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

Yellow dust... you mean the stuff that's giving my eyes and nose hell right now?

Yep, I think it's mostly oak pollen.

http://news8austin.com/content/weather/allergy_forecast/

Nuff said.

Heh... I was just making an educated guess based on observances during my walks around the quad here at work. That and picking the itchy male sex organs of oak trees out of my collar when I was done.

It's not just us. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36311981/ns/health-allergies_and_asthma/

Yep.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with no pleasure whatsoever that I introduce our first tornado watch of the season.

I'm looking at the weather radar page for one of the local TV stations. This one http://weareaustin.com/weather/interactiveradar as a matter of fact. It highlights individual cells and gives details about what's going on there. Blue dots mean hail. Right now there are storm cells delivering hail (and I think I've got this in the correct ascending order) as big as a penny, a quarter, a half dollar, a walnut, a golf ball and a hen egg. Leaving aside the fact the golf ball sized hail is not something you want over your area, I find it interesting to see what the forecasters use to measure the size of the hail.

Now there's a red triangle:
* Possible tornado producing conditions
* Possible tornado
* Damaging wind potential is moderate

Oh bother.

Hold the front page - I forgot 'marble size hail'!

Here's another red triangle:
* Possible tornado producing conditions
* Possible tornado
* Damaging wind potential is low
* Hail likely, may be severe
* Up to quarter size hail possible

Damaging wind potential is 'low'? Must be a teeny weeny itsy bitsy tornado

'Teacup size hail'

Then cricket ball size?

I don't think they're too familiar with cricket balls around these parts I've heard 'baseball size hail' though, even 'grapefruit size hail'

I hear there was a nasty tornado hit Mississippi (I take the Nanny Ogg view on spelling that )

Here's the chart for hail size descriptions for the U.S.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/tables/hailsize.htm

Wow, all official and codified, with measurements and everything

You spelt it right, Granny

Yeah, nine fatalities I think. Nasty things, tornadoes. Not at all like in The Wizard of Oz.

You can thank your lucky stars you're over the pond at the moment, Andrew Lloyd Webber is 'searching' for a new Dorothy for his stage production of the Wizard of Oz. t's on TV on Saturday and Sunday

As far as I'm concerned the only good wizards are all at the Unseen University!

And Gandalf, of course

But of course, a real, blonde, , moment there