Red sky at night...

[bushtuckerman]

I was talking to friends the other day about how the weather affects us, agriculture etc. one of us mentioned that farmers can get irate when weather predicitions are wrong (they worked at BBC Bristol Weather for experience, and they apparently get bombarded everyday by abusive phonecalls), and then another said that maybe they need to pay more attention to their feelings about the weather and not rely on forecasts so much...so we discussed how possible this really is, but didn't really have anything to go on.

In lectures we have learnt about cultures which have died out almost instantly due to drought or severe weather of some sort in the past. This epitomises our dependance.

Also i am always thinking how the weather affects my state of mind, i can be miserable when it's wet and i have to be inside, but when it's sunny i can forget my worries and act like everything is fine, i am constantly amazed how dependant on the weather i am.

so, what are people's feelings on this? and what funky devices are there for predicting weather (like forked twigs...), and do they work to any degree at all?

Does rain stop you from stepping outside or are you indifferent to a spot of drizzle? Does it get you down, or do you breeze through it (excuse the pun)?

I guess i am asking the question in part to try to understand how we might cope with rapid weather changes of the future due to warming, will we react badly and in fear? or will we adapt quickly? we are good adapters on the whole, since we have tools, but what about emotionally?

Any thoughts welcome.

[Lifthasir]

There is a quote from someone who was no doubt learned:

'Thank God it isn't sunny today otherwise I'd feel compelled to go outside
to enjoy it'.

Weather is a state of mind. If you don't like rain, you're not going to enjoy
very much outdoor life in the UK.

Mankind's main problem (I think) is that in the last couple of hundred years
(in the West) we have been mainly static. We put down roots and we stay. It's
no surprise therefore that we suffer devasting floods, hurricanes etc..In the past.
we'd have probably moved on a little bit, just out of harms way.

[bushtuckerman]

We learnt that it was agriculture that encouraged nomadic peoples to settle and subdivide jobs, and grow into a seemingly prosperous community, but then were brittle when faced with environmental changes. It meant that people became more educated about a variety things, but clearly lost touch with their environment, so were thwarted when they became too static, like you say has happened in the West.

[william#]

and so opens a huge can of worms

[bushtuckerman]

that was the idea...perhaps a dodgy one...

[RovingArcher]

I was talking to friends the other day about how the weather affects us, agriculture etc. one of us mentioned that farmers can get irate when weather predicitions are wrong (they worked at BBC Bristol Weather for experience, and they apparently get bombarded everyday by abusive phonecalls), and then another said that maybe they need to pay more attention to their feelings about the weather and not rely on forecasts so much...so we discussed how possible this really is, but didn't really have anything to go on.

In lectures we have learnt about cultures which have died out almost instantly due to drought or severe weather of some sort in the past. This epitomises our dependance.

Also i am always thinking how the weather affects my state of mind, i can be miserable when it's wet and i have to be inside, but when it's sunny i can forget my worries and act like everything is fine, i am constantly amazed how dependant on the weather i am.

so, what are people's feelings on this? and what funky devices are there for predicting weather (like forked twigs...), and do they work to any degree at all?

Does rain stop you from stepping outside or are you indifferent to a spot of drizzle? Does it get you down, or do you breeze through it (excuse the pun)?

I guess i am asking the question in part to try to understand how we might cope with rapid weather changes of the future due to warming, will we react badly and in fear? or will we adapt quickly? we are good adapters on the whole, since we have tools, but what about emotionally?

Any thoughts welcome.

I have heard that there are signs in nature, most times very subtle, that can point to short term and long term changes in the climate. I have watched animals and their behavior can tell us if there is a storm coming in. They have a tendency to move about and feed at abnormal times when a storm is approaching and one year, entire herds of deer migrated just prior to winter's first snow and it was a difficult winter for all concerned. Those that didn't migrate farther than normal were caught in their usual wintering grounds and many died.

It seems to me that the Egyptian civilization collapsed because of drought. I don't remember the specifics of why it occurred, but it seems to me that there was a 200 year ice age in another part of the world at the same time.

I put on weight during the late fall to early spring months and drop it again the rest of the year. If I don't get out onto the Earth in the Sun and soak up some rays, I get the blues and blahs. Spend a day out in the Sun walking the woods or whatever, I feel great when I get home.

