Waves - troughs and ridges
I know meteorological lingo because I enjoy weather-watching but I always end up translating it into plain language in my head. I think about weather mostly when I'm sitting in my rocking chair on the front verandah almost fully exposed to the elements. Sometimes the ocean is so wild and rough that it seems that the waves are breaking at my feet eventhough they're nearly mile away. (Well, sound carries much further in empty air - you can hear the neighbors' guns miles away plinking on Sunday afternoons.)
I can sit in my rocking chair in winds up to 40 mph before it becomes uncomfortable. I can also sit out there in temps as low as 28F as long as there is no wind. Once it gets below 40F then the "wind-chill factor" kicks in and 40F combined with a wind of 30mph (which is the norm on the Pacific shoreline) feels like it's below freezing point. 28F with a wind feels arctic.
Weather comes in waves off the Pacific. Waves are a series of troughs and ridges. The troughs and ridges are the result of the combined forces of the earth's rotation and the impact of the sun on any given point on the earth. The earth's rotation carries the warm "lightweight" air above the equator eastward. The eastward motion of the equatorial air triggers off a westward motion of the slightly cooler and therefore relatively "heavier" and less "fluid" air in the tropics to the north (or south) of the equator. The westerly wind on either side of the equator is known as the tropical jet-stream.
These tropical westerly winds set off an opposite motion of the air above (or below) the tropics in the even cooler and more sluggish colder air above. This easterly turbulence in turn then "rubs" against the frigid, heavy and almost "solid" polar air. The resulting westerly wind is known as the polar jet stream. The "jet-stream" blows west over ridges of high pressure and under troughs of low pressure and you get waves.
Think of it in terms of bands of temperature which result from the sun's varying impact on different areas of the earth going from the hot equator and cooling till it hits the poles. Add in the earth's rotation and the effects that it has on the different "consistencies" (or atmospheric pressures) of the bands of air and you can see how "weather waves" occur. All of our weather is caused by the sun's varying impact on the planet and the earth's rotation around it's own axis but oceans and mountains and vast plains absorb the sun's impact differently and complicate the equation.
In winter the sun is in the south where it warms the tropical air. Warm air is light (has a low atmospheric pressure) and rises. This sucks in cold denser "heavier" air from the north and the polar jet-stream dips south bringing cool Alaskan air and sometimes frigid Canadian air into the US. In summer the sun "moves" north warming the air and the tropical jet-stream shifts northward. In spring and fall these "waves" are vying with each other.
Add in the earth's rotation and you get "turbulence" between the waves of alternating hot and cold air. Hot air rises (it's light and has a low atmospheric pressure) and cold air (dense and high-pressured) rushes in to replace it. That's what makes weather move in waves - troughs and ridges - from west to east.
US weather is further complicated by waves of warmer tropical air swelling up from the Gulf which are usually quite "juicy" and bring as much rain and are just as powerful as the waves of weather from the Pacific. In winter most of the weather comes from the west. In summer most of it comes from the south. In spring and fall you have a battle between the two influences; between the tropical and polar jet-streams.
I haven't explained north Atlantic hurricanes to myself satisfactorily yet. All I know is that they start in the jungles of equatorial and tropical Africa. But I do understand tornadoes - as most inquisitive people do. In the spring (from February on) cool air from the Pacific or cold air from the pole clashes with warm air from the Gulf. Fall is not as turbulent as spring because cold waves of air sinking south are "heavier" and "suppress" the turbulent tropical air.
Simple animists worshipped the sun because, to them, the sun was the mightiest thing in their universe. All they were conscious of was the physical universe. Maybe they had inklings of their own consciousness but it took plenty of food, security, safety and leisure to give humans enough time to contemplate the mystery not of what they were seeing but of what was seeing it and so began mankind's "spiritual journey." (Shudder - that's a clunky cliche but I'm stumped for other words and can't find a neat phrase to describe what it means to become conscious of being conscious and realize that there is more to life than what you see and smell and hear and taste and feel and begin to wonder what or who is watching.)
I really can't talk about the sort of stuff that gets lumped under the category of "religion" or "metaphysics" or a bunch of other names. After I posted Tintoretto's Last Supper, I got an email asking me about my "religion." The emailer said that he (or she - "Robbie" could be a male or a female) had found my blog by searching for "born again Christian." Here's a paraphrase of what he (or she) wrote:
I found your web site when I googled "born again Christian." I liked your politics but then I saw that you say that you are not a Christian and I wondered why. You sound like a Christian or at least you sound like you know what it means to be Christian but don't have enough faith. Are you saying that you are not a Christian because you don't believe in the miracles or the resurrection?
"Robbie" then explained to me what it means to be "born again" and accept the risen Jesus as my living God. I replied:
No, Robbie, it's not because I don't believe in the miracles or the resurrection. It's probably because I took one thing that Jesus said to heart when I was very young and I even tried to live up to it but found that I couldn't do it. Ever since then I have felt like a hypocrite to pretend to be a Christian. I know other people can live with the contradiction and I've heard all the justifications for not obeying Jesus' commandment to "sell all, give it to the poor and come follow me."
It's not the selling and the giving away that is hard - I've done that. It's the following humbly and single-mindedly that's so hard. I know that surrender, obedience and humility are the keys to salvation but I'm too self-centered to do that. Maybe it's a lack of faith or hedging my bets. I don't know. All I know is that I can't do it. I've tried but, in the end, I always feel like I'm faking it and that I am being just as egotistical trying to be obedient, humble, selfless and devoted. So I might as well accept my shortcomings and just be a selfish heathen.
