Stormy Weather

[Stanfordian]

I was nearly blown over on the early morning 2 miles stroll but the wind strength on the Fylde Coast from the Irish Sea seems to have reduced now. My local supermarket Booths was busy at 8.00am and Lidl was heaving too as it always is.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ouch - that can be painful. You need to ask Santa for a pair of fur lined mittens.
Lots colder here too, struggled to get up to 10.5° after a very chill start and it was such a wild, wet and windy night it woke me up beating against the window. But, hooray!, we've had more or less non-stop sun and blue skies here, a welcome respite before more rain.

I think this thread should be shortened rather than started anew because it's useful sometimes to look back. Is Host Cali qualified to fiddle about backstage and push a few buttons or does Frenchie have to do it?

That could bring down thunder and lightning from boredees upset at having their posts removed, if that is what you had in mind, Anna? My suggestion, which has already been put forward, not by me, would be to open up a Stormy Weather II thread - let's say on Jan 1st - close the existing thread but leave it accessible for future viewing. Others seem not to mind the hold up.

Storm Eva and its aftermath looks set to bring yet more misery to the poor folks of Cumbria and surrounding areas over the next few days. Just looking further than the British Isles these strange weather patterns seem to be affecting the whole of the northern hemisphere's weather for as long as El Nino's heating effect is slowing down the zonal pattern, i.e. the usual west to eastward movement of weather systems, allowing longer for the additional warmth in the Bay of Mexico area to build up additional moisture levels along frontal boundaries as they loop their way to reach us from across the western Atlantic. As the eastern Equatorial Pacific gradually cools down from the end of the year onwards the effect will gradually wind down, presumably. At the moment I'm watching an amazing line of frontal thunderstorms making their way northwards all the way from Texas to Chicago:

http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime

Temperatures for Toronto are expected to reach 14 C tomorrow, when normally they are not expected to reach even zero by this stage or winter; but there they should be back to near their normal by next Tuesday, indicating the eastward movement of their upper trough that's been keeping them warm. These upper systems take longer to shift than the surface systems that form beneath them - whichis why we, to, have been locked into this maritime tropical weather regime for so long.

[Nick Armstrong]

I think this thread should be shortened rather than started anew because it's useful sometimes to look back. Is Host Cali qualified to fiddle about backstage and push a few buttons or does Frenchie have to do it?

Waaaaaaaay above my pay-grade!!

Another long-running thread was split (Current Listening) and provoked outcries at any change at all.

FWIW I think this one should be split in two, too, if some are having loading trouble. It's hardly an answer that some others aren't having problems...! I can see no downside at all to splitting it and leaving the first half available for reference only.... But that is very much a Frenchie technological project!

[Anna]

I phrased that badly, I should have said shortened and archived for reference but SW Part II would be best. Sometimes the page takes an age to load, other times it doesn't, sometimes the whole forum is like wading through treacle but if the majority have a problem then I guess it needs to be fixed

S_A, that's interesting about El Nino but in the Met's long range it said that apart from that winds in the stratosphere racing across the Equator also lend a hand because every two years or so they change direction and this Winter the winds sweeping from the West help to bottle up the cold air over the Arctic. But it didn't say why the winds suddenly change direction!

Also, of interest perhaps to you, I picked up for £1 in the charity shop a hardbook book Weatherwise: Practical Weather Lore for Sailors and Outdoor People by Paul John Goldsack who is a sailor and countrymen.who has collected 3000 weather adages and scientifically tested them and explains how it's possible to forecast from natural weather signs the way our forefathers did!! I'm looking forward to reading it over the Christmas break (it also seems very useful in the cloud section.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

FWIW I think this one should be split in two, too, if some are having loading trouble. It's hardly an answer that some others aren't having problems...! I can see no downside at all to splitting it and leaving the first half available for reference only.... But that is very much a Frenchie technological project!

