Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Roma on November 20, 2013, 09:45:13 PM
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Nobody has mentioned the weather for a while. I couldn't find the thread.
We had snow here yesterday but it's all gone today
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Lovely photos, Roma.
We've had lots of rain and a dramatic hail storm today. Salvia Wendy's Wish and the Strobilanthes were flowering on the 19th Nov but got smashed today.[attach=1][attach=2]
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Nobody has mentioned the weather for a while. I couldn't find the thread.
We had snow here yesterday but it's all gone today
Lovely pictures Roma, not like us folks in the UK not to talk about the weather ;D
Angie :)
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Here in the southern Willamette Valley (normally Zone 8) we are just now coming out of the most severe spell of winter weather in over 40 years. Temperatures did not get above freezing for 7 days, and we had 7 inches of snow last Friday. There have been six nights/mornings in a row with temperatures below 12 degrees F (-11 deg. C), and two nights below 0. At the airport, the coldest morning was Sunday, when -10 degrees F was recorded, only 2 degrees off the all-time record. The airport is in a bit of a cold pocket, at my house I "only" recorded -3. Pretty extreme for an area where most years the coldest temps are in the teens. The snow was lovely, and with snow covering all of my pots and troughs, so many of my plants will be fine, but my Zone 8 trees and shrubs may be goners. My 25 ft. tall Michelia wilsonii (normally evergreen) has turned brown, I expect the leaves to all fall off, I can only hope that I'll get epicormic branching from the trunk to replace all of the lost twigs. Cinnamomum wilsonii looks better, the leaves are mostly green with some blotchiness, maybe I have hope there. My Garrya elliptica was damaged when young by upper single digit cold, it looks ok now so maybe the maturity of the plants will help. If not, I can always cut them to the ground and hope that they re-sprout...
Ed
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I don't have to complain about winter weather in Belgium. We have some mild frosts at night only, December has already given us more than the average monthly number of sunshine hours 8)
And there are still many dandelions flowering right now. I cant' remember ever to have seen these plants flowering so late in the year - and I'm 48 years old already :o
Last week-end, at the warmest time of the day I have even spotted some bumblebees flying around ! Thought they normally should be hybernating at this time of the year ...
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Blowing an absolute gale here, just retrieved our wheelie-bin from the bottom of the road (along with a dozen or so others) and don't think I'll bother retrieving the shreds of my first lost fence panel of the Winter from next doors garden.
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Very windy here last night. 7 panes of glass out of the greenhouse. I spent ages on knees picking up the small slivers of glass in the grass. Some bits had flown quite far before hitting the ground and shattering. I think there are still bits lurking among the pots in the greenhouse. My husband managed to replace the one on the side but he's not very fit to reach up to the ones on the roof but he'll try. I have some bits of bubble plastic I used to line an 8 by 12 greenhouse a long time ago so have put that over the plants under the holes in case it rains. Temperature is not supposed to drop below zero in the next few days so hopefully I can get someone to fix the roof before it does.
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Hi Roma, same here I thought I would wake up to a tree or two down behind the house. I watched as the trees bended in the moonlight, just pleased to see them bend away from the greenhouse. Only damage was the lantern on the lamppost. It fell near the car. If I can help with your greenhouse give me a shout. Lets hope thats the last of these gales.
Angie :)
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Big storm last night, worse than St Judes. Blew away the mini polytunnels over the species Tulips. Other minor damage; we will need two new fence panels. Now need to re-batten the hatches before the next one, due Friday. Sigh!
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Winter storm damage reports from Eastern USA and Canada inthe last day or so and they're waiting for another hit ..... UK being blown around and so is a large part of Europe - Merry Christmas everyone!
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Maggi - Parts of the Annapolis Valley, especially the Fundy shore were hit here and some are still without power as the temperatures drop. We missed it here on the Atlantic coast but southern New Brunswick was badly affected and I believe 45,000 are still powerless. Maggiepie should have received snow instead.
Toronto to Kingston were clobbered and the temperatures are in the minus teens celsius. Hundreds of thousands without power. The elderly living alone are a bit worry there, freezing and no getting out of the high-rises.
johnw
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So many problems, John - hope the storm passes more quickly than is forecast but it'll still be a long job repairing the power lines and so on .
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It was very windy (77mph stated on the greenhouse's ridge), Friday forecast are bad with a similar scenario.
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Very vicious storm here last night but no damage that I can see,lots of trees down in the neighbourhood though and 70,000 people with no electricity. I was up most of the night wondering if we would survive until morning and listening for glass breaking, thankfully all is well.
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Electricity back here within the last hour.
The only real damage was a eucalyptus blown down, which is now in the wood shed.
A new planting opportunity for the New Year 8)
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We had a second gales episode this morning, but it was short and wind were less severe.
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Pretty bad here too. Luckily local damage confined to missing dustbins, fences, most of a garden shed (none of which were mine) and the remains of a Christmas jumper that we couldn't get anyone to claim, and that wasn't mine either! Local travel not good between fallen trees and flooded roads.
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Another day, another storm....
Posting this from my new Kindle Fire tablet - Christmas gift from my wife. Amazing bit of kit!
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Since no really noticeable frost has hit us (yet) nature continues to surprise us with unusual behavior. Right now I have this wild carrot flowering in my lawn. Makes me think of the winter 2006/2007 where I counted only 2 days with sub-zero temperatures, quite a contrast with the next winter that gave us from mid December on maximum day temperatures of -10°C.
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Worst of last night's storm cleared us around 10am leaving us with a bit of watery sun and a gusty wind. Good washing day said Mrs N and she's just hanging out the first batch. Bet it doesn't last though! Meanwhile the communal fence party have been fully employed yet again and with another three barrow loads of shredded fence ready for the local tip.
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............. and it didn't! Much "cussing" going on at the minute, most directed at the weather gods, some directed at me as I couldn't find my shoes to go out and help get the washing in. Have suggested appropriate New Year's Resolution but that only produced more "cussing" :D
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:D
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An absolutely horrendous day here (first New Year's day since we married we never stepped out of the house) torrential rain blowing in horizontally from the Atlantic from dawn to dusk, with more promised later this evening and tomorrow, and gale force winds too. Dread to think what it must be like on local roads further down the hill. Luckily we live around around 400 feet above sea level so it would need floods of Biblical proportions to affect us apart from the vast amounts of gravel and rubble washed down from Dartmoor streams in spate.
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Same here, New Year's Day walk cancelled, only ventured out to see if anything had been blown away. And more to come apparently.
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Local tele news promises us worse than ever weather tomorrow here on the South West peninsula. Strong winds (very strong-structural and tree damage likely! ) torrential rain (used to that) and those nearer the coast than I am (around 14 miles for me) can expect storm surges with exceptionally high tides.
Just checking for deals in Tenerife, surely a month should crack it ;D
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Look on the bright side David they did forecast that it would be a winter full of snow and below zero temperatures. Have yet to see a frost here were I live. And having just read my meters the other day and i have used about a third less than last year. But it will probably cost the same >:(
Now all I have to do is clean the windows again due to all the salt on them.
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Winter blizzard warning here in Nova Scotia. Yesterday the daytime high temperature was -18C. Thankfully there is snow falling, to insulate the plants against this cold though I may regret this last comment in a few hours. Areas just north of Boston Massachusetts have received up to 53 cm of snow! At least there's no need to travel anywhere today ;D
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This was the sight that greeted me when I ventured out on Christmas Day.
Luckily the greenhouse suffered no broken glass. The 3 fence panels were undamaged - think my insurance will cover cost of reinstating them £100 material plus labour.
Constant rain or threat of it makes repair a problem.
And I am still clearing remains of the 60ft Ash that was brought down in the St Jude storm end October.
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During the end of afternoon we got a 10mn storm with gales at 77mph, hails, the sky tainted to violet, orange and black in 2-3 minutes, it was so powerfull, never seen something like that in our area.
Temperature was 14°c, after the storm 1°c in no time at all.
The meteo station fixed on the greenhouse didn't resist, sowing and bulbs polytunnels are now ruined
Really impressive, just to remind you're nothing on earth.
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So sorry about your bulbs and seed, Yann.
Here my allotment and greenhouses are flooded and the front fence at home has blown into the neighbour's garden. Quite scary.
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Frosty this morning, but they got up later. Back to wind and rain again tonight.
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This afterrnon I replaced the sheet on the small polytunnels and what's happen at 23pm? a new storm, i can ear the sound of plastic floating in the wind. Damn when does the temperature will drop.
(http://www.meteo-paris.com/site/images/orage_nord_ouest_03_jan_14_16.jpg)
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Very weird weather. They forecast a bit of frost here but we didn't get any. Instead there was a big fat bumble bee enjoying the Daphnes this afternoon and, amazingly, white fly on the Strobilanthes. Goodness knows how they weren't blown away with the fence and the various gales which followed.
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In NE Scotland we are veering between frosts and pouring rain - which is not really that bad though some of us ( me!) are feeling badly done by- but I was chastened by this message from a friend in Ontario.........
