Lightning

W. D. Grey <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Gordon <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

The same day, a Canberra bomber did the nearest I've seen to a loop, rolling out upright at the
top though, in an Immelman (?).
--

Not forgetting that the Canberra did hold the world climbing record at that time.

And the height record.... About 63,000 ft if I remember correctly?
--
Gordon

I was walking in the Cairgorms one Easter, top of Carn Toul as I recall, when it started to gently
snow. Nice soft flakes, not a blizzard or anything. Then, standing on the summit cairn the other two
in the party said "what's that buzzing noise". "Just the wind I expect, can't hear anything myself".
We then noticed that my girlfriend's long hair was standing up straight - just like the Van der
Graaf generator experiment in school. "That's interesting, let's take a picture - must be static
electricity from her anorak". Pause, then, "[censored] !" as the penny dropped. As another poster
said, we moved pretty quick. Had to go nearly a mile from the top before the hair dropped to normal.
We didn't hear any thunder so maybe not a risk. Still, it gave me a bit of a fright

Hywel

Chris Street said:

Chance of a storm is low - chance of being hit is very low.

Yep, in over twenty years of walking in the hills I've only been caught out in a thunderstorm once,
and I was camping in a valley at the time so no worries there.

There was once when I was about to leave for the hills when a bad thunderstorm developed, so I
thought better of it and stayed at home, especially since my intended route took me through the
riskiest area.

Paul
--
The October Project 2003
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photosig.comuserphotosOpen ↗

The message <[email hidden]>
from Gordon <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yes, but when did you last see a Lightning? (The EE one).

There's a small heap of molten aluminium just off the path above Godley reservoir near Glossop.
That was a P38, is that the one you mean?

I am not well up on numeric designations.

AFAIK there have been 2 Lightning fighters. The first was an American twin prop job that made a
virtue out of its lack of manoeuvrability. The Other was the English Electric (later BAC) supersonic
jet. No idea which was a P38.

--
Roger Looking North over the Aire Valley (and Marley Gasworks) to Rombolds Moor Top Posters
killfiled on sight

Hywel & Ros

Quoted message said:

We didn't hear any thunder so maybe not a risk. Still, it gave me a bit of a fright

You did the right thing moving away. I have read similar accounts, one in particular springs to mind
with a couple taking a break at the shelter at Esk Hause. The build up in local charge *did* lead to
a strike. Fortunately neither were killed in the incident. Some of the rare, less tangible aspects
of mountain weather have to be experienced at first hand before the significance of the dangers can
be appreciated. Unfortunately sometimes the dawning of realisation is too late but close calls like
this are always the best learning experiences.

Chris

I live in the suburbs of Atlanta and thunderstorms can be a little disconcerting especially for
someone with an irrational fear of lightning.

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also occur in Great Britain though supposedly on a smaller and
less damaging scale.

This coupled with the scenic but somewhat barren looking photos of Hadrian's Wall in the brochures
caused my imagination to leap to all sorts of possiblities.

Thanks to all of you for your replies, knowledge, and reassurances.

Roger Chapman said:

The message <[email hidden]> from Gordon <[email hidden]> contains
these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yes, but when did you last see a Lightning? (The EE one).

There's a small heap of molten aluminium just off the path above Godley reservoir near Glossop.
That was a P38, is that the one you mean?

I am not well up on numeric designations.

AFAIK there have been 2 Lightning fighters. The first was an American twin prop job that made a
virtue out of its lack of manoeuvrability. The Other was the English Electric (later BAC)
supersonic jet. No idea which was a P38.

I have a very vague recollection of building an Airfix P1127, but I may have got that wrong. I've
always thought it was a sort of proto-Lightning.

--
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Arnold said:

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also

occur

Quoted message said:

in Great Britain though supposedly on a smaller and less damaging scale.

I've never seen a tornado in the UK, and most other UK residents probably never have either. I did
once see a photo of a waterspout on the news though. If they do occur they're tiny and I've never
heard of any tornado damage.

