Hail in Los Angeles...

[Dylan King]

It is 3:27 am here in West L.A. and the hail is coming down about the size of marbles. Thunder, lightening, and all of that good stuff. I have lived in Los Angeles for 30 years and have never experienced such severe weather, and so much rain in general over the last few months. They said on the weather report that we have a higher rainfall total in Southern California than Washington state since the beginning of the year.

No doubt it is a sign of the times. The extreme weather is going to continue and be getting worse all the time. Jacob's trouble continues to trouble us here on the west coast. How are the rest of you tubists doing with weather extremes in your neck of the woods?

Who am I to complain here anyway. Right? What's the matter with a little precipitation?

[Tubaryan12]

Is the hat in the avitar for protection from the hail?

[tubatooter1940]

We got our butts kicked by hurricane Ivan.I live six miles north of the gulf beaches and was lucky I just lost trees that missed the house.We lost a lot of gigs that would have taken place at beach locations that no longer exist.

[Chuck(G)]

Just plain weird.

Here, in western Oregon, we're having one of the driest winters on record. Bright sunny days without a hint of rain. Not good at all.

Yet my friends in the San Francisco Bay area, some 600 miles south tell me that they're having mudslides and other devastation.

You folks down there in California better hope for some rain in Oregon soon, as a good chunk of your electricity is generated up here at Bonneville and if there isn't any rain, there's no snow in the mountains either. Meaning prices will go up, up, up...

What's happening is that the Pacific Jet Stream is all out of whack. I hear the same situation is beginning to hit the Atlantic Gulf Stream, meaning really bitter winters for you northeasterners. It seems that a massive influx of fresh water from arctic snowmelt is playing hob with the Gulf Stream where it turns around in the Sea of Denmark.

It seems odd that global warming could mean harder winters, but there you are...

[Rick F]

After 4 hurricanes hit Florida this past summer, Florida has changed its name...



It's really been freaky weather this past year.

[Dylan King]

Is the hat in the avitar for protection from the hail?

I usually wear my helmet on the 4th of July and December 31st to protect against Mexicans shooting their guns in the air. It is an Australian double helmet. I got it at the surplus store down the street for eight bucks.

[Dylan King]

Hey!
How come Dylan gits all the cool stuff!

I used to wonder that a lot myself. I attribute these blessings to the Eternal Living God and his blessings upon Judah and Joseph and his covenant with the twelve tribes of Israel.

I was born a physical Jew. My mother is Jewish and the blood line runs through the mother. The Jews of today are descended from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, with Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, coming out of Judah as promised. Here are the two blessings...

Gen49:8"Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father's children shall bow down before you.
9Judah is a lion's whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
11Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
12His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.

Gen49:27"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at night he shall divide the spoil."

I think my mother’s family is more likely from the tribe of Benjamin. I am usually up all night, and like any good tuba player, am a ravenous wolf at times. I’m not exactly sure. I’ll have to ask my great aunt about that.

My father’s bloodline is even more interesting. The “Kingâ€

[ThomasDodd]

can anyone say "the day after tomorrow"

Please don't.

We just don't know enough about the climate cycles to understand what't happening. Like the 100 year snow in Texas, it's just unusual, but not unheard of, since it did happen 100 years ago. And who know how many hurricanes hit Florida 100years ago? Maybe it was 8 or 10? What was the weatche in California like 200 years ago?

We have no records to tell us. We just assume tghat the last 20, 50, 100 years is normal. It wasn't that long ago (300 years) when people couldn't manage to track a 76 year cycle like Halley's Comet. Am I supposed to believe that we have a clue about the weater over the last 1000 years? Maybe it's a 500 year cycle, and in 500 years it'll be back to "normal" again But after 500 years who will remember what normal was?

[Chuck(G)]

We have no records to tell us. We just assume tghat the last 20, 50, 100 years is normal. It wasn't that long ago (300 years) when people couldn't manage to track a 76 year cycle like Halley's Comet. Am I supposed to believe that we have a clue about the weater over the last 1000 years? Maybe it's a 500 year cycle, and in 500 years it'll be back to "normal" again But after 500 years who will remember what normal was?

Actually, we do have some pretty good hints.

When I had dead limb removed from a big oak in my front yard, I could get a good idea of the seasonal variations over 300 years ago. In California, corings of giant Sequoias can yeild data going back more than 2000 years. Ice cores from the Antarctic can tell volumes about volcanic activity going back much earlier than that. Geological strata can go back much farther than that.

I'll agree that short-term "freak" happenings aren't usually charted by the above methods, but we can get a pretty good general idea of year-to-year variations in weather.

[Chuck(G)]

OK then, Mr. Smarty-Pants... What's the verdict?
Doc

Why, guilty as charged, of course!

[ThomasDodd]

OK then, Mr. Smarty-Pants... What's the verdict? :D :D

The whole place is going to hail in a hand basket anyway!

[Joe Baker]

Galveston suffered a hurricane, too -- the worst natural disaster in our nation's history, killing some 8,000 people. The storm was so violent that none of the island's land was left above water, and they had to -- oh, wait -- that was 104 years ago. Never mind.
___________________________
Joe Baker, who is willing to be convinced, but not yet convinced, that our weather patterns are anything but cyclical variation.