I don't mind getting out in the rain. I dress for it and take walks. It's amazing how great it is to be all alone in an area, set up a tarp, pull out the esbit and cook up a brew. Just so I can smell the freshness and watch and hear the rain in the woods.

We will adapt. Those that can't, usually do not survive the transition. Since I've never been through such an event, it's difficult to say how my mental state would be, but for the most part, I would think that emotions would shut down as the mind copes with what's happening around us. If it is a sudden swing, the more difficult it is going to be for us to cope and that's when it becomes every man for himself and panic takes over.

[Seagull]

Ho there, Bushtuckerman.

I hold up my hand on this one, for Ive always been aware of a strong, but largely indescribable change in mood, according to climate and wx.
Its real hard for me to explain in words, mainly, its in the form of a heightened sense of the dramatic.

i.e. I associate constant rain, with a melancholia thats quite hard for me to understand. Not that it keeps me indoors, but I,m aware that I have somehow been "worked-on" and I just know that it tends to colour a lot of what I have to do.

Similarly, constant dry heat bespeakes an impression, not of ease and torpor, but an uneasiness at the prospects of an enormous amount of work ahead.

Thunder and lightening , feels like a kind of rejoicing and, I just want to yell back at it .

Extreme cold, though, for me, is a right b....r and its all uphill to find any sort of motivation to do anything. Strangely I do eventually find it , but somehow it is "begrudged".


Deep, eh?

Anyone else?

Ceeg
.

[bushtuckerman]

interesting comments seagull

My favourite weather is when it's cold, say in feb or march, but is very sunny. then later on the stars can be extremely clear, and the crisp air that goes with it is refreshing. by contrast i get easily frustrated by the heat of summer. Snow and high wind are exciting. I know what you mean about thunder and lightening, somehow stirs the blood!

[pierre girard]

I was talking to friends the other day about how the weather affects us, agriculture etc. one of us mentioned that farmers can get irate when weather predicitions are wrong (they worked at BBC Bristol Weather for experience, and they apparently get bombarded everyday by abusive phonecalls), and then another said that maybe they need to pay more attention to their feelings about the weather and not rely on forecasts so much...so we discussed how possible this really is, but didn't really have anything to go on.

In lectures we have learnt about cultures which have died out almost instantly due to drought or severe weather of some sort in the past. This epitomises our dependance.

Also i am always thinking how the weather affects my state of mind, i can be miserable when it's wet and i have to be inside, but when it's sunny i can forget my worries and act like everything is fine, i am constantly amazed how dependant on the weather i am.

so, what are people's feelings on this? and what funky devices are there for predicting weather (like forked twigs...), and do they work to any degree at all?

Does rain stop you from stepping outside or are you indifferent to a spot of drizzle? Does it get you down, or do you breeze through it (excuse the pun)?

I guess i am asking the question in part to try to understand how we might cope with rapid weather changes of the future due to warming, will we react badly and in fear? or will we adapt quickly? we are good adapters on the whole, since we have tools, but what about emotionally?

Any thoughts welcome.

When I worked outside all the time (construction, commerical fishing, logging) I became very adept at forcasting the weather. Surprisingly, the best I've ever felt in my life was working in the almost constant rain in SE Alaska. The hard work and almost exclusively seafood diet may have had something to do with that.

PG

[bushtuckerman]

All those fishy omega oils for that grey matter must've been what did it! Your experiences in that type of weather is what i was trying to get at, you felt good despite the 'bad' weather, and i think that was because you were working, and because you were with other people. Also, i think rain is always worse when you are inside.

Learning to feel the weather is something i try to do whenever i'm outdoors, but i'm never sure how much i need to critically view the skies, and how much is just learnt through trial and error. it's just down to time spent in the wilderness i guess.

[Infragreen]

Hmm... Back home I once saw a lady dancing in the rain during a thunderstorm (right in front of the bar, of course).

But I have the same compulsion to go visit the spirits when they drop in
Also, I like taking lightning photos.

For me, hate-weather is soggy, steamy heat. We once broke up a vacation in Germany just to get back to some WEATHER! I was breaking out in tons of little itchy pimple-thingies, and they were gone after one night north of NordFriesland.

Oy, it was humid, the Elbe has bust its dams etc.

I mean, there comes a time, when you've got no more clothes to take off (stop sniggering in the back!)

