From                                           Subject
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
001 "Daniel Weatherhead" [dpw14 at hotmail.com]       Larry Walters-Darwin award winner
002 Chas & Helen Osborn [hosborn at tassie.net.au]    Strahan Wx
003 Lindsay [writer at lisp.com.au]                   Perisher Packer
004 Lindsay [writer at lisp.com.au]                   Rain/snowline
005 John Woodbridge [jrw at pixelcom.net]             photo development - saturdays storms
006 "Patrick Tobin" [pdtobin at hotmail.com]          BoM Forecast Commentaries + SOI & $A
007 Jacob [jacob at iinet.net.au]                     BoM Forecast Commentaries + SOI & $A
008 Jimmy Deguara [jdeguara at ihug.com.au]           photo development - saturdays storms
009 "Patrick Tobin" [pdtobin at hotmail.com]          UK Storms

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
001

X-Originating-IP: [203.108.0.58]
From: "Daniel Weatherhead" [dpw14 at hotmail.com]
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
Subject: aus-wx: Larry Walters-Darwin award winner
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 01:20:54 EST
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

Hey everyone,

Somw of you may of heard of this story. Some may not have.Anyway it is a 
story about a disgruntled American (not all americans are to my knowledge), 
who was refused airforce entry so in his frustration he decided to  do the 
following:


Larry went down to the local army surplus store one morning and purchased 45 
six foot weather balloons.

He then attached them to his lawn chair (a $109 aluminum Sears model, just 
in case you needed to know) and filled them with helium.

A half dozen of his friends held the chair down by its tethers and allowed 
Larry to slowly rise upward. He had only intended to rise to about 100 feet, 
but the tethers broke.



Larry went flying upward into the atmosphere.

But, Larry was well equipped for such emergencies. He had a parachute, a CB 
radio, and a BB gun with him.

It wasn't long before Larry was on the CB yelling for help.

He just happened to fly into the middle of the air traffic pattern for the 
Los Angeles International Airport.

TWA and Delta pilots spotted him at an elevation of 16,000 feet (yes - you 
read it correctly - 16,000 feet!).

Just a bit higher than the 100 feet that he had planned to go to.

He frantically started shooting out the weather balloons with his BB gun, 
but he accidentally dropped the gun overboard.


Eventually, the chair drifted back down to Earth. His only control was the 
gallon jugs of water that he attached to the side of his "aircraft" for 
ballast.

On his way down, however, the ropes became entangled in power lines, causing 
a 20 minute blackout in the Long Beach area.

Larry's chair hung at 5 feet off the ground, so he jumped out safely.

His nightmare was far from over.

Sure he got to appear on The Tonight Show and Late Night with David 
Letterman.

But that doesn't compare with the problems that the U. S. government were 
about to create in Larry's life.

You see, Larry didn't fly in a government approved aircraft. Therefore, he 
broke the law.

The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused.

They threatened him with fines in excess of $10,000.

I guess any future Wright Brothers can forget about trying out experimental 
aircraft designs.

In the end, the fines were reduced to $1500.

Apparently this was too much for Larry to handle.

He committed suicide in October, 1993. No suicide note was found (but we can 
be sure that the government somehow pushed him over the edge).

One more unfortunate piece to this story: Larry theoretically holds the 
altitude record for clustered balloon flight, but this goes unrecognized, as 
his flight was unlicensed and unsanctioned.


hmmm




===========================
Daniel Weatherhead
weatherhead at ozemail.com.au
Blaxland, NSW
===========================


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002

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 07:34:13 +1000
From: Chas & Helen Osborn [hosborn at tassie.net.au]
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en] (Win98; I)
X-Accept-Language: en
To: Australian Weather Mailing List [aussie-weather at world.std.com]
Subject: aus-wx: Strahan Wx
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

Hello Everyone

Heavy showers overnight with a total of 21mm to 7am the temp is a warm
13C the wind at the airport NW 29KT.

