Rain and Water Tables
|

Rain and Water Tables

Byrichard

There is an article on Swiss Radio and Television that discusses the positive impact that the flooding has had on the water tables. For several years not only have we had warm weather but we have also gone with very little or no rain for months at a time.


During some weeks we were told “The water reserves are so low that we will soon need to switch to retrieving water from the lake rather than our reservoires. Underground water is great for when there’s a drought above ground, but the problem is that underground water is finite, and as a result if it is not replenished then it will eventually run out.


The fact that we have had so much rain over the last few days is excellent for the water tables, as I have tweeted or written here. As that water gets down to the water table, it will remain, until the next time it is needed.


Après plusieurs années de canicule, les eaux souterraines avaient, en certains points, fortement baissé, notamment dans le canton de Vaud.

Source: Les fortes précipitations ont un impact positif sur les nappes phréatiques

It’s easy to see the human tragedy of mass flooding, and people losing everything. We must also understand that nature has a way of balancing things out. That’s why this planet, and these latitudes, are inhabitable. It is normal, after a period of drought, for a lot of rain to fall, to replenish water tables, and then for another period of drought to come back.

This amount of rain has not fallen in seventy years. What makes this year unique is that it is spread across the whole of Switzerland.

Chaque ville a déjà connu des débuts d’été particulièrement arrosés. À Sion, ce fut l’année 2007. À Genève en 1997, à Lucerne en 1993. La particularité de cette année 2021, c’est l’étendue du phénomène. Toutes les stations montrent un pic des moyennes quotidiennes de précipitations.

Un niveau de précipitations inédit depuis 70 ans en ce début d’été

And for your intellectual curiosity, if you understand French. The phenomenon of the “Cold Drop”.

Les faibles températures et les violentes précipitations qui s’abattent sur la Suisse sont dues à un phénomène météorologique appelé “goutte froide”. Il désigne une poche d’air froid qui est abandonnée par la calotte du pôle Nord.

Cette masse est ensuite “étranglée” et “attaquée” de part et d’autre par un air plus chaud. Elle se met alors à tourner sur elle-même jusqu’à former une dépression, donnant lieu à des orages et de fortes pluies.

That’s it for today.

Switzerland: From Arid to Flooded

Switzerland: From Arid to Flooded

Byrichard

Switzerland and Europe are currently experiencing flooding. All the major Swiss lakes are close to breaking their banks. A few weeks ago, you could read about how Switzerland had been so dry that it had started to register on the aridity index. Now it’s flooded.


Cloudy and rainy Switzerland
Cloudy and rainy Switzerland


Some people are bored by the rain, and wishes that it would go away, but I don’t feel that way. We had years with very little rain, so to finally get some rain is welcome. At least now we know that all the hydroelectric dams will be full. We hope that all the water tables and reservoirs will have recovered as well.


Although this weather is bad and unpleasant, and it limits what we can do it is seasonal. This is the type of weather that is normal in Switzerland. This is precisely the weather that makes us grateful for nice days. That’s why I personally welcome it. I don’t want Switzerland to become an arid country. I like that we have rain, sunshine etc. I like that we have seasons.


A solitary bee on a Sunflower
A solitary bee on a Sunflower


The Sunflowers are out now, which is good, as it means that bees are able to get plenty of nectar to make honey. It also means that fields should be the usual yellow and green that we would expect at this time of year. Now is the time for people to take their token “this is me with a sunflower” images.


I looked at the landscape as I walked, and I did not see much evidence of flooding. Fields are not flooded. Walking paths are not flooded. Neither are fields. One river I checked was flowing at a relatively low level today. The rain around here has been gentle.

The Pandemic Of Sisyphus
|

The Pandemic Of Sisyphus

Byrichard

We are in a pandemic where the only disease vector is proximity to others, so in theory this is one of the easiest pandemics to overcome, and end. In practice people are like cats, and getting them to self-isolate is like herding cats. Paradoxically if people were as hard to herd as cats, then the pandemic would have ended over a year ago and today we’d be doing something more fun.


During this pandemic we see that the numbers take weeks to make their way back down but they bounce back up very fast. We have gone from 100 cases per day two weeks ago to four hundred today. If I see the number of cases rising this is a reason to be more, rather than less cautious. This is a reason to do less, rather than more. This is a reason to spend as little time as possible in risky situations.


L’Office fédéral de la santé publique a fait état mardi de 483 cas supplémentaires de coronavirus en 24 heures.

