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Winter in the South / Summer in the North


Daryl

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Tyrone, welcome to what we have had to live through for the last 10 years...fortunately we do get rain from time to time. We now have full dams, our local dam is being upgraded to increase its capacity, we have a rusty, new desal plant at Tugun, Brisbane can take all of our water if they please, and now they are going to jack up the water prices so it will be so expensive we dare not use it on the garden, or we will go broke...if the govt had their way, they would charge us for how much rain falls from the sky...:angry:

Daryl

Yes SE QLD had it really bad. But even in a dry year you will get more than 1000mm in SE QLD and your summer rain and humidity help keep temps down and water requirements down compared to the west coast. We have seasonal dry in the hottest time of the year. Also these sprinkler bans apply to bore owners. I believe bore owners were exempt from many water restrictions in the east. Maybe you know more about that than I do.

Back in 2000 when they started the bore rebate system (it's now been scrapped) the thoughts were if you removed your garden from the scheme system by installing a bore you took a load off the mains system. Other benefits were touted like keeping rising salinity down etc. Perth is on sand overlaying deep bedrock so the aquifer is huge here and it all flows to the ocean via streams and rivers whether bores pump it up or not. It will fluctuate with the seasons by a few cm's to a couple of metres depending on where you are. Back at that time (circa 2000) mains systems were restricted to two watering days a week and bores could water on any day but couldn't water between 9am-6pm. It made sense. Then in Oct 2008 they scrapped the bore rebate system and restricted bores to 3 days a week. Many people could see no sense in shelling out thousands for a bore and decided to stay on the mains, as the cost to benefit ratio was all wrong. The result is that many of the new houses that have gone in have all decided to stick with the mains system. Perth is exploding and this trend will continue, putting further strain on a 1940s-1960's water grid. One of the main reasons mains water restrictions came in was to keep the pressures up high enough in the main distribution pipes because they were way too small, designed for populations of 500,000 in the 1960's. If everyone watered on the same day no one would have enough pressure for popup sprinklers to pop up and showers to operate. Perth is on it's way to 2000000 people now. So what are they going to do? They'll keep imposing tougher and tougher restrictions. We're at the point where the bottom is going to fall out of the place here. The decision makers will all watch it from the balconies of their luxury mansions while their lawns get watered and their gardens grow.

I don't mind paying for water. Their is a market for water, but the infrastructure won't let people buy it for what it's worth. It's all up in Lake Argyle measured in Tetralitres and it fills to more than 100% capacity almost every year. I think I saw it at 160% capacity in the last wet!!!!!!! :angry:

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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It was fitting to end the month on a cool note and chalk up another month of well-below normal temps. If it were this cool during winter we would be having serious palm damage. Actually night temps have been below normal but only around 4-5 degree fahrenheit.

Today: 82F\ 27.7C

July 2010 Data

Average Max: 82.2\ 27.7C - Norm: 88F

Average Min: 62.5\ 16.9C - Norm: 66F

Average Mean: 72.3\ 22.3C - Norm: 77F

Highest Max: 98F\ 36.6C

Lowest Max: 72F\ 22.2C

Highest Min: 73F\ 22.7C

Lowest Min: 58F\ 14.4C

Heating degree days:

Cooling degree days: 238

Maximums

90’s: 6

80's: 15

70’s: 10

Minimums

70’s: 3

60's: 21

50’s: 7

Rainfall: .00

Rain days:

Rainyear: 00.00 [jul-jun]

Los Angeles/Pasadena

34° 10' N   118° 18' W

Elevation: 910'/278m

January Average Hi/Lo: 69F/50F

July Average Hi/Lo: 88F/66F

Average Rainfall: 19"/48cm

USDA 11/Sunset 23

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?MTW

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Tyrone I was on a sprinkler ban here for 6 years. No hand watering by hose for 3 years, and in the end even bucketing water was no longer allowed. Its ridiculous to lack the infrastructure while allowing the population to increase so quickly. Being a backward thinking state, now that it has actually rained again, they are no longer going to continue plans for de salination plants or new dams. Now the dams are full we are not allowed to water on mondays, just alternate days and only after 4pm. No financial rebates for installing grey water systems, just new tanks and not everyone has the space or the desire for a big thing like that. Maybe if new houses had underground tanks in place during building.....no that would take commonsense wouldnt it ?

