Winter 2015/16

[Stanley]

Like living by the seaside Tiz....
We never had hard rain yesterday, mostly gloomy mizzle... It was dry at 21:00 last night with broken cloud. Same this morning but I think more even overcast. The glass was falling gently yesterday but during the night has dropped like a stone to 27.9" this morning! The forecast is for a cold, gloomy drizzly day all day. Chance of a light shower at any time brought in on a steady light ESE breeze. Theoretical high is 6C but it will never feel warmer than 3C at best. There must be a low pressure system sitting on top of us. Means light winds but not a cheerful day! No point waiting for it to get any better.... Jack and I will have an early, lonely walk!
Got back in in time for the shipping forecast at 05:20. Gale warnings in virtually all areas. I've had a look at the pressure charts and we have a line of Highs North of Scotland and in mainland Europe. These are channelling the lows in to us from the Atlantic. This one is over Ireland at the moment and moving very slowly. It will persist until later in the week when an even deeper low comes in. As I suspected, my barometer exaggerates at each end of the scale but it does show the movements accurately.
We've had a dry, calm and mild walk. Slightly more early morning activity, the holiday is over! On with the day.....

[Wendyf]

It rained quite heavily here throughout the afternoon - water, water, everywhere! It was heaviest about the time I had to get the hens and ponies in. I had full waterproofing on so I spent half an our trying to redirect water from pouring into the entrance to my pony paddock off the track. A temporary success until the postman turns his van round there and spoils everything!
Thick mist and bitter cold this morning with a north easterly wind.

[Stanley]

We never had the mist Wendy. Mizzle at 21:00 last night and same this morning, this low is getting boring! Glass is below 27.9" this morning and showing no sign of rising. Forecast is the same as yesterday, misty start, chance of light rain all day and a constant light east wind. Outlook is basically the same but colder. It will feel about 3C today.....
We were back home by 05:30 after a dry walk, very little wind but cold and damp. More traffic about as the world gets back to work after the break. Not a very promising day....

[Stanley]

Fair and a light wind at 21:00 last night. We had our early walk and were back home by 06:15. Dry and calm.... The glass is on the rise, 28.3" this morning. The forecast is for a dyer, overcast day with a light wind from the east that swings into the SE and strengthens slightly later tonight. It's getting colder, allowing for the wind chill it will be down to 1C tonight. The outlook is continuing to get colder.
November and December are officially the warmest and wettest since records began. One town has already had more than the normal January rainfall already.... The cause is said to be El Nino affecting the course and temperature of the Jet Stream.

[Stanley]

At 21:00 last night it was overcast with a slight breeze but fair. This morning we have heavy steady rain..... The glass has fallen like a stone again, my barometer reads below 27.9". I know it exaggerates at each end of it's range but it's the movement that matters. The forecast is not good. The theoretical temperature at the moment is 5C but the wind chill takes it down to 0C and it will get colder during the day. The moderate but blustery wind is SE at the moment but will swing round into the west and remain constant all day. We are promised rain all morning and then a break with perhaps a shower this afternoon but getting colder. By this evening we will be having -2C. There are yellow warnings of persistent rain until noon and on the whole this is a good day for being inside! Not a lot of point waiting for it to improve, I might as well put full wet weather gear on and brave the elements. Jack is going to get an early morning bath.... Deep Joy!
06:00. Mugs for luck! I realised I had forgotten wellies and leggings as I rugged up to go out but decided to chance it. We hit a lull in the rain and had a dry(ish) walk! Jack is dry and all is well....

[Stanley]

21:00 last night, stiff breeze, dry and very cold. Hard cold rain first thing this morning. Just the same now.... Glass is rising, on 28.3" at the moment. Forecast is for a mixed, cold mainly wet day. There could be some breaks in the rain with bright spells but the overall picture is a wet cold day. The wind is south at the moment but will veer to SW and strengthen. The perceived temperature will never be better that 0C and the outlook is for it to get colder. At these temperatures we are not far off snow.... Deep Joy! It will definitely be full wet weather gear for our trip to the butcher's!
07:45. We were back in the house after a lousy, cold wet walk. I was dry of course but Jack was soaked, good job he is a little hero! He's had a good rub down and is feeling no pain. Kath said there was snow mixed with the rain as she drove into work this morning.... Glad to be back in the warm.... I thought about Dennis and Sparky in their stable as well. I think Wendy might see some snow very soon.....

[PanBiker]

A light covering of snow on Weets this morning, I might go up and have a look.

[Wendyf]

We had a light covering of snow this morning, on top of a lot of rainwater. I put Dennis & Sparky out for a paddle. I dropped Col & the dogs off in Earby this morning so they could walk back home through the rain. Very difficult walking when the ground is so wet!

[Stanley]

Fair and cold with overcast last night at 21:00. Raining first thing this morning but stopped at the moment. The glass is falling again and is down on 28.2". The forecast is for a slightly warmer day, a spell of showers from 07:00 to 10:00, then a bright spell but far heavier rain coming in as it gets dark. The light to moderate wind is mostly southerly and though the theoretical high is 7C, it will never feel warmer than 3C. An early walk is indicated!
Back in the hitch after a dry, calm and almost pleasant walk. Just in time to hear the shipping forecast, gales in almost all areas. The Puddles are full to overflowing and Butts Beck is running far more heavily than yesterday morning. There must have been some heavy rain in the early hours. Snow forecast for northern parts and gradually reaching down towards us..... One cheerful thing I have noticed is that it's staying light later in the evening and even this morning at 5AM there was enough light in the sky to be able to see that the cloud has broken.