L’immunité collective face au Covid-19 atteint désormais 67% à Genève – rts.ch – Info


In the 00s (zeros/2000s) Foot and Mouth was active in England. As a precaution we had to walk in soapy water with our shoes to avoid spreading anything. We were also asked not to go to the New Forest to avoid spreading that virus to the ponies and other animals. Back in those days they were trying to contain an epidemic.


Fast forward two decades and we are in week 80 of this pandemic, depending on what you use as a starting point. This means that we have had eighty weeks to learn about, get to understand, and finally to respond to and reduce the threat.


During this pandemic we have seen people fail to change their habits from one year to the next. This failure to change habits prevents life from moving on. Everyone is busy sabotaging the pandemic’s recovery.


Last night a politician actually said “Sorry” for lifting restrictions too soon. Politicians should react this way. Politicians should apologise, when an entire nation has to live in self-isolation for over a year, because their policies failed to bring a pandemic to an end.


La taskforce scientifique de la Confédération a alerté mardi sur une probable augmentation des hospitalisations à venir. Depuis le début du mois de juillet, le nombre de cas de contaminations liées au variant Delta double chaque semaine. Les infections ont particulièrement augmenté chez les 26 à 34 ans, suivis des 16 à 24 ans.

L’immunité collective face au Covid-19 atteint désormais 67% à Genève – rts.ch – Info


Since the start of july the number of infections from the Delta variant has doubled, this affects those from 16-24 and 26-34 and they expect hospitalisations to start going up soon.


We’re in a paradoxical situation, beccause if we self-isolate we’re silly not to enjoy ourselves, like everyone else. If we do not self-isolate, and everyone else does not self-isolate then we are providing the virus with a fantastic opportunity to spread.


The challenge during this pandemic, is not to take precautions, and to take a break from normal habits, it is seeing that others throw caution to the wind, and that there is no end in sight, not because we don’t know how to beat this virus, but because politicians always find a way to get the virus to spread again, through their incompetence. So far one politician has said “sorry”. All of them should.

Ignored by Sunflowers
|

Ignored by Sunflowers

Byrichard

The title of this post is a joke, not a serious delusion of isolation. I saw that a few sunflowers had come out but that they were looking away, rather than towards me. They are looking at the morning sun and I was walking in the afternoon. They are still in the process of coming out.


Today I was asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant and I automatically said no. Given the data about the rising number of cases in Switzerland it makes no sense to go to towns or cities, and to eat in a crowded place, rather than to continue self-isolating. If I was okay with crowds at this stage in the pandemic I would have gone to the IFSC World cup. I am not fine with crowds, when the number of sick is rising.


One issue is that there seems to be no data for the Canton de Vaud for the last week or two. I don’t know whether that means that there are no cases, or that they have not been counted. Haute Savoie and Geneva are going up, so Vaud should follow.


Every Canton is deep red except for Neuchatel, for now.


The table above illustrates why it makes sense not to meet people in towns, cities, restaurants or other places. There is a chance that you could continue as normal, and be fine, but if enough people think that way then large crowds form, and what was safe, in small numbers, becomes a breeding ground for large numbers. At this point, it’s better to walk in the countryside and be ignored by sunflowers.


If I had been asked “Do you want to come over” then I would have said yes, without hesitation. I said no because in my opinion, and according to the data I see, it is not safe to risk spending time around crowds, for now.


Imagine going back to such habits
Imagine going back to such habits


When the pandemic ends I look forward to meeting new people to do new things, but for now the likelihood of this happening is low. Yesterday’s solo bike ride was good. I avoided the roads where traffic is aggressive as much as possible, and kept to the more rural, quieter paths. The weather was perfect yesterday.


Today, during the entire walk I felt that it would rain at any minute, but it didn’t. It stayed dry, and that’s good because I was not equipped for the rain.

Home Before The Storm

Home Before The Storm

Byrichard

One of the games I like to play is to look at the weather app and see when the rain is scheduled to arrive. I then estimate whether I will make it home before the rain. I took rain stuff just in case, to keep electronics etc dry but I don’t mind if I get wet, at the current temperature.


I went for a fifty eight minute walk and it’s as I sat down this blog post that the rain began. I timed it perfectly. It’s gratifiying to achieve such a fleeting goal. I had originally considered doing a slightly longer loop but as I saw the clouds, and the time it would take. I changed course. I also changed course because I saw two slow moving people blocking one route and I prefer to continue self-isolating.


