Stormy Weather

[Pabmusic]

Ah, that's the one thing that's not been organised, as far as I am aware, Pabs. The government are always quick enough to send aid out to other countries, but when it co0mes to their own, they just seem to bury their heads in the sand!!

Just typical.

[Anna]

thank you FF, for that info there. The whole of the Somerset levels is a floodplain?

BBM, read this BBC article which explains what The Levels are, and their history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-26080597

They always flood to some extent but these are extreme weather conditions and even with the dredging would still have flooded, although not to this extent. The survival of The Levels depends upon good management of water control, it's this that has been lacking since the 1990s when Labour cut the budget, later restoring it but not to the amount it was, it was then cut by the Coalition. You can say it's a constant battle against Mother Nature there but as I said, these are such unusual weather conditions with the sheer amount of constant rainfall.

[Richard Tarleton]

The BBC and RSPB looking on the positve side anyway, if slightly tactlessly.

[cloughie]

BBM, read this BBC article which explains what The Levels are, and their history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-26080597

They always flood to some extent but these are extreme weather conditions and even with the dredging would still have flooded, although not to this extent. The survival of The Levels depends upon good management of water control, it's this that has been lacking since the 1990s when Labour cut the budget, later restoring it but not to the amount it was, it was then cut by the Coalition. You can say it's a constant battle against Mother Nature there but as I said, these are such unusual weather conditions with the sheer amount of constant rainfall.

The Netherlands seems to manage it's flood plains very well - silly question but have the Dutch experts been consulted?

[Anna]

The Netherlands seems to manage it's flood plains very well - silly question but have the Dutch experts been consulted?

There is a thread here http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...his-minute-but about The Levels, I think there was a suggestion that Dutch engineers may be consulted
Ontopic: I am now about to set forth into the gale force winds but, thank goodness, it's not yet raining! How are you faring down in Cornwall cloughie?

[cloughie]

There is a thread here http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...his-minute-but about The Levels, I think there was a suggestion that Dutch engineers may be consulted
Ontopic: I am now about to set forth into the gale force winds but, thank goodness, it's not yet raining! How are you faring down in Cornwall cloughie?

Anna, thanks for asking - you'll have seen the extremes on the coast in the News - we've been battered by the high winds and had power cuts last Tuesday/Wednesday - inconvenient but not life-threatening!

[BBMmk2]

Thanks for the link Anna! Rather a mixed bag here today. Quite windy here today. :(

[amateur51]

Releasing your inner Plantagenet, eh, BBM? - that poor Chris Smith, the most cultured and civilised Culture Minister we've ever had - he shouldn't be mixed up in this!

Superb RT

And you're quite right about Chris Smith of course.

OT, bright and breezy here - how will the weather affect this weekend's Six Nations Internatiional Rugby matches, I wonder?

[Anna]

OT, bright and breezy here - how will the weather affect this weekend's Six Nations Internatiional Rugby matches, I wonder?

Met Office forecast for Murrayfield is bad - heavy rain, windy, gusting up to 39mph. Also, it seems the pitch has been invaded by a parasitic nematode (which they are calling McMaggot) and the pitch is very cut up. Ireland forecast seems to be better, cold, heavy showers, windy but steady rather than major gusts. I reckon Scotland are going to do well today, as to the other match, I'm not in the least bit hopeful.
I'm now back home, and if I had any cobwebs they have been well and truly blown away - it is a horrendous, and very cold, wind. Blackness now building in the West.
Cloughie - that doesn't sound too bad where you are, loss of electric is a pain but it's liveable with and you can cuddle up with Mrs. Cloughie to keep warm and have some romance by candlelight!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

we still enjoy the light and the air in the middle kingdom and the forecast shows that this beneficence will prevail for most of today

i think arguing about foreign aid is daft, though it could be much better directed and delivered; it is not the money, but the quality [or lack thereof] of joined up thinking about complex environment and climate issues that plagues all of us .... i shudder to think what sea levels we may be bequeathing to future generations ...

the Levels had a rational decision made against them on a cut budget ... imagine the hooha if the Levels had cleared but several major towns were flooded - a constrained budget was rationally spent, i trust Chris Smith to do that at least but George and Dave had to cut tax for their kith and kin eh?

the raised eyebrows and furrowed forehead of Yvonne Kjæ who leads the right wing party that supports Lars Hesselboe in the Borgen Government when Nyborg suggests that not cutting taxes is a third option is the story of our modern politics, floods and all .... the ladies of the rich want to keep the family wealth intact eh and taxes are to bail out bankers and pay for contracts with IT firms &c ...

and then as Noah remarked but no one listened, it will rain!

[Petrushka]

A combination I don't like: blinding sunshine and very strong cold wind both head on! The threatened heavy rain hasn't materialised but there's time yet.

Good to have another Saturday of racing which, given the conditions, is a minor miracle so all praise to ground staff for their efforts.

[EdgeleyRob]

Sunny morning in North Cheshire but very windy and cold.
There are seagulls overhead

[eighthobstruction]

Sunny morning in North Cheshire but very windy and cold.
There are seagulls overhead

....no trawlers i guess....

[EdgeleyRob]

....no trawlers i guess....

[Serial_Apologist]

Plenty of squally showers here today, interspersed with long sunny intervals, maximum 7 degrees C. An amazing cumulonimbus back end, defined by one of the sharpest edged anvil shapes I've seen in winter, complete with vivid double rainbow half an hour ago. Normally cumulonimbus clouds in winter quickly become visually diffuse, enveloped in snow unlike in summer, and thus harder to distinguish.

Seems the Mike Westbrook gig at St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, is on tonight - no notice of cancellation. £20 entry but it's a worthy charity raiser for London's homeless:

http://www.simoncommunity.org.uk