CAPE SORELL
 WIND NW   22KT
 Wave rider significant wave height:  4.6m
 Maximum height over the past 3 hours:  9.9m
 Average period:  10s

CAPE GRIM
 WIND W    31KT
 RAIN

MAATSUYKER IS
 WIND NNW  45KT
 VISIBILITY 10KM DISTANT PRECIPITATION


LOW ROCKY PT
 WIND NW   33KT

Chas
Strahan Tasmania


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003

Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 20:08:49 -0700
From: Lindsay [writer at lisp.com.au]
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win16; I)
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
Subject: aus-wx: Perisher Packer
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

Hey yeah, I forgot Kerry owned half of the Aussie Alps. No wonder the
channel nine snow report has been at Perisher, doing huge camera pans of
the area and proclaiming its greatness. 

Lindsay P.

Blair Trewin wrote:
> 
> >
> > ...and if you watch channel 9 Perisher Blue always seems to be rated good -
> > excellent, even earlier this season when it was a joke.
> >
> > Michael
> 
> I seem to recall 'Media Watch' had something to say about this a
> few weeks back.
> 
> (For those who are unaware, both Perisher Blue and Channel 9 are
> owned by Kerry Packer)
> 
> Blair Trewin
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>  -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------


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004

Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 20:17:42 -0700
From: Lindsay [writer at lisp.com.au]
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win16; I)
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
Subject: Re: aus-wx: Rain/snowline
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

Laurier,

Would the dryness of the outbreak explain why it wasn't even sleeting
when I turned off towards Shooters Hill (at 2pm Sat.)and then as I got
closer to Shooters Hill snow just appeared in the air?

I was driving along the road and there wasn't even sleet and then about
100 metres ahead I saw this wave of snow coming towards me. I might be
wrong but it looked like I was in the place where it was melting in the
air just above me and then as I got a touch higher it reached the
ground.

Lindsay P.

Laurier Williams wrote:
> 
> I rode the bike down to Shooters Hill yesterday early afternoon to see
> what snow was left. Patchy covering about 1 to 3cm deep above 1200m
> was all that was left. Of interest was the complete absence of
> drifting of any kind, though the pine trees all still had a thin line
> of snow crystals right up the western side of their trunks, even deep
> in the forest; from which I deduce that the wind was very light but
> not calm while the snow was falling.
> 
> The lack of snow depth compared to previous falls indicates the
> dryness of the outbreak.
> 
> Laurier
> 
> On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 21:21:24 -0700, Lindsay 
> wrote:
> 
> >I was just reflecting on the borderline snow conditions up our way last
> >Saturday.
> >
> >It was really interesting out Oberon way, watching this.
> >
> >As I left Oberon - roads wet but no precip. there at 2pm Saturday - and
> >made my way towards Shooters Hill things suddenly changed. Very slight
> >sleet along the road and then 5 or so k's out of Shooters wet snow just
> >"appeared" as I drove up higher and then got heavier and heavier. This
> >was the place where I got out of the car and stood in the snow for ten
> >minutes allowing myself to get covered in it. It was actually the very
> >same place on the road that prevented me from going further in that June
> >chase because of the snow on the road. I only had a t-shirt, light
> >jumper and a turtle-necked jumper and was not cold at all. It was great
> >amongst the pines - I took a self-timer shot of me crouching next to a
> >large wombat hole here amongst some slightly deeper drift snow.
> >
> >
> >I followed the snow showers as best I could back towards Edith, a small
> >place on the way out to Jenolan Caves around 1080 metres, where it was
> >lightly sleeting and I could see the white hillsides further ahead. As I
> >drove on in the mud and slush, the sleet gradually became more snowy and
> >then when I got to the turn off to Jenolan/Kanangra Walls(just before
> >that steep descent) it was drifting down beautifully, absolutely no
> >breeze and quite large flakes fell for quite some time. About half an
> >inch of snow settled on the car roof. I just sat in the car there, in
> >between getting out to view the hills, and listened to the snow on the
> >roof - and read the paper. The roads are on the ridge tops so you can
> >get a pretty good go at following the showers around here. Definately a
> >great spot to snow chase when the snow is marginal.
> >
> >Laurier, your Synop/AWS stuff helped me as well as Don's early
> >indication
> >of some possible developments on that day. Not to mention Mount Boyce
> >lookout and the low cloud that was cleary over Shooters with temps
> >around zero.
> >
> >
> >
> >Like I said, enjoyable, not unreal but very enjoyable :-)
> >
> >
> >Lindsay.
> >
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> > To unsubscribe from aussie-weather send e-mail to:majordomo at world.std.com
> > with "unsubscribe aussie-weather your_email_address" in the body of your
> > message.
> > -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------
> 
> --
> Laurier Williams
> Australian Weather Links and News
> http://www.ozemail.com.au/~wbc/
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>  -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
005

