Brainstorms, German Bight: Southwest 3 to 5, becoming cyclonic 4 to 6, then northwest later

Summing up some weather-index thoughts

The title involves an extract from the shipping forecast. This one has a long intro. You can get into the ‘interesting’ bits if you become a full subscriber to stratnergy. Else you’re stuck with stuff that I can come up with off the top of my head that I don’t think is necessarily worth paying for (though please feel free to disagree), yet may still be useful or interesting.

We went a bit deep with the weather over the last week or so. Time for a preliminary summing up, a little ‘Bachauskehr’ if you like, so that we can move our attention elsewhere again.

Bachauskehr (stream clearing/cleaning), where did that come from? Thoughts of the Isar, surfing… The Eisbach tragedy has been in the news over the last weeks and the surfing scene in Munich won’t be the same again. Nature is powerful. And the direct experience of this natural power must be part of what makes surfing rivers addictive.

Less powerful than the Eisbach and thus less attractive to many ‘power wave snobs’ is the world’s oldest river wave surfing spot, the only option in Munich I dare attempt. Smaller, lower, but more elegant… and affected by the weather: not enough rain recently, and not enough snow in winter to keep the source of the Isar strong.

Leider gibt es auch keine guten Neuigkeiten für die Floßlände, aufgrund des anhaltenden Niedrigwassers in der Isar muss der Saisonbeginn auf den 1.5. verschoben werden. Sollte sich der Isarpegel bis dahin nicht verbessert haben, ist das Surfen außerdem nur während der Floßfahrtzeiten (14-19 Uhr) möglich.

Unfortunately, there’s no good news for the Floßlände either: due to the continued low water levels in the Isar, the start of the season has been postponed to May 1st. If the water level in the Isar hasn’t improved by then, surfing will only be possible during raft traffic hours (2–7 p.m.).

IGSM Newsletter Update

So, Munich is running out of stream. Where were we? I’m travelling to the UK tomorrow, and it’s prudent to check what the weather will be. It looks like a reasonable day, some wind, some sun, not too cold. The weather, courtesy of enwex.

German historical enwex data is available from the website, and I’m tempted to ask for the histories from a wider geographical range. The indices give a simple and clear view of the weather. What’s not to like.

According to enwex the sun is dearer in the UK. That seems about right to me.

So now let’s get to the interesting bit, which is a bullet point list of ideas for next enwex steps and developments.