Iraq Weather Maps - 03/25/03

AccuWeather / Weather Channel | March 25, 2003

[Sabertooth]

Middle East Satellite    Click to Enlarge
Middle East Forecast    Click to Enlarge
Iraq Forecast Day    Click to Enlarge
Iraq Forecast Night    Click to Enlarge
Baghdad Climate March - April     Click to Enlarge
Baghdad Climate May - June     Click to Enlarge

[Sabertooth]

I thought I'd start running a daily thread on weather conditions in the Middle East, for the duration of the Iraq War. I'm going to set up a separate ping list for this, let me know here on the thread if you'd like to be on it.

Also, I have no idea whether the graphics will expire from these sites, or whether they'll be archived. I'm saving them to disk, and I suppose they could be reposted later, if the links expire and there's interest in having these images archived here on FR. I don't, however, have anywhere to host those images myself. If there's interest in this regard, and anyone would like to volunteer webspace, let me know.

I heard last week that the name the international weather services have given to the storm currently blowing sandstorms through the Baghdad area is "Jeremiah," which was selected randomly by computer. I clicked around a little and couldn't find a confirmation this morning, but it's fitting, if true. If anyone has that info, please post here.

Regards,

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[Sabertooth]

I heard last week that the name the international weather services have given to the storm currently blowing sandstorms through the Baghdad area is "Jeremiah," which was selected randomly by computer. I clicked around a little and couldn't find a confirmation this morning, but it's fitting, if true. If anyone has that info, please post here.

[dead]

Hot and cloudy:

[TomB]

ST, add me to your ping list.

[nana4bush]

Thanks for this weather thread. Please add me to your ping list.

[petuniasevan]

Weather bug here. Add me to the ping list please, Sabertooth.

[Thinkin' Gal]

I can't find any reference to "Jeremiah" on NOAA, but here's their "recent events" page, including images of:

SANDSTORMS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
HOT SPOTS AROUND BAGHDAD

http://www.osei.noaa.gov/updaterecent.html

[Conan the Librarian]

You might try this also

http://www.methaz.com

Click on the picture of iraq. He has near-real time sat pics of the area.

[gwmoore]

Thanks, Sabertooth, I see I am already on the ping list ;-).

Please allow me to remain there!!

Keep the faith for freedom!

Greg

[Sabertooth]

Sandstorms slow Baghdad advance

The US says precision weapons can beat the weather

Fierce sandstorms are holding up US-led forces in their advance towards the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

BBC correspondents travelling with coalition troops say units have been halted, with visibility reduced to just a few metres.

The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, acknowledged the bad weather was slowing down the advance, but vowed that it would not be stopped.

In a short speech at the Pentagon, President George W Bush said troops were making a "steady advance".

Mr Bush said he did not know how long the war would last, but he knew its outcome: "The Iraqi regime will be disarmed. The Iraqi regime will be ended."

He confirmed that he had asked Congress for an additional $74.7bn to cover the war effort, humanitarian aid and post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

Mr Bush was speaking as Baghdad's southern outskirts continued to be hit by what appeared to be B-52 bombers, despite the sandstorms.

They have been targeting Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard, in what correspondents say is a sign that the critical battle for the city is about to begin.

Major-General Victor Renuart of US Central Command said 1,400 air sorties against the Iraqi Republican Guard were scheduled for Tuesday.

Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said 16 people had been killed and 95 wounded in Baghdad in the previous 24 hours.

Command Sergeant Major Kenneth Preston - who oversees the Third Infantry Division - told the Associated Press news agency that about 500 Iraqis had been killed in the past two days by American infantry, tanks and mechanised units sweeping through the south of the country.

Activity 'continuing'

The BBC's Gavin Hewitt - who is about 100 miles (160 kms) south of Baghdad - says all operations have ceased as a result of the storm.

Rivulets of sand are flowing across the desert floor and everybody is hunkering down, he says.

IRAQ CAMPAIGN

Map: Military operations

Iraq's Republican Guard

However, at coalition headquarters in Doha, Qatar, a US spokesman said military activity was continuing with all-weather precision weapons.

And in Washington, General Myers vowed to press on, regardless of the weather.

In fighting elsewhere:

• Reports from Iraq's second-largest city - Basra - say Iraqi regular troops are firing mortar rounds to quell a popular uprising against the ruling Ba'ath party

• Thousands of US troops advance through the town of Nasiriya, about 370 km (230 miles) south-east of Baghdad, following protracted clashes with Iraqi forces; a BBC correspondent travelling with them visits a hospital in Nasiriya that appears to have been used by Iraqi forces to store weapons

• The British military say Iraq's second largest city, Basra, has been designated a military objective in order to get humanitarian aid to its inhabitants

• British Royal Marines move into positions along the Iraqi border with Iran, amid worries that Iran might try to exploit the chaos caused by the war

• UK military sources say the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr is now "safe and open" after several days of Iraqi resistance

Tough battle

Coalition troops are now in Karbala, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, facing the Republican Guard's formidable Medina division, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says.

General Myers said the coalition anticipated that "as we get closer to Baghdad, the resistance will get tougher".

In pictures: Coalition advances

"That's where their best units are, the so-called Republican Guard units. They're the best trained, best equipped and reportedly the most loyal to the regime, so we think the toughest fighting is ahead of us... and we're preparing for that," General Myers told ABC television.

Seven Iraqi Government ministers have taken to the airwaves on Tuesday, looking astonishingly confident, says the BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad.

The message from the Iraqi leadership is that they are still very much in control and able to cause considerable difficulties for the advancing American and British troops, our correspondent says.

The approaches to Baghdad are flat, but there are also villages, small towns, orchards and crops, which could provide plenty of cover for Iraqi troops.

The Iraqi authorities say the US-led forces will be in for a surprise when they reach cities.

Other key developments

• Iraqi TV broadcasts a message, allegedly from Saddam Hussein, to tribal chiefs urging them to "escalate and enhance" their fighting against the "aggressors"

• The US Fifth Fleet raises its state of readiness because of the risk of suicide attacks by Iraqi naval speedboats loaded with explosives - following the first reported Iraqi suicide attack at the al-Faw peninsula.

• In the second friendly-fire incident of its kind so far, US military sources say one of their F-16 warplanes fired on a battery of Patriot missiles in Iraq after the battery's radar locked on to the plane. No one was injured.

LINK

[Quix]

I THINK YOU ARE ON TO SOMETHING.

THANKS.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Soimeone on Foxnews said Kuwait was getting Hurricane force winds. The maps say that may very well be the case!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Dog]

Can you put me on the weather ping list.....thanks.

[MeekOneGOP]

Please let Sabertooth know if you want on his ping list for Iraq Weather . . .

[My back yard]

That looks so weird. They are waiting patienly like we wait for a train? Is that what that is?

[Terriergal]

lol!

[Terriergal]

ping if you're interested

[Howlin]

Please add me to this list.

In the words of Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October, "One ping only." :-)