"I will gladly give you some of our winter. We have had snow and cold from December on. We were without heat for 5 days over Christmas so my poor husband had to man the generator to keep the heat in the greenhouse and hoop house above freezing, The temperature on Dec 24 was -20 C so it was no small feat. We did make it through but the temperature in my greenhouse went to 7 C Christmas day when we went off to our son's for dinner. No heat means no turkey cooking for me............. The best thing about the holidays is getting together with family and friends.
Time is going slowly at this time of year but we will have lots of pruning to do after the ice storm. At present it is too slippery and icy to walk out except with snowshoes on.............. " :o
I've given myself 100 lines -
I will not moan about the rain
I will not moan about the rain
I will not moan about the rain ........................................................ ::) :P
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In the meantime we're moaning about a week of 40oC days here in Southern Australia (Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria) with a huge increase in the fire risk! Rain would be nice! We got 4 mm yesterday but it was accompanied by a thunderstorm with lightning strikes starting many fires in parts of western Victoria!
I'm soooo looking forward to autumn - not just for the flowers!
cheers
fermi
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Here in Northern California we are having an epic drought. We are now into our 3rd year of drought. Ugh! 2013 was our driest year in our short weather history going back to 1878 and all the reservoirs and rivers are now dangerously low. In addition, our daytime temperatures are at record or near record highs. This is our winter. Where is the snow? There is no rain or snow in the long range forecasts, going into early February.
The landscape is still brown when it should be green at this time of year. I should be able to keep the ornamentals alive this summer however with the extreme dry conditions our native plants may suffer. Right now I do not see much or any growth in our native bulbs and some perennials that should be up and started by now. I was a little farther up the mountain today and did see a tiny amount of snow and puddles of water.
The positive side is there may be something good to learn from this situation. I did survived the 1976-1977 drought years.
Robert
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Typical seasonal weather patterns have apparently vanished this season, and it seems to be the same wherever you are in this world! Our large ponds were frozen completely by December 13th, and the ice was thick enough to carry my weight last week. Blizzard hit on January 3rd and 4th, but you wouldn't guess any of it had happened at all today. All of the snow has vanished, and I'd have better luck skating on our ice cube tray- both ponds are completely ice free. If it weren't for the calendar, I'd swear it was early Spring.
What worries me are these bouncing temperatures.In the past two weeks, daytime high temperature here has ranged from -18C al the way to +12C. The freeze-thaw cycle, with added doses of rain and snowmelt- along with an underlying layer of frozen soil at depth, is likely to be the death of some plants here. I just hope there will be some protective snowfall once winter returns!
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Bouncing temperatures - the story of a Nova Scotia winter!
Hamamelis vernalis 'Lombart's Weeping' showing colour today, glorious weather. The rest could follow any day now.
Enjoy it, it's a long wait for April.
Snowdrops up an inch or more.
+5c here at 21:28.
johnw
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Very weather here in this part of Romania. (NW)
Can't really call it "winter".
Above freezing, no snow... in fact we complain it's too warm and dry, thinking of future crops like wheat, fruits and so on.
If trees start blooming soon and THEN the freezing winter comes, we're doomed!
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We are at the peak of the solar cycle, which normally results in higher temps here on earth, and at the same time we have the global warming. The current solar cycle is rated to be somewhat 'weak' by specialists, which I read as 'it could be much warmer'. The recent polar temps in large parts of the USA are somewhat in contradiction with these two facts, but definitely there is something changing with the climate.
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We are at the peak of the solar cycle, which normally results in higher temps here on earth, and at the same time we have the global warming.
Why do you add global warming - there has been no increase in temperature for at least the last 14 years. I believe this is forecast to be the situation for the next 30 years.
These conditions are certainly unpleasant - and I feel so sorry for anyone who has been flooded - but they are not that unusual.
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The discussion about wether there is or is not global warming has taken religious proportions. And as a result you find convincing studies blaming us completely as well as convincing studies saying we have nothing to do with it. Personally I think it is happening. But climate is something extremely vast with loads of complex interactions. But I see the following stats for Belgium : for 7 out of the 12 calendar months the (new) record high average temperature has been measured since the Year 2000 while the record lowest max temps almost all are dating back 100 years or older. Indeed, I do not see that many recent records when it concerns average rainfall or wind speed, these seem not influenced by the current average temps.
I used to do a lot of hiking in the French & Swiss Alps in the nineties and have seen how the glaciers are melting. I went twice to the 'glacier blanc' in the Massif des Ecrins, and with something like 5 years between the two trips the end of the glacier had withdrawn by several 100 meter.
In my opinion, if we do not feel yet to be cooked by the global warming, it's because some other factors temporarily reduce some of the warming effect over here. Solar activity is low, we receive a little less energy from the sun than say a few decades ago. Early 19 th century the solar activity was even much lower and it was also much colder on earth. Similarly the Maunder minimum between 1650 & 1700 is said to have been a period with much lower solar activity (zero sunspots during several decades) and is referred to as the little ice age. Additionally, the Gulfstream has lost a quarter of it's strength as a result of the melting water of Greenland's glaciers which slow it down on it's return to the South, so less warm water is sent to our side of the world which again keeps us a bit cooler. It's hard to predict what will happen with the solar activity, it's even hard to predict what will happen with the glaciers of Greenland, but when these will have melted completely or have shrinked so much that much less melting water gets to the see, the Gulfstream may recover full strength and heat us up.
And yes, there are cycles, 6000 years ago it was much warmer on the planet with monsoons in the Sahare desert, in some way things are repeating themselves.
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Today in my immediate neighbourhood we have had localised flooding - something that has not happened for 30 years.
As the main A20 was flooded our road became the only way through the village, but even this was difficult.
Found this item on the BBC to be interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510)
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My nephew took some photos of the local flooding.
The first two show the A20
Third is a local road with the flood water from the A20 passing through the front garden and continuing through to my road.
Last photo is taken at the top of the slope - my house is the one with solar panels on the right. It may not look deep and curiously is on the slope not at the bottom) but I can assure you most cars and vans went onto the pavement and have ruined the grass verges.
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Why do you add global warming - there has been no increase in temperature for at least the last 14 years. I believe this is forecast to be the situation for the next 30 years.
Here we go again. This '14 year lull' is nothing on a climatic time scale, and is due to lack of measurements from arctic regions. It ignores entirely the significant warming (& acidification due to more dissolved CO2) in the oceans.
Found this item on the BBC to be interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510)
If we are going through a solar minimum which should mean cooling, but actually have steadily increasing global temperatures then the implication is that global warming is more severe that we thought before, not less.
I'm not trying to have a go at you personally Art, but to me climate change denial in the face of so much evidence is wilful ignorance.
However I think most people understand that specific events (like your local flooding) can't be attributed to man-made global warming without doing research (which requires funding and political commitment).
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Ashley
I wish people could discuss without the polarisation that occurs.
I don't think either of us will live long enough to see if it can be proven conclusively that man is responsible. Scientists were forced to modify their arguments as they could not match the facts, and are likely to have to change again.
Better that we all concentrated on using less energy - saves money and conserves the planet's resources. This is surely without argument - unless you are a power supply company that would see profits drop :)
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I'm not trying to have a go at you personally Art, but to me climate change denial in the face of so much evidence is wilful ignorance.
I agree.
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Ashley
I wish people could discuss without the polarisation that occurs.
I'm certainly with you there Art.
I don't think either of us will live long enough to see if it can be proven conclusively that man is responsible. Scientists were forced to modify their arguments as they could not match the facts, and are likely to have to change again.
Unfortunately we passed that point some time ago. The latest IPCC report (http://www.ipcc.ch/) indicates that climate change now underway is mainly due to increase in atmospheric CO2 since the pre-industrial era (taken as before 1750), i.e. due to man's activities.
Science can never prove anything of course, only fail to disprove it. Our knowledge advances as we take into account new information and continually re-evaluate previous interpretations. Therefore as the evidence accumulates and is tested more and more stringently, our confidence grows that climate change is real and mainly caused by our activities.
Better that we all concentrated on using less energy - saves money and conserves the planet's resources. This is surely without argument - unless you are a power supply company that would see profits drop :)
Agreed again :)
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Climate change is certainly caused by our activities according to Henley on Thames councillor David Silvester who blames recent storms and floods on an act of God after the Government decided to legalise gay marriage:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-councillor-blames-floods-on-gay-marriage-9069245.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-councillor-blames-floods-on-gay-marriage-9069245.html)
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... specific events ... can't be attributed to man-made global warming without doing research (which requires funding and political commitment).
Not quite the political commitment I had in mind ::) but I suppose he's saving taxpayers from having to pay for attribution research ;) ;D
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Climate change is certainly caused by our activities according to Henley on Thames councillor David Silvester who blames recent storms and floods on an act of God after the Government decided to legalise gay marriage:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-councillor-blames-floods-on-gay-marriage-9069245.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-councillor-blames-floods-on-gay-marriage-9069245.html)
;D ;D ;D Could anyone (in their right mind of course!) vote for an idiot like that?
Took us three hours today to travel 25 miles. Flooded roads, drowned engines and fools driving like idiots!
