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Posted on 03/26/2003 7:48:20 PM PST by Sabertooth
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The good news: any time you click on one of these threads, these images will be automatically updated.
The bad news: there isn't a lot of archiving here. The images from a couple of days ago are already gone.
I'm actually not sure how bad that news is, but just in case, I've been saving a lot of these maps to disk. I don't have webspace from which to archive them, but if there's interest from someone who does, we could probably figure something out.
A reminder: this thread is not just for weather maps, but any Iraq maps you run across. Feel free to post them here, especially if they show troop movements. Also, if there's an associated article, it would be great if you could include a link, or even the article in it's entirety.
Another point of interest... any pics of our troops in Iraq which illustrate the weather they're experiencing.
Post them! Don't be shy, the idea behind this thread is to provide a one-stop Freeper resource for specific types of graphic information.
One last point of interest... today's NOAA satellite pic of Iraq.
7-Day Forecast | Baghdad, Iraq
THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED
Sprinkles early. More sun than clouds. Mild.
Sunny. Mild.
Mostly sunny. Mild.
Sunny. Mild.
Sunny. Mild.
Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm.
Mostly sunny. Pleasantly warm.High Temp. 66° F 66° F 67° F 69° F 73° F 81° F 90° F Low Temp. 40° F 37° F 32° F 38° F 37° F 43° F 59° F Wind Speed / Dir 13 mph / WSW 15 mph / NW 11 mph / NW 13 mph / NW 9 mph / NW 4 mph / SE 14 mph / SE Humidity 65% 17% 20% 20% 18% 17% 19% Comfort Level 66° F 66° F 67° F 69° F 75° F 79° F 86° F UV Index Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Precip. Probability 30% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 24-Hour Precip. Total 0.0"
I think so, that's the idea, anyway. I figure if I get it up in the evening early enough, I won't run into a time zone problem on the East Coast. Plus, it'll feel more like a forecast that way, especially with Iraq being 8 to 11 hours ahead of us.
Once in a while, if I come across a trove of cool pics, I might do a second ping, as I did this afternoon on the thread of the 26th. Here's a link to all of the Iraq Weather & Maps threads.
BTW, when you're out in the forum, if you see any cool maps, be sure and post them here. Thanks.
Well, I like your curves, hahaha.
Not a weather map, but a historical event that happened today.
What's the weather in Karbala?
Paul Greenberg
March 27, 2003
Saddam Hussein may have gained a formidable new ally: General Sand. As sandstorms sweep through what used to be called Mesopotamia, the showdown outside Baghdad seems to have been postponed for a day, and much of the talk about sci-fi warfare has been lost in the gritty swirl. Tuesday much of the war was called on account of inclement weather.
General Sand's offensive may be only a brief one. Even though the sandstorms have grounded the coalition's copters, its satellite-guided missiles continue to pound Saddam's strangely named Republican Guard. And the undaunted Seventh Cavalry is still on the move.
Far from an unprecedented war, the weather report brought back pictures of long, dusty supply lines stretching across the desert, with troops hunkering down to get some shut-eye or do some maintenance when not fighting off the bedouin. Or in this case, Saddam's Martyrs, who can't be martyred soon enough for some of us.
The news plays tricks sometimes, and if you peer hard enough at the map, you can almost make out British tommies (ITALICS) circa 1942 advancing across the dunes at El Alamein -- complete with tin pots, knee socks and bayonets at the ready. As the shadows shift, the British Eighth Army and the Afrika Korps engage again.
All the talk about Luke Skywalker weapons fades, and the reader is back somewhere west of Tobruk in 1942. Once again Montgomery and Rommel circle each other -- until a very embedded reporter's cell phone fades in again, and the spell is broken. This isn't North Africa after all, it's not even Mesopotamia anymore. It's Babylon with a new Belshazzar, and the handwriting is still on the crumbing wall.
Some things never change. Even before the first set battle in the desert, which may soon dissolve into the Battle of Baghdad and unholy chaos, the second-guessers have emerged. Every kind of general -- retired, wannabe and armchair -- has offered his critique of the war. Why wait till the end, and risk spoiling a good opinion? Only this much is clear now: The best argument will still be victory.
This kind of quarterbacking from afar is not a weakness but a strength of democratic societies. I notice no Iraqi general is offering to critique Saddam's leadership; the critic would soon be a head shorter. So bring on the kibitzers. Nobody ever learned much from the Yes Men that tend to populate military and corporate headquarters.
Don't think the critiques will end even after the war, when the conclusions doubtless will be just as murky. Heck, good Americans are still arguing over strategy and tactics in The War, the one between the states. Lee, Grant, Sherman, McClellan, Longstreet . all still have their partisans. The battle of the memoirs has only begun, and soon enough it will be succeeded by the heavy artillery of the historians. The commentators have just begun to fight -- well, to criticize, defend and equivocate.
Today's topic for Sunday-morning commanders: Did we commit too many troops in Iraq or too few? My own unlettered view is simplicity itself: It's better to have more troops than you need than not enough when you do. But I've been out of the artillery so long (we used longbows back then) that mine is a highly unprofessional opinion. I'm willing to change it as soon as the first enraged letter to the editor arrives from a retired Private First Class.
Once the sand clears, the view may be clearer. In the meantime, this debate is being settled not by barber-shop strategists but the Willies and Joes that Bill Mauldin drew. Some things don't change, for which Americans can be daily, hourly grateful.
Meanwhile, I await the next weather report from another time zone halfway around the world, which suddenly matters infinitely more than whether I'm going to need a hat tomorrow.
LINK
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