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Sunny weather during lockdown - more than just a coincidence?

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Bobdogs

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Regarding blue skys
For those of you who remember, the same thing happened when all flights were grounded after 9/11. The temperature in the US was reported to have risen by 2 degrees at the time.
, At the top of the hill near me, the sky above is blue and there are very few aircraft passing overhead compared to a couple of weeks ago, However there is still a noticeable haze on the horizon, similar to the brown haze I used to see over central Birmingham when I used to ride to work from one of the higher points in the city during early nineties heat waves. Could this be an indication of how pollution has increased in the last 30 years.
 

richa2002

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I'm not saying we should stop those, I was just suggesting we don't market/advertise good weather while we are in lockdown. News bulletins could stop presenting the weather forecast in order to avoid tempting people to go outside, while people who do genuinely need to find out what the weather is doing can look it up online.
Wow. People really have gone stark, raving bonkers. Use your critical faculties and assess whether what you have said is even close to proportional. You would fit right in under Stalin's Russia or Hitler's Germany. Absurd.
 

Darandio

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I'm not saying we should stop those, I was just suggesting we don't market/advertise good weather while we are in lockdown. News bulletins could stop presenting the weather forecast in order to avoid tempting people to go outside, while people who do genuinely need to find out what the weather is doing can look it up online.

It's actually April 2nd today, you are late. Although I do appreciate many of us are getting muddled with dates and days of the week recently, it's understandable.
 

AndrewE

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Regarding blue skys
For those of you who remember, the same thing happened when all flights were grounded after 9/11. The temperature in the US was reported to have risen by 2 degrees at the time.
At the top of the hill near me, the sky above is blue and there are very few aircraft passing overhead compared to a couple of weeks ago, However there is still a noticeable haze on the horizon, similar to the brown haze I used to see over central Birmingham when I used to ride to work from one of the higher points in the city during early nineties heat waves. Could this be an indication of how pollution has increased in the last 30 years.
Right on time, a newspaper article for you: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/02/lockdown-eases-seasonal-smog-pollution says
We think of spring as the time of blossom and fresh new green growth, but it is often the most polluted time of year in western Europe. Last week, as winds turned easterly, particle pollution once again spread across western Europe. Spring smogs can cause particle pollution to reach the top value of 10 in the UK air quality index, but four to nine is more typical.

With the lockdown in place, the increases were less than normal. The air quality index peaked at three over most of England and Wales. A few places in south-east England, Yorkshire and north Wales reached four, the level where health advisory messages are issued. After three days, a welcome change of wind direction at the weekend pushed the polluted air southwards.
but goes on to say
I have often wondered what would happen if we did the same in Europe, but I thought I would never find out. In 2017 a team of French scientists used a computer model to predict what might happen if all of Europe shut down for a day to control a springtime smog. Particle pollution would fall by about 20%-40% in major cities. Last week we saw Beijing-scale measures implemented across Europe for the first time.

But with countries in lockdown, why was air pollution still as high as three or four? Measurements from King’s College London provide the answer. Chemical analysis of the pollution particles showed traffic sources along with gas combustion for power generation by industry and for home heating, as you might expect. Wood burning in London’s homes added to the mixture.
(my bold)
 

Bobdogs

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Right on time, a newspaper article for you: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/02/lockdown-eases-seasonal-smog-pollution says but goes on to say(my bold)
Thanks for that. Just as I thought. I am very lucky to live here where the prevailing wind comes from the south west over the Atlantic Ocean, thus carrying minimal pollution.
I don't what it's like now, but I recall driving, on a hot sunny day, up the M5. From Avonmouth there was a continuous plume of dirty brown pollution carried along for mile upon mile.
Always makes me wonder how when this turns into acid rain how so called organic produce grown in the Vale of Evesham is affected.
 

Essan

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Yes, just coincidence (and March overall was drier and sunnier than average for most of the country).

The reduction in aircraft contrails may impact on diurnal range (cooler at night, warmer by day) though not so as anyone would notice - and probably only then on days when contrails persist and spread across the skies.

Contrails are too high to affect rainfall. But lower level pollution can mean more particulates around which raindrops can form, so less pollution may reduce the amount of rainfall. But again, not so as anyone would notice. Frequency of rainfall is unlikely to be affected as this depends on other factor
 

61653 HTAFC

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Another planet...
I didn't get this info from the media, I got this from a plain and simple weather forecast.. you're not suggesting we stop those, right?
To be fair, the BBC seems to be doing the forecasts far less frequently than they were prior to the outbreak... this in turn led to my mother not knowing that certain things in her garden might need tying down due to high winds this afternoon!

(Before anyone starts, the item in question was a ping-pong table, which was never going to end up on a railway line- or if it did it would be the least of anyone's worries!)
 
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