yellow said:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10547826/
For the love of Manischewitz, I've got to move. It's going to be 60F (15.5C) on Christmas day.
I want a giant snowman in my front yard!!!
Anyone else have a giant snowman in their front yard, or stuck in a too warm place for Christmas?
Frankly, I don't know how you Southern Hemispherians do it...
15.5C? Luxury.
Today (23rd December) it's forecast to hit 38C (100.4F) and tomorrow it's meant to top out at 40C (104F).
I'd kill a lot of people for it to be 15.5C. A hell of a lot of people.
Still, the beach is a mighty fine place for Christmas and there's nothing like plonking your arse down in a comfy chair on Boxing Day in an air conditioned house to watch the cricket on the telly and the plants wilting outside.
In all seriousness it's another hot, dry, windy and therefore fireblown Christmas. We have a state-wide total fire ban on for the next few days. That means NO fires, no flames, nothing. There are already a number of small but dangerous fires burning around Sydney and with the weather about to turn really nasty there are bound to be more. The annual Carols by Candlelight concert could end up being Carols by Maglite again but there's just no point having any chance for the states to go up in flames again. A couple of years ago we lost somewhere in the vicinity of 17 million acres to fires across a relatively contiguous area of NSW, Vic and the ACT.
For you americans, that's 26,562 square miles and would be the equivalent of the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia burning to the ground. For just one state, West Virginia would be gone.
For you Brits, that's one third of Britain, gone. Britain, not England, I mean the whole lot.
Yeah, that's a lot of land and that's what we run the risk of losing very year but especially these tinder dry years. Most of the countryside is inaccessible and just so vast it's difficult to stop the fires until they get to a populated area where the firefighters can use the roads etc. But our trees are full of explosive eucalyptus oil and most are designed to only seed when burnt - so fires are inevitable. I just hate them so much, I hate waking up and not being able to see for the smoke and having ash falling out of the sky like dirty snow.
