Stormy Weather

[salymap]

Cleared off to the South East, thanks for that.

Waldhorn and doversoul will be able to report on the far SE but even here is is always one or two degrees colder than London, I've noticed. Bestio, keep dryio. [Sorry}

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

middle kingdom well covered in a few solid inches of snow with menacing dark skies .. and roads, despite timely gritting, becoming scary ...

[Serial_Apologist]

here is is always one or two degrees colder than London, I've noticed.

3 degrees colder here than what I think of as "inner London", normally, (ie starting from this direction at Camberwell) because at 250 feet we have added height and exposure. One benefit at least is we don't suffer the intense summer heat often experienced in the W End and City!

[Lateralthinking1]

Amazing what these tiny fluctuations in temperature bring about within this limited range!

And tiny fluctuations both in distance and topography. We are probably 7-8 miles from each other but I am 575 feet above sea level. London/Surrey borders as you know but in terms of weather it is West Kent. Big thick flakes currently. Not settling yet.

[marthe]

More dreariness here today. Grey sky, drizzle, damp, chill but not freezing. Nothing more to be said.

[JFLL]

3 degrees colder here than what I think of as "inner London", normally, (ie starting from this direction at Camberwell) because at 250 feet we have added height and exposure. One benefit at least is we don't suffer the intense summer heat often experienced in the W End and City!

What was the grotesquely hot beginning of August 2003 like in your neck of the woods, S_A and salymap? I must say that in SE3 it was absolutely unbearable. I remember listening to a Prom with Mackerras at the time and wondering how the strings managed not to slide about all over the place from sweaty fingers!

[Anna]

When I left home early this morning I realised I had wrapped up too warmly, we had no further rain and it turned into a lovely sunny afternoon and 6° Cloud has been building and there has just been a heavy rain shower, more promised around 6pm. Rather spectacular sunset, orange gold reflecting off white clouds, turquoise background and cumulus nimbus building again. Tomorrow's forcast is bright and dry but of course ice first thing tomorrow will now be the problem. If the forecasts are accurate I may get a little snow overnight on Tuesday but no more until Friday.
With all the newpaper headlines you would think we are heading into a state of emergency! It's Winter therefore it snows! Although for me the Winter of 2010 was the most miserable I've known.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes here too, a pale blue sky now, with a rosy blush towards the west... Not quite the golden glories of Anna's hilltop vantage point though!

[Nick Armstrong]

Apologies to all for overlooking the thread - especially Caliban, who I see has sensibly decided not to motor north.

No problem, S_A

It's been lovely stopping in

[salymap]

No one except HS or Gamba would remember the winters of 1947 and 1963. In the former an elderly Aunt couldn't get home for 2 weeks after spending Christmas with us and my father, as father's can, got rather grumpy about the delay. I travelled on the infamous 'Dartford Loop Line' as it was then in the winter of 63 and got to work in London half way through the morning however early I left home.

At least that's over, Kent commuting has always been dreadful.

[Serial_Apologist]

What was the grotesquely hot beginning of August 2003 like in your neck of the woods, S_A and salymap? I must say that in SE3 it was absolutely unbearable. I remember listening to a Prom with Mackerras at the time and wondering how the strings managed not to slide about all over the place from sweaty fingers!

I wasn't then living in SE19, JFLL, but in Essex. It still managed to reach 35 C there; my g/f of the time and I lay on the back lawn watching the ominous clouds gathering in from the west, not moving until the first large spots of warm rain began to fall and the thunder and lightning were almost overhead, then we scarpered indoors!

[Anna]

I remember 2003, I think I melted into a little puddle ... checking our weather station records it wasn't as hot here but peaked at 30.9° on the 9th August.
Saly, an elderly friend of mine (he's 80) told me about the Winter of 1947, he was growing up in rural Wales and remembers the snow drifts as high as the hedges in the lanes, but they survived!

[mangerton]

No one except HS or Gamba would remember the winters of 1947 and 1963.

Well actually...... I remember 63. I was living in Hawick at the time, and the town was cut off by road and rail for several days. The snow was extremely deep, and lay for weeks, but life - school life anyway - went on as usual.

[amateur51]

I remember the winter of '62/63 - my last Winter in short trews

Who knew that a chap's thighs could go so purple but not succumb to gangrene

[Petrushka]

I remember 2003, I think I melted into a little puddle ... checking our weather station records it wasn't as hot here but peaked at 30.9° on the 9th August.
Saly, an elderly friend of mine (he's 80) told me about the Winter of 1947, he was growing up in rural Wales and remembers the snow drifts as high as the hedges in the lanes, but they survived!

My parents remember the winter of 1947 very well and would often tell us stories of their experiences. My mother (now in a care home, alas) would recount how she took her younger brother to school (yes, they stayed open) in snow that was indeed 'as high as the hedges'. One of my old schoolmasters (he died only a few weeks ago) showed us his photographs one day in class and they showed just how amazing it was.