Quoted message said:

caused my imagination to leap to all sorts of possiblities.

Quoted message said:

I live in the suburbs of Atlanta

I imagine you're a constant risk of being shot every time you go out then? ;-)

Paul
--
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(Arnold) said:

I live in the suburbs of Atlanta and thunderstorms can be a little disconcerting especially for
someone with an irrational fear of lightning.

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also occur in Great Britain though supposedly on a smaller and
less damaging scale.

Tornadoes are very common in Britain. Usually about 400ft and 400knts, making a god awful noise
flying along some valley somewhere. Apparantly it's called the sound of Freedom.

--
79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42% are made up later on. In Warwick -
looking at flat fields and that includes the castle.

Arnold wrote

Quoted message said:

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also occur in Great > Britain though supposedly on a smaller
and less damaging scale.

The thing about UK weather is that you're never really that far away from the moderating effects of
the sea. The country doesn't have sufficient area to create the kind of extremes that the
continental climates of the North America or Asia can generate. It never really gets that cold or
hot or dry or humid. It's generally quite average and unsettled except for short periods when we get
the occiasional anticyclone.

Bring an umbrella :-)

Chris

(Arnold) said:

I live in the suburbs of Atlanta and thunderstorms can be a little disconcerting especially for
someone with an irrational fear of lightning.

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also occur in Great Britain though supposedly on a smaller and
less damaging scale.

Yes, apparently we get, in some way, more than you do (per acre, or million people, or somesuch). As
you rightly suspect, they are small affairs - most occur just out to sea. We also don't get storms
like yours either. Britain is far too small to generate any sort of continental weather pattern.
Very occasionally we will get a persistent high-pressure system which will "stick" and produce a
very watered-down version of the pattern of weather that is a regular feature in parts of the US in
summer - heat build-up throught the day resulting in the generation of huge thunderclouds,
torrential downpours, sun comes out and dries it all up? Last I can remember weather a bit like this
here, twas the hot summer of 75 or 76 but even then it was evening before the rain appeared.

Quoted message said:

This coupled with the scenic but somewhat barren looking photos of Hadrian's Wall in the brochures
caused my imagination to leap to all sorts of possiblities.

You'll be fine. Only thing to watch out for is hairy-arsed kilted Scots with blue faces leaping over
the Wall at you and chasing you south. (Just kidding, Hadrians Wall is not the border any more.)

--
Man with ice cubes wishes to meet woman with Scotch.

Mail john rather than nospam...

Paul Rooney said:

Roger Chapman said:

The message <[email hidden]> from Gordon <[email hidden]> contains
these words:

Quoted message said:

>Yes, but when did you last see a Lightning? (The EE one).
>
There's a small heap of molten aluminium just off the path above Godley reservoir near Glossop.
That was a P38, is that the one you mean?

I am not well up on numeric designations.

AFAIK there have been 2 Lightning fighters. The first was an American twin prop job that made a
virtue out of its lack of manoeuvrability. The Other was the English Electric (later BAC)
supersonic jet. No idea which was a P38.

The former.

Quoted message said:

I have a very vague recollection of building an Airfix P1127, but I may have got that wrong. I've
always thought it was a sort of proto-Lightning.

That was the prototype Harrier. Prototype Lightning was unimaginatively called the P1. I think
there's one in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Not content with one hugely powerful
engine, they stuck another on top and then invited a pilot to sit atop both (eee, men were men back
then). It still holds some records for time to altitude (something like 600mph vertically).

--
Extra credit: Define the universe and give three examples.

Mail john rather than nospam...

"Paul Saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote among other things
in message news:<[email hidden]>...

point taken.

One does have to be careful, a pistol was displayed to my daughter in traffic on an expressway
recently and Georgia and South Carolina furnish many of the handguns that wind their way to New York
City and other metropolitan areas of the East Coast.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I live in the suburbs of Atlanta

I imagine you're a constant risk of being shot every time you go out then? ;-)

Paul

Paul Saunders said:

Arnold said:

I purchased a BBC video on Weather and learned that the warm water of the Gulf Stream affects
weather in the UK and that tornadoes also

occur

Quoted message said:

in Great Britain though supposedly on a smaller and less damaging scale.

