The Weather Thread

sospiro said:

Talking of hurricanes, those living in UK may remember Michael Fish's blunder

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I certainly do. We had just moved because Tag had a new job in a West London school. Our house sale had gone badly so we were staying in a tiny flat in Windsor while we looked for somewhere to buy, and we had a puppy, our first dog (an Airedale), that I used to walk in Windsor Great Park every morning.

We were so tired with our life circs that we slept through the whole thing. But the scene that met me & Tyke in the park - great trees rooted up and scattered - was astonishing. Actually, a woman died in Windsor during this storm because a hotel chimney collapsed into her bedroom.

I grant that we're lucky compared with other places that get violent hurricanes regularly, but we do have storms in the UK, you know...

On a dog forum that I belong to, a woman who lives in Cumbria has been posting. She probably stayed awake all last night worrying about nearby flooding - a roof had been ripped off a barn close by - but she escaped, albeit with a huge hole gouged in the road and local bridges washed away. It has stopped raining but water will be running off the hills for some time so there'll still be trouble. The city of Carlisle, 20 miles away from her, is 'awash', she says, & on the BBC it says that thousands of homes in the North of England and in Scotland have been left without electric power.

Here are some pictures from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-35021153

According to Shelagh on my dog forum, Carlisle was flooded five years ago & had a flood defence installed costing 38 million pounds - but this storm breached it.

Yes, flood defences are being built and people are more aware - but a lot of the new housing that is needed for our growing population has been built on 'flood plains' which were previously left alone. Some families have only just recovered from a flooding when they are flooded again. It is now difficult for people to get insurance if they live near rivers or the sea even if the risk is low.

hpowders said:

59 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. Took full advantage of the cool, crisp morning (like a chilled glass of Chardonnay!) and went for an early morning constitutional.

Just as Beethoven used to do in Vienna, except that I am not Beethoven, nor am I in Vienna.

PS: I will leave it to you to do the temperature conversion.

Oh come on now! It's not like I'm attempting to make you go from Catholic to Presbyterian!

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No problem with a Baby Boomer like me - I still think in Fahrenheit!

PS - Oh, poor Headphone Hermit! I look forward to his return.

We went for a walk yesterday and saw a cherry tree in bloom. Meanwhile summer bedding is still blooming in some gardens, and my fiddle teacher says that a friend of his has birds building nests in his garden.

Kivimees said:

My understanding after reading the articles - and I admit I'm speculating liberally - is that the decision was made because 1) there were fears the barrier would be breached anyway (the flood waters exceeding the barriers capacity), thereby damaging the barrier's mechanical system, and 2) by raising the barrier worse flooding upstream would be prevented although at the expense of more flooding downstream. Not an easy decision to make.

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Thanks for the explanation. I think people were also puzzled as to why the Foss barrier was considered to be about to fail, as it had held in an earlier flood when the water levels were higher. I suppose York residents want to know that a right & timely decision was made, rather than a premature and wrong one. They may tend to suspect explanations put out afterwards by officials with a reputation to safeguard - I wonder why!

York used to flood along the Ouse when I was growing up, but I never remember a Foss flood. (The Foss would become swollen, but it didn't spill onto the road or into houses.) Flood works have been put in place there, and imo need to be put in place there, because York is an important historic city, and a cultural, administrative and business centre for the North of England - almost a Second Capital - not somewhere where new houses are built on a flood plain because of some commercial whim. Most of the flooded areas were not new build.

'As to the baby comforter, once you've got such a thing in your mouth it becomes difficult to speak out. So does York have a barrier or a 'Potemkin village' fake?' (quotation: see above.)

It has a defence scheme that has worked well in earlier floods when the water level was actually higher. Which isn't to say that it worked this time - it obviously does need to be improved. And the people of York have never had any difficulty in speaking out.

It's been a wonderful springlike sunny day here today. Yesterday, when Scotland and the North were suffering a horrendous storm, it was windy and rainy here, but only in the usual winter fashion. I hope it was sunny in Scotland today to give them time to recover.

It's a calm, beautiful night for New Year here in Gorgeous Gorleston!

TxllxT said:

You're a great example of York speaking out! Let's hope the New Year will bring better tidings. In Holland the New Year will bring colder weather, perhaps with sleet...

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I hope so too. I think Britain can certainly learn a lot from the Dutch regarding flood prevention and defence. Happy New Year to you, TxllxT.

Ingélou said:

It's been a wonderful springlike sunny day here today. Yesterday, when Scotland and the North were suffering a horrendous storm, it was windy and rainy here, but only in the usual winter fashion. I hope it was sunny in Scotland today to give them time to recover.

It's a calm, beautiful night for New Year here in Gorgeous Gorleston!

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And just with that, I can hear the rain bucketing down on my bungalow roof.
Just in time to spoil any firework parties - let's hope that's all it does!
British weather - what can beat it?

^^^^^ Oh goodness - that's awful. Hope it soon abates.
Happy New Year, Wood.

It was sleety and very wild last night and the forecast was for gusts of 70 mph and possibly snow.

So we chickened out of going dancing. I felt guilty. But the truth is, we are scarred by dutifully turning out for my two violin teachers' concert at the end of 2013 (they play in a string quartet) when a tidal surge up the rivers Waveney & Yare was expected. We came out to discover that two of our local bridges had been shut, and we had to make an anxious dash for the last remaining one. That one was shut an hour later, and if we hadn't made it, we'd have had to find a hotel. With all the rivers and bridges round Gorleston & Great Yarmouth, we actually 'live on an island'.

Today it continues to be wild, cold, and very rainy.

Really sorry to read about the terrible weather conditions in New York. Best wishes & sympathy - hope things start to improve soon. xx

'Raining Airedales' - now that would be something!

It's bright and sunny & deliciously chilly here in Seaside Norfolk.
A couple of days ago it was incredibly dark and gloomy.

Very odd behaviour for Mother Nature...

Headphone Hermit said:

I'm tempted to make some misogynistic comment about unpredictable females, but ...... I'm not a fan of anthropomorphising inanimate objects :angel:

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Ah well - I'm a retired poetry teacher. I can see I'd have had trouble with you!

TxllxT said:

Norfolk beach has been hit by a lot of lost sperm whales Big ones this time!

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-35395107

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Oh dear - so sorry to learn about this. I hate it when whales get stranded. They are such wonderful, intelligent creatures.

In seaside Norfolk it's been a mild day, sometimes sunny, but with astonishing sudden gusts of strong wind.

Just back from our daily constitutional - a grey, moist day, but still, it was nice to see the blackthorn blossoming early, and when we stopped outside the Flower Shop, there was a wild bee visiting the bouquets in the buckets outside! Lots of birds singing too - possibly nesting - I hope they don't get a nasty frosty surprise later on.

It's rainy & blustery in seaside Norfolk - but it's really bad in Wales and the Welsh Marches as Storm Imogen kicks in. High waves & winds of 90 mph - a house destroyed on the South Coast - lots of power cuts.
Hope nothing too awful happens - I feel for those who are in the middle of it.