Are we turning into a nation of hysterical pearl clutchers?

[NotAllThere]

My dad lives in Brighton. Today he said

Sixty years ago, to the week, when I lived and worked in Sheffield, we had a wind. 130 km/h, sustained, with gusts more than 160 km/h. I guess that is why I regard today's weather interesting rather than alarming.

In 1950, a tornado ripped through his back garden in Bedford and demolished the garden shed.

So yes, bunch of wusses nowadays. I lived through the great storms of 1987 and 1990. In the '87 one I watched the roof get ripped off one of the blocks of student accommodation.

[SueEllen]

My dad lives in Brighton. Today he said



In 1950, a tornado ripped through his back garden in Bedford and demolished the garden shed.

So yes, bunch of wusses nowadays. I lived through the great storms of 1987 and 1990. In the '87 one I watched the roof get ripped off one of the blocks of student accommodation.

No we aren't a bunch of wusses we are a bunch of idiots.

Unless you are considered a key worker then the default should be to shelter in place while there was a red alert level in your area. (It was the first red alert in London and the SE)

I was watching the news earlier and there was a student stranded at Waterloo as her lecture hadn't been cancelled in time. She shouldn't have been out in the first place.

Apparently most resilience and planning for extreme weather events had fallen by the wayside thanks to austerity. It's actually luck in Wales they cancelled all trains but they should have done it in other regions as soon as there was a red alert rather than pulling trains into stations when in mid-service.

[OwlHoot]

Weather can be odd. Decades ago me and the missus were walking on a beach on a fairly calm day when a huge wave came rushing in and almost dragged her away.

Rogue wave, formed maybe hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Waves in an incompressible fluid with no current pass through each other unchanged. But when there is a current in the fluid, the waves can exchange energy, and that means a wave can gain energy from others.

Not sure if that is random, or whether the more energetic a wave becomes the more likely it is to gain energy from others, analogous to how "money makes money" (if sensibly handled).

[Paddy]

Rogue wave, formed maybe hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Waves in an incompressible fluid with no current pass through each other unchanged. But when there is a current in the fluid, the waves can exchange energy, and that means a wave can gain energy from others.

Not sure if that is random, or whether the more energetic a wave becomes the more likely it is to gain energy from others, analogous to how "money makes money" (if sensibly handled).

When the sea is very choppy waves from different directions directions will to a degree cancel each other out however, occasionally and randomly waves will synchronise and become one giant wave that can even swallow large ships. The phenomenon is only a recent discovery.

[OwlHoot]

When the sea is very choppy waves from different directions directions will to a degree cancel each other out however, occasionally and randomly waves will synchronise and become one giant wave that can even swallow large ships. The phenomenon is only a recent discovery.

But without a cross-current, waves will just pass through each other and any "giant waves" that randomly pop up will then vanish again. It's the current that creates rogue waves, by swapping energy from one wave to another.