The Delta variant has a well chosen name because it is really great at getting big deltas, big changes. Denmark had a big increase in the number of cases, and other places are increasing rapidly as well. Delta provides instant feedback. You don’t need to be patient to see that something was a bad idea.


https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1413881307608719364


Une quantité énorme de pluie est tombée sur la Suisse ces trois derniers jours: ces précipitations auraient suffi pour remplir complètement le lac de Neuchâtel, celui des Quatre-Cantons celui et encore la moitié du lac de Zurich.

Source: Radio Lac Article


In the last few days enough rain fell to fill the Lac De Neuchatel, the Lac Des Quatres-Cantons et part of Zurich’s lake. Around here it is hard to see that so much rain has fallen. I haven’t seen too many signs of flooding or ruined crops, but of course this part is on a slope and the Lac Léman can easily absorb that quantity of rain.


I’m glad I did make it home before the rain. I would have gone for a walk earlier but I got distracted by the Tour De France. It’s fun to see that they sprinted a few times, and at one moment I feel that one of the cameras scraped the floor. It still managed to capture the rest of the race so I think that it was fine. The camera operator just hung the camera a little too low.

An Entire Day Of Rain
|

An Entire Day Of Rain

Byrichard

Due to the lack of rain for a few years, and the lack of opportunities to socialise through sporting activities, I look forward to rain. Yesterday we were lucky. We got an entire day’s worth of rain. I didn’t leave the flat for the entire day and I still slept fine.


Just a few days ago the daily average for new infections per day was 103 per day but it climbed up to 134 or so today. The R-Index went from 0.7 to 1.14 nationally and across Europe the number of new cases is going up again. Governments and civil society don’t mind. If they did then they would put their masks back on and they would continue self-isolating. I see the opposite happening. Regions in Spain that had been green, and relatively clear of infection, are now red. Nightclubs have had to close.


There is a part of me that thought, This pandemic will be one for the history books, and future generations will study it. We didn’t study the Spanish Flu/Influenza. We studied the war, but we never took a real look at the pandemic. Is that because we didn’t care, is it because people wanted to forget it, because it’s within the context of the second world war or is it because the disease does not capture the imagination like Ebola or the plague do?


If you took out the human element, then this pandemic is really simple to eradicate. For the plague you need to get rid of rats, fleas, bacteria in fleas, clothing and plenty of other places where the fleas and bacteria can hide. In the case of COVID-19 an open window and a draft will keep people relatively safe. If people around the world could simultaneously self-isolate properly for two months, the pandemic would be over. We are now many months away from any hopes of the pandemic being over.


I was happy to see that people at the World Health Organisation have the same message as I had. It helped me feel that my views and opinions are justified, rather than just thoughts by an ordinary person. I found the tweets encouraging. I often question why I am certain about my perception of the issue, and to have people at the WHO say something similar was encouraging.


Now we wait, to see when the next lockdown is implemented. I think it could be sooner than anticipated, in the current circumstances.

From Arnex to the Signal De Bougy and Back
|

From Arnex to the Signal De Bougy and Back

Byrichard

Cycling from Arnex to the Signal de Bougy and back is a nice ride that takes you along the lake through the lower part of Nyon, Gland towards Rolle, and from Rolle up towards Perroy, Aubonne, Pizy, The Signal de bougy and back down on the other side.


View when you are almost at the Signal De Bougy
View when you are almost at the Signal De Bougy


This route can be ridden both ways. The direction I suggest is easier because the climbing, although physical from Rolle to Perroy levels off, The next challenge is up from Aubonne to the Signal De Bougy. This climb is physical, and you are exposed to cars.


When you’re at the top you pass by two large car parks, and you could stop and go into the Signal but I have never tried, after a bike ride, so I do not know where you could leave your bikes. I instead continue along the park, pass the golf course and then when I get to the end of the road I usually turn left and enjoy the downhill through the forest for one bit, and then the vineyards for the other.


The advantage of this route direction is that it’s downhill from the Signal De Bougy, almost all the way back to Nyon, or wherever you start this journey.


View towards Geneva
View towards Geneva


If you try the reverse route you will be climbing from Nyon to the Signal de Bougy on a road that can be quite busy and you will feel more fatigued. The part from Tartegnin up to the Signal De Bougy is physical so you need to have endurance.


If you try this route and you find that you have spare energy left over you can then continue towards Bière and either go up the Col De Marchairuz or the other col, cycle around the Vallée de Joux, and then come back down via St Cergue. That’s a 90 kilometre loop.