From: John Woodbridge [jrw at pixelcom.net]
To: "'aussie-weather at world.std.com'" [aussie-weather at world.std.com]
Subject: RE: aus-wx: photo development - saturdays storms
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 11:05:28 +1000
Organization: Pixel Components
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And very error prone.  My father is a part time professional photographer, 
and he became very frustrated with results from the professional lab he 
used in Fremantle, thus decided to get into it himself.  After an 
investment of several $K in darkroom equipment, he was at last producing 
the results he always wanted...  Funny thing though, some 5..10 years 
later, all the wonderful prints he made have gone sepia coloured...  Guess 
what,... not quite long enough in the fixer!

John.
>snip

That would be the ultimate answer, but we are now talking a whole new hobby
that is time intensive. Not to mention expensive for colour.

Michael

> I have been thinking of getting into cloud photography myself but with
> all the bad luck you guys have had it seems the only safe option is to
> have one's own darkroom etc and do it oneself..would that be a fair
> thing to say?
>

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
006

X-Originating-IP: [210.8.224.3]
From: "Patrick Tobin" [pdtobin at hotmail.com]
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
Subject: aus-wx: BoM Forecast Commentaries + SOI & $A
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 19:19:45 PDT
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

Hi all,

Just noticed this note at the bottom of the BoM webpage
on Victorian "Future Developments" at 
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDF20V00.txt

"NOTE: As part of the ongoing review of Bureau of Meteorology
products, this item, "Future Developments" is being considered for deletion.

Could any user of this product who would be disadvantaged by its removal 
please email webvic.bom.gov.au or fax a message to 03 9663 2059."


It would seem the reason this page is being deleted is because
the same information is contained in the general Victorian
State forecast - so there would be no net loss of information
and this would be consistent with what some other Regional
Offices provide (ie Qld).

Sadly, for those of us looking for a little extra expert
(and up to date) commentary of developing situations to
supplement our own studying of the models, I have noticed
that these notes have been "dummed down" and one has to
guess at the technical processes underlying the description
of the forecast weather and especially any uncertainty or
conflict between models.

I particularly miss the discussion of the model output that
used to be on the gopher server.

I used to find these commentaries by BoM staff to be very useful
- especially when the models are not offering clear or consistent guidance.

I think Queenslanders are lucky that the local BoM still provides
a good description of the underlying processes and systems along
with their State forecast. They also indicate when there is
inconsistency between models.

NSW offers more description than Victoria but much less than
Queensland.

Perhaps we should all be asking the BoM if they would be
able to supply a product that provides a little more
technical information than that provided with the
general forecasts.

Apart from ourselves, I presume there would be a strong
interest in such a product from other groups in
agriculture, fishing, tourism (skiing, boating etc).
Perhaps this is an area that has fallen into the
user charging category??

Speaking of economic matters, there was an interesting graph
in yesterday's Financial Review. It plotted the value of
the Australian Dollar against the level of the SOI.

There was quite a high positive correlation between the two
(ie a high dollar at times of +ve SOI and vice versa)
- not surprising really when a large proportion of our
exports still have an agricultural base.

This pattern hasn't quite been maintained in the last
couple of years. If the relationship still has validity
and with the models continuing to suggest a continuing
La Nina pattern, then we could all have some extra
spending money when next overseas.

Good news for those who are thinking of chasing in the US
next year?

Patrick


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007

X-Sender: jacob at jacob at iinet.net.au
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.1
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 13:49:00 +0800
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
From: Jacob [jacob at iinet.net.au]
Subject: Re: aus-wx: BoM Forecast Commentaries + SOI & $A
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com


>
>I particularly miss the discussion of the model output that
>used to be on the gopher server.
>
>I used to find these commentaries by BoM staff to be very useful
>- especially when the models are not offering clear or consistent guidance.
>

I do the same, I find it very important to read the "notes of the weather"
and "extended period forecast" for the SW when there's interesting weather
around here. 

