Stormy Weather

[marthe]

Sorry to hear about all the wind and resulting damage. I hate to see venerable trees uprooted or fatally damaged. I hope all has calmed down, especially in Scotland. Here, the never ending dreary weather goes on and on and on... They say we'll be having a heat wave sometime soon! It's been rainy and cloudy for so long now, that we'll all keel over from the brightness of the sun when it finally comes out!

[mangerton]

Reports this morning are that there are 27 trees down in our park (Queens Park in Glasgow), with all the main paths blocked, & one of the main Edwardian wrought iron gates smashed.

salymap, thanks for your good wishes. A bright sunny day here today, still windy, but nothing like as bad as yesterday.

floss, my sister is about half a mile from you, and on the phone last night was saying there were trees down everywhere.

[Flosshilde]

Actually, reports of the demise of the gates migh be exagerated. The parks staff told my partner this morning when he was out with the dog, but, although there are some large trees down nearby, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the gates.

We've had worse winds in the winter but they don't usually do as much damage re. trees. In the summer they are in full leaf so offer more resistance to the wind, & are also heavier if there's been a lot of rain. The ground also tends to be softer, so the roots come up more easily.

[Chris Newman]

Yes, it was the wind/leaf resistance that caused so much damage the year Michael Fish got his wires tangled. The South of England had two similar storms within days of each other in January 1990 and the damage was far less, though the school I was teaching in lost the roof to its hall which landed in the staff car park.

[Serial_Apologist]

Another reason why less damage occurred in the january !990 storm was that the most weakened trees had already been downed in the october '87 "hurricane". Nevertheless that particular storm skirted the SW, so the 1990 gale did quite a lot of damage in Bristol where I was then living. Winds were coasting at about 60 mph and gusting up to 95. An entire stand of mature trees came down next to a railway embankment. I shan't ever forget that actual day. We were sent home from work early after reports of high-sided vehicles lining the route into the town centre; all the way the bus seemed about to be turned over - terrifying. On being dropped off near my home, people were literally clawing their way along the pavement, using a chicken wire fence to prevent themselves from being blown away, and taking a chance on crossing the road when the pedestrian lights indicated go that the wind would drop just for a second. An elderly lady grabbed my hand, but halfway across we separated, and I imagine she must have just been blown away! It was impossible to tell: you just had to face that wind and eyelashes blew into eyes making it impossible to see!! The wind howled like a banshee for half the next night, making sleep impossible. The next day lamposts were all at angles. In the local park the sturdily constructed entry sign was bent back at 45 degrees, and the end one of a row of mature limes had fallen and semi-uprooted. Subsequently park wardens cut the main part of the trunk down, removing the branches to display as a piece of sculpture for kids to clamber over. Over the next few years the base of the tree re-sprouted a profusion of secondary stems. Having just lost my job at the time, it represented a powerful symbol of survival.

[Flosshilde]

I love that last image, SA, & I hope that you got a new job soon after. It's also a good idea to leave fallen trees where they are (if possible) both as real adventure palygrounds for children, & also as wildlife habitats.

While we are on the subject of storms, there was a particularly severe one in Yorkshire in 1962. One of my garden history books (that I own, not one I wrote!) has pictures of the gardens at Bramham Park before and after - what had been a well-wooded garden with trees a couple of hundred years old looked like a Forestry plantation after the trees have been harvested.

[salymap]

Much better day in London/Kent with light winds and some sunshine. Hope it is the same everywhere.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, no more wind here in Glasgow. Still some rain, but it is substantially warmer.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep great drying weather, washing machine on overdrive ... off to the lunchtime recital, weekly rituals must be followed..

[marthe]

Much better day here! The sun has finally come out of hiding. We had bright sunshine, light breeze, no humidity (that will come soon enough) and temps in the high 60s-low 70s F. The upcoming holiday weekend (Memorial Day on Monday 30 May) marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season for us, though the actual start of summer is still a month away. Time to put all the houseplants outside for their summer vacation!

[salymap]

Morning marthe, We have promise of rain in Kent and it is badly needed. Grass cutting has been put on hold and lawns and parks look like August, not May. Still quite windy though. We have another holiday on Monday too, No Whitsun holiday but all these other ones, not the same to me.

[Serial_Apologist]

Today's heavy downpours, thunder and lightning, seem to be more than making up for the drought, just now.

Did you get my reply to your message on the "private line", saly?

S-A

[salymap]

Hi S-A. Yes thanks I got one PM, hasn't been another has there? Person concerned may start a private blog later apparently I'll keep you posted.

Yes, as you say weather has tried to make up forthe drought today. However, grass looks more yellow and dried
up than ever. Let's hope it will all settle down now.

[marthe]

Yesterday's (Wednesday) sunny weather was only a tease. Today it's been cloudy, foggy, and drizzly. Everything is quite green and lush but bugs abound in this lushness. Aphids (green fly) are making an unwelcome appearance everywhere...if only we had a few ladybugs around, they'd have a feast!

I hope you had the promised showers to refresh your parched lawns and gardens.

[salymap]

Morning marthe, Are your ladybugs our ladybirds? I suppose they are really more bugs than birds but afraid I prefer our name.
We had storms and lots of rain yesterday but as the ground is so dry it all disappeared from sight the moment it stopped.