Thunderbolt and lightning – very, very frightening!
By Ned Kelly
Expect rain, rain and more rain over the next few weeks. The Weather Channel is forecasting the wet stuff for the next 14 days solid (and we were too depressed to look beyond that).
The joys...
Image via The Weather Channel
The plum rain season officially started yesterday—Saturday, June 7—12 days earlier than last year, and 12 days earlier than usual (it was bang on schedule in 2024).
It lasts 23 days on average, although last year it was just 15 days—six shorter than usual.
Given the early start, coupled with the forecast above, and we wouldn't count on such clemency from the gods this year.
It gets worse—in 2021 it went on for a month. And in 2020 it got all Biblical, with the deluge lasting 40 days and 40 nights.
READ MORE: This is the Longest Plum Rain Season in 20 Years... and Rising
Finally, let's all get on our hands and knees and pray for no repeat of 1954, the longest plum rain season in history at a bone-soaking 58 days.
What are the Plum Rains?
The East Asian rainy season, or meiyu (literally 'plum rains' – the fruit ripens during this period) usually starts in June and can last all the way into August.
It is the result of a weather front (a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities) that is created when the moist air over the Pacific meets the cooler continental air mass.
When the moist air is cooled, the water within it condenses into drops heavy enough to be pulled down by gravity and, well... raindrops keep falling on our heads.
This front moves back and forth as the cool and warm air masses battle it out, ending only when a warm air mass from the south, associated with the subtropical ridge, is strong enough to push the front north and away.
Be careful wishing for that subtropical ridge, though: not only does the mercury soar to uncomfortable levels; most tropical cyclones form on the side of it, which means monsoon season.
[Cover image via Pexels]
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