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;D ;D ;D Could anyone (in their right mind of course!) vote for an idiot like that?.........
Evidently they can in Henley.
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;D ;D ;D
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47th consecutive days without measurable rainfall during the rainy season - a new record for Northern California! :'(
No chilling hours either! So many plants are confused.
I spend most of my time watering. My tears bring more moisture than the sky.
So much for the nonlinear behavior of the weather.
Robert
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Still no winter here in N Ireland. Only a few mornings where warm water had to be used to melt frost on the car windows. No days of snowdrops lying flat. 11c here today but very wet
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47th consecutive days without measurable rainfall during the rainy season - a new record for Northern California! :'(
No chilling hours either! So many plants are confused.
I spend most of my time watering. My tears bring more moisture than the sky.
So much for the nonlinear behavior of the weather.
Robert
47 days is quite a drought - How much longer will you have enough stored water to water with, Robert?
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47 days is quite a drought - How much longer will you have enough stored water to water with, Robert?
This is very difficult to know right now. Our irrigation district has additional water storage very high in the mountains. The water districts at the low elevations that service the Sacramento Valley are nearly out of water with the summer "dry season" still 5 months away. There are millions of acres of farm land in the valley that will get no irrigation water this season. There are several million residents of the greater Sacramento area that may not have any water by August, maybe sooner. It is a very grim situation for many areas in California.
The question for us that live here in the mountains is, will we have to share our water? Our water in storage would last about 2-4 weeks if sent down the mountain to the Sacramento area. Our population and agricultural acreage is relatively small. Very difficult choices may need to be made.
We might be okay. We can fallow our row crops and direct our water to our orchard and ornamentals. In addition, the carbon content of our soil is extremely high (carbon=water) so it retains moisture in a good way.
I will keep you (all) posted. At some point I'm sure this will become world news like the Rim Fire that burned parts of Yosemite National Park. Maybe there should be more on this too as the Rim Fire burned prime habitat for many interesting plants such as Erythronium taylori.
Today's high temperature in Sacramento was 79 F a record high for the month of January. The old record was 74 F.
I'll sign off for now.
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What a storm we got here, gales at 82mph! While we were eating in a restaurant, strong wind blow against a glass/alu structure that bends.
We didn't have time to finish the diner, the restaurant was evacuated.
Back to home i checked the METAR of the nearest airport and saw that south of Uk and Belgium were also in the tempest.
Crazy winter.
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What a storm we got here, gales at 82mph! While we were eating in a restaurant, strong wind blow against a glass/alu structure that bends.
We didn't have time to finish the diner, the restaurant was evacuated.
Back to home i checked the METAR of the nearest airport and saw that south of Uk and Belgium were also in the tempest.
Crazy winter.
I wonder how many of us are having crazy weather?
We are in our 3rd year of drought. This is not unusual. What is unusual is that this season we have less than 10% of our normal rain for the season. In addition, almost every day is a record breaking high temperature, including a record all time high for the month of January.
In relation to the past 110,000 years, the last 8,000 have been relatively kind to us.
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It seems that almost 2/3 of planet is currently having a winter/summer out the average range (temperature or rain).
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Yes,
I've heard that Siberia has been abnormally warm this January, the eastern U.S.A. abnormally cold and snowy. The snow in Cairo during December was the first in 118 or so years. For a weather watcher, like me, it is all very interesting.
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Anyone curious about the strange weather in California might want to check out
http://www.weatherwest.com/ (http://www.weatherwest.com/)
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I've just received these photos from Rimmer De Vries in Michigan - he is pretty fed up of snow piles as high as he is - who could blame him!
Views from 'front door and into his back yard
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
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Good news for us here in California!
Much needed rain and snow has arrived with more in the forecast this coming week and weekend.
Some communities were going to run out of water in the next month or so and now this may be avoided.
Hopefully the UK can dry-out a bit. The flooding in the Southwest is news here in the USA. We are hoping they get some relief and not from the Navy.
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Another battering storm due this weekend
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Our sky seems to be leaking. I have been told it's rain but it's been a while, so it could just be Scotch mist. We've not had the serious drought we had last year, but certainly rain is needed. It's been very warm and humid for the last couple of weeks.
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Meanwhile- at the Glenshee Ski Centre, they have too much snow for general skiing - drifts of around 32ft- almost to the tops of the pylons that support the chairlifts - that's around 70 or 80 miles from here - looks like a world away!
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/perth-kinross/more-snow-than-sochi-is-the-cry-from-glenshee-1.205170 (http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/perth-kinross/more-snow-than-sochi-is-the-cry-from-glenshee-1.205170)
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Its sunny and dry here today. I think a miracle has happened :)
Angie :)
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Angie, have a look at the weather forecast for the next week. :'(
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Showers on and off all day and breezy but in the last hour things have become very quiet and no wind at all. Ominous!
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We just got news from our irrigation district that the planting of row crops has been ban. We farm and grow row crops so I guess we are out of business this year.
At least we will be getting some water so we can save our orchard and other plantings. We are better off than some California farmers who have been told they will get no water at all.
Rain is fall now, however at 10% of average we have a long way to go to change the situation.
I'm thankful it is raining and that we will have some water this season. Now how to survive without income.
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I anticipate that Southern Water will announce a hosepipe ban in the summer.
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Angie, have a look at the weather forecast for the next week. :'(
Is it that bad Michael :o. Today felt good feeling and seeing the sun.
Angie :)
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It seems like we could do with a transatlantic pipeline! It's not funny for the people affected though. Do you think everyone's getting the message about climate change yet?
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Wholesale destruction here with hundreds of trees down and a quarter of a million homes with no Electricity. Thankfully my greenhouses are still standing for the moment anyway. Another storm expected on Friday.
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We're back to howling wind and rain - there will be snow on higher ground or inland I expect. Sounds really bad with you Michael - good luck in keeping the glasshouses.
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People who work on the land must always be more sensitive to the weather than most but this winter does seem more extreme than ever. One of our visitors to the garden to look at snowdrops who has been farming in Kent since the 1960's said he couldn't recall such a wet winter in all that time, and the recent winds certainly bring back to mind the 1987 gale. We are fortunate in having well drained soil and excess rains can drain away, and plants and gardens are resilient, but as my wife said our normally dry south-east weather, which has led us to concentrate on dry loving species of plants, is leading to some reconsideration. We are likely to have had 50% of our annual rainfall by the end of February.
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We are likely to have had 50% of our annual rainfall by the end of February.
I can well believe it. I heard on the radio this morning that a month's worth of weather edit : that should be RAIN - was expected today in some areas. I can believe that, too. :(
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Wholesale destruction here with hundreds of trees down and a quarter of a million homes with no Electricity. Thankfully my greenhouses are still standing for the moment anyway. Another storm expected on Friday.
Michael hope your greenhouses will be safe. I haven't heard from my sister, think she is still waiting to get her internet connected.
When will this awful weather stop.
Angie :)
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Probably the worst storm of the winter today certainly in terms of the volume of rain/hail that came down in a concentrated 4 hour spell this late morning/early afternoon, and the speed of the wind. Much of this coincided with one of our usual Wednesday jaunts that today meant crossing Dartmoor with some friends for lunch at one of the Dartmoor pubs. I certainly have never seen anything like it. Water was pouring from fields onto roads that are not usually ducted for drainage with water feet deep in places that meant for some pretty hairy driving (it had to be my turn too today!). Streams had turned into rivers overflowing their normal beds again into roadways, and rivers turned into torrents.
Why didn't you turn round and go back home did I hear you say? Well, we had tickets for a four for the price of two deal and, being a Yorkshireman I couldn't waste that could I ;D Best steak and ale pie I've had for some time too and that goes for the treacle sponge and custard too. Best part was as I drove there my mate had to drive back so that gave me a couple of pints of Jail Ale too. Bliss!
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We had destroying winds (and rain) before Christmas but not so mutch after that. It was also very mild till the middle of January, barely a few days with sub zero temps. January was very dry, and some places, especially along the coast, have had the driest winter for 100 years! It is still dry farther north and a lot of towns lack water!
It has also been many wildfires and 40-50 homes have burnt down. Wild animals are also dying of thirst!
February has been mild with no below zero temps at all here where I live but we have gotten some rain the last days.
In Longyearbyen, Svalbard the mean temp for the last 30 days is -1,5C, the normal is -16C. That is 15 degrees above normal for a very long period!
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We finally received some rain. 18cm in 5 days. Our utilities were out for 5 days - back to heating and cooking with the wood stove.
18cm of rain gets us to 30% of average rainfall so we still have drought conditions, however it looks like our pattern might have changed as more rain is in the forecast. Good news for us. :)
Thank you for all the weather reports from various location. I've been watching the weather for the last 50 years and it never fails to interest me.
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We're expecting 7-13 inches of new snow tonight. Running out of places to pile it.
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I will not need to water the crocuses for a while. The roof blew of the greenhouse at the height of the storm. They look a little windswept this morning!
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Here in Austria ther the wearher is also curious:
in Upper Austria (north of the alps) we are having one of the warmest and dryest winter on record (about 4 degrees above average, barely icedays), south of the alps they are having new records of snow!
