Being in the civil service, we are able to book Cluny Lodge, a bungalow owned by the Singapore government. D often suggested we stay there, but I kept putting it off because I liked Strawberry Park & am usually lazy to try anything new. Our colleague C the Toothbrush Man brought his family there to stay once, though, & after hearing about it from him I decided to give it a try.
Lane leading to Cluny Lodge, lined by firs supposedly planted by Lee Kuan Yew; Cluny Lodge in morning sunlig
The Straits Times May 26, 2007 A towering sight off the east coast By Andrea Ong THOUSANDS of people from the city centre to Changi were transfixed yesterday afternoon as a large water spout appeared off the east coast. The water funnel rose majestically from the sea, and sent people scrambling for their cameras and cellphones. In fact, the water spout broke all previous records for reader reaction at The Straits Times' online portal Stomp, with 150 SMSes, MMSes and e-mails streaming in wit
Hi, for those interested, I have updated my waterspout entry with a radar image of the thunderstorm producing the waterspout.
Here is a series of radar images of the squall line that affected the island on 30 April, which our Finnish forecaster was referring to (see my earlier post on 20 May).
The gust front is quite distinct.
We had an unusually large number of squall lines on consecutive days this April. April is the transition period between our two monsoons (northeast monsoon and sou
We had a flurry of calls from the police, civil defence and the public today, because a distinct waterspout was sighted off the southeastern coast of the island.
Our radar showed that the weather system producing it was just a small thunderstorm. Which goes to show that you don't need a large and impressive thunderstorm to produce an impressive waterspout.
What is as amazing as the waterspout is the speed at which news travels nowadays. Practically everyone on this island has a cellphone
I was amused by the following email from a gentleman from Finland...he certainly is very enthusiastic - I find meteorology interesting, but I'm not sure I would carry a windmeter around like he does!
Will post some radar images of the squall line he mentioned when I have the time.
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Hello!
I am a forecaster from Finnish Met. Institute. I got a chance to visit Singapore second time 24-30.4.2007. I trav
May 15, 2007 The sun rises on S'pore's solar industry Landmark buildings may go solar; NUS in talks on research, teaching centre By Jessica Cheam THE solar industry is shaping up as a sunrise one. Landmark buildings - and there are so many on this sun-drenched island - may soon sport solar panels that do double duty as roofs. Solar-energy architects here are pushing for more than just solar panels slapped atop buildings to turn sunlight into electricity: They want to make what are called p
Singaporeans experienced two rounds of tremors in the space of two hours on Tuesday, following two earthquakes in Padang, Indonesia. Singapore's Meteorological Services Division said the first tremors were felt at about 11.50am after an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck Padang on the island of Sumatra. The epicentre was 50 kilometres north-northeast of Padang and some 430 kilometres south-west of Singapore. The second round of tremors occurred around 1.50pm after another ea
Well it seems that the rainfall this December has been exceptionally heavy this year. Maybe I've been too busy to notice, but it didn't seem any worse to me than 2001 when Typhoon Vamei hit Singapore ... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times Forum Dec 28, 2006 Flood-prone areas cut from 3,200ha to 130ha PUB, the national water agency, thanks Mr Thomas Lee Zhi Zhi for his letter, 'Civil Service
And I was wondering why the net was so slow. I'd received a dozen SMS alerts on the Taiwan quake, but didn't take much notice because it was so far away ... we're more concerned with quakes around the Sumatra region. Who would think that a quake in Taiwan would still affect us!
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Dec 28, 2006, 0.00 am (Singapore time)
Home users and businesses cut off from websites a
Dec 20, 2006 24 hours of rain mayhem Floods and landslides hit island Fallen trees hold up traffic SINGAPORE was lashed by the third-largest deluge of rain in recorded history yesterday, causing heavy flooding in parts of the island, bringing down trees and triggering landslides. The rain was most intense over the northern and central parts of the island, where flooding affected at least four locations. Vehicles were diverted from several traffic junctions, which had been rendered impassable
Dec 15, 2006
New public buildings to go green from 2007
Private sector urged to follow suit; Government offers incentives
IT IS goodbye to chilly offices with sweater-clad workers and hello to high-tech air-conditioning, waterless urinals and solar power - as Singapore's buildings gear up to 'go green'.