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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A beautiful sunny day today. Nearly 22C.

Here's the forecast.

orecast for Monday

Sunny. Light to moderate N/NE'ly winds, shifting NW'ly for a period in the

afternoon.

Precis: Sunny.

City: Min 6 Max 24

Mandurah: Min 10 Max 21

UV Alert: 11:10 am to 1:40 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 4 [Moderate]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: NOT RATED

Hills: NOT RATED

Tuesday Sunny. Min 5 Max 23

Wednesday Mostly sunny. Min 5 Max 22

Thursday Partly cloudy. Min 6 Max 21

Friday Chance of a shower. Min 8 Max 20

Saturday Shower or two. Min 8 Max 19

Sunday Mostly sunny. Min 6 Max 20

Nights are still cold but it is August and there's a high right over us, so not too shabby actually. But the UV index is now up to 4. Go UV Index Go!!!!!

Peachy, WA must have similar infrastructure problems to QLD in a lot of ways. The only trouble with WA is it tucked right over here in the west, near South Africa, where most Aussies don't go. So to the powers that be, WA is an imaginary happy land of Federal revenue raisers.

"Passengers, we're now on our approach into Perth airport where the time is currently half past 1971." :D

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Minimum temperature recorded at Noonamah AWS this morning was 24.2C (75.6F). Yesterday's maximum was 36.5C (97.7F). Overnight strong wind never allowed relative humidity to rise above 62%, and yesterday it bottomed out at 33%. The UV index is still only predicted up to 9.

As Ari said, the rain the other night missed us. But where I work we got 10.2 millimetres in a short heavy downpour. The main rain went through the Douglas/Daly Region, then on to the Victoria River and Kimberley Districts. In fact it rained most of the day yesterday in the Kimberley and is still raining there. There's a lot of cloud to our north and south but the winds seems to be conspiring to keep it away from us.

With the strong high moving in, we'll probably start getting the drier (and colder) south easterlies back. So looks like our minimums might be taking a nose dive soon.

I'm on bore water at home, like a lot of the Darwin rural area but I have a 48,000 litre tank I should assemble for rain water. Rain water is far better than bore water for gardens, but there's no way a 48,000 litre tank would last me between showers once the wet season ended, not even this unusual year.

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Zig, I picked up 2 sealing wax yesterday. For $20, they are not bad at all :)

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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24.3C today. It doesn't feel like winter at the moment. Beautiful sunny day. The flying ants are all confused and are out about a month early, and there is a huge bushfire in the Darling Ranges. Really strange for August. Everything will get thoroughly confused with this early spring weather, but it's likely to sink into Winter 2 next week and all the things that thought it was spring will get battered. 23C for the next couple of days and nothing below 19C as a max for the next week. By the end of the week the mins are in the high single digits. I actually hope we get a wet and warm August. I don't know if that's possible at this latitude. Maybe this is the actual beginning of spring???? If so this is going to be one weird warm season this year. Maybe warm to hot early then a wet summer. I hope so.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Well the august westerly winds are back, the hot spell gone back whence it came and today was a nippy 21. Tonight is supposed to drop to 4. My poor plants dont know what to do. They all have new spears and leaves opening. Can't keep the water up to the place as usual. Decided to take the risk and put the sprinkler on so everywhere gets a good soak and if there is a freeze now then so be it. Had the A/C running on sunday, tonight its back on heating cycle. Poor machine must be as confused as my plants are.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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The Manaus statistics for July clearly show the arrival of the dry season. Today is a hot one. As will all days normally be until November. You can also clearly see the impact of the tail end of the cold front we we got in July with the dip on the graph´s daytime temperatures. The total percipitation of 70.1 mm is about normal. Although I think in some areas around town there was more rain, like at my house.

Julyobserved.jpg

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Dry surge is here again... Horrible dry wind during the day & high teens minimum temp. As long as it doesn't drop below 15, I am happy. But, the garden can definitely do without the wind!!

