The really boring and totally pointless snippets thread IV

[Alisoncc]

Took Myf on her daily walk this morning, and you could feel the grass crunching underfoot it is so dry. Haven't had any decent rain for quite a while.

[bob2s]

Same up my way ,it's so dry the trees are starting to chase the dogs,also still have the smoke haze most days due to the bushfire still burning in the Wollemi National Park,another great political decision was to lock up a lot of the parks which meant that all the fire trails are now overgrown, so much so that the firies are unable to get in and fight the fires.Ah, why do we have bloody politicians?

[Slasher]

it's so dry the trees are starting to chase the dogs,

Am nickin’ that.

[handsfree]

I would love to escape the freezing fogs Slasher and that had been our intention after the aged mater passed on but
unfortunately the need to get my blood strained has screwed that up. Should any successful transplant come my way
then you won't see us for swirling fog come the Winter. My mate, the one who recently lost his sight, is as I write soaking
up the sun somewhere in Thailand for a month. They're back for Christmas and then returning for another month.

This morning isn't quite as miserable as the TAF predicted. Temp is +1C and the vis is currently over !0km but that will
probably change back to FZFG again. Hatches are firmly battened down and the house is warm and toastie. May have to
endure the great outdoors later though to get to the pub. A price worth paying. Hopeful not the ultimate price that one
90 year old lady paid a couple of days ago. She had dementia but still lived independently with carers popping in to see her.
She must have thought it a good idea to go for a walk as she was nowhere to be seen when the carers came to see her the
next day. A search of the area by police and villagers found the inevitable body in one of the local fields. Poor soul.

I shall now get down to fettling a cottage pie that can be shoved into the oven when we return from the lunchtime pleasantries.
Proper winter food that comforts and sticks to yer ribs.

Have an enjoyable Sunday everybody - even those that have to turn out for work.

[Rwy in Sight]

Good day and an excellent month to those in warm and cool places.

I am spoiled with mild weather year around so I am a bit jealous with reference to FZFG and rather indifference to those who spend their winter time in warmer climates. About to interact with the site of tax authority.

[OFSO]

Good morning to all. Peeing it down in N. Iberia and cool also. Not nice. However no dead cows or bolshi hippos here.

[Ex-Ascot]

Kalo Mina to all our Greek correspondents. Cloudy so not much solar power but no sign of rain. Worst situation. 30 degs, guess it will make 35 or so. Calm wind. Lagoon very low. The water birds are hardly getting their feet wet. Rain is forecast for next week. It seems as if the ITCZ has got hung up for some reason up north.

Alison, we do not benefit from the Zambezi. After Vic Falls it goes east into the Indian Ocean. We rely on the Okavango River which feeds from Angola. Rains are good up there at the moment but if we don't get local rains it will all soak in on it's way to us.

We seem to have a cow rescue operation going on. Three dying outside. All different owners. Now our 'rescue all the animals' neighbour is out there with a local chap.

[Ibbie]

Early morning rain here.

Now brighter, but full cloud cover. 11c presently may reach 18.

A quiet day is called for.

[Sisemen]

Cool day today - a pleasant 33C.

Last year the docs informed me that my Vitamin D levels were down (apparently it’s a thing as you get older). So I took to getting a tan.

This year I started again - 5 minute exposure for a few days, then 10 etc. I time each side so that I don’t overdo it. Yesterday I was on my third day of 15 minutes. 15 minutes seemed to go on and on. I checked the iPhone timer - 7 minutes x seconds to go! Which again seemed to take for ever. Checked the timer again and then realised I had inadvertently changed the time to 8 hours and 15 minutes! No idea how long I’d been out there for but it’s certainly improved the tan

[Alisoncc]

Alison, we do not benefit from the Zambezi. After Vic Falls it goes east into the Indian Ocean. We rely on the Okavango River which feeds from Angola. Rains are good up there at the moment but if we don't get local rains it will all soak in on it's way to us.

Ex-A I was thinking about the inflows above Vic Falls. The Upper Zambezi gets the bulk of it's water from Angola, with many tributaries close to the Okavango river source. If there is little water flowing down the Zambezi, then most probably little down to the Delta and your lagoon. Was a time when I was quite familiar with the area known as the Caprivi Strip which has some relevance.

South of the Lunda divide some rivers flow into the Zambezi River system and thence to the Indian Ocean, others to the Okavango River (as the Cubango River is called along the border with Namibia and in Botswana) and thence to Lake Ngami and the Okavango Swamp in Botswana

You mention that "rains are good up there at present", I think they are north of the Lunda Divide on the high plateau.