Yes - that would be a good compromise; I'd like to think that the records could be easily accessed for comparisons (imagine if we'd been able to compare the contrasts in our own and our fellow forumistas' posts between 2009 and this year, day-by-day). There is a greater "need"/use/mildlyOCDhandiness for such comparisons here than in the "Wotchoo Listening to ?" Thread.

Lovely sunny day here in the Pennines - a bit chilly (but still reaching 9 degrees) but the winds have died down; got an hour's garden tidying done. Best wishes to everyone in the Cumbrian areas.

[BBMmk2]

I agree too, Cali, Split 50/50 rather than how one was done!! :)

[Serial_Apologist]

S_A, that's interesting about El Nino but in the Met's long range it said that apart from that winds in the stratosphere racing across the Equator also lend a hand because every two years or so they change direction and this Winter the winds sweeping from the West help to bottle up the cold air over the Arctic. But it didn't say why the winds suddenly change direction!

Yes I've read that in various sources too, Anna, and it would help explain the absence (so far) of those terrible repeating northerly outbursts which were bringing bone-chilling cold to the eastern States and Canada last winter. These things - including how the main jetstreams interact with surface lows - are still only partly understood, amazing though it may seem. I'm wondering if the same goes for the reversing of both the upper jet and the ocean currents at the Pacific Equator every few years. There must be some trigger point - possibly some sort of pile up like a big wave at one end that has to release after a period of time. Or... maybe they just get tired of moving in one direction after a while!

Also, of interest perhaps to you, I picked up for £1 in the charity shop a hardbook book Weatherwise: Practical Weather Lore for Sailors and Outdoor People by Paul John Goldsack who is a sailor and countrymen.who has collected 3000 weather adages and scientifically tested them and explains how it's possible to forecast from natural weather signs the way our forefathers did!! I'm looking forward to reading it over the Christmas break (it also seems very useful in the cloud section.)

Well for one quid maybe I'd have been tempted.

[DracoM]

Storm Eva roaring outside now in wild, wild winds oop 'ere already. No rain - yet - but we're not holding our breath
Correction: 9.27 - raging rain like gravel against the windows.

[Anna]

raging rain like gravel against the windows.

Which woke me up at 5.30 this morning. This made me laugh, reading the BBC newspaper round up just now ""Spring-like temperatures look set to continue into the festive period," says the paper, as it pictures bare-chested sunbathers in the Hertfordshire sun-trap of Watford. Watford a sun-trap, Crikey Moses! Watford! (sorry, it's Christmas Eve and I'm feeling festive, I'm sure it is indeed the Riviera of the North)

[Petrushka]

Bucketing it down outside and so off to the bedlam that is Christmas Eve Tesco to do that last minute shop...

[pastoralguy]

The wind woke us up last night in Edinburgh. The recycling bin was blown over so a trip into the back garden to collect the old mince pie boxes, Christmas card envelops and unwanted £10 notes was required!

[Anna]

We had a cloudburst around 8.30 and you literally couldn't see through the rain, it lasted for about 20 mins. There is another yellow warning for the NW & NE and an amber one for Saturday. I do hope DracoM and others in that region can stay safe and reasonably dry over the Christmas period but it's not looking good at all. (The met office at Shap has recorded 7 months of rainfall since this severe weather started, no flood defences can cope with that)

[Flay]

...Christmas card envelops and unwanted £10 notes ...

You can put them in one of those envelopes and address it to me if you like....

[Nick Armstrong]

Storm Eva roaring outside now in wild, wild winds oop 'ere already. No rain - yet - but we're not holding our breath
Correction: 9.27 - raging rain like gravel against the windows.

Thinking about you Mr Drax and hoping you and all in your region stay safe & dry.

This is how the world sees the English run-up to Christmas - this photo seems to have done the rounds of the world's press:

[DracoM]

Hmm. Well..................

How soon floods and devastation in Appleby, Glenridding, Kendal get swept off front or any pages and out of the BBC's news slots...anyone like to guess?


And sincere thanks for good wishes. Above named towns deserve more pity.