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Tyrone, welcome to what we have had to live through for the last 10 years...fortunately we do get rain from time to time. We now have full dams, our local dam is being upgraded to increase its capacity, we have a rusty, new desal plant at Tugun, Brisbane can take all of our water if they please, and now they are going to jack up the water prices so it will be so expensive we dare not use it on the garden, or we will go broke...if the govt had their way, they would charge us for how much rain falls from the sky...:angry:

Daryl

Yes SE QLD had it really bad. But even in a dry year you will get more than 1000mm in SE QLD and your summer rain and humidity help keep temps down and water requirements down compared to the west coast. We have seasonal dry in the hottest time of the year. Also these sprinkler bans apply to bore owners. I believe bore owners were exempt from many water restrictions in the east. Maybe you know more about that than I do.

Back in 2000 when they started the bore rebate system (it's now been scrapped) the thoughts were if you removed your garden from the scheme system by installing a bore you took a load off the mains system. Other benefits were touted like keeping rising salinity down etc. Perth is on sand overlaying deep bedrock so the aquifer is huge here and it all flows to the ocean via streams and rivers whether bores pump it up or not. It will fluctuate with the seasons by a few cm's to a couple of metres depending on where you are. Back at that time (circa 2000) mains systems were restricted to two watering days a week and bores could water on any day but couldn't water between 9am-6pm. It made sense. Then in Oct 2008 they scrapped the bore rebate system and restricted bores to 3 days a week. Many people could see no sense in shelling out thousands for a bore and decided to stay on the mains, as the cost to benefit ratio was all wrong. The result is that many of the new houses that have gone in have all decided to stick with the mains system. Perth is exploding and this trend will continue, putting further strain on a 1940s-1960's water grid. One of the main reasons mains water restrictions came in was to keep the pressures up high enough in the main distribution pipes because they were way too small, designed for populations of 500,000 in the 1960's. If everyone watered on the same day no one would have enough pressure for popup sprinklers to pop up and showers to operate. Perth is on it's way to 2000000 people now. So what are they going to do? They'll keep imposing tougher and tougher restrictions. We're at the point where the bottom is going to fall out of the place here. The decision makers will all watch it from the balconies of their luxury mansions while their lawns get watered and their gardens grow.

I don't mind paying for water. Their is a market for water, but the infrastructure won't let people buy it for what it's worth. It's all up in Lake Argyle measured in Tetralitres and it fills to more than 100% capacity almost every year. I think I saw it at 160% capacity in the last wet!!!!!!! :angry:

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone,

That is interesting information. Here in Manaus one of the main problems is supply of public water. Supposedly this is being solved in the next year with new pumping stations, water treatment plants, and distribution lines. They put in a 5 million liter water tank less than 1 km from my house. But, no water to my house. There is no restriction on wells, or I guess bores as you say in Australia here. Many if not most apartment buildings and gated housing condominiums have their own water supply. The norm here is to go down 100 meters into the aquafer. Since one of the largets aquafers in the world flows through here there is no shortage of water. And, with the largest river in the world flowing by water supply is the least of the problems. The Amazon is the largest river in the world and the Negro is the largest tributary of the Amazon. So, water is everywhere. There was a problem taking the black color from the water of the Negro river. But, this was solved by a company from Finland.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Tyrone, welcome to what we have had to live through for the last 10 years...fortunately we do get rain from time to time. We now have full dams, our local dam is being upgraded to increase its capacity, we have a rusty, new desal plant at Tugun, Brisbane can take all of our water if they please, and now they are going to jack up the water prices so it will be so expensive we dare not use it on the garden, or we will go broke...if the govt had their way, they would charge us for how much rain falls from the sky...:angry:

Daryl

Yes SE QLD had it really bad. But even in a dry year you will get more than 1000mm in SE QLD and your summer rain and humidity help keep temps down and water requirements down compared to the west coast. We have seasonal dry in the hottest time of the year. Also these sprinkler bans apply to bore owners. I believe bore owners were exempt from many water restrictions in the east. Maybe you know more about that than I do.