From next year, all new public buildings and those undergoing major retrofitting have to earn the environment-friendly 'Green Mark' - proof that they are energy- and water-efficient, with go
Well, the haze situation has improved. But I've been too busy moving house to worry a lot about it ... has been madness, trying to unpack with a baby that cries frantically the minute you put her down and wants to be carried all the time. She refuses to sleep unless she's lying on top of me as well (wakes the minute I put her in the cot). Looks like I'm not going to be doing any blogging for a while ...
Meant to post this earlier, but all the bluster about the haze overtook me. I've always wanted to own an environmentally-friendly car; looks like that wish may be realised in the near future. However, at present the cost of hybrid cars is still beyond my pocket.
Found this on someone else's website :
Every time we go out
we see it, we breathe it
That is how we know it goes on.
Far across the distance
And spaces it's drifted
And we know the haze will go on
Near, far, wherever we are
We can see that the haze just goes on
Once more we close all our doors
But it still seeps inside
And it's useless to have aircon.
Asthma comes just one time
And lasts for a lifetime
And never lets go till we're gone
The haze should blow to Java
SBY & Ju
Satellite pictures yesterday clearly showed the haze wafting in from Kalimantan.
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ChannelNewsAsia has devoted an entire section to the haze. One viewer sent in this rather nice photo of the moon :
The haze gave last night's moon an atmospheric orange cast as seen here beside one of the office buildings in the CBD. – Photo from Stuart Clyne
Meanwhile, t
Writing a weather book, that is. This was published in 2003 but I only just chanced upon it while browsing through Select Books, a local book website. It goes without saying that I ordered it straight away. Am looking forward to reading it. As I mentioned before, I still hope Singapore will one day have its own little pocket guide book on weather for the public.
This is what the sun looked like outside my window this morning, through the haze :
The haze is still dominating the news ... lots of articles every day, radio DJ keeps giving a PSI update every 20 minutes, & there are colourful new graphics as well. Guess our Director-General is having sleepless nights - D said he came over to the operations office at least 10 times the other day, no surprise what with the Perm Sec, Minister & people from MEWR all bugging him.
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Oct 12, 2006 Wind shifts make predictions hard: NEA Weather forecast is tricky in the tropics where patterns are weak By Arti Mulchand WHY is the crystal ball so hazy, one might ask. It would be better if the weatherman could say in advance if haze levels were going to go up or down. But the fact is that the light and constantly changing winds, characteristic at this time of the year, make it hard to predict what will happen, said the National Environment Agency (NEA). The region is experie
Well, we still have some way to go before biofuels are used in Singapore. But at least this is a beginning.
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The Straits Times
Oct 9, 2006
From DIY biodiesel to slick new venture
By Leong Chan Teik
IF ALL cars in Singapore ran on diesel, some motorists here might discover a new hobby: making their own fuel. Mr Kom Mam Sun, 32, hit on the idea two yea
While reading about the Singapore government's Climate Change Strategy I wasn't too clear on how carbon trading works but this Shell advertisement actually does quite a good job of explaining it. Encouraging businesses to clean up Most people agree we need to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. It is a global problem which needs global solutions. One way is to use the power of the world’s markets to provide businesses with a strong incentive to clean up. Carbon Trad
INDUSTRIES Our Strategy Our approach towards industries is a "win-win" one. We acknowledge that industries in Singapore produce largely for international markets. Therefore, regulations that are too tight may create compliance costs that force industries to relocate elsewhere, with an adverse impact on the Singaporean economy without a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, we will focus on improving the energy efficiency of our industries, which not only lowers the
I've been reading through the Singapore government's Climate Change Strategy recently, & I'm actually quite impressed by it. The panel seems to have explored every possible area in which the climate change issue can be addressed, & the policies mentioned seem sound & pragmatic (of course, reports like these are often beautifully written but don't reveal the entire reality, however in this case I'm being positive & giving them the benefit of the doubt ).
I found much of the repo