I've never seen a tornado in the UK, and most other UK residents probably never have either. I did
once see a photo of a waterspout on the news though. If they do occur they're tiny and I've never
heard of any tornado damage.

Saw a funnel cloud in Perth this summer. Very scarey.

Richard Webb

The message <[email hidden]>
from John Laird <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This coupled with the scenic but somewhat barren looking photos of Hadrian's Wall in the
brochures caused my imagination to leap to all sorts of possiblities.

Quoted message said:

You'll be fine. Only thing to watch out for is hairy-arsed kilted Scots with blue faces
leaping over the Wall at you and chasing you south. (Just kidding, Hadrians Wall is not the
border any more.)

Not wanting to get at John particularly but why is it that:

a) Everybody seems to assume that Hadrians Wall was built to keep the Scots at bay? And

b) Why does Rome's later more Northerly frontier rarely get as much as a stray mention?

--
Roger Looking North over the Aire Valley (and Marley Gasworks) to Rombolds Moor Top Posters
killfiled on sight

Chris Street said:

Tornadoes are very common in Britain. Usually about 400ft and 400knts, making a god awful noise
flying along some valley somewhere.

LOL! Good one!

Paul
--
The October Project 2003
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John Laird said:

That was the prototype Harrier. Prototype Lightning was unimaginatively called the P1. I think
there's one in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Not content with one hugely powerful
engine, they stuck another on top and then invited a pilot to sit atop both (eee, men were men back
then). It still holds some records for time to altitude (something like 600mph vertically).

Aha! Thanks.

--
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Wainwrights

Please sponsor me for the London Marathon at: justgiving.comlondon2004Open ↗

John Laird said:

Paul Rooney said:

Roger Chapman said:

The message <[email hidden]> from Gordon <[email hidden]> contains
these words:

> >Yes, but when did you last see a Lightning? (The EE one).
> >
> There's a small heap of molten aluminium just off the path above Godley reservoir near Glossop.
> That was a P38, is that the one you mean?

I am not well up on numeric designations.

AFAIK there have been 2 Lightning fighters. The first was an American twin prop job that made a
virtue out of its lack of manoeuvrability. The Other was the English Electric (later BAC)
supersonic jet. No idea which was a P38.

The former.

Quoted message said:

I have a very vague recollection of building an Airfix P1127, but I may have got that wrong. I've
always thought it was a sort of proto-Lightning.

That was the prototype Harrier. Prototype Lightning was unimaginatively called the P1. I think
there's one in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Not content with one hugely powerful
engine, they stuck another on top and then invited a pilot to sit atop both (eee, men were men back
then). It still holds some records for time to altitude (something like 600mph vertically).

Apart from a true VTOL aircraft like the Harrier and the YAK thingy, it's the only aircraft that
can climb vertically directly after takeoff. Something like a minute to get to 50,000ft from MSL
as I recall.

--
79.84% of all statistics are made up on the spot. The other 42% are made up later on. In Warwick -
looking at flat fields and that includes the castle.

Arnold said:

One does have to be careful, a pistol was displayed to my daughter in traffic on an expressway
recently

Yes of course. I imagine you're a lot more likely to be shot over there than struck by lightning
over here.

Paul
--
The October Project 2003
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Gordon said:

Chris Street <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Tornadoes are very common in Britain. Usually about 400ft and 400knts, making a god awful noise
flying along some valley somewhere. Apparantly it's called the sound of Freedom.

I'll see your tornadoes and raise you three Hercules in line astern at what seemed like 100ft* in
the Dales a few years ago.

* Well, they're BIG, aren't they?

I remember seeing one come low over the bealach between a' Mhaighdean and Beinn Tarsuinn do a sharp
turn to port and fly over Lochan Fadda. Quite a surprise to see such a big aircraft being flown in
such a manner.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"