Back in 2000 when they started the bore rebate system (it's now been scrapped) the thoughts were if you removed your garden from the scheme system by installing a bore you took a load off the mains system. Other benefits were touted like keeping rising salinity down etc. Perth is on sand overlaying deep bedrock so the aquifer is huge here and it all flows to the ocean via streams and rivers whether bores pump it up or not. It will fluctuate with the seasons by a few cm's to a couple of metres depending on where you are. Back at that time (circa 2000) mains systems were restricted to two watering days a week and bores could water on any day but couldn't water between 9am-6pm. It made sense. Then in Oct 2008 they scrapped the bore rebate system and restricted bores to 3 days a week. Many people could see no sense in shelling out thousands for a bore and decided to stay on the mains, as the cost to benefit ratio was all wrong. The result is that many of the new houses that have gone in have all decided to stick with the mains system. Perth is exploding and this trend will continue, putting further strain on a 1940s-1960's water grid. One of the main reasons mains water restrictions came in was to keep the pressures up high enough in the main distribution pipes because they were way too small, designed for populations of 500,000 in the 1960's. If everyone watered on the same day no one would have enough pressure for popup sprinklers to pop up and showers to operate. Perth is on it's way to 2000000 people now. So what are they going to do? They'll keep imposing tougher and tougher restrictions. We're at the point where the bottom is going to fall out of the place here. The decision makers will all watch it from the balconies of their luxury mansions while their lawns get watered and their gardens grow.

I don't mind paying for water. Their is a market for water, but the infrastructure won't let people buy it for what it's worth. It's all up in Lake Argyle measured in Tetralitres and it fills to more than 100% capacity almost every year. I think I saw it at 160% capacity in the last wet!!!!!!! :angry:

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone,

That is interesting information. Here in Manaus one of the main problems is supply of public water. Supposedly this is being solved in the next year with new pumping stations, water treatment plants, and distribution lines. They put in a 5 million liter water tank less than 1 km from my house. But, no water to my house. There is no restriction on wells, or I guess bores as you say in Australia here. Many if not most apartment buildings and gated housing condominiums have their own water supply. The norm here is to go down 100 meters into the aquafer. Since one of the largets aquafers in the world flows through here there is no shortage of water. And, with the largest river in the world flowing by water supply is the least of the problems. The Amazon is the largest river in the world and the Negro is the largest tributary of the Amazon. So, water is everywhere. There was a problem taking the black color from the water of the Negro river. But, this was solved by a company from Finland.

dk

That is interesting that people in Manaus actually put down there own water supply. I wonder if I'd be allowed to disconnect my property from the water supply and get my own. There is probably some bylaw that prevents me. Would my annual water rates charges drop. Probably not. Many rural properties pump there own water from the ground into a large storage tank and then run a pressure sensitive pump to supply the house. But they're not in the city.

Water is a huge issue here in Australia and it would be solved if politics never got in the way. There is actually tonnes of water in this country. Aquifers the size of countries lie under the desert areas fed by the mountain rainfall in New Guinea. Mines that start up in arid areas have no trouble finding vast oceans of water to run their mining operations in the middle of nowhere. The monsoonal rainfall is getting heavier every year in the Kimberley and is tipped to increase with climate change. Done responsibly, there is no reason for an infrastructure that eliminates water restrictions for the whole country.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Tyrone,

There is really no control here on tapping your own water supply into the aquafer and making your own liquor. If you want to have your own still you can just make one and produce your own booze. And, if you want to drill a well, you just drill it. It looks to me like things are a lot more controlled in Australia than they are around here.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Noonamah AWS recorded a minimum overnight temperature of 20.4C (68.7F). Maximum yesterday was 34.2C (93.6F). There's lots of wind now from the south east, dry and cold. I expect by end of this week the minimum will be a few degrees lower, until the high moves on and begins to annoy the Kiwis.

Ari, you got those behind the Humpty Doo shops? Did you see the line of them near the gate? A little bit bigger but $90 each.

Tyrone/Peachy, isn't spring weather westerly and south westerly winds? Cold, crisp, and dry? The Syzygium suborbiculare here are a mass of buds and flowers now, a sign of immanent rain. The Persoonia falcata has been budding up for a while, a fore runner to the Build-up. Looks like the signals here have been for an early wet, long enough anyway for the plants to start to believe it.

Don, looking at that graph, your minimum got down to about 8C on the 17th to 19th. And on the 17th your maximum only got to just over 20C. I'm surprised your cold fronts could reach up that far with that much effect. I could imagine everyone there going around wrapped up in coats and jumpers then. They would here as well.

