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

Hello Ballynac,

I'm in Baharain but come from England and I saw something yesterday about rhubarb and daffodils being unseasonably available in some parts.
How's today been? Here in the Gulf it's been cool and very humid.Fog in the mornings, but when I went for a haircut this afternoon (2pm) they turned on the A/C in the barber shop.

I would echo post 7280 in that the only evidence of it being winter is the shortened daylight. In Michigan it is supposed to go up to
45 (that's 7 C)today. they say their is a cold front about two days out that will return us to sub freezing temperatures and give us a couple inches of snow. the only significant snowfall we had this year was in November.

The tree across the road from us that was blown down in the bad storm we had last week, was cut up and taken away today.

Its amazing just how quick you get used to it not being there?

The wind was so strong we could here it whistling through our front door, which is one of them new UPV ones that is supposed to be stormproof?

What a difference it made after I put a draught excluder down at the bottom of it, the house felt a lot warmer.

Smudger.

Cool, humid morn here in Manama.
Manama, BHR Current Conditions (as of 07:00) Clear20°C Feels like: 20°C Barometer1015 mb Dewpoint17°C Humidity83% Visibility 5 miles Rainfall in Last 24hr NA . Sunrise06:27 Sunset17:05 UV Index 0 Low Observed at Bahrain International Airport

10:48pm PST, W 11-Jan-2012
Coachella Valley, CA, USA

Wind NNW, <0<5mph / <0<8kph
Humidity ~60%
17C/64F

lapislazuli, are daffodil bulbs eaten in Bahrain? They are some places in the world, for example Corsica, but precisely on account of the oxalic acid that can give them (and the somewhat safer rhubarb [ribs only]) their pleasant astringent flavor, they predispose to kidney stones.

Oxalic acid is used industrially as a cement accelerator, since adding about 1% to Portland cement makes it set and harden more quickly; as a tanning agent for leather in a class like tannic acid; and as mordant in cloth dyeing.

Lansing MI,US 22:45 EST 12 January 2012
the snow has begun and the front of our house
looks just like the picture on the December page of the
h2g2 2012 Calendar.
winds are light. Temperature 24F (-4.4 C)

Hello ITI,

I think I can confidently say that daffodil bulbs are not eaten here in Bahrain! (Smoked or intravenous drip? I don't know lol). I've never seen a daffodil here: climatic conditions may have someting to do with it! Daffodills and narcissuses (spelling?) are a wonderful range of blooms inspiring folk such as Salvador Dali. As a boy they were always a harbinger of late spring which (in England) was always much anticipated and enjoyed. Come to think of it, it should be approaching soon. But here in Bahrain? No, tulips too, unseen (a shame as they're such beautiful flowers with a fascinating history).

Key West, FL, USA 13 Jan 2012 0545 EST

We're still ranging from 70/21 to 78/24 daily, with showers and the wind out of the West. This is most unusual for January.

Old Southern tradition states: "If you borrow the sun in January, you pay it back in March." Last year we had a particularly bitter March; it came in like a lion, and stayed very cold and very windy until the 28th of the month.

I guess I will enjoy what we have now, and deal with it when we get to the hard parts.

13/01/2012 16:28 The clouds in the pale blue sky are starting to clear. The sun is setting. The temperature is 5°C but feels more like 3°C. The temperatures are set to go down to 0°C between midnight and 6 in the morning.The winds are 6mph with gusts of 9mph. The wind direction is coming from the North and the humidity level is 82% and the pressure is 1033 mb.

~6:30am PST
Coachella Valley, CA, USA

A little chilly this morning, 9.5C/49F.

Hazy, light strato-cirrus overcast, pink in the pre-dawn light.

Cold calm and sparkling...pond frozen. More the same tonight. It's beautiful.

14/01/2012 14:58 After a sharp frost which lasted all through the morning, there has been alear sky with plenty of sunshine all through the day.The temperature is 5°C but feels more like 3°C. The temperatures are set to go down to 0°C between midnight but it went down to -4°C .The winds are 4mph with gusts of 6mph. The wind direction is coming from the North and the ESE humidity level is 82% and the pressure is 1029 mb.

It's already down to freezing point here..and the stars are sparkling.

Apparently the reasons the sky is much clearer and sparkling when its below freezing is the absense of water vapour in the atmosphere, making vision much clearer.

7pm Peckham, London

Late notes, returning from the Perris Valley to the Coachella Valley over the San Gorgonio pass, M 16 - Jan - 2012, I saw that there was new snowfall on Mt. San Jacinto, which had melted off completely the week before, rather unseasonably.

I was unable to see if there is new snow on Mt. Baldy or Mt. San Gorgonio, which had melted off the week before, since the top half of the San Bernardino Mts. was shrouded in black storm clouds.

There probably is new snow there.

Its been very cold (by local standards) lately, many of my neighbors complaining of the chill, which by the standards of seasonal visitors, at ~10C/50F, is not a chill.

I'm continuing to plant out spring crops in the garden, though our best planting season, locally, is actually in late August.

Good morning from London. It's a damp, grey, drizzly, but mild morning here in London. Current temperature is about 8c. Virtually no breeze. So mild, but miserable.

It's Wednesday 18th January at 09.00

W 18 - Jan - 2012

Coachella Valley, CA, USA

Just after nightfall we got a very slight precipitation, an approximate cubic millimeter droplet every two or three seconds striking on the face, under a somewhat hazy sky in which only 1st magnitude stars were visible.

The lightest sustained rainfall I think I've ever experienced.

Good afternoon from Bahrain (15:00) 20C at the moment, some scattered light, totally non-threatening cloud. Clear, light wind, windows open. Great Gulf afternoon.

Here in north Wales we have showers and a cold wind although the temperature
is up to about 8deg.C

Lansing,MI US 10:30AM EST. 19 January
it is a few degrees below freezing here with light snow.

Cool here in Bahrain, rained about an hour ago. Cloudy with breaks in which the sun streams through. Open window weather.