I do do not remember snodrops flowering in the first half of February here, usually they start at the end of the month!
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I will not need to water the crocuses for a while. The roof blew of the greenhouse at the height of the storm. They look a little windswept this morning!
Sorry to hear that Tony, it's something I dread happening and luckily it hasn't yet.
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I will not need to water the crocuses for a while. The roof blew of the greenhouse at the height of the storm. They look a little windswept this morning!
Really sorry to hear this.
I hope you can knock something together to protect your plants for the benefit of us all.
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Really sorry to hear this.
I hope you can knock something together to protect your plants for the benefit of us all.
It is fairly easy to sort out,just a mess and a bit of work. Nothing when you see what is happening to other people and their homes. Makes me feel ashamed I mentioned it
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Can I interest anyone in a joint hibernation next winter ;D
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Can I interest anyone in a joint hibernation next winter ;D
I'm interested, Shelagh - but I'm also toying with the idea of migration to warmer climes. ::)
Bit worried that there too there may be unseasonal weather - so perhaps hibernation is the safer option.
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Took a walk round town today and discovered the damage is much worse that I expected, whole rows of trees have been felled maybe up to 40 in a line beside the road, had trouble getting home by my usual route at the pathway was blocked in several places.Will take weeks to clean up the mess.
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Sounds bad, Michael - usually there's only one or two trees down in any one spot. Can't imagine seeing whole rows felled in a storm.
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I admire the resilience of all you out there. This seems to be a very difficult weather season for many of us.
It looks like we might be going back to our dry pattern here on the west coast of the USA. :'(
Generally 15 February is the end of our coldest weather. This season there has been no winter! Record heat and dry punctuated by brief periods of cold, rain, or snow. All of my seeds are started naturally outside, so germination this season has been poor for those that need cold, moist conditions to break dormancy.
Sometimes we get snow as late as April. We can have frost as late as 1 May. So who knows? ::)
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I will not need to water the crocuses for a while. The roof blew of the greenhouse at the height of the storm. They look a little windswept this morning!
I was thinking of you and your bulbs when the storm hit Lancashire with such ferocious force and was really hoping your glasshouse(s) would survive okay. Sorry to hear I was wrong and hope it's repairable and not too much damage done to the plants.
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My goodness. The weather just seems to be getting worse. I was sent this clip about a storm surge in Newlyn, Cornwall. http://holidaysincornwall.com/news-strorm-surge-hits-newlyn-video/ (http://holidaysincornwall.com/news-strorm-surge-hits-newlyn-video/)
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Been a bit windy here too but not like the isles southwest of here have experianced.
At the coast it is mild, no frost in February and barely any in January either. Farther north along the coast it has been and still is very dry, the driest winter for 100 years! They also have had several wildfires, unbelievable in winter.
In the mountains it has come a lot of snow though:
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10122351 (http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10122351)
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Beautiful sunny day here today-for a change-back to normal tomorrow.
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Almost like spring here on the Western Isles today..almost!
118 days of rain in the last 4 months and 18" of rain since December, so we're about due for some sun ;D
The hills of South Uist, from left to right: Hecla, Beinn Coradail and Beinn Mhor.
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Lovely picture Matt, one of these days I'll get up there.
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Its only 2c outside today but its so
warm hot! I'm running around like a blue a$$ fly picking snowdrops to photograph and then I'll be topping up the tan
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Heat wave coming on Friday! Fingers crossed it reaches N Ireland and Scotland
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Had our frost this winter this morning had to remember how to clear the car of ice :P
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"Yesterday was the first rain-free day in the UK for three months" according to the newsreader on Radio New Zealand this morning . Have you had a wet spell over there ? I hope the drought lasts longer than a day :)
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Our drought has lasted since Christmas. Even Cyclone Lusi appears to be giving us a body swerve! http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-184.92,-34.12,735 (http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-184.92,-34.12,735)
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We've been hoping that with the better weather - some of it beautifully warm and sunny here in Aberdeen in the last few days - that Spring may well be on the way in the UK - but Robert in Metcalfe, Ontario in Canada, USDA Zone 4, has just written elsewhere in the forum, they've got " a metre of snow on the ground and last night a low of -22C" so perhaps it's early enough yet to get excited!
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Well its been 14 days now without rain, I'm not going to count the two days of fog we had.
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Although Winter is officially over (in astronomical terms), it is refusing to let go of northeastern North America. Our forecast for tomorrow has perhaps the worst storm yet descending on us. Blizzard conditions have been forecast for much of Nova Scotia- definitely understandable if the 30 to 50+ cm of snow arrives with winds exceeding 100 KPH! Most everyone with any sense will stay off the highways... near zero visibility expected due to blowing and drifting snow. I do hope the storm tracks further out to sea.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/alerts/high-alert/canada/nova-scotia/bear-river (http://www.theweathernetwork.com/alerts/high-alert/canada/nova-scotia/bear-river)
To think that only yesterday we noticed our witch hazels starting to bloom, and snow crocus reappearing for the new season... back to winter for us! >:(
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Gordon:
Sounds horrific. We're getting a pass on this one. Maybe an inch or two of snow but windy
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Glad it is giving you a pass Arnold!
The barometric pressure for this one is forecast to drop between 40 to 50 millibars in less than 24 hours. We're being told this is pretty much a cyclone, but not tropical in origin. We went around the yard today and put away anything that could be taken by the wind. Keeping our fingers crossed that the plastic on the greenhouse remains intact. Thankfully we are tucked into a hillside, so we shouldn't face the worst of the storm. The snow has started to fall... The next 24 hours should be interesting.
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Good luck.
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Ho-hum, not before time: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/government-accuses-bbc-of-creating-false-balance-on-climate-change-with-unqualified-sceptics-9231176.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/government-accuses-bbc-of-creating-false-balance-on-climate-change-with-unqualified-sceptics-9231176.html)
I live in hope of something similar in Ireland where we must regularly suffer unfettered media access for wildly unfounded opinions and conspiracy theories, e.g. campaigning against vaccination, water fluoridation, etc., etc..
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Good luck.
Arnold, thank you for the wish.... it was granted. Although we lost power for about 14 hours, and the winds actually shook us to sleep, our greenhouse withstood the storm. Several of our friends in more exposed areas were less fortunate, we know of two greenhouses that were destroyed by winds over 130 KPH. I think we have finally put "Winter 2013-14" to rest, the snow is virtually gone.
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Good news, I was wondering when we would hear from you.
Amen to the last of Winter 2013-2014.
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Winter arrived in New Zealand today . Skifields will be happy but things were a little chaotic in Dunedin . Pictures were taken in the hills near Milton and not far from Leslie and Roger's place
[attachimg=1]
I really should put my jandals away for the winter
no brain - no pain
[attachimg=2]
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Ah memories of snow. Shock to the system this morning with a ground frost. Photos taken just before 8 a.m. 8)
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Ah memories of snow. Shock to the system this morning with a ground frost. Photos taken just before 8 a.m. 8)
Beautiful blue sky there. Do you never get snow Anthony and what is the lowest temperature that you can have in your region ?
Angela :)
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I think -1oC is the lowest we get, but only away from buildings and trees. As you can see, winter bedding plants are the same as summer, and that is a protea, a frangipani, a money plant and an Epidendron flowering.
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We had a bit of wild weather last night. 44 metre tree down in Auckland Zoo. Even the water pitch at the local hockey stadium was flooded when they turned up at 6.30 a.m. yesterday. Rain doesn't stop 1st XII training, but you can't play under water! Glorious and sunny, calm as a mill pond and 18oC today though. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/happened-damage-across-north-island-following-severe-storm-5998085 (http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/happened-damage-across-north-island-following-severe-storm-5998085)
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Luckily no-one was hurt badly Anthony. I have some trees planned to be felled next weekend and when I see the pictures I can't wait to have them removed. They are not my trees, they are in the forrest behind my property and I finally have the permission to have them removed.
Anthony it must be so much fun to grow greenhouse plants outside.
Angie :)
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Summer weather in northern Germany is pretty bad - I've just been reading about 6 deaths caused by thunder storms - trees down, lightning strikes. Scary.
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Maggi I hate lighting, our first house was struck by lighting, we were lucky but the farmhouse next to us took the full force. I still remember the mess. Luckily they weren't hurt.
I never knew that Germany was having these storms. I knew England was getting some bad thunder storms. So sorry for the folks that lost their lives.
Angie :)
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The storms have been on the news here in New Zealand. http://www.dw.de/deadly-summer-storms-hit-western-germany-after-heat-wave/a-17694401 (http://www.dw.de/deadly-summer-storms-hit-western-germany-after-heat-wave/a-17694401)
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What a storm today, since this morning it's only electrifying wind and rain. We got gal at 64Mph. I saw some bbc reports on tv during dinner, it also seems to be stormy in UK & Scotland.
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Quite windy on the Clyde coast. A friend of mine took these at Ayr harbour yesterday morning.
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Looks a good blow Tom, we mist the worst of the storm.
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Looks a good blow Tom, we mist the worst of the storm.