The difference between wells and bores here is that wells are largish holes dug down to the water table, usually open at the top. Bores, for households at least, are only somewhere about 100mm to 150mm in diameter, usually down into the aquifers below the water table and sealed to prevent anything going down into it. They're concreted above ground level and once water is pumped out there's a valve to prevent it from going back down. These are legal requirements and all bores are inspected by the authorities to ensure compliance. My bore is down to 45 metres but pumps from about 42 metres. Dry season standing water (water table) is 6 metres. It's not unusual for bores here to go down 75 metres. And a bore must be at least 100 metres from a house with septic drains.

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It's ironic that places like northern Australia and Brazil in the southern hemisphere are warmer than parts of California this summer. Today was the closest to an average maximum in several weeks but the outlook is for cooling once again as another in a never-ending series of upper troughs re-establishes later in the week.

Max: 88F\ 31.1C [August norm: 89F]

Los Angeles/Pasadena

34° 10' N   118° 18' W

Elevation: 910'/278m

January Average Hi/Lo: 69F/50F

July Average Hi/Lo: 88F/66F

Average Rainfall: 19"/48cm

USDA 11/Sunset 23

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?MTW

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Australia is one of the most over regulated countries in the western world. The list of cannot do's and cannot have's must go on forever. I live right across from a river and the council installed pumps and huge sprinklers to water a sports ground while I wasn't even allowed to water my plants with a damned bucket. When I suggest the council run a small pipe from the pumps to interested parties within pumping range I was told its against the by-laws. No by-laws against slugging me nearly $2,000 a year for water that I wasn't allowed to use however. My view ? If they can pump water to waste on a sporting ground that is rarely used then to hell with their bloody restrictions and I had the sprinkler running all through the bans on them. I have the only garden on the block, its cost me a lot of money, time and sweat so I am not going to let it die just because some geriatric male from the council decides not to share their more than adequate supply of water with those whom would put it to good use. BTW its bloody cold.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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24C again today after a min just below 4C. WEIRD. :unsure:

Zig SW's down here are cool and moist, anything but dry. SE QLD would have dry SW's. Our Easterlies are dry while SE QLD easterlies are wet. You could be right about the early build up up there in the north. If the flying ants are out now down here, it means the season is turning. Even the geckos are out running around in the sun eating flies.

Peachy, remember to fly under the radar. If you become a blip on the radar somewhere, the fighters fly in and get you and you'll be constantly harassed.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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It was the harrassment that made me nasty in the first place Tyrone. Everytime the water meters were read, I would get a visit from the water patrol and asked to explain. As they are a predudiced and ignorant group in the main and consider anyone in a wheelchair to mentally defective as well, I perform as expected and they leave here none the wiser for their efforts. While on the topic of being mentally defective, not of them ever put the rainforest garden together with my water usage !!! Anyhow now the restrictions are less draconian I am left alone, just get the occasional letter advising me of water saving methods !

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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Zig,

Either the graph is wrong in my post or it is hard to read right. The coldest temperature during that cold front was about 21 C at night. The big impact was the day time when the temperature stayed in the mid 20´s. They even had interviews of people on TV wearing sweaters which is a big difference for here.

It does appear like Australia has a lot of regulations. There are plenty of regulations here too. But, most are not even looked at or inforced. When drilling a well here you hit water pretty soon, but to eliminate any chance for contamination the rule is to go down to at least 70 meters which is below serveral layers of rock.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Ari, you got those behind the Humpty Doo shops? Did you see the line of them near the gate? A little bit bigger but $90 each.

Yes... Zig. They are definitely good value. They are happily planted now... :)

About the water police, there was talks that they will start charging people with bores!! Apparently we get FREE WATER??? What about the outlay of putting in a bore of at least $20,000 and the maintenance? also the infrastructure from bore to tank, etc, etc. So, we put in the bore because we are rural and they can't be bothered supplying us with town water and we are going to get charged. It is still talk at the moment, but I can see it happening in the future. As long as they reimburse my bore cost and maintain my bores, sure.... Oh well, we shall see what happens...

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Water supply in this country is the biggest joke ever. And the poor citizens are powerless against the policy makers who must drum up these things in the dark of night.

Gold Coast, Queensland Latitude 28S. Mild, Humid Subtropical climate. Rainfall - not consistent enough!

