Thursday 28 January 2010

Warsaw junctions, winter's evening rush-hour

On my way to Moni's school for the half-yearly parents' meeting. I take the 182 from the office to ul. Wawelska, where it cuts under Al. Niepodległości (above). There are underground passages on either side of Wawelska full of small electronics shops where you can buy computers and computer parts at low, low prices. And where the guys are generally more knowledgeable than in a large chain store.

Above: The same junction, the south-bound tram stop, looking towards the city centre. The Marriott Hotel has a huge digital clock on it. The same vista, though closer to the centre, and in a tighter crop, here. The rear wagon of the elderly number 16 tram that arrived soon after stank of smoke as though there was an electrical fire somewhere; everyone got off, the driver investigated, he gave the all-clear, and we proceeded.

Above: Junction of ul. Wołoska and Racławicka. Note the heaps of snow. The temperature soared (from -9.6C to +0.4C) today, air pressure dropped further (from 990 to 970 hPa) and lots of new, wet snow fell. Over the weekend, we can expect -7C, so all the new snow will turn to ice once again.

7 comments:

student SGH said...

Over the weekend, we can expect -7C

once again shame on forecasters. Today the temperature (data from W-wa Okęcie, BTW does the Program Pogoda work?) topped +2C and instead of heavy snowfalls we had a clear sky.

I heard Polish meteorologists say winter will last until the end of March. This implies the end is nigh...

PS. Have you seen the beautiful pink glow on south-west sky just around the sunset (16:30) today?

Michael Dembinski said...

Program Pogoda - I downloaded then got message 'file is corrupt please download again'. Repeated process to get same error message. Bah!

Weather - well, we did get heavy snowfall yesterday morning (which UM and COAMPS got right), and the temperature has been steadily falling since that +1.7C high of yesterday afternoon (right now, at 9:20 on Sunday, it's -4.8C and still falling)

So while the forecasters' timing was off the mark, the tendencies observed were broadly accurate.

Saw the sunset, sadly was busy with a translation, which prevented my immortal soul from communing with such beauty.

student SGH said...

maybe try googling it and finding a reliable website, loads of setup files of PP must be available in the Net and it's worth the effort - up to date data from all over the planet!

Now it'a around minus three and winter in the coming days looms mild but snowy.

Michael Dembinski said...

If you can call -1.7C (today's daytime high) 'mild', it rather suggests that this is indeed an atypically cold winter!

Michael Dembinski said...

"Loads of setup files"? Blind links, aggressive ads, downright lies - Polish download sites - DON'T GO THERE! I've just wasted a good half-hour trying to find a reliable site to DL this program and figa.

Frustrating, as Instytut Fizyki's site is offline right now...

student SGH said...

try this one, it works with my computer. Actually Polish download sites are a big maze, rubbish dump, but if you decide to live here, you have to get used to it.

Michael Dembinski said...

Excellent.

At last, downloaded in seconds, installed in seconds, it works. A good substitute until Radek and Waldek get their act in gear :-)