That makes a change , David - I thought for sure you'd be out looking for your garden fence again. ::)
We had plenty wind yesterday but the rain didn't come till much later. Cold and miserable now - feels pretty like winter to me - Moan Moan !
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Great photos, Tom - makes one concentrate on the beauty rather than the ferocity of the storm.
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Looks a good blow Tom, we mist the worst of the storm.
Cor, it must be an age thing, now I can't spell 'missed' ::)
When I saw the early weather maps Maggi they showed the curl of the storm passing West of us, maybe just catching North Cornwall, and Ireland, Wales, Northern England and Scotland getting a pasting. Been dry here today managed to get some stone shifted and bedded in to my version of a crevice bed. More rock pockets than crevices.
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We had our roughest weather yesterday with gust over 70mph. Today is just miserable with torrential rain and strong winds.
Chris
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Been windy but not more than normal at this time. However the temperature is quite high and so is the accompanying rain!
Some places at the coast here have had their worst floodings for 130 years!
http://imbo.vgc.no/users/bildespesial/images/d5d4c22fdc022599aa6e8ff83e2f2d50.jpg?t%5B0%5D=crop%3Ax%3D0%2Cy%3D0%2Cwidth%3D3696%2Cheight%3D2456&t%5B1%5D=resize%3Awidth%3D1024&accessToken=b49e2f3a8ab588cadcc603587c71ebd3e180972ee5b9578110bcdfb92dce7f37 (http://imbo.vgc.no/users/bildespesial/images/d5d4c22fdc022599aa6e8ff83e2f2d50.jpg?t%5B0%5D=crop%3Ax%3D0%2Cy%3D0%2Cwidth%3D3696%2Cheight%3D2456&t%5B1%5D=resize%3Awidth%3D1024&accessToken=b49e2f3a8ab588cadcc603587c71ebd3e180972ee5b9578110bcdfb92dce7f37)
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Definitely not winter weather over here, the weather forecast tells they expect maximum temperatures close to 20°C in the next days ! I remember first of November when i was young and it was freezing. Anyway, if the weather holds on to these mild temps and if there are no strong winds in the coming weeks I may for the first time have the opportunity to see my Dahlia Imperialis flowering. That's twice an 'if' but I'm optimistic 8)
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Here in N. E. Scotland the temperatures are changing widely - one day mild and the next real frost.
I can only hope your hopes are rewarded with your Dahlia in wonderful flower, Francosi !
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I was in Boston in South Lincolnshire yesterday with my wife and our youngest two, shopping at Asda, it was throwing it down, while we were in there the sun came out and this loverly rainbow seen here over Boston stump(St Botolph church) greeted us when we came out.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/15132750833_f2fceca9a1_c.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/126223196@N05/15132750833/)
Rainbow over Boston stump (https://www.flickr.com/photos/126223196@N05/15132750833/) by johnstephen29 (https://www.flickr.com/people/126223196@N05/), on Flickr
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The rainbow is almost double too! You can see a faint one to the right. The colours are opposite also.
[attachimg=1]
I tried to take a picture of this Agapanthus in the drizzle yesterday. Today we had a little sunshine but I wasn't at home!
Agapanthus praecox minimus I think. It has been in flower all summer.
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Lovely agapanthus hoy
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First real frost of the season last night
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I know that some in Scotland are already getting fed up with the rain and dark days - there are large areas of flooding across some counties - but , as the saying goes, there is always someone worse off than you - there has been a massive snowfall in Eastern USA - this news photo from Buffalo New York -
[attachimg=1]
and another Associated Press photo from New York State
[attachimg=2]
BBC news says : At least five people have died in New York after a huge storm dumped large amounts of snow on the US north-east.
Buffalo bore the brunt with 5ft (1.5m) of snow, but temperatures across all 50 US states plummeted to freezing.
Forecasters predict an additional 2ft could fall on the region as residents struggle to dig out.
One New York man was found dead in his car buried in a snowdrift, while at least three others died from heart attacks while shovelling snow.
Residents were reported trapped in their homes and cars, and strong winds and icy roads caused motorway accidents and forced school closures in parts of the US. "
Horrible weather to have to cope with....
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As I write this, the rain has started again. So far, we have had no frosts. A quick look round the garden has revealed some muscari in flower, along with harebells, nasturtiums,osteospermums,chrysanthemums and I have just noticed a fuschia (Mrs Popple) has appeared, in flower in the middle of a Japanese Maple which is shedding it's leaves. The outside pot plant geraniums are in flower as are dianthus in a large bowl. These are B&Q's finest bought last year for a marked down 50p a tray. They survived the winter unscathed and into their second flowering of the year. My worry just now are the Rhods. which are producing big fat buds ready to flower in a few weeks if the mild weather continues. What we need is a drop at night to just above freezing to slow things down.
Now the rain has stopped and it's bright sunshine with a temp. of +11°C.
No doubt, as soon as I venture out, the rain will start again !
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a winters worth of snow fell in three days in USA according to SKY news today
-7 predicted for next week in northern parts of UK
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BBC news says : At least five people have died in New York after a huge storm dumped large amounts of snow on the US north-east.
Buffalo bore the brunt with 5ft (1.5m) of snow, but temperatures across all 50 US states plummeted to freezing.
We are truly in trouble when freezing temperatures plummeted to freezing in Hawaii! :o ;D At least at the beach. I'll bring my jacket rather than my bathing suit. ;D
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a winters worth of snow fell in three days in USA according to SKY news today
A bit of hyperbole on their part, the fact is that only the southend of greater Buffalo (a very sizeable area though) got that snow. The snow was very localised, Buffalo airport apparently got only half an inch.
Unfortunately south Buffalo's horrors are not past as the temps are rising and rain is on the way, with the added weight rooves are already collapsing.
I am very surprised that St. John's, Newfoundland was not a big story back around 2000 when they had 7m (21+ft) on the ground one winter. In March I went there on business on my way to Scotland when there was still half that amount on the ground, it was truly surreal to drive through a sizeable city with few houses or stores visible from the car and bulldozers high above one atop snowpiles; no street lights or signs were visible.
johnw
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We are truly in trouble when freezing temperatures plummeted to freezing in Hawaii! :o ;D At least at the beach. I'll bring my jacket rather than my bathing suit. ;D
Yeah, you can't believe everything you read - "even" (!!) from the BBC !
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With ALL the snow in Canada even the pandas are having a hard time of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBJ2KCoKGSM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBJ2KCoKGSM)
johnw
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A bit of hyperbole on their part, the fact is that only the southend of greater Buffalo got that snow. The snow was very localised, Buffalo airport apparently got only half an inch.
Unfortunately south Buffalo's horrors are not past as the temps are rising and rain is on the way, with the added weight rooves are already collapsing.
I am very surprised that St. John's, Newfoundland was not a big story back around 2000 when they had 7m (21+ft) on the ground one winter. In March I went there on business on my way to Scotland when there was still half that amount on the ground, it was truly surreal to drive through a sizeable city with few houses or stores visible from the car and bulldozers high above one atop snowpiles; no street lights or signs were visible.
johnw
There will be more problems with the amount of water generated by the thaw, too. Not a pleasant prospect.
I think the reason there was not more of a news frenzy about the 21ft of snow in St. John's is that there were no- Newfies able to dig out to file the report, John!! ;) ::) :-X
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Good point Maggi but it didn't stop them from walking down the middle of the streets to the local pubs! Perhaps that's a more reasonable explanation.....
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15C for a spell this afternoon here but soil far too wet to do anything meaningful.
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Good point Maggi but it didn't stop them from walking down the middle of the streets to the local pubs! Perhaps that's a more reasonable explanation.....
Got their priorities right then?
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With ALL the snow in Canada even the pandas are having a hard time of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBJ2KCoKGSM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBJ2KCoKGSM)
johnw
That's a great sequence John. I hadn't realised pandas could be so giddy 8)
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Yeah, you can't believe everything you read - "even" (!!) from the BBC !
Or maybe the BBC should not believe everything coming from a U.S. wire service! ;D
This reminds me of the story about Aunt Martha's holiday turkey. It tastes sooo good that everyone in the family follows the recipe exactly. Nobody bothers to ask why she cut it into 4 pieces and crammed it into a small roasting pan. It was the Great Depression and it was the only pan available. It tasted good because it was fresh from the backyard!
Off to the Farmers' Market. The last one of the season for us. Time for that vacation. We will skip the jacket on a Hawaiian beach. Some snow in the California Sierra would be good.
I nice rainy day today - some snow in the Sierra - kind of high for this time of year - 2,000 meters or so.
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I think we still win the awful weather award here in Denver. On the 10th of November, it was about +17C, and two days later it was -23C. (It looks even worse in Fahrenheit.)Calgary was warmer. It was warmer everywhere that I looked, except for the South Pole.
Now it's about +15C again.
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That's a mighty severe drop Bob, I wonder how any plant can survive it. Yet your Delospermas will be alive come spring and ours will be pile of slop at -12c one day this coming winter. ;)
johnw
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I think we still win the awful weather award here in Denver. On the 10th of November, it was about +17C, and two days later it was -23C. (It looks even worse in Fahrenheit.)Calgary was warmer. It was warmer everywhere that I looked, except for the South Pole.
