In a few minutes, I’ll introduce some images I took from a nationally broadcast TV news show (Bankisha) that focused on the danger of heavy rain in Kumamoto. On the news program, they reported that meteorologists are saying that there is a significant possibility that Kumamoto will experience a phenomenon called “training” (線状降水帯) in the next 24 hours. I was unfamiliar with the concept so I did a little web search and found this Gawker article on the phenomenon. “Training” has nothing to do with “learning” or the cute little training wheels on a kids bike. Instead think of “I feel like I got hit by a train.” The Gawker article reports that the process is called “training” because “the thunderstorms look like they’re train cars moving along railroad tracks. Training can continue for hours, forcing a few unlucky areas to get caught under this relentless heavy rain until the air stabilizes and the storm development stops.” So, now that you know what “training” is and that there’s some possibility that it may occur here, I’ll start to prepare another posts that focuses on Kumamoto.
– Kirk
