Compassed
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever. Jonah 2: 5–6 Even before the equinox, one after another, fronts bring gale-force winds. It happens in part because, early in the month the atmosphere tens of kilometres above the south pole unexpectedly warms by more than 30 degrees Celsius in less than a week. This Sudden Stratospheric Warming happens every couple of years at the north pole, but almost never over Antarctica (loss of sea ice creating conditions for a blocking high is thought to be a factor in this year’s event). The warming slows the fiercely cold, winter-formed vortex above the pole, so that its winds spread outwards like the skirts of a dancer winding down after a fast spin. They touch us here on the southern coasts of Australia. I hear huge gusts strike the forest canopy then pick up speed on ...