california-droughtthreatensfarmersagworkerscitiesandyou.html

Wow. That looks just horrible.

Witty, you can have all of the rain in Sweden too - if only we could figure out who to change its direction...

Currently watching '666 Park Avenue'. After watching the second episode, I got a bit confused, because I thought the address 999 Park Avenue. After rewatching the first episode, that *is what it said on the building. Hah!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2197797/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I wonder if the surname of the main evil characters - Doran - is based upon 'Dorian Gray's portrait'?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2197797/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Drat, that second link was a copy of the first, hang on...

http://www.h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/classic/A643358

Ti, it's Happy Nerd that wants rain, not me. My area has had 2 snowstorms and an ice storm in the last 2 weeks. And 2 polar vortices.

The US is rather large. .

If you happen to get Swedish rain Witty, please pass it on to HN, will you? Thanks

Two snowstorms and an ice storm? Sounds much more like winter than what I'm currently experiencing in my neck of the woods. Even one of the annual ice skating events 'Vikingarännet' had to be cancelled because of the weather being too warm:

http://vikingarannet.com/en/news/news/

If the rain ends up a bit north of HN, it won't be wasted.... But yeah, either place (or in between) could use it. We're at 29% of normal rainfall.

New Mexico had a hundredth of an inch of precip in January. When it snowed this week (snow which has since vanished), Albuquerque celebrated in the usual ways -- traffic jackknifing and bumping into each other, schools cancelling...

It is horrific that California agribusiness is perfectly willing to let the pacific salmon go extinct if it will help get the next crop of asparagus out. They accuse the environmentalists of "putting fish before families".

I think we'll only achieve sustainability if we allow fruits and veggies to become seasonal again. Remember when there were certain times of year when you just couldn't have fresh asparagus?

You have fresh asparagus ally ear round?
The vegetable supply here is pretty limited at this time of the year, mostly different sorts of cabbage, root vegetables and some stuff from Spain like watery tomatoes and zucchini. Fruits are mostly apples, pears and oranges. Everything else has to be bought frozen.

"You have fresh asparagus all year round?"
Yep, that's our modern supermarkets for you, that insist on stocking the exact same stuff all year round. Well, except Christmas stuff which is rarely seen earlier than July.

We do have asparagus, and many other fruits and vegetables, year round that used to be seasonal only. California is the main reason why.

Lil, you have to remember that stewarding the land means something different to certain groups of people than it does to most here in the Salon.

while it wasn't very wintery (at least until the end), we only had 17 hours of sunshine in January. 17! Gloomy is the word.

The was for Bagpuss...

I hope they won't start with that here. Asparagus is one of the things which really are only available seasonally and they usually make quite some fuss about it when the first harvest arrives. I'm not that fond of asparagus myself, I'm rather waiting for strawberry season to arrive (although they currently do sell a very limited number of highly priced berries in tiny packages).