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Don, looking at that graph, your minimum got down to about 8C on the 17th to 19th. And on the 17th your maximum only got to just over 20C. I'm surprised your cold fronts could reach up that far with that much effect. I could imagine everyone there going around wrapped up in coats and jumpers then. They would here as well.

Zig I went back and looked at that graph again from the website. The left hand side is the temperature and it starts at 20 C. It has 21.8 degrees as the coldest temperature in July on the 18th. The high temperature for the same day was 23.4 C. It is funny how even 1 or 2 degrees makes things feel cooler.

On other news it snowed for the first time in the mountains of southern Brazil as the cold front entered with force from Argentina.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

amazonas2.jpg

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Gee Ari, your bore must go halfway to china. Mine was 60 metres, cost me $4,000 to drill and another $750 for the submersible pump. (this was at the old house) My rich neighbour hit water at 6 metres and got 20,000 litres an hour flow !! I think mine only 1,000 an hour. We only needed a permit if we didnt have an existing bore and there was an ancient non functioning one there when I bought the place. Why not tell them it doesnt work if that rule comes in ?

Politicians tell us nothing but lies so why should be truthful with them ?

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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WOW...reached 30c here today. Current temp is 29c at 15:30. Tomorrow is 28c and the rest of the week 26c to 28c, pity the Aussies couldnt beat the AB's last saturday. My week would have been made!

South Africa is also a very dry country as a whole, except here the poor get water for free. here tapes drip, pipes leak and water flows down the streets often! Such a waste, we have laws but no people to enforce them! No restrictions in Durban for many years though.

Cheers

Dennis

Sub-tropical

Summer rainfall 1200mm

Annual average temp 21c

30 South

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Gee Ari, your bore must go halfway to china. Mine was 60 metres, cost me $4,000 to drill and another $750 for the submersible pump. (this was at the old house) My rich neighbour hit water at 6 metres and got 20,000 litres an hour flow !! I think mine only 1,000 an hour. We only needed a permit if we didnt have an existing bore and there was an ancient non functioning one there when I bought the place. Why not tell them it doesnt work if that rule comes in ?

Politicians tell us nothing but lies so why should be truthful with them ?

Peachy

Peachy,

Here is Brazil the general rule is to go around the system. Since the system works poorly and does not deliver the services that taxpayers should receive for their contribution the general attitude is to avoid paying what you can. Interestingly the cost to drill and structure a 50 meter bore is about the same here. The pump would be about double that price though. Hopefullly I can get better water supply on our country place sometime in the next year. I have a stream running right along the lower slope property line so I think I can come up with a cheap solution.

From what you are all saying to build anything must require a lot of permits etc. in Australia.

dk

Don Kittelson

 

LIFE ON THE RIO NEGRO

03° 06' 07'' South 60° 01' 30'' West

Altitude 92 Meters / 308 feet above sea level

1,500 kms / 932 miles to the mouth of the Amazon River

 

Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil - A Cidade da Floresta

Where the world´s largest Tropical Rainforest embraces the Greatest Rivers in the World. .

82331.gif

 

Click here to visit Amazonas

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Here in WA no permits are required. You can drill a bore wherever you want and they are not licensed etc and currently not metered, just restricted in their use. No inspection either. My water is 4 to 5 metres down and about another 17 metres to the bottom of the aquifer. There's about 7m of limestone towards the bottom (we pulled up ancient seashells when we drilled) and then black cap rock just before you hit artesian. If you hit artesian you don't need a pump and then your property becomes a lake. You need a permit to use artesian water. I actually have 3 bore holes on my property but the gov only knows about 1. I could probably hook a pump up to the other two. I did think of putting a windmill in. :D

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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23C again today after a slightly better min of 6.1C. It's getting slowly higher these mins. Luckily no frost has ever been recorded in August here. The lowest ever recorded is 1.3C in August. The worst is now behind us. Phewwwww.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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There's a real Antarctic blast coming through from a combination of the high and low pressures over the east of the continent. This mornings minimum at my place was 18.1C (64.6F) and yesterdays maximum was only 32.0C (89.6F). This blast is coming up the east coast and then across to us. These are some of the readings this morning in Queensland:

Cairns minimum 15.2C (59.4F)

Townsville minimum 6.8C (44.2F)

Mackay (airport) minimum 4.8C (40.6F)

There's some seriously cold air trying to get through. Seems to happen when a low pressure off the east coast blocks the high moving across the continent. The bizarre thing here is just now there's a rain band west of Darwin heading south east down to Daly Waters. Although, there's not much rain in it, looks like less than 1 millimetre anywhere. Here it's mainly sunny with some gusty wind, not getting much more than 10 kph though.

