Alastair Thompson Profile picture
Dec 29, 2021 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
#WeirdWeather

In the North of the North Pacific up near Alaska there is a very large area of clear Ocean that that can be seen through the clouds which looks a little like a giant rotating eye.
Here we see it in context along side North America, and the entire rotating high-pressure area appears to be roughly the size of North America. Its presence appears to be contributing to the big freeze in Canada and all the snow in the US.
The image above shows the #EyeOfThePacific on December 26-27.

And here we see it on December 27-28. At the bottom of the animations you can see the onshore atmospheric river flows which are bringing massive rains to California, and moisture to the midwest and north east.
The next four tweets contain animations of this behemoth blocking high over the last 4 days - each 12 hours long. This one begins at 1am CET (midnight on Christmas Eve GMT/Midday NZT) and shows the early development of the core on Christmas Day.
By 13:00 CEST on Christmas Day the size of the clear ocean eye is 770k km2,

And by 13:00 CEST on Boxing Day it has grown 1 million km2 to 1.75 million km2.
On the third day of Christmas the clear ocean part has moved north as whispy looking clouds move in to cover the Southern half of the circulation. The clear ocean area looks a lot bigger because it is further north but is actually just 17,000 km2 bigger at 1.82 million km2.
On the fourth day of Christmas the rotation is at its most spectacular, turning into something that looks like a rotating leaf/whale, albeit one which is now 2.2million km2 in size. A little bit bigger than Mexico.
This special animation of this phase runs for 24 hours from 2pm CEST yesterday to 2pm today - and shows the rotating pupil of the #EyeOfThePacific at its most magnificent IMO.

#AwesomeBiosphere
And this final 12 hour animation takes us up to now. The clear area of the eye is beginning to fill but it remains close to its peak at 1.9million km2.
This images shows the overlaid measurements used in this thread.
This five day MLSP forecast suggests the #EyeOfThePacific will remain open for at least one more day, possibly two, and I will update this thread with its final evolution.
(continuing story)
P.S. The GFS model suggests a similar pattern may return in mid January.

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More from @althecat

Sep 17
These are all Israeli IDF army officers who were trained in the uk

Source: - Declassified - Image
NEW | Declassified has obtained a list of Israelis who graduated from the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

Israeli officers fighting in Gaza have received training at Britain’s prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), Declassified reveals. /1
At least 32 Israeli military figures, including senior commanders such as Colonel Yaniv Asor, head of the Israeli occupation forces Southern Command, and director-general Amir Baram, are RCDS alumni, 6 more trained at the UK’s Advanced Command & Staff Course-Oxfordshire. /2
Read 8 tweets
Sep 17
The Gaza flotilla is intending as I understand from informed sources in contact with the flotilla intending to pause again and regroup in Malta on its trip to Israel to break the seige in Gaza.
The flotilla is in my view on very grave danger and ought to be being escorted by European naval vessels.
Sources close to the flotilla inform me that there is evidence of internal sabotage of the planned humanitarian mission and may have been infiltrated by bad actors.

Some media participating in the flotilla were expelled in Tunisia and it seems possible that Israel is involved.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 10
At this point following the Qatar obscenity Israel is now breaking the internet and the world.

something decisive is needed to break Israel - a peaceful action that will work and show the world that justice still exists and that peace is possible.
A wise friend proposed a brilliant idea. Every nation on earth which is willing and able should send a frigate to the Mediterranean Sea and take a message to Israel that it cannot ignore.
The foundations of the United Nations itself are now crumbling under the weight of the Gaza Obscenity and nations like Britain that seem to have been turned are facing protest and resistance of epic proportions from their citizens.

The center cannot hold.
Read 5 tweets
Sep 4
I’ll be posting videos and news here on Twitter from the flotilla which is about to depart from Majorca for Tunis on the first leg of the journey to Gaza.
More boats are expected to join the flotilla from Europe and North Africa along the way as it moves west across the Mediterranean. @GretaThunberg is making the voyage again and Israel will not be able to contain or stop this flotilla most likely. And definitely not the publicity.
This first video is of a wind squall hitting one of the boats as it departs Barcelona.
Read 13 tweets
Aug 10
Netanyahu has proposed a pathway to end the war in Gaza under pressure primarily from the U.S. UK, France & Germany. Spain and Ireland and several other European nations & the European Commission.

LIVE: PM Netanyahu Holds a Press conference youtube.com/live/1ebXvF9MO…
The @israelipm sounds defeated. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end. The deal being offered to Gaza is far from perfect but it sounds workable in Netanyahus outline.
@IsraeliPM Whether it will be approved by Hamas however is unclear and rather complicated - as it’s unclear who inside Gaza would be in a position to respond to the offer. Many of Hamas’s fighters may prefer to die as martyrs also than to agree to any deal.
Read 5 tweets
Jul 25
Guess who has the most to lose if/when @realDonaldTrump discovers he’s now a lame duck President.

He is now so deep under water both in polling and with his base that it’s very hard to imagine him bouncing back.
I’ll answer my question shortly buts it’s well worth pondering…. In the meantime consider this.

Trump is now a laughing stock. And not only is everyone in America now laughing at him. But he has also been abandoned by his base and his party.
The bonfire of vanity that belongs to Donald Trump is iridescent, a signal to the world that his presidency has ended before it even started.
Read 7 tweets

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