2
This article was downloaded by: [The University of Manchester Library] On: 09 December 2014, At: 15:47 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Weatherwise Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vwws20 The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs Jeff Rosenfeld Published online: 03 Apr 2010. To cite this article: Jeff Rosenfeld (2000) The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs, Weatherwise, 53:3, 66-66, DOI: 10.1080/00431670009605874 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00431670009605874 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs

  • Upload
    jeff

  • View
    213

  • Download
    0

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs

This article was downloaded by: [The University of Manchester Library]On: 09 December 2014, At: 15:47Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

WeatherwisePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vwws20

The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My LegsJeff RosenfeldPublished online: 03 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Jeff Rosenfeld (2000) The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs, Weatherwise, 53:3, 66-66, DOI:10.1080/00431670009605874

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00431670009605874

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: The Lee Word: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Legs

by Jeff Rosenfeld

ecently I was late for a friend’s oncert, and it was pouring rain. didn’t have far to go. I had a new

rainjacket and a sturdy umbrella. So I stepped off the bus confidently and began to walk briskly toward the theater.

Naturally, I got soaked. In retrospect, I realize that no weath-

er guidebook could have told me what would happen. They have rules about lightning safety, but none about rain. I found out the hard way. In a rainstorm, the rules of weather are inverted.

Around here-in Berkeley, Califor- nia-raindrops don’t fall on your head. They swarm like the killer bees that are heading toward us from L.A. Storms coming ashore gorge themselves on Pacific water, then they pick up a little nightcap from San Francisco Bay. O n the slopes of the coastal hills, they spill their guts out.

In dry weather, Berkeley teems with pedestrians. We live gently on the land, and thumb our noses at Big Oil. In wet weather, we on foot are at war with the environment. Walking is already tricky on the steep streets and sidewalks, buck- led by the roots of trees and the jittery plate tectonics underfoot. In a rain- storm, every drop rushes along this ankle-twisting surface. Class 5 whitewa- ter rapids spring forth.

I assume Berkeley has installed storm drains, but they must have crumpled in the last quake. Water soon overwhelms the street corners, submerging the curbs completely. The torrents divide the

]EFF ROSENFELD is a Weatherwise contributing editor and author of the book, Eye of the Storm: Inside the Worlds Deadliest Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Blizzards.

town into dozens of forti- fied fiefdoms, each with its own coffeehouse surround- ed by a 10-foot-wide moat of foaming liquid. You slosk through, hoping desperately to avoid the potholes in the brew underfoot.

seascape safely, but they won’t stay dry. These hills, not the espresso, make the storms dizzy. The winds stagger in every which way but the direction you see on the radar. Past every building, behind every redwood, lurks another weather pattern. Rain rarely falls vertically.

Few umbrellas survive the maelstrom. It pulls them inside out then clamps them back down around your head like a vice. You often hold your umbrella out at arms length to ward off the spray from a passing car or a sudden gust.

Before catching the bus to go to the concert, I had anticipated a walk through the equivalent of an automatic car wash. I had put on a pair of denim trousers of a well-known local make, anticipating a little dirt in the mix. This brand of jeans has been around since the Gold Rush, so you’d think they were designed for the climate.

However, as soon as I began walhng, I felt a cold embrace at my ankles. The chill slowly spread up my calves. From the splash of my shoes and the drip off the umbrella, water had saturated my jeans near my feet. Now it was seeping up the absorbent material. With each step my legs got wetter and heavier. By the time I made it inside, I was wet nearly to the waist, with no hope of drying OE

In no mood to sit in my own puddle like a frog, I chose to stand in the back of the theater by a radiator. My head was

The agile can navigate this dry, and my rain jacket had stayed sealed: I had gotten wet from the bot- tom up. In this radical town that turns all forms of power, political and other- wise, upside down, the weather is not exempt. Apparently, raindrops here don’t fall with gravity.

I fear that the new rain physics is uni- versal, and I think science will back me up. A few years ago, Thomas Peterson and Trevor Wallis, two scientists at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina, ran an exper- iment. To see what the better tactic was for staying dry in a thundershower, Peterson ran-and Wallis walked-a 100-meter course near their office to see how much water they would collect in their clothes. Beforehand, the climatol- ogists had lined themselves with plastic underneath so they wouldn’t lose a drop.

Walhng Wallis collected nearly twice as much water (half a pounds worth) as running Peterson. Using a mathematical model, they showed that the difference when you run is mostly a decrease in the amount of water that hits you on the front, not a change in the much smaller amount that hits you on the head.

The message is clear. Raindrops keep falling on your head, but more of them get you elsewhere. The scientific con- clusion is inescapable: when it begins to rain, run like the wind. 0

66 WEATHERWISE

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

5:47

09

Dec

embe

r 20

14