But reverse-wise, you could always throw another blanket on top, nuh?

Weather-warnings? Well, if the moon wears a crown, don't stay lying down.
(native speakers are encouraged to rephrase that, as it seems wrong to me)
If there's a halo around the moon in frosty weather, it tells of humidity in the air.
So get up early to dig your car out of the ice.

[bushtuckerman]

i don't much like intense heat either, unfortunately most of my family do, so i have to bear it, but only occasionally so far. I would love to visit scandinavia, any part really, as long as it has WEATHER! Heat rash is not worth the suntan.

[pierre girard]

Hmm... Back home I once saw a lady dancing in the rain during a thunderstorm (right in front of the bar, of course).

But I have the same compulsion to go visit the spirits when they drop in
Also, I like taking lightning photos.

For me, hate-weather is soggy, steamy heat. We once broke up a vacation in Germany just to get back to some WEATHER! I was breaking out in tons of little itchy pimple-thingies, and they were gone after one night north of NordFriesland.

Oy, it was humid, the Elbe has bust its dams etc.

I mean, there comes a time, when you've got no more clothes to take off (stop sniggering in the back!)

But reverse-wise, you could always throw another blanket on top, nuh?

Weather-warnings? Well, if the moon wears a crown, don't stay lying down.
(native speakers are encouraged to rephrase that, as it seems wrong to me)
If there's a halo around the moon in frosty weather, it tells of humidity in the air.
So get up early to dig your car out of the ice.

Deer moving at night - weather will change tomorrow (or the next day).

And I agree with you - nothing worse than hot humid weather (crops, and gardeners, like it though)

PG

[tomtom]

Ho there, Bushtuckerman.

I hold up my hand on this one, for Ive always been aware of a strong, but largely indescribable change in mood, according to climate and wx.
Its real hard for me to explain in words, mainly, its in the form of a heightened sense of the dramatic.

i.e. I associate constant rain, with a melancholia thats quite hard for me to understand. Not that it keeps me indoors, but I,m aware that I have somehow been "worked-on" and I just know that it tends to colour a lot of what I have to do.

Similarly, constant dry heat bespeakes an impression, not of ease and torpor, but an uneasiness at the prospects of an enormous amount of work ahead.

Thunder and lightening , feels like a kind of rejoicing and, I just want to yell back at it .

Extreme cold, though, for me, is a right b....r and its all uphill to find any sort of motivation to do anything. Strangely I do eventually find it , but somehow it is "begrudged".


Deep, eh?

Anyone else?

Ceeg
.

Ceeg i get exactly the same feeling, im told it stems from the fact we are savanah creatures if you look far enough back.. now personlay i do enjoy being out in the rain on a wet day and i enjoy a good thunder storm but defianatly do find myself a lot more melancholly in the darker months of the year.. its not a day today thing generaly but seasonal.. if i wake up with a sunny disposition however im a lot more motivated and active and generaly cheerful

cheers..
TT (looking forward to summer )

[ggfh666]

i don't much like intense heat either, unfortunately most of my family do, so i have to bear it, but only occasionally so far. I would love to visit scandinavia, any part really, as long as it has WEATHER! Heat rash is not worth the suntan.

You would have to go in winter to be sure...
I was in Sweden 2 years ago and in 2 weeks had 1 day of rainy weather and that was in the lower half (Hallekis).
For the rest it was shorts and sweat (not sweatshirt) weather. Stockholm was +30°C.
This summer we're heading up north again.

[Great Pebble]

I've always taken the view that the horoscopes and the weather forecast should be on the same page of the paper.

[bushtuckerman]

yeah, just don't mention the great storm...woops...

[Seagull]

I've always taken the view that the horoscopes and the weather forecast should be on the same page of the paper.

now, thats what I call deep!

Nice one, GP.

Ceeg

[Seagull]

yeah, just don't mention the great storm...woops...

poor MF, he still winces at that one, I reckon.

Ceeg

[bushtuckerman]

You would have to go in winter to be sure...

yup, don't worry, i won't be wasting the few summer months we have over here!

[bushtuckerman]

yeah but we still love him anyway...forecasting is more of an art than a science sometimes, i watch the forecast for pure entertainment value these days...i'm sure the bbc weather presenters are getting more tongue in cheek by the day.