i've been wonding about this for a while now, and decided to look here for an answer,

i play in goal for a football (soccer) team, and while playing in matches, often in the wind and rain, i often find myself getting cold/wet. Are there any positions that i can stand it to minimise the ammount of me getting wet, cold etc.

In the Cape we are famous for our south easter that blows mainly in the summer and is known to hit between 40 and 50kms per hour..my question is if the wind speed at ground level is 40km an hour what is it at 100ft......200ft........300ft ect and is it faster or slower the higher up you go.

A friend and I were on top off Sgurr Breac NW Highlands, UK, OS grid ref NH158 711 (57 41’ 31”N, 05 05’30”W), altitude 999m on 10 July 2010.  A light  wind was coming from the south east at perhaps 12 -15 mph, the cloud was high and it was mostly sunny, temp around 15C.  We heard what sounded exactly like a flimsy plastic bag blowing from south east to north west and were able to track the sound as it moved across in front of us, about 2 metres away before it disappeared off the cliffs to the north.  There was no sign of leaves or dust moving in a vortex and the short vegetation didn’t move either.  The wind then dropped completely for a couple of minutes before returning the way it had been before.  What was this? Some sort of vortex? 

Prematurely overcome by the holiday spirit, we failed to send a round-up last week. Apologies for that. One of the most popular questions from that week – also with a holiday flavour – was what to do during a lightning storm at the beach. Are you safer on the beach or in the water? The discussion contains a fair bit of disagreement, but some great tips for optimum lightning-avoidance behaviour.

This week's questions started with whether the wind affects sound waves (it does, but not in the way you might expect), and whether the foods we crave are the ones our bodies actually need (let's hope so).

Here's one for the physics-minded: ever wondered why most rocket launch pads are sited near the equator? It's to make the most of the rotational velocity of the Earth's surface, which is greatest at the equator. But can you think of any other ways we exploit this tremendous energy source? So far, not many readers can.

If you've ever been caught by brambles while walking in the countryside, you might be curious why the thorns of roses and blackberries are designed to catch animals rather than repel them. Could it be that roses are actually carnivorous?

Finally, August is the month for… meteor-hunting. The Perseid meteor shower is at its height on 12 August. One of our readers reckons he can hear meteors. Is that possible?

Enjoy your weekend.

Michael (acting for Kat)

Can your voice really be "snatched" away by the wind, or is it just that the sound of the wind covers the sound of your voice. If wind does affect sound waves, can it also affect light?

How comes that, when the wind comes from the railway, I can hear the trains much better. I understand that it should reduce the effective distance of the railway, but the wind is usually not over 50 km/h, very small compared to the speed of sound (1200 km/h), so the effect should be tiny.

I was in Caswell bay, a good surfing beach just west of Swansea, South Wales. The waves come ashore as in any other beach. Similarly, beaches on the opposite side of the Bristol Channel, 23 miles away,  also receive waves coming onshore - in the opposite direction to my waves in Caswell. How are waves generated in a funnel-like Bristol channel that impinge on both opposite shores. Surely, the wind does not have enough energy or distance to generate these - does it? If so, the wind must blow in opposite directions from mid-channel - surley impossible!