Weekend Distractions

My house backs onto the main Western line in Sydney. Quite often they do track maintenance - in fact I think that the small 500m piece of track of one of the lines outside my back door is the most maintained in the state; they seem to work on it so often.

The most 'popular' maintenance of that little piece of track is grinding. This weekend they have been working since Sat morning and last night got the big guns out - a long 6 or so carriage grinder. But silly me forgot to take a picture, I was too busy watching. It did look spectacular against the black of night .... sparks flying everywhere.

Today they came back with the little grinder so I took a snap of that ... imagine 6 or so of these joined together, black of night with lots of grinding sparks shooting everywhere; really does look spectacular!

This small one doesn't send out as many sparks as the big overnight monster.

Fortunately, they have a small fire truck that follows it along because all the dried grass along the rails kept burning from the sparks.

If they do more grinding tonight I will make sure I have my camera ready.....lol.

Anyway, it was an interesting distraction while I was waiting for paint to dry on a watercolour I am working on.


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Tropical Storm Igor

Tropical Storm Igor on September 8 at 2026 UTC ( 4:26 PM EDT). A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) showed an area of strong thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall in the newly named storm.

At 2 p.m. EDT on Sept. 9, Igor's winds were still sustained near 40 mph, and unchanged from earlier today. Igor is moving somewhat erratically, however. Early this morning he was moving north, now northwest at 10 mph. Igor was centered about 65 miles northwest of Brava in the Cape Verde Islands, near 15.5 North and 25.4 West. Minimum central pressure is 1006 millibars.

Hurricane Earl

Hurricane Earl's movement north were captured from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) that flies aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. MODIS on Terra captured an image of Earl on Sept. 3 at 12:04 p.m. EDT when it was located east of the Virginia coast. MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Earl as it was parallel to the Maryland coast at 1:50 p.m. EDT. On Saturday, Sept. 4 at 1:15 p.m. EDT, MODIS on the NASA Terra satellite captured Earl when it was a tropical storm over Nova Scotia, Canada

Tropical Storm Hermine

Tropical Storm Hermine formed very quickly yesterday in the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and northeastern Mexico and southeastern Texas are now bearing the brunt of the storm. Infrared imagery taken from NASA's AIRS instrument showed a quick organization of strong thunderstorms around Hermine's center of circulation and very warm Gulf waters that powered her up.

At 11 p.m. EDT on September 6, Hermine made landfall as a strong tropical storm producing heavy rains over northeastern Mexico and South Texas.

This morning there's a tropical storm warning in effect from Bahia Algodones, Mexico Northward to Port O'Connor, Texas as Hermine is continuing to move inland in a north-northwest direction at 17 mph. At 8 a.m. EDT, Hermine's maximum sustained winds had decreased from their peak of 60 mph to 45 mph now that she's over land in south Texas. She's centered near 27.7 North and 98.2 West, which is about 35 miles southwest of Mathis, Texas. Mathis is about 171 miles north of Brownsville, Texas, the southernmost city in the state. Minimum central pressure is 991 millibars.

Tropical Depression Gaston's hurricane heat engine

The National Hurricane Center has issued its last advisory on Tropical Depression Gaston which degenerated into a remnant low by 8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 2. Gaston's remnants were located about 1000 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands when his engine seized and he ran out of gas (moist, unstable air that helps power tropical cyclones.

Even though environmental conditions may improve a little as the remnant low moves westward at 5 to 10 mph during the next couple of days, the National Hurricane center gives it a low chance (20 percent) of becoming Gaston again over the Labor Day holiday weekend.

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Look who Turned One!!

"Come on, if I have to sit in this give me something to eat!"

"Hey, where's the food?"

"Ah yes, my official food tester .... Uncle Ben"

"Yummy ....  birthday cake!"

"Everybody sing.  Happy birthday to me!"

"Maybe I should just do a quality check before anyone eats one....."

"Mummy, Daddy and me...."

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New Atlantic Depression 9

The Atlantic Ocean is in overdrive this week, and NASA satellite imagery captured the birth of the ninth tropical depression in the central Atlantic Ocean today, trailing to the east of Tropical Storm Fiona.

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument, flying onboard the Aqua satellite, captured an infrared image of Tropical Depression 9 on Sept. 1 at 03:41 UTC (Aug. 31 at 11:41 p.m. EDT). It showed high thunderstorm cloud tops west and southwest of the center of circulation indicating strong convection.

At 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 1, Tropical Depression 9 (TD9) was born in the Atlantic Ocean. It had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, and was moving west at 15 mph. It was located about 830 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, near 12.4 North and 35.8 West. Although there are warm sea surface temperatures (as seen in NASA's infrared AIRS imagery) over the 80 degree Fahrenheit threshold that's needed to power up tropical cyclones, there is wind shear in the area, so intensification will be slow to occur. is in overdrive this week, and NASA satellite imagery captured the birth of the ninth tropical depression in the central Atlantic Ocean today, trailing to the east of Tropical Storm Fiona.

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument, flying onboard the Aqua satellite, captured an infrared image of Tropical Depression 9 on Sept. 1 at 03:41 UTC (Aug. 31 at 11:41 p.m. EDT). It showed high thunderstorm cloud tops west and southwest of the center of circulation indicating strong convection.

At 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 1, Tropical Depression 9 (TD9) was born in the Atlantic Ocean. It had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, and was moving west at 15 mph. It was located about 830 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, near 12.4 North and 35.8 West. Although there are warm sea surface temperatures (as seen in NASA's infrared AIRS imagery) over the 80 degree Fahrenheit threshold that's needed to power up tropical cyclones, there is wind shear in the area, so intensification will be slow to occur.