Iraq Weather & Maps - 03/26/03

AccuWeather / Weather Channel / NOAA / CNN Weather | March 25th, 2003 | Sabertooth

[Sabertooth]

Much cooler weather will move into Iraq Wednesday in the wake of the storm system. Visibility will improve across northern Iraq. Gusty winds over the south will keep the dust and sand flying.

High pressure will slowly build toward Iraq on Thursday. This will cuase the wind to ease resulting in an end to the dust storms. Warmer air will also build back into the country.

In a small effort to help America keep tabs on loved ones overseas, Weather Underground now offers free, downloadable Middle East weather maps suitable for publication. Keep your readers informed, with color graphics and accurate weather information - free.
All forecast info is incorporated at the moment of download, for greatest accuracy.
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[Sabertooth]

In an Ominous Sky, a City Divines Its Fate

< -snip- >

During six days of war, Baghdadis looking to the heavens for omens have had much to contemplate. A terrifying cascade of U.S. bombs has been followed by the apocalyptic smoke of oil fires lit by Iraqi forces, so dense that cars almost collided. The smoke was joined by today's storm, which abruptly ended Baghdad's struggle to reclaim ordinary life. Shops again were shuttered and streets were deserted as a sickly yellow cloaked the sun.

Weary residents spoke of divine intervention, and in the storm they saw God's determination to aid Iraq. But beneath the surface were churning impulses -- of fear and flight, of fatalism and bravado, of grief and dread. With few exceptions, Iraqis still consider political discussions taboo, especially with a foreign journalist shadowed by an official escort. But the storm seemed to draw out anxieties about a future that no one seems willing to predict.
'The Storm is from God'
FR thread on WP story

[Sabertooth]

A convoy with the U.S. 1st Marine Division is protected by Marines sitting by the side of a road just north of the Euphrates river on Tuesday. A sandstorm roared through the region on Tuesday, leaving a yellow pall and dramatically reducing visibility.

Ozier Muhammad
New York Times
Published Mar. 26, 2003

[Sabertooth]

Troops may add to storm in desert
Elizabeth Shogren, Los Angeles Times
Published March 26, 2003
SAND26

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The blinding sandstorms that slowed U.S. troop movements in Iraq on Tuesday may be at least partially the soldiers' own making, according to scientists familiar with desert conditions.

"There have been dust storms there since time immemorial," said Farouk El-Baz, a desert geologist who studied the effect of the 1991 Persian Gulf War on the Kuwaiti desert. "It is bad without the military, but military activities exacerbate it."

The dust and sandstorms, which are an unavoidable part of life in the Iraqi desert, are a consequence of destruction over the centuries of a top layer of pebbles, known as desert pavement. The surface is nature's way of preventing erosion and keeping the fine particles of sand and soil in place.

"Every time you remove some of this pavement for any reason, even for innocent things like agriculture, new dust storms and sand dunes are created," El-Baz said.

< -snip- >
LINK

[My back yard]

It reminds me of the sand-blown gaping maw called up by the evil Imhotep in 'The Mummy'.

[Sabertooth]

Marine Captain Eric Lindgren of New York, Delta Company Executive Officer of the Second Tank Battalion, makes his way through a sandstorm before an advance to the north of Iraq Tuesday.
Cheryl Diaz Meyer Associated Press
Published Mar. 26, 2003

U.S. Army soldiers from the A Company 3rd Battalion 7th Infantry Regiment, cover up during an intense sandstorm which slowed U.S. military progress, near Karbala, Iraq, on Tuesday.
John Moore Associated Press
Published Mar. 26, 2003

Task Force 369 Cpl. Bryan Beard pulls roving guard duty in a sandstorm near the Army 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division tactical operations center in southern Iraq Tuesday.
Bahram Mark Sobhani Associated Press
Published Mar. 26, 2003

[Sabertooth]

[nana4bush]

God bless them. "an angel rides this whirlwhind"

[Quix]

GREAT PICS,

THANKS.

[kmiller1k]

Yes, I would like to be on the weather list....will the highways, such as they have them in Iraq, also be noted?

[Steve Van Doorn]

Some Topo maps of Iraq

I printed out 12 sheets of paper and made a 2’ X 2 ½’ Topo map around Baghdad

[Timeout]

Please add me to your PING list

Thanks

[TomB]

A magnificent job, as always.

I thought this might be appropriate, considering the trouble we've been having with the weather:

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

Amen.

[Victoria Delsoul]

"Now, when the weather clears, I think you'll see a return to a very rapid movement north," said Col. Michael Linnington, commander of the 101st's 3rd Brigade. "I think everybody knows the reason we're not attacking is we don't have the weather to fly."

Cool! Good job, Saber.

[Dan(9698)]

Put me on.

[Rain-maker]

Naval Central Meteorology and Oceanography Detachment

 

 click logo-secured link

The mission of Naval Central Meteorology and Oceanography Command Detachment (NAVCENTMETOCDET) Diego Garcia is "To provide the highest quality meteorological and oceanographic support to the fleet and joint warfighter in, around, or passing through the Diego Garcia operating area, and to provide support to other activities and perform other missions as assigned.

[DreamWeaver]

Yes, I would very much want to be on the list.... Thanks so much.

[Chummy]

4500° chills Satan's foozies .. Saddam and his treacherous thugs will get worse