Don, I looked at that graph again and can see where I made the mistake. Although, that low maximum you got at that time rivals anything we've had.

Tyrone, water table isn't too great a problem, but getting into the lower aquifers (and artesian basin) risks contamination. That's why we have inspections, to ensure no one contaminates it for anyone else.

A friend told me recently that the current cost here for bores is about $150 per metre. That includes casing and capping, but I'm sure it doesn't include the pump and electrical work. I'm considering putting my bore down deeper to get out of the problem aquifer I'm in now. Have to get a quote. And there's no guarantee it'll solve my problem.

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Yes.... Zig, $150 is about right... No, it doesn't include pump & electrical for sure.

Peachy,

It is about the going rate... And mine is only 50m deep. $20,000 is with everything else... the pipes to the house, the electrician, the pumps & water tanks.

Regards

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Zig, I was warmer than Mackay this morning then. I wonder how cold Eungella got down too this morning then. Probably close to zero.

Nothing but blue skies here.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Tyrone, the town would be a bit warmer than the airport (inland side of town). Eungella is cold on a good day. But on a day like today ....... well, there are words for it, but I might get banned if I use them.

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Down to 4 overnight and a comfortable 23 today....just about textbook weather for august in these parts. Still too soon to risk planting anything tender. The first year here we had our first (and only) frost for the year on the 2nd of september...a lesson I will always remember. Ran the sprinkler all day again today to keep the ground workable. Once it goes hard thats the end of it. Even though it rained last week, it soaks in right away. Finished concreting the rock edging around the bedroom garden area and started the digging to prepare the area along the front of the house for its big makeover. Mama is on a roll this week.....somebody stop me !!

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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You have been busy, peachy... Photo if you can be bothered.. :)

Anyway, things have gotten cool & dry again today. I can definitely feel the dry air on my skin. It just doesn't like it at all. I hope my palms on licuala bed will be ok...

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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You have been busy, peachy... Photo if you can be bothered.. :)

Anyway, things have gotten cool & dry again today. I can definitely feel the dry air on my skin. It just doesn't like it at all. I hope my palms on licuala bed will be ok...

Regards, Ari :)

So when does the humidity start to climb before the wet season?

Oceanic Climate

Annual Rainfall:1000mm

Temp Range:2c-30c

Aotearoa

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Started off with a minimum this morning of 18.1C (64.6F). Noonamah AWS recorded 18.5C (65.3F). My maximum was 30.7C (87.3F). Noonamah AWS was 31.6C (88.9F) Hate their 'one-up-manship, they're supposed to stay colder than me. I'll be glad when this Antarctic blast finishes. But late afternoon the wind completely died and it's been dead still ever since. I've a horrible feeling it's going to be difficult to get out of bed in the morning. sad.gif

Okay, next thing, finally got all the stats worked out for month of July (our coldest month) at my house.

TEMPERATURE:

Highest maximum 35.6C (96.1F)

Lowest maximum 30.0C (86.0F)

Average Maximum 33.5C (92.3F)

Lowest minimum 15.9C (60.6F)

Highest Minimum 25.9C (78.6F)

Average minimum 20.5C (68.9F)

Average temp. for month 26.3C (79.3F)

Highest heat index 40.2C (104.4F)

Lowest heat index 16.3C (61.3F)

Average heat index 27.2C (81.0F)

HUMIDITY

Highest maximum daily humidity 99%

Average maximum daily humidity 85%

Lowest minimum daily humidity 25%

Average minimum daily humidity 39%

Average humidity for month 63%

Total rain for month 6.2mm

Cool Degree days 246.1

Heat Degree Days 0.8

Peachy, a week of dry season weather and the soil's like I concreted the whole property, not just rock edging.