[Rwy in Sight]

May you get an abundance of local rain this month Ex-A.

[Pontius Navigator]

Alison, we do not benefit from the Zambezi. After Vic Falls it goes east into the Indian Ocean. We rely on the Okavango River which feeds from Angola. Rains are good up there at the moment but if we don't get local rains it will all soak in on it's way to us.

Ex-A I was thinking about the inflows above Vic Falls. The Upper Zambezi gets the bulk of it's water from Angola, with many tributaries close to the Okavango river source. If there is little water flowing down the Zambezi, then most probably little down to the Delta and your lagoon. Was a time when I was quite familiar with the area known as the Caprivi Strip which has some relevance.

South of the Lunda divide some rivers flow into the Zambezi River system and thence to the Indian Ocean, others to the Okavango River (as the Cubango River is called along the border with Namibia and in Botswana) and thence to Lake Ngami and the Okavango Swamp in Botswana

You mention that "rains are good up there at present", I think they are north of the Lunda Divide on the high plateau.

Can I recommend an author, Tony Park, the principal character in his novels is the land and the animals, though his latest novels conform to the conventional format developing his characters as well.

[Alisoncc]

Thought most of Tony's writings are about the other side - the "Kruger". Used to fly into Phalaborwa regularly.

[OFSO]

Ibbie, did you feel the earthquake at Cazalla two hours ago ? Only 2.7 but in rock it travels.....

[TheGreenGoblin]

It seems as if the ITCZ has got hung up for some reason up north.

Alison, we do not benefit from the Zambezi. After Vic Falls it goes east into the Indian Ocean. We rely on the Okavango River which feeds from Angola. Rains are good up there at the moment but if we don't get local rains it will all soak in on it's way to us.

I guess it would be correct to say that the Rio Cubango/Okavango River benefits from the same weather systems up north that would also feed the Zambezi (in Angola) before it meanders its way east to the Indian Ocean. Sitting on the Thamalakane rift/fault I guess Maun gets what is left of the flow from the swamp, a lot of which flows underground or simply dries up in the dry session.

Go further into the Kalahari for so many rivers, most with no name, that start and end nowhere until some freak day when the rain comes and they flood and flow for a week or day before they dry up again.

[Ibbie]

Ibbie, did you feel the earthquake at Cazalla two hours ago ? Only 2.7 but in rock it travels.....

9 OFSO. I was out at the panderia and didn't feel a thing.

[Alisoncc]

I guess it would be correct to say that the Rio Cubango/Okavango River benefits from the same weather systems up north that would also feed the Zambezi (in Angola) before it meanders its way east to the Indian Ocean.

Main characteristic of Southern Angola is the high plateau, with major river tributaries flowing north and south off it, broken at the Lunda Divide. Both Zambezi and Okavango rivers flow south. Zambezi swings East towards Livingstone and Vic Falls, whilst Okavango flows south to the Delta.

I would suggest that a significant deficit of water over Vic Falls will be reflected in flows down the Okavango as their catchment areas are comparable. Flows over Vic Falls are reported as being down by 90%. Scary.

[TheGreenGoblin]

I guess it would be correct to say that the Rio Cubango/Okavango River benefits from the same weather systems up north that would also feed the Zambezi (in Angola) before it meanders its way east to the Indian Ocean.

Main characteristic of Southern Angola is the high plateau, with major river tributaries flowing north and south off it, broken at the Lunda Divide. Both Zambezi and Okavango rivers flow south. Zambezi swings East towards Livingstone and Vic Falls, whilst Okavango flows south to the Delta.

I would suggest that a significant deficit of water over Vic Falls will be reflected in flows down the Okavango as their catchment areas are comparable. Flows over Vic Falls are reported as being down by 90%. Scary.

+1 as the Rio Cubango/Okavango and Zambezi share the same catchment area as you say. As for the 90% flow rate, that is very low, notwithstanding the fact that many visitors are often disappointed to see how reduced the flow over the falls is in the 'normal' dry season.

[Alisoncc]

Vic Fall in full flow

VicFallsFull.jpg (132.71 KiB) Viewed 236 times

Currently

VicFallsDrought.jpg (91.59 KiB) Viewed 236 times

I've seen it in full flow and also during the dry season. Even in dry season never been this bad before.

[TheGreenGoblin]

That is extraordinarily low. If Livingstone had seen that trickle he would have been hard pressed to connect Queen Victoria with it. I see what you mean not so much 90% as 10% (if that).