>I think Queenslanders are lucky that the local BoM still provides
>a good description of the underlying processes and systems along
>with their State forecast. They also indicate when there is
>inconsistency between models.
>
>NSW offers more description than Victoria but much less than
>Queensland.
>

One thing that I like about the Perth forecast is that the Perth BoM is the
only one that actually has a summary and extended details of whats
happening below the metro forecast.

Also, has anyone noticed that Darwin now has forecasts up to 4 days? Before
that they only gave a brief forecast for the 2nd day. Not that its that
hard to forecast up to 4 days in Darwin, the temperature is always around
same, and its nearly always fine in winter, and nearly always has a late
storm in summer.

Jacob



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008

X-Sender: jdeguara at pop.ihug.com.au
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.0.58 
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 18:07:45 +1000
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
From: Jimmy Deguara [jdeguara at ihug.com.au]
Subject: Re: aus-wx: photo development - saturdays storms
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
Reply-To: aussie-weather at world.std.com

I was trying to not get into this one but....

I was for a few years going to a chemist where they were getting excellent 
results with colour for a few years then I began to notice some hair lines 
and dust on the photos until it got bad that I began to ask them to do it 
again. They didn't like this so I asked them did they change their 
contracted place or something and they replied "yes" which explains why the 
sudden change in processing quality. At that time, I had no guts to argue 
so I went to another place where they did a better job but were somewhat 
expensive and also exposed it to "bluey" for my liking. I then went to 
K-Mart's Kodak processing and she was a butch!!! She couldn't give a stuff 
what I said. She obviously only worked there. My mother then told me of the 
Kodak Express place which was advertising on TV what good quality they were 
doing so I tried them. After training them for a while, they seemed to know 
what I wanted and really have done a fantastic job. They get to know you 
and realise how important a customer you are... At one stage, the lady also 
told me of some photos she had taken of the 23rd March 1997 sunset 
reflection of the storm and I scanned them in!!!!

My belief now is that I pay for the service so I believe that they should 
provide it!!! And I will now go to as many lengths within the law to make 
sure I get the quality I want...

Jimmy Deguara

At 19:38 18/08/99 +1000, you wrote:
>I have been thinking of getting into cloud photography myself but with
>all the bad luck you guys have had it seems the only safe option is to
>have one's own darkroom etc and do it oneself..would that be a fair
>thing to say?
>
>Anthony Cornelius wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've found it very difficult (in fact impossible) to "train" any of the
> > film proccessing & development places that I have gone too.  My nearest
> > Kodak is the worst - I wanted to get my Nov 24 shelf cloud set
> > reprinted, I thought that they might make the pictures look overexposed
> > (the original place I took them to in Noosa were fine, they came out
> > PERFECTLY).  So, in order to avoid the reprints looking overexposed, I
> > thought that I would include an original picture and I told them "this
> > is what it looked like, and this is how I want the photos to look like,
> > becareful you don't overexpose them as they're all cloud photos" - the
> > lady there said "yes, sure, no problem."  So I went away and came back
> > for the next day expecting a great set of reprints...duh...silly me, how
> > thoughtless of me!  The first photo I got showed looked exactly the same
> > as the original, so I thought 'great!  They got it right!'  But when I
> > took them home and opened them, only ONE photo was like the original,
> > the rest were all overexposed and looked RS - I couldn't believe it!
> >
> > So I took them back and this time took my entire photo album and told
> > them that I wanted them ALL to look like it...they finally did get it
> > done, even then it's not as good as the original.
> >
> > The comment I got back was "oh, you wanted them ALL to look like the
> > originals?"  Hmm...you wonder where these people completed their
> > education at times...
> >
> > I've now started taking them to Photo Continental (like a
> > semi-proffessional place), but I haven't given them a cloud roll yet.
> > However, I did get one enlargement done with them, and it was quite well
> > done.
> >
> > I've had a plethora of cases where I've told them that they're all cloud
> > photos, and they still can't get it right.  It really is quite
> > exasperating at times.
> >
> > My whinge for the day...
> >
> > Anthony Cornelius
> >
> > steve baynham wrote:
> > >
> > > hey marty and all,
> > > i too tell photo places that there are some star shots and stuff and 
> to print all negatives, however cheap photo places like chemists and 
> newsagencies i've found are really crap and i doubt they read the 
> instructions (lazy pricks). but no one has not taken their time with each 
> negative at all, unless i come back and say "i want this one darker and 
> this one aswell and all these too!!" i spose once you've given them heaps 
> of money from previous developments they might take care with your 
> photos, but i think that is soo wrong! they should do it from the start. 
> $14 is a lot of money. especially to some!!
> > > i've lost count of the amount of times i've had to take them back or 
> many not being dun at all, simply cos the machine doesn't pick them up 
> and skips them just so they save paper!!! AAARRRGGG!!! it shits me soooo 
> much!!!!!! and its this reason that my ambition now is to own my own 
> friggen shop!!!! and have GOOD service!! puff puff puff
> > >
> > > i'm Alan Jones
> > >
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> > >  message.
> > >  -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------
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> >  -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------
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>  -----------------------jacob at iinet.net.au------------------------------