Mike, August it's still "yo-yo" weather, but September everything starts to go up, and only up - temperature, humidity, heat index, perspiration rate, stress levels, tempers, divorce rates, etc. sad.gif

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Yeah.... in Sept, the heat will return and it is easy to notice as you can see all the caravans leaving Darwin all at once... :)

Regards, Ari :)

Ari & Scott

Darwin, NT, Australia

-12°32'53" 131°10'20"

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Zig in the areas which havent been worked and amended, when it dries out, even a pick won't break it. Water bounces off too. When I lived out in the bush, summer was called the suicide season because the weather was so hot and humid it was unbearable.

Ari, I saw a caravan to today with a good slogan on the back of it. "Adventure before dementia"

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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I like that saying Peachy. Although with the things I've been getting up to some feel I'd have to have dementia to be doing them.

It's really not so bad these days though, with all the modern conveniences. When I first went to Darwin, in my teens, in another century, the buses didn't have airconditioning. The whole front windscreen could hinge out and the wind blew right through. Very few homes had airconditioning and I remember the government having a radio campaign encouraging people to install them, the divorce rate was so high.

Cinemas had no roof then. But these days they're airconditioned down so low I have to wear a jumper and socks/shoes. If you see people wandering around Darwin with jumper in hand, they've either been or are going to the movies.

Government and big companys would bring employees in for 3 year periods only and then they'd go back. The population was transient (and they called Aborigines nomads).

The Build-up was called the Silly Season, now more frequently Mango Season. November was called "Suicide Month", from the large number of people who hanged themselves from the water towers. You have to remember Darwin was very remote then, just before Tracy. A lot of people with "problems", people on the run, would end up finally in Darwin and there was no where else to go. The weather would drive them to the final exit.

Watching people go troppo was weird too. Guess I was lucky, I took well to the heat and humidity. It was hot for sure, but it never rattled me. Maybe no brain to cook helped a lot.

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Zig, I think the Aborigines in this country had the right idea. In the heat just wear a loin cloth. During the heat of the day sit under a tree near a water hole and spend time relaxing with your relatives and extended family. As the sun sets do what you have to do and come back at night and cook what you caught on the campfire under the stars. None of this European clothing, closed in walls. Just the breezes and the night air. I tell you what, when I'm sitting in a traffic jam I'm wondering who got it right.

Here's the weather forecast for Perth. Still cold at night. This isn't Perth in winter. It's another season that I don't recognise. It's not typical Perth August weather. We average 8-19C in August with about 130mm of rain. So far we're around 5C-22C with about zero rain.

Forecast for Thursday

Mostly sunny this morning. Partly cloudy with the chance of a light shower in

the afternoon. Light winds, tending moderate SW'ly during the day.

Precis: Afternoon shower possible.

City: Max 21

Mandurah: Max 20

UV Alert: 11:00 am to 1:50 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 4 [Moderate]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: NOT RATED

Hills: NOT RATED

Friday Partly cloudy. Min 5 Max 19

Saturday Sunny. Min 5 Max 19

Sunday Sunny. Min 4 Max 20

Monday Sunny. Min 5 Max 22

Tuesday Sunny. Min 5 Max 23

Wednesday Sunny. Min 6 Max 24

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Zig I was in Darwin a few weeks before cyclone tracy and thought it pretty close to hell on earth. It amazed me that anyone bothered to rebuild it. I grew up in the tropics, our house and school and most shops had big ceiling fans, but it was still a misery in summer. Our pool kept me alive I think. We had a holiday house up in the mountains that we used to flee to when it became unbearable at home. After we came to Australia, my mother bought a little place in Tasmania and the moment in warmed up in Melbourne we evacuated to it. The first time I came to Brisbane, it was january, filthy hot, shabby old buildings and weird looking trams. After that visit, everytime we misbehaved our father would threaten to send us to brisbane if we didnt be good. My grandparents built a motel on the Gold Coast in the 1960s and remember going there once before we moved to australia permanently. I barely saw anything of the area then, I was too enthralled by the airconditioning. It's been pulled down now, but the council kept the big neon sign from it as a landmark.

Tyrone, the local men here in summer get around in a pair of stubbies and nothing else. Can't get much closer to a loin cloth than that, unless one includes Mr Abbott's budgie smugglers !! My summer uniform (at home) is a pair of boys boxers and oversized tshirts. I have big loose cotton caftans for going shopping in.

Weatherwise, its a cool day, overcast which is a relief as this is the main risk time for a frost.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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