[Moh]

Wet morning, dry now but feels cold after 2 weeks of hot Spanish sunshine with only one drizzly half day.

[Stanley]

And getting colder Moh, wrap up well! Flags dry this morning for a change when Jack went out for his early morning pee on the tele pole in the back street (he's a creature of habit!) I can see one star so cloud must be broken. More wind though and it's cold. The glass is as low as I have ever seen it, almost 27.5". I know it's not accurate but this is a serious fall! My guess is wind.... The forecast is for a dry bright overcast day but that starts at about 09:00, before then a band of heavy rain has to come through. The wind is a stiff S/SW gusty breeze and the wind chill will take us down to -2C, 0c at best. It's early but our best chance of a dry walk is to go now....
04:25. We're back in the warm, mission accomplished. Apart from the last part of the walk it was dry, windy and very cold but all Jack needed was a quick rub down. The taxis are busy delivering revellers home.... That was an early walk even for me!
The shipping forecast gives gale warnings for all areas.....



My friend Martha is back in Minnesota teaching for the winter. She sent me this pic yesterday of the view from her office window. I wonder if we'll be getting anything like this? Plenty of time yet!
06:00. I'd just posted that pic and stuck my head out of the door to see what was happening.... It's been raining heavily since we came back from our walk, it's snowing now....., big heavy flakes! Wendy could be waking up to a winter wonderland.

[Cathy]

No snow here Stanley (thanks for the pic on Forgotten Corners).
We have high 30'C's until Thursday when apparently it will dive to 19C. ??
I would have thought that for the temperature to go down that far overnight we would need 'one almighty storm ' but they say we will just have light rain. Anyway no doubt we shall see...

[Nolic]

A couple of inch's of snow over here in the dark county. Nolic

[Wendyf]

Same here Nolic but drifting in a nasty wind so piled up to about a foot against my hen house door. It's raining now though.

[Stanley]

It's rained here as well but the roofs were still covered with snow until about half an hour ago. Plenty of time yet and it's to get colder over the next few days. We haven't seen the last of the white stuff.

[Wendyf]

I braved the weather to put the ponies out so the camera came too.
This is the view from the barn door:



Looking west towards Barlick:



Yippee!! Snow!!







A lovely view of Brown Hill and Kelbrook Moor beyond:



Distant view of the Bowland Hills:

[PanBiker]

Nice pictures Wendy, Sparky and Dennis seem to be enjoying themselves.

[Wendyf]

They can't wait to roll in the snow. My old cob Robbie could never wait till he got to his field, his knees would start to give way as soon as he stepped into snow.....very dangerous to have a large, rolling beast on the end of a lead rope!

[Moh]

By 8.30am the snow here had changed to slush in the rain. All gone now and quite sunny at present, although I have not ventured out.

[Stanley]

Lovely pics of Dennis and Sparky.... I can't think of anything more heart-warming than seeing them enjoying themselves. Treasures in heaven.....
Very cold and dry last night and this morning. Glass is trying to rise but still reading 27.8". The low is east of us now so it's dragging a north wind down on us.... The forecast is for an overcast day, slight chance of the occasional shower. The wind starts in the SE and swings through east and north finishing up tonight in the west. Never more than a moderate breeze. Cold all day with a high under wind chill of 2C but below zero for much of the day. Bracing I think!
Back indoors by 05:15. Dry walk, almost calm, clear sky, stars peeping though. At first I thought there was no frost but then noticed that the cars on the road were mostly moving slower than usual (of course there's always at least one idiot!). The Town Square flags were shot ice, it seems to be a frost trap and I realised that it was freezing as I walked round. The roads have not been salted and they could be bad in the next couple of hours. I think the cars that were slow moving had already encountered some ice.... Not a bad walk, I've had worse!

[Marilyn]

Those ponies crack me up.
Very "young at heart" those two.

[Stanley]

I agree Maz. It says a lot for Wendy.....

[Wendyf]

All horses play in the snow....nothing to do with me!
We had a scary moment yesterday when I was bringing them back in. I had got their headcollars on and we were stood close together (Sparky,me then Dennis) in the wet mud while I reached for the electric fence gate, and just before I lifted the handle Sparky crackled and sparked....he must have touched the fence with the buckle of his rug! He shot backwards and Dennis bounced in the air...he didn't know what had happened but it was scary! My feet were stuck in the mud so my calm and brave attitude quickly reassured them and we left the field in one piece and headed home quite a bit speedier than usual. A close shave for little old me. (Good job I'm built like a brick outhouse eh Stanley!)

[Marilyn]

There goes another perfectly good pair of rubber undies...
( I am not keen on your electric fence, Wendy. Can't your lads learn to come when they are called in for dinner? Can you not just stand at the barn door with an apple in each hand?)

[Wendyf]

Wouldn't that be nice! They might head home eventually but not until they had galloped everywhere bucking and farting and making muddy chaos! They would visit my neighbour and get caught in her trailing, broken down barbed wire fences and they would terrify me by racing towards the cattle grid at high speed
They are just waiting for the opportunity!
I'm going to have to lie down in a dark room now.