Now it's about +15C again.
You can't have looked at the north of Norway. While we in south-west still haven't had any frost they have had bad weather, snowstorms and hard frost up north. Here you see the temps last month!
(http://www.yr.no/stasjon/eklima/97251/graf/mnd.nob.png)
Here is "my" weather in the same period for a comparison:
(http://www.yr.no/stasjon/eklima/47260/graf/mnd.nob.png)
Although it is mild most plants have gone dormant (not much light these days) and the deciduous trees have shed their foliage.
I am waiting for the first snowdrops to flower but I could do with some of the early ones mentioned in another thread at the forum. Snowdrops are hard to get here in Norway.
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+16°c this morning at 10', incredible
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Just been watching the weeks forecast on countryfile on bbc1, having a couple of morning frosts, a few more mild nights then frosty again. Can't complain though it is backend of November afterall.
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Sunny here all day. Can't remember the last day we had a whole day of sunshine even though the daylight hours are rather short.
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When does it start to get dark up the Roma?
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First frost of the winter this morning but going from the roofs as I type
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When does it start to get dark up the Roma?
Hi John
South Uist is on the same latitude as Aberdeen and it starts top get dark at 16:00, depending on cloud cover, of course.
Chris
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Hi Chris not much different from here then, starts getting dark here about 4.30
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Today's times of dawn and dusk , from http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/aberdeen (http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/aberdeen)
Current Time: Nov 24, 2014 at 1:37:41 PM
Sunrise Today: 8:09 AM↑ 129° Southeast
Sunset Today: 3:41 PM↑ 231° Southwest
Moonrise Today: 9:46 AM↑ 126° Southeast
Moonset Today: 5:51 PM↑ 234° Southwest
Daylight Hours: 7 hours, 31 minutes (-3m 25s)
This website http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times_by_month.php?city=56&ts=1416836236 (http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times_by_month.php?city=56&ts=1416836236) gives these figures for today :
Dawn: 07:24
Sunrise: 08:10
Sunset: 15:40
Dusk: 16:26
and these, for example from July 24th :
Dawn: 03:57
Sunrise: 04:51
Sunset: 21:37
Dusk: 22:32
We can have wonderful long days of light in Summer, with it being possible to be outside in light good enough to take photos and enjoy the garden - or the beautiful hills, after 11pm. That's more than 17 hours of daylight. 8)
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Well roll on Summer then Maggi ;)
David first here as well but was gone by the time I got out of my bed ;D :-X
Angie :)
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And here at latitude 44 where I find it terribly dark & dismal:
Halifax time = GMT -4 hrs.
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Today's times of dawn and dusk , from http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/aberdeen (http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/uk/aberdeen)
Current Time: Nov 24, 2014 at 1:37:41 PM
Sunrise Today: 8:09 AM↑ 129° Southeast
Sunset Today: 3:41 PM↑ 231° Southwest
Moonrise Today: 9:46 AM↑ 126° Southeast
Moonset Today: 5:51 PM↑ 234° Southwest
Daylight Hours: 7 hours, 31 minutes (-3m 25s)
We should have anticipated a precise answer from Maggi 8)
On a good day we see the sun disappear below the horizon (Atlantic) from the lounge window. Today is NOT a good day.
Chris
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Last night saw off the dahlias; cut them all back to the ground today.
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Yes we should have chris, all the info is good to know though. Just think of this angie, it's the 24/11 today, less the a month before the shortest day 21/12, then the days start getting longer, but maybe colder or maybe not if last winter is to be repeated.
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Yes we should have chris, all the info is good to know though. Just think of this angie, it's the 24/11 today, less the a month before the shortest day 21/12, then the days start getting longer, but maybe colder or maybe not if last winter is to be repeated.
I don't ever want a repeat of last winter, it was so depressing.
Chris
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Could you call last winter a atuall winter? I don't know what it was like where you are chris, but here we had no snow at all & hardly any frost. Even this winter we have just had are first frost last nigh and one again tonight, then getting mild. It's not that long ago when at this time of year there was snow on the ground.
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We should have anticipated a precise answer from Maggi 8)
On a good day we see the sun disappear below the horizon (Atlantic) from the lounge window. Today is NOT a good day.
Chris
As an "inlander" I find something inspiring about looking out over open seas. Having been lucky enough to see the South Atlantic from E and W coasts, but not the N Atlantic or the Pacific from both sides. Chris will know that in Halifax on the other side they are sharing the same sun (on a good day) over their alpines. Inland I can watch a glorious sunset today but the Red Kites had gone to roost and were not calling on their usual tree across the road in a neighbour's garden.
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You can't have looked at the north of Norway.
It was too cold to look at Norway ..... -32C in Casper, Wyoming, that day. I keep trying to get someone to build a mountain range about as high as the Tien Shan on the Colorado-Wyoming border, but no one seems interested.
The snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii etc. etc. is still blooming, despite the short spell of icy weather.
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Could you call last winter a atuall winter? I don't know what it was like where you are chris, but here we had no snow at all & hardly any frost. Even this winter we have just had are first frost last nigh and one again tonight, then getting mild. It's not that long ago when at this time of year there was snow on the ground.
Winter to me is a season and not a 'state of weather', John. Except in unusually cold winters when the mainland is covered in snow, we get a share of sub-zero temperatures but little snow. Most winters are relatively mild influenced by the Gulf Stream. Last winter was vivid in producing 4 months of relentless rain. This is when I hibernate with my microscopes and look at fungi, emerging periodically to do some cooking and baking - food warms the body and appeases the mind.
Chris
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Wish I could hibernate or move to Spain for the winter :)
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. I keep trying to get someone to build a mountain range about as high as the Tien Shan on the Colorado-Wyoming border, but no one seems interested.
You should apply to our local council,Bob, assuring them that no-one wants the damn thing built - it'll be there before you can blink. :'( :'(
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....................I keep trying to get someone to build a mountain range about as high as the Tien Shan on the Colorado-Wyoming border, but no one seems interested..............................
Bob I could recommend the so called European Union which excels in making mountains out of molehills ::)
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Snap (sort of) Maggi ;D
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It was too cold to look at Norway ..... -32C in Casper, Wyoming, that day. I keep trying to get someone to build a mountain range about as high as the Tien Shan on the Colorado-Wyoming border, but no one seems interested.
The snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii etc. etc. is still blooming, despite the short spell of icy weather.
I have a better idea. Can't you just turn your country 90o then you'll have the wall you are looking for - and free access to the Pacific rain!
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;D ;D ;D
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Mountain range or no mountain range, I think I win the Wide Temperature Fluctuation Award for the year. So far. (The prize is a large assortment of dionysias delivered to my door, true?)
On the 7th of November, it was about +17C. Then on the 14th, we had a slight dip to -24C. Tomorrow it's predicted to be +23C.
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Can't think where you got that Dionysia prize idea from, Bob - I believe the current reward is a bag of dog treats, as favoured by best-loved Collie dogs........
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It sounded like a good idea to me. (Dionysias are impossible to get here and someone told me that they would love my back yard.....)
You know, there are some plants that do not like -23C as the first cold weather of the season. This really isn't something I wanted to learn.
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Is that weather completely freakish for Denver even? What effect will it have at the Botanic Garden too - somewhere I've wanted to visit for ages, because for some reason I want to grow the same sort of plants in our much more equable climate.
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No, it's just stupid. It's happened before; affects the gardener more than the plants.The cold-hardening process was already completed in most of the plants, so they didn't even notice.
The agaves were affected, because they need about three days after first exposure to cold to complete the hardening process. I've attached three pictures.
First is an undamaged Agave parryi subsp. neomexicana, second is one showing damage (this plant has been in the garden for a quarter century but has been moved so much it never gets large), and the third is a completely dead Agave havardiana. (As the World's Foremost Authority on Succulent Plant Death, I don't even need to do the health test, which involves poking the plant with a stick.)
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Tad windy here for the next three days. ::)
Chris
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Have you had any snow yet chris? I saw a picture in the paper of the highlands, they have had quite a bit. Really sannie here yesterday :)
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Have you had any snow yet chris? I saw a picture in the paper of the highlands, they have had quite a bit. Really sannie here yesterday :)
We often get lumped with the highlands, John, but the Outer Hebrides have a different climate. Wet and windy is the usual winter fare with the Gulf Stream protecting us from sub-zero temperatures most of the time.
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We are told by the met. office bods that a "weather bomb" - or the deliciously named "explosive cyclogenesis" is heading our way, hitting hard tomorrow. The wind is certainly getting increasing here and I won't be letting the small, but perfectly formed Bulb Despot out on his own tomorrow. ::) :-X ;)
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It can get pretty windy here too Maggi, I'm on the coast side of the Lincolnshire wolds so have no protection from the freezing cold winds coming in from the North Sea.
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Chris - I'm fascinated by your climate out there and still wonder how our forebearers on those isles supported themselves.
