Stormy Weather

[BBMmk2]

Hope people have been watching The Plantagenets series on BBC2, No.2 on tomorrow night! I think it was rather good.

Rather a mixed bag yesterday, including a hailstone shower!!

[Serial_Apologist]

Hope people have been watching The Plantagenets series on BBC2, No.2 on tomorrow night! I think it was rather good.

Rather a mixed bag yesterday, including a hailstone shower!!

The Plantagenets were a bit too much before my time to be of interest, personally, BBM.

It's sunny here at the moment, albeit rather cold, but a walk's too risky with clouds building up rapidly, just like yesterday afternoon.

[Petrushka]

Some rain this morning, bright and sunny since but with a very unpleasant cold wind. Very much like yesterday only the wind was stronger still and really very nasty indeed especially when it was head on!

[BBMmk2]

A bit of a mixed bag it turned pout yesterday. But the better weather came out on top, as the day went on. Went to Eastbourne to see my son and his girlfriend yesterday. Had a lovely lunch too. (I better bring some beer with me next time!! :()

[marthe]

Sunny and brisk today. The rhododendron leaves were curled tight as pencils which means it's COLD. A nor'easter is supposed to clobber us with wind and snow starting late tomorrow going into Wednesday. These nor'easters usually kick in around noon and then intensify by evening. I hope it stays cold so that the snow will be light and dry rather than heavy and wet. Maybe after this storm, we can retire the snow shovels for the season.

[Anna]

........ some of the most vigorous convection I have ever seen in real life - cloud build-up actively visible, as if watching speeded up time-lapse, like the link I posted here a couple of days ago of a tropical storm cloud - just amazing!

S_A, have you thought about getting a phone with a camera/video? You do seem to have the most interesting cloud formations, etc., I don't know if it's because London is flat and possibly you are on a top floor and therefore see cloud events building up better then us mere mortals surrounded by hills?

Yesterday, after an unpromising start with rain threatening, turned out to be very nice as the afternoon progressed and by around 4pm the sky was totally clear and the sun really quite warm (10°) as the wind finally dropped. Of course that meant a cold, but beautiful starry night with good moonlight from the three-quarter moon, and down to around -3.0° Today has been quite nasty, dry, grey, but extremely keen wind back again. However, it seems as from next Saturday we are in for considerably higher temps for the week. Yesterday I potted up my violas into three tubs and very cheerful they look outside the front door. Even better, whilst gardening yesterday I found I have a clump of wild violets!

[Serial_Apologist]

Sunny and brisk today. The rhododendron leaves were curled tight as pencils which means it's COLD. A nor'easter is supposed to clobber us with wind and snow starting late tomorrow going into Wednesday. These nor'easters usually kick in around noon and then intensify by evening. I hope it stays cold so that the snow will be light and dry rather than heavy and wet. Maybe after this storm, we can retire the snow shovels for the season.

That low, coming up the E coast where you are from the south, looks about as scary is they come, marthe; so: very best of luck!

[Serial_Apologist]

S_A, have you thought about getting a phone with a camera/video? You do seem to have the most interesting cloud formations, etc., I don't know if it's because London is flat and possibly you are on a top floor and therefore see cloud events building up better then us mere mortals surrounded by hills?

I have a view to the NNW, Anna, bounded on a clear day by the Hampstead Heath/Highgate range 12 miles to the north: the 250 ft contour passes through this building, with not much between here and there apart from the PO Tower, the London Eye and a new skyscraper on the S Bank near Vauxhall I have christened the Thermos Flask popping up to interrupt the skyline. I get to see the New Year fireworks through binoculars as long as the viz is good enough, and hear the bangs 25 seconds later! Round to the right can just about be seen St Pauls and the numerous skyscrapers in the City, and the Shard, illuminated with bright red lights at night, resembling an oil refinery. A five minute walk to the east takes me to the top of the Crystal Palace ridge, 366 feet up, from which wider views are afforded embracing Battersea Power Station and the Wembley stadium, with the Chilterns forming the skyline on a very clear day. From further south, where the Palace once stood, the hump of Shooters Hill, at 425 feet the second highest location in London, can be seen, and as I discovered yesterday, the towers at each end of the Queen Elisabeth Bridge where the M25 crosses the Thames between Kent and Essex, are visible.

Yesterday, after an unpromising start with rain threatening, turned out to be very nice as the afternoon progressed and by around 4pm the sky was totally clear and the sun really quite warm (10°) as the wind finally dropped. Of course that meant a cold, but beautiful starry night with good moonlight from the three-quarter moon, and down to around -3.0° Today has been quite nasty, dry, grey, but extremely keen wind back again. However, it seems as from next Saturday we are in for considerably higher temps for the week. Yesterday I potted up my violas into three tubs and very cheerful they look outside the front door. Even better, whilst gardening yesterday I found I have a clump of wild violets!

You must have a longer range forecast than I, then. Mine predicts temperatures of around 13 C returning by Friday.

[marthe]

Calm before the storm here in Newport, RI. I'm more worried about high wind than snow right now.

[BBMmk2]

Oh dear! Doesn't sound too great, marthe? How high the wind speeds going to be?

Be a mixed bag again tday!

[gurnemanz]

Bracing bike trip to get fish and veg at weekly market in town. Quite a chilly Northish wind hereabouts.

[marthe]

Oh dear! Doesn't sound too great, marthe? How high the wind speeds going to be?

Be a mixed bag again tday!

BBM it's gusting right now...they say up to 50-60 MPH gusts, though I don't think it's quite that strong right now. We've had a dusting (thank goodness) of snow which should melt when the sun comes out tomorrow. It's the wind that worries me (if it doesn't kill me). We've got a rather shaky pine tree in the back that is near the electrical etc. wires that go into our house and our neighbor's house. Our wires are all above ground supported by tall wooden poles (like telegraph poles). Last week, I'd put in a call to to our tree man to have a look and give an estimate for removal but he doesn't come back from holiday until Friday.

[BBMmk2]

BBM it's gusting right now...they say up to 50-60 MPH gusts, though I don't think it's quite that strong right now. We've had a dusting (thank goodness) of snow which should melt when the sun comes out tomorrow. It's the wind that worries me (if it doesn't kill me). We've got a rather shaky pine tree in the back that is near the electrical etc. wires that go into our house and our neighbor's house. Our wires are all above ground supported by tall wooden poles (like telegraph poles). Last week, I'd put in a call to to our tree man to have a look and give an estimate for removal but he doesn't come back from holiday until Friday.

Hope the pine tree behaves itself then marthe!!

[Serial_Apologist]

I have noticed that conifers such as pine are more flexible and "bendy" in high winds than deciduous species as a whole, and I imagine would carry less weight, so any damage to overhead power lines would likely be more limited.

Sleet was falling here an hour ago, following a dramatic fall in temperature from 9 C at 1pm to 3 C; now just light rain, and wind has dropped.

[marthe]

S_A that's a reassuring bit of info about pines! So far so good. I think the wind dies down tonight but it's still blowing quite hard at the moment. Sounds as if you're having a bit of weather drama as well. I'm glad neither snow nor sleet is falling here. We've all had enough of winter for sure.