Back to Normal: weather 1/12/14

After the extreme weather of the last few weeks, this last week has been much more normal for this time of year.  Temperatures have moderated to seasonal levels across the nation.  The severe storms that pushed through the SE are not unusual in January, nor are the feet of snow in the known lake effect areas near the great lakes.  The flooding resulting from snow melt and rains isn’t that unusual either.  I for one say HOORAY, for normal.

Over the next week I don’t see anything unusual occurring either for January.  We’ll see some more cold in the Midwest and east, a couple small systems racing through, and maybe an east coast storm.  The west will remain on the mild and drier side.  While weather extremes excite everyone and make news, we would all prefer to have things a bit more “normal” than they have been this winter in much of the country.  

There was some exciting weather out there in some locations.
Raleigh, NC had it fastest thunderstorm gust measured at 86 mph.  The following video of an under construction building collapse was the result.
Building Collapses During Storm

At the height of the cold early in the week, many places reported seeing "sun dogs" in the skies.  A sun dog is when the sunlight is reflected off of ice crystals either in thin clouds or just the very cold skies themselves showing a sort of Halo effect around the sun.  I took this picture of what it looked like in my area.

And some video I took the same day.  Temps outside were about -20 and we had one measured wind gust that put the wind chill at -71 degrees.  As I said, I am glad we are back to more "normal" weather.

And I have to share this photo taken in Chicago.  This is a picture of a water spout in below zero weather.  Had this made landfall, it would have been classified as a tornado.  This is an unbelievably rare event and may not have even been considered possible before this picture.  I did see one other picture of a tornado in snowfall from Montana, but that is it.

It had gotten so cold last week that even the snowmen wanted out.



Not sure if that was the smartest move for the snowman, but I don't think they are known for their brilliance, lol.  

God's Weather Cycle

Ecclesiastics 1:5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
    and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
    and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
    ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.

In these few verses, the bible describes all we need to know about weather.  All the elements and dynamics of weather here are simply stated.  Thousands of years before men understood the water cycle, or the effects of the sun on the atmosphere, or about the Jet streams and how the air circumnavigates the globe, the Bible lays it all out, proving the inspirational writings are from Yahweh who created all these. 

The sun rises and the sun sets….  This is the beginning of weather.  The sun beats down on the waters, and the waters evaporate, turning into gas and rising into the air.  The wind blows, carrying the now gaseous water vapor with it.  These winds meet up with other winds from other directions that help to lift the moisture higher into the air.  The sun too heating the air helps to lift the moisture higher and higher into the cooler upper atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds, forms into water droplets and falls back to the earth at the place where the streams came from.  Sun, wind, and water.   The building blocks of weather.

The dynamics of the interplay of these three factors determine what kind of weather we get.  That’s where weather people make their predictions.  They have learned how these elements interact in greater detail and can make predictions based on their understanding of that interaction based on timing, location, and amount of each factor. 

I myself find it a little funny that man has spent all these years discovering what the Bible had already told us thousands of years ago, and we act like we have accomplished something.  I also find it laughable that we think that in some way we can either control or effect this interaction that God has put into play.  Man has tried many ways to manipulate the weather, with no effect.  At the same time we claim that we have irrevocable effected the weather by a mere 100 years of advancement, despite the fact that records show far more extreme weather occurrences long before man became “civilized”

Yahweh is the one who created weather, and He is the one who controls it.  God set it in motion, created the parameters and laws of its functioning.  It is He who can alter it at His will.  If and when He chooses, Yahweh can use weather to punish, or save, bring judgment or blessing. Rather than worry about what us tiny little creations are doing to the weather, we should be paying attention to changes in the weather that the creator of weather is bringing about.  Jehovah God just might be trying to tell us something through the weather.