Winter 2012

[Sunray10]

Some sleet and snow tomorrow evening/night with a few cms more on hills. Snow and sleet for monday upto 5cms and more over Pennines. Very cold with winds coming from the east.

[Sue]

My Tasmanian cousins are all OK. They are 100 km up the coast away from the fires.

[Marilyn]

Ah..good to know,Sue.

We heard one of the fires ( not sure if in Tasmania or on the mainland) had a 96 kilometre front.
Febby and I both agreed that the English probably can't imagine a fire burning on a 96 kilometre front...but then again we find it difficult to grasp traffic jams on your motor ways that go on for thirty or forty kilometres! We have seen a few whilst in UK, but thankfully have always been on the opposite direction on the motorway. Absolutely unbelievable, and not something we experience. And for all my moaning about the heat a few weeks a year, there is nothing like popping to any of our shops, and parking anywhere you like, for FREE ( unless you are right in the city). No 'pay and park' here. Think we spent about £600 just parking the darn car on our last trip to UK. ( largely because his lordship was driving...if I had been driving we would have parked further out and walked for hours..because I am a miser.)

[Stanley]

Colder this morning, ice on top of the gate... Glass is up slightly at 29.6" so I can believe the cold is set in and going to get worse. I had a fleeting glimpse of the sun once yesterday but in general we're overcast and it can only be a matter of time before we get some snow. Very rare to get heavy falls with an East wind....

[Cathy]

We actually had rain today, apparently 1/2 of January's average fell just today, don't know how much that is but it was lovely.
It was a little chilly this afternoon at only 22C
Haven't heard any reports about the fires today, but temps are a lot cooler on our east coast.

[Wendyf]

It started snowing gently just after 3pm, we have a very light covering but it is looking quite set in. I've put hens & ponies inside a bit earlier than usual and retreated indoors. Warming myself up with a small glass of Southern Comfort. (My Xmas treat...but there is half a bottle left and someone has to drink it!)

[Stanley]

Same here Wendy but no big fall and it's not freezing. Glass fallen back a touch to 29.5" Settled in I think.
08:00 Back from our walk. Not a bad morning, hardly any snow lying but it's started to snow lightly again. I don't think there's a lot about. (Famous last words?)

[Cathy]

NSW is still copping it, 33 homes lost and 30,000 hectares in one of our national parks burnt down. 170 fires still burning, 50 are uncontained.

Sadly as well a Victorian Fire Fighter of 30yrs service (Peter Cramer) has died while battling a bushfire in Tasi.

[Stanley]

Did I speak too soon?

[Bruff]

Thought there'd be snow in Barlick today having seen the weather this morning.

Chucking it down with rain on the Wirral and not that cold. Unlike yesterday's hard frost and glorious sunny morning with flocks at 000s and 000s of birds on the Dee, and which attracted a hundred or so birders just after high tide. A magnificent sight.

Richard Broughton

[Wendyf]

It's been snowing heavily here for the last hour. Traffic struggling to get up the hill towards Bleara.

[Marilyn]

Thanks Stanley..one lovely ' COOL' pic to sustain us on Thursday...when we head for the best part of 40 C again.
Haven't even slept with as much as a sheet on for months now...

[Moh]

We had a light covering yesterday evening, then it began snowing about 8.15am. It stopped about 10.30am and is now thawing quite quickly, at the moment the sun is shining.

[Sunray10]

Roughly 1 inch of snow over in Nelson this morning and bad on side streets outside of the town. Thawed quite a bit during the afternoon, but likely to freeze tonight with icy stretches. Better day tomorrow but very cold.

[Stanley]

It snowed steadily from 08:00 to 11:15 yesterday giving a good covering. It's about -5C this morning but dry and calm, treacherous under foot. Glass fell to below 29.3£ but is rising no, almost 29.4". No doubt about it the forecasters got it right but as yet no sign of the East wind they said would make it even colder. We shall see.

[Stanley]

Even colder this morning, nearer -10c than -5C. Glass is steady on 29.4. Cloud was coming in from the East yesterday but forecast says that Friday could be interesting as there's a band of rain coming in from the West and it will fall as snow.

[Marilyn]

Gosh. Don't put your tongue on the garden wall or you will stick to it.
Keep warm and dry.

Exact opposite here of course. Have been in and out the cold bath a few times. It will be worse tomorrow.

[Stanley]

No cold baths here Maz. The water out of the tap is close to freezing! (I just checked, it's 39F)
08:30. Back from our walk. I decided to go to the butcher's rather than leave it till Friday as the going underfoot will not be any better! Liddell's van driver said that when he left the bakery this morning the van thermometer read -11C but had risen to -9C by the time he got to Barlick.

[Wendyf]

About 4 inches of snow on the ground still up here, and some nasty freezing fog around this morning, but it has cleared now. We turned off the water supply to the barn & stables last night in the hope of avoiding burst pipes later, so lots of buckets to fill from now on.

[Moh]

Apart from the extreme cold it is a lovely sunny winter's day. More snow is forecast for Friday, so like Stanley we will go shopping tomorrow in case it does come.
Just had an email from a contact in Australia, where they live is in Victoria in the middle of the scrub (Wild Dog Creek now there's a name to get the imagination going!) She tells me they have not had fires yet but there is every possibility every day, it must be awful having that hanging over you every day. A few years ago but for a change in the wind direction they would have gone up, and no-one can see them unless you are in a plane - must be very isolated.

[Sunray10]

Could well be a fair packet of snow through Friday with winds picking up and causing snow to drift.



*****Probably less snow on Friday than was at first thought but some later in the day********

[Stanley]

You're right Moh. Thinking about the frost I remembered when it got so cold in Berlin the sap froze in the pine trees and they exploded during the night, we thought the Russians were coming! So cold we filled the radiators of the trucks with diesel. In Minnesota the frost penetrates over 3 feet into the ground in an average winter. -10C is positively balmy compared with cold like that!
At least -10C this morning I reckon. The frost will be penetrating walls now and we will see badly installed condensate pipes on modern boilers freezing up and knocking the CH out. Glass still steady around 29.5", no change in prospect yet. The forecast for Friday is rotten. Wind to rise from the east with gusts up to 30mph, 60% chance of snow all day. We will most likely get up to a covering of snow and the temperature is not going to rise at all. Good call going to butcher's yesterday. Message is stay in bed on Friday! Guess what the lead item will be on Friday evening......

[Marilyn]

You will all have to wear two pairs of Bridget Jones' tomorrow, possibly with pyjama pants under those.
Bed sounds like the perfect spot...trundle the TV in there...and make up a thermos of coffee.

[Cathy]

Gosh we really are opposites at the moment. It was so hot today (42C)that I only went outside to check the mail, bring the bin back, and top up the bird's water.

[Big Kev]

It's certainly crispy, and slippery, underfoot. Still got my crampons on my boots. It'll be interesting with a good layer of snow on top.