Happy Easter to my Christian friends.
PS I hope I got all the "easterlies" and "westerlies" right or I will look like a fool.
I can sit in my rocking chair in winds up to 40 mph before it becomes uncomfortable. I can also sit out there in temps as low as 28F as long as there is no wind. Once it gets below 40F then the "wind-chill factor" kicks in and 40F combined with a wind of 30mph (which is the norm on the Pacific shoreline) feels like it's below freezing point. 28F with a wind feels arctic.
Weather comes in waves off the Pacific. Waves are a series of troughs and ridges. The troughs and ridges are the result of the combined forces of the earth's rotation and the impact of the sun on any given point on the earth. The earth's rotation carries the warm "lightweight" air above the equator eastward. The eastward motion of the equatorial air triggers off a westward motion of the slightly cooler and therefore relatively "heavier" and less "fluid" air in the tropics to the north (or south) of the equator. The westerly wind on either side of the equator is known as the tropical jet-stream.
These tropical westerly winds set off an opposite motion of the air above (or below) the tropics in the even cooler and more sluggish colder air above. This easterly turbulence in turn then "rubs" against the frigid, heavy and almost "solid" polar air. The resulting westerly wind is known as the polar jet stream. The "jet-stream" blows west over ridges of high pressure and under troughs of low pressure and you get waves.
Think of it in terms of bands of temperature which result from the sun's varying impact on different areas of the earth going from the hot equator and cooling till it hits the poles. Add in the earth's rotation and the effects that it has on the different "consistencies" (or atmospheric pressures) of the bands of air and you can see how "weather waves" occur. All of our weather is caused by the sun's varying impact on the planet and the earth's rotation around it's own axis but oceans and mountains and vast plains absorb the sun's impact differently and complicate the equation.
In winter the sun is in the south where it warms the tropical air. Warm air is light (has a low atmospheric pressure) and rises. This sucks in cold denser "heavier" air from the north and the polar jet-stream dips south bringing cool Alaskan air and sometimes frigid Canadian air into the US. In summer the sun "moves" north warming the air and the tropical jet-stream shifts northward. In spring and fall these "waves" are vying with each other.
Add in the earth's rotation and you get "turbulence" between the waves of alternating hot and cold air. Hot air rises (it's light and has a low atmospheric pressure) and cold air (dense and high-pressured) rushes in to replace it. That's what makes weather move in waves - troughs and ridges - from west to east.
US weather is further complicated by waves of warmer tropical air swelling up from the Gulf which are usually quite "juicy" and bring as much rain and are just as powerful as the waves of weather from the Pacific. In winter most of the weather comes from the west. In summer most of it comes from the south. In spring and fall you have a battle between the two influences; between the tropical and polar jet-streams.
I haven't explained north Atlantic hurricanes to myself satisfactorily yet. All I know is that they start in the jungles of equatorial and tropical Africa. But I do understand tornadoes - as most inquisitive people do. In the spring (from February on) cool air from the Pacific or cold air from the pole clashes with warm air from the Gulf. Fall is not as turbulent as spring because cold waves of air sinking south are "heavier" and "suppress" the turbulent tropical air.
Simple animists worshipped the sun because, to them, the sun was the mightiest thing in their universe. All they were conscious of was the physical universe. Maybe they had inklings of their own consciousness but it took plenty of food, security, safety and leisure to give humans enough time to contemplate the mystery not of what they were seeing but of what was seeing it and so began mankind's "spiritual journey." (Shudder - that's a clunky cliche but I'm stumped for other words and can't find a neat phrase to describe what it means to become conscious of being conscious and realize that there is more to life than what you see and smell and hear and taste and feel and begin to wonder what or who is watching.)
I really can't talk about the sort of stuff that gets lumped under the category of "religion" or "metaphysics" or a bunch of other names. After I posted Tintoretto's Last Supper, I got an email asking me about my "religion." The emailer said that he (or she - "Robbie" could be a male or a female) had found my blog by searching for "born again Christian." Here's a paraphrase of what he (or she) wrote:
I found your web site when I googled "born again Christian." I liked your politics but then I saw that you say that you are not a Christian and I wondered why. You sound like a Christian or at least you sound like you know what it means to be Christian but don't have enough faith. Are you saying that you are not a Christian because you don't believe in the miracles or the resurrection?
"Robbie" then explained to me what it means to be "born again" and accept the risen Jesus as my living God. I replied:
No, Robbie, it's not because I don't believe in the miracles or the resurrection. It's probably because I took one thing that Jesus said to heart when I was very young and I even tried to live up to it but found that I couldn't do it. Ever since then I have felt like a hypocrite to pretend to be a Christian. I know other people can live with the contradiction and I've heard all the justifications for not obeying Jesus' commandment to "sell all, give it to the poor and come follow me."
It's not the selling and the giving away that is hard - I've done that. It's the following humbly and single-mindedly that's so hard. I know that surrender, obedience and humility are the keys to salvation but I'm too self-centered to do that. Maybe it's a lack of faith or hedging my bets. I don't know. All I know is that I can't do it. I've tried but, in the end, I always feel like I'm faking it and that I am being just as egotistical trying to be obedient, humble, selfless and devoted. So I might as well accept my shortcomings and just be a selfish heathen.
Happy Easter to my Christian friends.
PS I hope I got all the "easterlies" and "westerlies" right or I will look like a fool.
posted by Joubert at 12:36 AM
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