Astronomers

@ivo Yes

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@ivo, hej I would like to receive Windy Alerts to my mobile phone. Great, thanks.

I'd like this too.

Possibly a really British post so I apologise if it is, but I think a Rain Alarm would be great.

If we could get an hour/half hour notification that it's going to rain in our geographic location (wherever our cellphones location is or if we've got that turned off, our home location on Windy) the map already shows where the rain cloud is going to sweep so we know what areas are going to hit but if the forecast changes and no ones checked, it could be a nice feature.

Ultimately other apps for this exist I just thought it'd be cool to have in your push notification ideas.

Great idea!

Hair Ice was first observed by continental drift discoverer, Alfred Wegener in 1918. A rare type of ice formation, Hair Ice grows exclusively on dead wood and he theorised it was due to some sort of fungal growth. Almost 100 years later, science has the answers.

Wegner theorised it was due to a fungi but it wasn't until 2015 where German and Swiss scientists Hofmann, Mätzler and Preuß found the cause of hair ice, linking its formation to the presence of a specific fungus called Exidiopsis effusa.

Exidiopsis effusa is part of the Auriculariaceae family which contain 7 genera and over 100 species which usually live on dead, fallen or rotting woods.

In the study, Preuß examined samples of dead wood that had previously grown hair ice from the winters of 2012, 2013 and 2014 in forests near Brachbach in western Germany. Preuß placed these under a microscope and found 11 different species of fungi. When the Hair Ice was investigated microscopically Preuß found Exidiopsis effusa on every hair ice sample examined by her and she was able to disable the fungus with fungicide and prevent hair ice forming.

The presence of the Exidiopsis effusa led to a process called 'ice segregation'. Which is where water in the wood begins to freeze and it creates a barrier that traps liquid between the ice and the pores of the wood.

This created a suction force which pushes water out of the pores to the edge of the ice surface where it freezes and extends outwards. As this repeats it pushes a thin 'hair' of ice out of the wood which is around 0.01 mm in diameter, an inhibitor similar to antifreeze proteins present in the fungus allows the strands of ice to stabilise over several hours sometimes days.

The researchers also found that the root of the hair ice, called a crystallization nucleus, is likely composed of lignin and tannin. Lignin is found in vascular plants like mosses and conifers and help give wood its hardness and resistance to rotting. Tannin also occurs widely in vascular plants and protects plants from herbivores who dislike its bitter taste.

According to The Met Office, "The conditions required for the formation of hair ice are extremely specific, hence the relative scarcity of sightings. To form, moist rotting wood from a broadleaf tree is required with the presence of moist air and a temperature slightly below 0 °C. It is generally confined to latitudes between 45°N and 55°N."

"The same amount of ice is produced on wood with or without fungal activity, but without this activity, the ice forms a crustlike structure," Christian Mätzler.

It's worth noting if you go out looking for it in the right conditions that Hair Ice is very rare and it will grow mostly at night and melt in the morning sun. It grows only at the mouth of wood rays and never on the bark and their thickness is similar to the diameter of the wood ray channels. A piece of wood that produces hair ice once may continue to produce it over several years so if you do see some it's worth revisiting it the next year.

For those interested in some hardcore science Biogeoscience have the original publication by the scientists on: Evidence for biological shaping of hair ice

Zoe Wilderspin
*Amateur Mycologist With Questionable Morels. Follow me on Twitter or for more mycology follow me on Facebook

Climate change, it’s a fact. We’re seeing it more and more every year. From burning hot summers with excruciating long droughts to short sharp springs and non-existent autumns blurring into a wet winter. Everyone and everything living is affected, big and small and this includes our local mycology of the UK.

But who is noticing?

Well actually, it’s quite a few people and more than just a few mushrooms. Professional and amateur mycologists (Those are people who like fungi and study them) have noticed the decline for a while but recently shroomers and psychonaughts (These are people who take magic mushrooms for the hallucinogenic purposes) are also noticing the decline and talking about this on drugs forums such as Bluelight.

Fungi play a huge role in our ecosystems more than what most people usually think about, they’re responsible for decomposition, ecological recycling and creates nitrogen, this is the gas which makes up 78.09% of dry air.

Fungi decompose the hard-to-digest organic material into easier to-digest-forms that other organisms can use. Fungi also play a role in floods with water infiltration and soil water holding capacity.

“Climate impact is already apparent: fungal reproduction, geographic distributions, physiology and activity have changed markedly in the last few decades, through direct climate change effects on fungal growth and indirect effects on their habitats” – Peter G. Kennedy, Carrie Andrew (State of the World’s Fungi 2018 9. Climate change: Fungal responses and effects)

Fungi play a major component in the regulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, they help store carbon dioxide in soils and according to Clemmensen, K. E., et al. (2013) “approximately 50–70% of carbon stored in boreal forest soils in Scandinavia was derived from dead roots and associated fungi.”

This vividly highlights the large role in which fungi play amongst our ecosystem and how fragile and delicate this balance is and how much carbon dioxide mycelium locks away in the soil.

Seasons play a huge role in fungi, and have a fruiting season depending on the species. Mushrooms are in essence like apples, the mycelium is the tree and the mushroom is the fruiting body.

The fruiting body contains millions of spores of which are transported by many ways from woodland animals to casual, not professional, foragers who will carry these fungi far and wide spreading their spores.

Naturally because of this damper seasons tend to be the best for fruiting bodies, and with British summers lasting longer and drought becoming more prevalent drought, as a rule, reduces the length of the reproductive season.

Andrew, C., et al. (2018) discovered that fungal reproductive timing (called phenology) has become extended because little as 0.2°C can shift the production of spore-bearing fungi by one day (especially for fungi that reproduce in autumn). The temperature also drives the rate of compositing patterns across Europe.

Some fungi are more adaptable to climate change than others. For example species of jelly fungi like the Crystal Brain Fungus (above), have cell walls that can contract down to become hard and resistant when dry but go back to a gelatinous structure when moisture is available.

These fungi are particularly resistant to droughts which is particularly useful in British climates which are becoming increasingly susceptible to summertime droughts.

Other fungi have thicker spore walls which can deal with environmental stresses better than fungi which produce thinner celled wall spores. Depending on the thickness, these could survive prolonged high temperatures, droughts and even fires.

Zoe Wilderspin
Amateur Mycologist With Questionable Morels. Follow me on Twitter.

Windy Maps is Android and iOS app, that offer Worldwide offline hiking map, route planner and sport tracker.

Developed by a Prague based company Seznam.cz it is backed by more than 15+ years of mapping know how, developed and maintained by tens of dedicated persons.

I am from Europe and I must confirm that in Europe and mostly in Alps, Meteoblue has no competition regrading temperatures or wind.

As of clouds and precipitation ECMWF is leader