Theresa and Juncker Accelerate. Red Sun and Ophelia's Sting Jet

Ophelia's Red Storm Sun 

Prime Minister Theresa May made a series of phone calls, to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron and Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. This was in advance of todays trip to Brussels to meet with Jean Claude Juncker over dinner in an attempt to push for movement on Brexit. The result of the talks was an agreed statement, “The prime minister and the president of the European commission reviewed the progress made in the article 50 negotiations so far and agreed that these efforts should accelerate over the months to come. The working dinner took place in a constructive and friendly atmosphere.” A very ambiguous statement that covers the views of either party without making any concessions.

Woke at 4:30 am and, unable to sleep, started work. Completed the last changes for the cover to the Roman catalogue and sent them off. Then worked for rest of day on Bulletin, including the book review. Now only need to complete cover.

There was an eerie sky over Milton today with light cloud and a definite red tinge to sun and clouds. I took a break to take a series of photographs to try and capture the phenomenon.  Similar red skies and sun have been created in the past by Saharan sand whipped into the high atmosphere and blown across to the UK. This time fine ash from fires raging in North and central Portugal and Galicia in Spain were also carried along by storm Ophelia as it hurtled to hit Ireland. We were just seeing the far outriders of the massive storm.

Storm Ophelia with evidence of building Sting jet. Photo EUMETSAT and Severe Weather Europe site

According to the Met office, a sting jet is a hook like formation in a storm, like a scorpions tail. Rain and snowaccompanying a falling mass of air cool it further generating very high winds (more than 160 kmh or 100 mph) in an area that may be only 30 km across. It was a sting jet that caused the major damage on this day 30 years ago. Similarly, Ireland has been hit by a sting jet from Ophelia. Key facts from Met office website https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/in-depth/1987-great-storm/sting-jet:

• The 'sting in the tail' is produced by a distinct jet of air - the sting jet.
• It starts out three or four kilometres above the ground and descends over three or four hours.
• Snow and rain falling into it evaporates and cools it as it descends, helping to accelerate it to high speeds.
• It can accelerate to more than 100 mph.