How do dwarf lepidote rhododendrons do on S. Uist? Given the experiences here on our outer coasts I'd guess they should grow splendidly there.
johnw - +2c and another torrential rainstorm on the way. Precip must surely be close to normal by now.
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How do dwarf lepidote rhododendrons do on S. Uist? Given the experiences here on our outer coasts I'd guess they should grow splendidly there.
John
The issue we have on the west coast is wind-blow shell-sand (alkaline), with a thin stablising cover of vegetation which gives us a glorious show of wild flowers in summer (locally knowned as machair). Useless for rhododendrons though. The acidic eastern side has R. ponticum as an Invasive Non-native (INN). There is no great history of gardening on the islands.
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2c most of yesterday here but today its a very warm, for the time of year, 11c
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Still no real frost, just -0.3C as the coldest so far but now we have a real gale in sight. It has already started to blow hard.
Look here:
http://artikkel.yr.no/her-kommer-stormen-1.12090209 (http://artikkel.yr.no/her-kommer-stormen-1.12090209)
You can turn the globe and look at any place:
http://earth.nullschool.net/ (http://earth.nullschool.net/)
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I think we must be having the same storm as you are hoy, there was an icy wind blowing when I was walking the dog, & I can still here it blowing now outside. On the plus side it will keep the frost away :)
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John, I can hear and feel it outside now - and I am very glad I don't need to walk any dog!
It was colder earlier today, now it is about 6C.
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Hi hoy it's 9c here according to the temperature gauge outside. I also inspected the Galanthus seed pods there swelling a treat, should get a good harvest, everything crossed :)
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We are getting ready for a bit of rain- up to 100 mm is expected to fall in our part of Nova Scotia, beginning tonight and continuing through to Thursday morning. I am hoping we will be spared the full onslaught... the topsoil in one of our new beds could be washed away by that much rain in such a short time. The southern tip of the province will also be visited by significant winds (gusts to 90 Km). Thankfully there's plenty of firewood stored, and a fresh bottle of single malt at the ready.
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I'm sat in the conservatory at the moment watching the christmas lights I helped the twins(my youngest two) put onto our cherry tree getting blown about in the gale, they'll be gutted if there not there in the morning.
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Oh, you prefer it fresh!? When I buy a bottle, it is usually some years old ;)
But my favorite is Løiten Linie aquavit and burning logs in the fireplace (pieces of the Sciadopitys which blew down last winter).
The temperature is raising outside - now it is +9C. No trees in the garden has been blown down so far . . .
I like to hear about the swelling pods, John :) I tried to cross my toes but couldn't!
How do you gut a Xmas light?? ;D
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It's this predictive texting its a pain in the backside ;D
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Hope the cherry tree lights are still there in the morning. I love to hear you've got twins in your family - I've always thought that was very clever - double trouble I know, but clever nonetheless! 8)
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You should have been in the hospital when she was having them, I think if she had hold of me she would have throttled me ;D
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Looking out of the window an hour after high tide - a mountainous white sea. The most spectacular I've seen. Hope it doesn't cause any coastal damage. Should be fun beachcombing on Friday.
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We had a bad storm last night chris, so there would be plenty to find on the coast here too.
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We had a bad storm last night chris, so there would be plenty to find on the coast here too.
You must have a different wind direction, John, it's due west here.
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watching the christmas lights I helped the twins(my youngest two) put onto our cherry tree getting blown about in the gale, they'll be gutted if there not there in the morning.
Mine are still on the birch tree and the dog wood
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Ours are as well, at the moment.
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All my trees are still standing but a big one had fallen across the road during the night. Fortunately it was removed just before I drove to work.
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Second time of typing this. Seems to have just melted away ? ;-)
A strange phenomenon this morning. We have recently had several days near freezing at night (-2.5C min so far) with rain and sun at various times. Noticed lumps of ice dotted over the unprepared weedy part of the garden after the frost went today. A closer look showed lumps of chalk with a thick layer of crystalline ice on top. Photo is of 2 lumps placed on a retaining wall coping. They are ~8cm wide and the ice ~1cm thick. There were vertical crystalline lines visible in the ice, not visible in the photo.
This only appeared on odd lumps of chalk, not on any of the tufa, limestone, sand stone etc. dotted around. Must have something to do with the porosity or white colour I guess. Maybe it would happen on new tufa too but all of mine is old and hard.
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Coldest night of the year so far. -5C overnight and still below freezing.
This is frost, not snow
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Some sky pictures from Monday
Is this what is called a mackerel sky?
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and here 10°c this afternoon, all my sown pots are germinating and frost is awaited for next week.
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Is this what is called a mackerel sky?
No ... more like 'baleen', but very nice anyway.
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Nasty storm overnight but no damage and no snow, unlike elsewhere in the UK. Nice sunny afternoon now.
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7" of snow overnight last night - looked wonderful today all stuck to the trees
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Cold frosty mornings here the last few days. Happy New Year to all.
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Tonight there's a hurricane, the area is battered with 78 miles winds.
That's the last data my greenhouse's station has delivered, the anemometer flown off.
How the wind blows in Scotland and UK?
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Here in Aberdeen in N.east Scotland it was very stormy last night , with high winds and lots of rain - right now it is cold, rather damp and quite still.
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Some gusts of wind got to 91mph in Central Scotland last night.
At 3am the neighbours' "wheelie bins" were behaving like marauding Daleks! :o
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I'll tell you.
You always learn something here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek)
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The strongest wind hit south of us last night (Friday). We had a rather calm weather yesterday but are expecting a new storm today, maybe hurricane. Warnings have been sent out for all the coast of southern Norway. It was +9.5C this morning but dropping a little. The wind is about 10m/s and due west, which is rare, but which means my rhodos will loose a lot of their foliage. Later today the wind is expected to reach 20m/s here and even more a bit north of us.
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We still have strong winds this morning, 14°c at 10AM. It's a riviera winter.
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Now it's snowing here!
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Thursday night was hurricane force with winds of 110mph. We also had a huge electric storm overhead. Some damage to the greenhouse roof vents but otherwise o.k. We lost power for 20 hours.
Last night was also pretty rough with gusts over 80mph, and the next three days are similar. Not planning on going anywhere soon. ::)
Chris
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Thursday night was hurricane force with winds of 110mph. We also had a huge electric storm overhead. Some damage to the greenhouse roof vents but otherwise o.k. We lost power for 20 hours.
Last night was also pretty rough with gusts over 80mph, and the next three days are similar. Not planning on going anywhere soon. ::)
Chris
Good to know you are at least still earthbound, Chris, and with electricity! Some ghastly winds around, especially for you on the smaller islands.
Very cold here and wind getting rougher all the time.
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Hoy - We had close to 50m/s in the great Hurricane a decade ago, the rhodos were fine.
johnw - -3c, sunny
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Power was restored to us at 1am last night after being down for 48 hours! Thankfully we have a multi-fuel stove so cooking and heating water for a brew as well as washing were all possible. Miraculously, our garden and cottage have escaped any losses or damage. A majority of houses on Benbecula have roof damage, one geodesic greenhouse has completely imploded, a friend found their shed scattered across the road, telegraph poles are down and several polytunnels have been flayed. Glad the power is back on now, but the weather is still quite rotten out there.
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Good to hear you and Patrick are safe, Matt. I tried contacting you but hadn't realised you were without power for so long.
How we take electricity for granted. Trying to read surrounded by candles was a real strain on the eyes.
Chris
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Sounds like you have had had it rough up there in the islands chris, here I am complaining to my wife about the strong winds we have down in Lincolnshire, but there nothing compared to what you've been through.
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Sounds like you have had had it rough up there in the islands chris, here I am complaining to my wife about the strong winds we have down in Lincolnshire, but there nothing compared to what you've been through.
We anticipate at least one Storm-force 11 each winter but this is the first hurricane since 2005. I've not heard detailed reports from the islands yet, but I feel we got off quite lightly with only minor damage. There's not much let-up for the service engineers though as we are still being battered with deep Atlantic depressions.
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Good to hear you and Patrick are safe, Matt. I tried contacting you but hadn't realised you were without power for so long.
How we take electricity for granted. Trying to read surrounded by candles was a real strain on the eyes.
Chris
Thanks, Chris. Griminish always seems to be the last township to get power back. We were the last in our township too, with most being restored early evening. Losing power, phones and mobiles all at the same time caused a few friends and family to be concerned. I did contemplate pootling over to see how you'd fared, but I'm afraid I didn't fancy driving whilst it's still so foul. The candlelight is a strain, so the eyes are relieved to have electric back :)
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Back again! Power just restored after 28 hours. Was hit Saturday noon. No serious damage at my place except a small tree uprooted and some shrubs almost defoliated.
Not everybody is that lucky. Although no casualties a lot of damage elsewhere.
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Very good to hear you are safe too, Trond. Lots of damage for the UK- especially on the West- as Matt and Chris have shown.
So far our islands are still anchored though - so that's some good news! ;) ;D
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Very good to hear you are safe too, Trond. Lots of damage for the UK- especially on the West- as Matt and Chris have shown.
