Stormy Weather II

[DracoM]

Absolute scorcher up here!

[oddoneout]

It got very warm (27) very quickly after midday, turning from pleasant to uncomfortable in the process. I'm not looking forward to the next few days which are set to become even hotter. The volunteer garden slot will I suspect be no more than a brief check and watering of planting made last week. On the plus side needing to stay indoors out of the heat might enable me to finish the book sort-out that I've begun. Two big bags went to a charity shop on Saturday, and I have another half filled bag ready to complete for donation to another, but there are a great many more that for various reasons I no longer need to keep.

[Serial_Apologist]

All being well today's still continuing intense thunderstorms over the NE of Greece should help deal with the devastating forest fires afflicting that particular area, one hopes.

[Serial_Apologist]

All being well today's still continuing intense thunderstorms over the NE of Greece should help deal with the devastating forest fires afflicting that particular area, one hopes.

The above has materialised in the biggest and most horrendous way possible, with thunderstorms producing unprecedented rainfall amounts, possibly an all-time record for Europe - over 2 feet of rainfall with widespread flooding and ruination - and it's still going on, with large areas of continuous lightning currently showing across eastern Greece and to the SW across the Greek islands. Meanwhile here it reached 28 C this afternoon, 31C in central London, and in all probability a 32C somewhere - the old 90 degs. If forecasts are correct for Saturday we could well be talking of 34 C somewhere, which I believe would be an all-time high for the UK in September. The break is not now expected to occur until Monday.

[oddoneout]

Well I won't be surprised if it rains here next Wednesday - or perhaps heavily on Tuesday night. At the site where I do volunteer gardening on a Wednesday morning the lavender in one of the borders is due to be cut, and as there are several people on site who want some for drying it needs to be laid in trays for them to collect. If it's wet then it can only sit around for a couple of days before it starts going mouldy, and with so many of the office staff part-time or not on site each day that poses problems. Ah well, not much we can do about it.

[Pulcinella]

A misty morning here today: felt cooler last night but still 21–22C in the house (with many windows open all night).

[Serial_Apologist]

A misty morning here today: felt cooler last night but still 21–22C in the house (with many windows open all night).

Same here: tried my abovementioned remedy last night, but our outside temperature did not go below 19 C - and the main reward for my efforts are four mosquito bites on my ankles! It has just reached 26.5 at noon - 80 F in the old Fahrenheit - and I estimate will peak at 30 C this afternoon despite today being quite cloudy, for the first time in five days. There are signs of convectivity in those mid-level clouds, incipient indications of elevated thunder. This has not actually been forecast for this region, but neither were the elevated showers which went up the middle of the country on Wednesday night.

[Joseph K]

Scorchio - '29 but feels like 31' here apparently. Mostly cloudless and stuffy. Had to stop practising guitar because, unfortunately, when it's this hot the fretboard gets sweaty and while I don't think I've hurt myself, I do sort of sense one particular place on my middle finger which is prone to get a bit raw if I play a lot in this temperature...

[Bryn]

Scorchio - '29 but feels like 31' here apparently. Mostly cloudless and stuffy. Had to stop practising guitar because, unfortunately, when it's this hot the fretboard gets sweaty and while I don't think I've hurt myself, I do sort of sense one particular place on my middle finger which is prone to get a bit raw if I play a lot in this temperature...

30°C outside in the the shade here but 5°C lower indoors. However, I need to head for the shops,soon and am not expecting to enjoy venturing out much. I will probably take the bus to shorten the time outside and benefit from what breeze comes in trough its open windows, or maybe walk there and take the bus back.

[Joseph K]

30°C outside in the the shade here but 5°C lower indoors. However, I need to head for the shops,soon and am not expecting to enjoy venturing out much. I will probably take the bus to shorten the time outside and benefit from what breeze comes in trough its open windows, or maybe walk there and take the bus back.

I am having to give the guitar a rest for the rest of today, so I'll be listening to more music than normal...

[Serial_Apologist]

I am having to give the guitar a rest for the rest of today, so I'll be listening to more music than normal...

I made the most of the temperature still being only 20C to take my weekly ride over to E Dulwich Sainsbury's first thing this morning. I then shut myself indoors with curtains all drawn, only venturing out between listening to Revolver for the first time in several years and the start of J to Z. That recording especially gives a reminder of how everyday life seemed so much refracted through the prism of the music of the time - you stuck the record on the turntable then went out and the whole world felt irradiated - though why the Beatles record should have evoked this feeling rather than listening to Music In Our Time or going to the Proms, then under Glock, is anyone's guess. Perhaps it has something to do with the Beatles having managed to convey the carefreeness of that era if you were of a certain age in a spirit of innovativeness - there wasn't much happy go lucky to be found in the musical avant-garde back then!

[Joseph K]

I made the most of the temperature still being only 20C to take my weekly ride over to E Dulwich Sainsbury's first thing this morning. I then shut myself indoors with curtains all drawn, only venturing out between listening to Revolver for the first time in several years and the start of J to Z. That recording especially gives a reminder of how everyday life seemed so much refracted through the prism of the music of the time - you stuck the record on the turntable then went out and the whole world felt irradiated - though why the Beatles record should have evoked this feeling rather than listening to Music In Our Time or going to the Proms, then under Glock, is anyone's guess. Perhaps it has something to do with the Beatles having managed to convey the carefreeness of that era if you were of a certain age in a spirit of innovativeness - there wasn't much happy go lucky to be found in the musical avant-garde back then!

Fantastic record.

[oddoneout]

Reached 31 here late afternoon. Tonight is going to be unpleasant - hot and humid. Not looking forward to Sunday as it's a big event day at work, so no chance to take it easy, and a lot of walking around outside, with or without loaded rubbish bags. Luckily I only do short shifts these days but it'll be late morning to mid afternoon.

[DracoM]

Well....constant warnings of storm/lightning/thunder etc, but..........up here where forecasts were hottest, not a drop, not a rumble, not a flash...............then SUDDENLY, minutes after I finished postng, roof-rattling rain and darkness...........woops!

[Serial_Apologist]

Well....constant warnings of storm/lightning/thunder etc, but..........up here where forecasts were hottest, not a drop, not a rumble, not a flash...............then SUDDENLY, minutes after I finished postng, roof-rattling rain and darkness...........woops!

Likewise the storms have so far passed London by, favouring more of a north-easterly trajectory from the SW; so the current major activity is from a line of probably elevated thunderstorms (to judge by the continuous lightning) south-east and north-east of Peterborough, and a cluster of surface-based storms slow-moving across the south of Northumberland. Here the altocumulus has now ceased to castellate, giving a benign now less polluted half-cloudy sky of bubble wrap cloud. Temperatures now down to 27 C from an earlier peak of 30 C, and no indications of convection or even showers to the south west, to which the wind has now veered; it still feels hideously humid, however.