24th August - Todays News: Landslides After Torrential Rain in Shetland

Over 2 inches of rain fell on Wednesday morning in the Shetlands,  causing widespread problems as landslides hit parts of central Mainland and Uradale with one family lucky to survive peatslide.  Shetland is not cover by UK weather radar.

Thanks to the weather. 'wonky' fruit and veg is back.   It all tastes just the same!  Hopefully folk will buy it and we'll stop wasting so much of our food.

In the US, southwest flooding prompts dramatic Arizona rescue; search resumes for missing Nevada teen

Air crews make dent in massive Calif. wildfire

Haiti, Dominican Republic await Tropical Storm Issac

Large tree snaps off during wild Adelaide storm, damaging 10 cars at shopping centre whilst earlier this week, Sydney records warmest August day on record

Balkans hit by extreme drought  as NASA satellite captures intense smoke from Chios wildfire in the Aegean.  Meanwhile, Rome zoo cools anilmals with iced food during heatwave.

Link found between cold European winters and solar activity - though this does not mean we cannot have a mild winter with low activity, nor a cold one under an active sun.   It's not the ONLY factor.

Whisper it quietly but Antartica warmth 'unusual but not unique' - it should of course be no surprise that the West Antarctic Peninsular warmed up at the end of the last ice age and ended up even warmer that it is today for a while, before cooling off again.   What interests me more though is the suggestion that it began warming again around 600 years ago - around the time the N Hemisphere was cooling, leading to the LIA. 

And I'm not sure this'll work, but it's suggested that cloud control could tame hurricanes