So far our islands are still anchored though - so that's some good news! ;) ;D
Thanks Maggi :)
Hoy - We had close to 50m/s in the great Hurricane a decade ago, the rhodos were fine.
johnw - -3c, sunny
John, I have no anemometer in my garden but at the airport not far from here they measured 44.7m/s maximum wind speed.
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It's good to hear that you guys up in Scotland are all safe and sound that's the main thing, property can be repaired or replaced people can't, I hope that doesn't sound too morbid? Same thing to you hoy.
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Thanks, John. My only inconvenience is being unable to get outside to enjoy and photograph all the new Narcissus and Crocus that are in flower and Galanthus on their way, so nothing more serious than the lack of a nice sheltered greenhouse to complain of here.
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Yes, thanks John.
Now I'm hoping we won't get the cold weather they already have in northern Norway. -42C today and schools closed.
Edit: Sorry I was wrong. They don't close the schools at all but the pupils can stay home if they want when it gets colder than -50C ;D
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My greenhouse is still standing thank goodness, could do with getting in there and checking the plants. The weather has been that wild though, Ive stopped in doors and only gone out when I've had to ie work, shopping.
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Poly tunnel stood up well to the recent gales. Then a small elder branch snapped and punctured it in four places. Never mind, it's a straight forward repair.
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http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/13 (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/13)
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Problems with tree damage in Sweden at the Gothenburg Botanical Garden - http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=104&artikel=6068819 (http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=104&artikel=6068819)
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I'm going out to repeat the pollination of some Narcissus crosses I performed a couple of days ago.
It's 1.8oC and 'feels like' -3oC.
1. My efforts may be futile, and 2. "I may be some time..."
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Although the days are getting longer it is still winter. Got 2cm of snow last night and cold weather (that is down to maybe -5C during the nights) awaits us the next week; fortunately that also means sun. Haven't been much of that this winter.
The city of Bergen just north of us has gotten more than 50cm of precipitation last month. A new record. Here we have gotten about 10cm last week but mostly as rain. Inland it falls as snow. A lot of my friends are striving to keep their cabins accessible.
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It has been a beautiful sunny two days on the Clyde coast with the snow only on the hills. I don't think we have had a lower temperature than -2°C although the wind has been cold. The picture was taken yesterday looking towards the Holy Loch from Gourock.
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Well.... it has been the snowiest winter here since we settled in Nova Scotia 5 years ago. As soon as the latest snowfall stops, I have to go out and remove the huge drifts covering the lee side of the greenhouse. The latest report has another 50 cm forecast to arrive on Sunday- accompanied by high winds. The projected snowload on top of what is already out there has me concerned for the structure. Our 1.5 meter tall Picea omorika 'Bruns' has vanished under the blanket of white.
As it is, I use the front end loader on our tractor to keep a few driveways open, and now I'm starting to wonder where I am going to put all this snow. There has been little time to breathe between each storm. Officially tired of winter!!! >:(
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This picture just arrived from a friend in southern Ontario. No it is not a babbling brook, that is Niagara Falls! For a sense of scale that is a massive viewing platform in the bottom fore and the black dot to its right possibly a person. He said they hit close to -10F last night which will surely will have kiboshed the peach crop. The record low temps in eastern North America and US midwest are astounding - -7c in Tallahassee, Florida last night, -17c in Philadelphia, Memphis and NYC. Even 1c in Orlando this morn and -15c as far south as Richmond, Virginia.
Just hope that bubble of frigidity doesn't head this way.
johnw - A balmy -2c
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Amazing picture - I'm put in mind of those folks who "wild ski " down icy mountain tops - they could try a frozen Niagara Falls - or maybe we could try going over on a tin-tray - more exciting than the average chance of sledging! ::)
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Amazing picture - I'm put in mind of those folks who "wild ski " down icy mountain tops - they could try a frozen Niagara Falls - or maybe we could try going over on a tin-tray - more exciting than the average chance of sledging! ::)
OK. Will you be going first to check its safe? Or shall I? :-X
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Maggi and I have agreed to go first but in a very large cake tin .............
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OK. Will I eat the cake first? :P
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Don't be daft Matt - this is John and I here- the cake is LOOOONNNGGG gone!
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It has been also in the news here how cold the winter is in North America this year.
Over here it's second mild winter in a row, now it is raining and snow is melting fast, and the weather forecast promises warmer March than usually, and early spring. :)
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I noticed today that the wild plum in the hedge is opening it's first flowers in my hedge, in the balmy Thames valley :)
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Very nice winter weather on the east side of the mountains when we drove home yesterday but nasty on the west side with fog, sleet and little visibility. Better here at the coast and the spring is in the air. No flowering plums though although I have wild plums in my hedge!
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It has been a beautiful sunny two days on the Clyde coast with the snow only on the hills. I don't think we have had a lower temperature than -2°C although the wind has been cold. The picture was taken yesterday looking towards the Holy Loch from Gourock.
Ferry to Dunoon Tom? One of my colleagues is heading there next week for a couple of weeks "at home".
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If he is going by car then he should travel by Western Ferries whose pier is about 1 mile south of Gourock at McInroys point. From here to hunter's Quay is about 20 minutes on the Ro-Ro ferry. Most of the day it operates 3 services an hour....10 past. 30 past and 10 to the hour. If possible, buy the tickets in advance from one of the shops in Gourock....I
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I must have hit send by accident!! Continuing,...... from a Londis shop in Gourock.
Advance tickets are about half the price of those purchased on-board.
I think it is about £21 for car, driver and passenger return, in advance, and nearly twice this for tickets purchased aboard.
A Google search under Western Ferries may give shops which sell the reduced price tickets.
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I was hoping to get a few jobs done in the greenhouse today, the sun is out and it would be a great day for gardening except it's blowing a gale straight off the North sea >:(
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Frustrating, John. It's blowing another gale off the Atlantic with the occasional blizzard.
Chris
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Susan Band has had another 15cms of snow in Perthshire - she's clearing it off her poly-tunnels as we speak....
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Nice spring weather yesterday but I woke up to 5cm of hail this morning. Fortunately it all melted during the day but possibly more the coming night.
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Yes it is chris, it's been like this for a few days now. I'm itching to get started on the seed sowing and its high time I had my dahlia's potted up to get them growing.
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The de-glaciation of Nova Scotia has begun though it will be some time before the coldframes are in sight.
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Had to dig down through 1.2 meters of snow to get into the greenhouse. Sadly we learned a friend lost two poly tunnels at his nursery due to excessive snow load.
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Gordon - A couple of weeks ago I heard at least 20 nurseries in Nova Scotia alone have lost greenhouses. Avon Valley Greenhouses near Windsor, once said to be the largest glass operation on the continent, lost 4.5 acres of greenhouses in the initial snow-rain-ice event. Much machinery in there was lost as well. The next week doesn't look terribly mild either. The tomato greenhouse in Middleton was going though an 18 wheeler load of woodchips per day during the cold and snow stretch.
I suspect the situation is far worse in Massachuesetts.
For those in the UK unfamiliar with a North American 18 wheelers, it tends to be a tad larger than yours and can have an additional box attached making for an intimidating sight when on the wrong side of the road. A pic of one in its usual highway pose.
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Didn't know the 18-wheelers rested on their sides. Is it to stretch their wheels after a long and tiresome day?
Here at the coast we have had a few days with snow this winter (but more than we need of rain!), inland it is different and the rain has come as snow. A friend of mine has almost 3m of snow cover at his cabin not far from here; much more than normal.
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Two consecutive days with a more contrasting forecast you could not find. Looking forward to gardening on Friday! ;D
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Finally some decent rain this winter! We got nearly an inch over the weekend but Melbourne got drowned!
http://www.theguardian.com/weather/2015/jul/13/snow-and-wild-weather-to-sweep-eastern-australia-as-cold-snap-continues?CMP=ema_632 (http://www.theguardian.com/weather/2015/jul/13/snow-and-wild-weather-to-sweep-eastern-australia-as-cold-snap-continues?CMP=ema_632)
cheers
fermi
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We've had three nights of heavy frost. This air circulation system shows the temperatures in the loft and living space at 7.30 yesterday morning.
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I'd be more concerned by that house temperature Anthony. We set our thermostat at 16.5c in Jan & Feb of 2014 and gave up in March, just couldn't take the cold.
johnw
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16.5C? That was a bit too cool to my liking ;) But 26C was a bit too warm also!
Anthony, what is heavy frost in your part of the world?
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18-19c seems just right.
john
28c here today and too hot for me, down to 21.7c at 21:35.
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What heating we have is turned off at night. No central heating here in Auckland. The HRV is just for circulating air. Many people have "heat pumps", but we just have one portable gas heater (plugged into the mains) in the lounge, set to 21ºC (that bit controlled by the electricity supply) when we are in there and an oil filled electric radiator on wheels in the dining/kitchen area.
Anthony, what is heavy frost in your part of the world?
Probably -2ºC. Enough to damage the leaves on the frangipani, but not enough to affect the pelargoniums or alyssum bedding plants.
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The set temperature of 26ºC means nothing as there is no heat produced by this system. This is the temperature at the same time today (Wednesday). Amazing what difference a change in wind direction makes!