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009

X-Originating-IP: [203.108.0.58]
From: "Patrick Tobin" [pdtobin at hotmail.com]
To: aussie-weather at world.std.com
Subject: aus-wx: UK Storms
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 04:02:59 PDT
Sender: aussie-weather-approval at world.std.com
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Les,

I notice you seem to be getting some more interesting
weather over there. Picked this up off the BBC
Web-site - unfortunately with the dreaded "mini-
tornado" description.




Wednesday, August 18, 1999 Published at 21:36 GMT 22:36 UK
UK
Lightning strike kills golfer

Lightning and mini-tornados struck several parts of the country

A golfer was killed and another man injured after being struck by lightning 
during a severe thunderstorm.
The men were playing a round at Chigwell Golf Course, near Hainault, north 
east London, on Wednesday afternoon when the accident happened.

Police have named the dead man as Tony Ronson, 50, of Nurstead Road, 
Meopham, Kent.

His 47-year-old golfing partner, who has not been named, was taken to King 
George's Hospital, Ilford, suffering from shock and burns. His condition is 
described as stable.

Tornados cause havoc

Several other parts of the UK were also hit by high winds, thunderstorms and 
tornados.

In Hampton, Middlesex, decorator Paul Hayes watched a mini-tornado rip the 
roof off a social club opposite his flat and slam into the side of his van.

"One minute it was raining then it started to get a bit heavier. I came to 
the door and saw the roof flying past," said Mr Hayes, 42, who lives 
opposite the Old Hamptonians' Club in Pigeon Lane.

"It went straight into the side of my van."

Brian Littlejohn, 55, the club's manager, was behind the bar when the 
tornado struck shortly before noon.

He said: "I saw the door start blowing in the wind as the wind got up.

"Suddenly there was a great whoosh and dust came flying from the corridor. 
It took the felt off the roof. I went outside and saw things flying around."

A tree and lamppost were blown down and several other roofs were also 
damaged.

Twister devastation

Earlier a similar twister struck around Battle and Sedlescombe, East Sussex, 
damaging several roofs and scattering items from a garden centre across a 
road.

Pc Paul Beazer, of Hastings Police, said: "At around 0300 it would appear 
that a mini-tornado with high winds and torrential rain hit the Sedlescombe 
area."

But poor weather was not confined to the south.

Heart surgeon Ghandhi Somasundram and his wife Daniella were woken in the 
early hours by a lightning bolt that hit their home in Heaton, Newcastle.

The couple were stunned to see a fireball outside an upstairs window.

Their three children - Kevin, four, Julian, three, and eighteen-month-old 
Ryan - had to be comforted as the violent storm continued to rage overhead.

Mrs Somasundram, 30, who moved to the area from Malaysia recently, said: "It 
has not put us off Newcastle but my relatives back home think it is a sign 
that we should move to a new house."

British summertime

The incidents came on top of the numerous thunderstorms and torrential rain 
that have brought flooding to several areas of Britain in August.

But weather forecaster Neil Talboys, insisted there was nothing "freakish" 
about the conditions.

...................................................

Looks like another fizzer of a cool change going
through southern NSW...so what else is new this
year. If we are to have summer weather patterns
then roll on the summer weather...

Patrick


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