Stormy Weather II

[Old Grumpy]

Yes.. ...with warm sunshine and even a hint of spring. No signs of birdsong yet, apart from the omnipresent parakeets, but one of our clumps of daffs has a flower about to emerge - way ahead of our croci and snowdrops. Don't think I've ever seen that before, anywhere!

Birdsong here for quite a while, especially on warmer, spring-like days. A few daffys here and there. I too noticed very few snowdrops, but a few are now beginning to peek out.

[oddoneout]

Yes, I'd been keeping checks on the situation as it proceeded via UKWW, on which posters with the right kinds of resources were relaying ongoing positions. Not surprisingly there did seem to be disagreements, given things were changing minute-by-minute, but 948 did seem to be a rough ballpark figure. If I remember correctly the barometer fell to a low point of 946 mb at the height of the infamous October 1987 "hurricane". I can remember wondering if my barometer had broken.

It was beautiful here as well when I went out for a short strolll around the block half an hour ago, with warm sunshine and even a hint of spring. No signs of birdsong yet, apart from the omnipresent parakeets, but one of our clumps of daffs has a flower about to emerge - way ahead of our croci and snowdrops. Don't think I've ever seen that before, anywhere!

948mb was from the Met Office recording station which is sited somewhere adjacent to the loch in question. It was below 960 from 7am to 5pm.

Plant flowering is getting more and more out of synch, but many years ago I had a little narcissus called Rijnvelds Early Sensation which would always be out in January, despite winters then often being bitter, with February Gold often not much behind.

[Serial_Apologist]

One big flash and loud bang of thunder half a mile to my east followed by two smaller ones as I was taking my lunch earlier today. I had been expecting this, as it had become so dark that I had needed to switch on the lights in the lounge, and I was getting a weird swelling feeling in the head I've previously experienced in similar meteorological situations. The storms were part of a chain running east across much of the country (excluding Scotland) as a result of surface convergence - strong approaching winds displacing lighter winds ahead having an upward thrust effect at ground level. Similar to one vehicle colliding into the back of another moving at lower speed. Gusts ahead of an earlier cloudburst had been strong enough to blow over several half-full wheelie bins on the westward-facing end of our block - nasty job to clear up in the wake of the event.

[Old Grumpy]

Serious hailstorm Wiltshire/Hampshire border territory yesterday - the roads were covered in ice balls.

[Serial_Apologist]

Serious hailstorm Wiltshire/Hampshire border territory yesterday - the roads were covered in ice balls.

I saw several youtube clips taken across various parts of the country yesterday of hailstones on road surfaces and accumulating into white roadside verges. It seems the last heavy storm came during last night, centred around the Purbeck region on the S coast. Instructively, the winds dying down have meant less energy for showers of that intensity today; and although the low is now pretty much directly overhead as it makes it's way slowly ENE, all that now remains of that convection is a surrounding ring of decayed anvil thunderhead remnants and disorganised fracto-cumulus "clag", producing spits and spots of light to moderate rain, rather than showers as properly designated. Tomorrow it is going to be interesting to see how far north the rain band extending from the low expected to traverse France reaches - in other words how accurate the official forecasts prove to be. If correct, S London will be just within the northward boundary, hence light rain and light easterly winds for here. After that it appears we have just one more vigorous low bringing more typical wind-bearing rain fronts, after which (fingers crossed!) high pressure edges in from the south west for at least the first half of the weekend. No signs of severe weather of any kind as far as anybody can see.

[Serial_Apologist]

Dull. windy, and raining, just a few degrees lower it would likely be snowing. This, the kind of weather I hate the most, for my afternoon walk, which I made as short and as snappy as possible, but had to take, since I had stayed indoors all day yesterday. And it looks like we're stuck with this regime for the rest of the week, at least!

[Petrushka]

Dull. windy, and raining, just a few degrees lower it would likely be snowing. This, the kind of weather I hate the most, for my afternoon walk, which I made as short and as snappy as possible, but had to take, since I had stayed indoors all day yesterday. And it looks like we're stuck with this regime for the rest of the week, at least!

It's often at about this point in February that we get a brief mild spell, a foretaste of the spring to come (hopefully). No such chance of that this year. It's remaining stubbornly cold here, even feeling cold with the heating well on.

[oddoneout]

After quite a long spell of what might politely be called 'variable' weather, it turned settled a few days ago. Unfortunately what it has settled into is the kind of East Anglian weather I remember we used to have many years ago at about this time of year, namely bitter easterly winds with occasional spiteful bits of light rain. The temptation to hibernate with one of my library books is considerable, but isn't good for me either physically or mentally, so I make a point of going out, even if only for a 20 minute wander to see how the contractors are getting on with the estate being built on the fields at the bottom of my garden. Returning home renews appreciation of my good fortune in being able to heat my house...