Imablog

My friends and family always seem to be impressed with my ability to pick great fruit. To them it’s some kind of magical skill. To me, it’s just three simple rules. Follow them and anybody can pick great fruit.

1. It should look good
2. It has to smell like something. Preferably like the fruit it’s supposed to be.
3. It should be heavy for its size

Rule 1 is a bit of a no-brainer. If it looks good (not too bruised, good colour, feels firm, no mushy spots, etc), then it’s a good candidate to start with.

Rule 2 is also something of a no-brainer. If you’re looking for strawberries, you better be smelling strawberries. Don’t grab the container that doesn’t smell like anything. If you grab a cantaloupe, it should smell like a cantaloupe, not dirt. It should be a good smell too, not moldy or nasty smelling. Of course this rule won’t apply to everything. Bananas usually don’t smell like much until they’re starting to get black spots (a little too ripe for my taste at that stage). Watermelons fall into this small subgroup too. For those, there’s Rule 3.

Rule 3 is one that some people can’t seem to quite get. It’s simple really. Fruits are made up mostly of water. A fruit that’s heavy for its size is going to have a high water content (i.e. be very juicy), and will probably be a pretty good one to bring home. One that feels too light on the other hand is probably old and lost most of its water content. Ever grab a navel orange that felt a little on the light side? When you bite into a piece, it’s all dried out and not juicy at all I bet. Same thing with peaches.

Keep these in mind next time you’re shopping for some tasty fruit snacks. I bet you’ll pick up some good ones.

From this morning’s Tropical Weather Outlook

A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE IS CENTERED NEAR THE COAST OF AFRICA ABOUT 250 MILES SOUTHEAST OF THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS. THIS SYSTEM IS SHOWING SIGNS OF ORGANIZATION AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME A TROPICAL DEPRESSION OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO AS IT MOVES WESTWARD OVER THE FAR EASTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC. ELSEWHERE

Update: Well, that didn’t take long. The 11 AM NHC update upgraded the system to TD 8.

PRESENTLY THE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF WEAK EASTERLY SHEAR AND IT SHOULD BE TRAVERSING SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES OF AROUND 28C. HOWEVER…WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH NEAR 40W-45W NORTH OF 15N AND THE GLOBAL MODELS INDICATE THAT THIS FEATURE WILL PERSIST FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. IF THIS SCENARIO VERIFIES…THE ENVIRONMENT COULD BECOME LESS CONDUCIVE FOR STRENGTHENING. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST SHOWS ONLY SLOW STRENGTHENING OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS BUT PRESUMES THAT THE CYCLONE WILL BE ABLE TO EVENTUALLY STRENGTHEN INTO A HURRICANE. THIS OFFICIAL
FORECAST IS SOMEWHAT LOWER THAN THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE INTENSITY GUIDANCE.

While everyone’s busy remembering 9/11 on this fifth anniversary (I’ve already said my thing a couple of years ago), I will point out TD 7, which looks to be following pretty much in Florence’s footsteps. Looks like Bermuda may get a double dose of storms this week, although the current 5 day track has TD 7 passing well east of the island.

Update:As expected, TD 7 became TS Gordon with the 5 PM update. Shouldn’t be of much concern to anyone except shipping.

GORDON MOST LIKELY WILL SPEND ITS LIFETIME OVER WATER. IT IS ALREADY MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST OR 315 DEGREES AT 8 KNOTS AND SOON THE CYCLONE SHOULD TURN NORTHWARD TOWARD THE WEAKNESS IN THE RIDGE LEFT BY HURRICANE FLORENCE. IN FACT…MOST OF THE RELIABLE DYNAMICAL GUIDANCE IS ALREADY TO THE RIGHT OF THE OFFICIAL FORECAST. IN ABOUT THREE DAYS GORDON SHOULD TURN TO THE NORTHEAST AS IT BECOME EMBEDDED WITHIN THE MID-LATITUDE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW.