Weather 2008

[David Nicholson]

Well, for the shortest day of the year it wasn't a bad one here in Devon or indeed in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. We took a quick trip up the M5 to pick up Maureen's Mum from Ledbury in Herefordshire and brought her back down with us to spend Christmas here.

When we left home the car was showing an external temperature of 15C and the sky was patchy blue and it only dropped by one degree all the way up the motorway. When we drove back into the drive earlier this evening it was still showing 12C.

On the borders of Devon and Somerset fields were full of sheep with new born lambs and the first reports I heard on the local news broadcasts of early lambs were at the beginning of November.

As we turned off the M5 onto the M50 near Tewkesbury the chain of the Malvern Hills was on our right and with the sun at a low angle at this time of the year and shining directly onto the face of the Malverns it was a sight to cherish. The Malverns are my favourite hills standing proud over the Severn plain. As mountains go I suppose that these days they are nothing to shout about with Worcestershire Beacon being the highest in the chain at 425 meters. For a chain of extinct volcanoes they are now gentle and welcoming and still provide an airy walk without any fear of vertigo. Think though what they must have been like 600 million years ago when they were formed from igneus and metamorphic rocks in the pre Cambrian period (a bit before my time, Cliff might know though ) If you would like to see more   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvern_Hills

This part of Herefordshire and Worcestershire is famous for growing mistletoe and many trees at the sides of the road had heavy clumps of it. In the early part of December each year a mistletoe fair and market is held in Tenbury Wells wher growers meet to sell their crops with buyers from all over England and Wales coming to buy. This year crops were heavy and prices cheap to the extent that growers were virtually giving crops away. Price of a sprig of mistletoe at my local Tesco = £3. Something wrong somewhere!!

Ah well, Spring can't be long now.

[Maggi Young]

Price of a sprig of mistletoe at my local Tesco = £3. Something wrong somewhere!!

That does seem a bit steep... did you ask if they've reduced the VAT?

[David Nicholson]

Did think about telling them where to stick it but then thought holly might be more appropriate

[johnw]

David  - re: Tesco project

Ilex auiqfolium 'Ferox' might be appropriate as there are spines on the upper sides of the leaves as well. Second thought, the leaves are on the small side.

johnw

[David Nicholson]

David  - re: Tesco project

Ilex auiqfolium 'Ferox' might be appropriate as there are spines on the upper sides of the leaves as well. Second thought, the leaves are on the small side.

johnw

 

[David Nicholson]

I meant to add this Link about the Malverns and forgot. It shows the whole chain. Sorry, but I said they were my favourites

http://www.malvern-hills.co.uk/panorama.html

[johnw]

re: Nova Scotia

We are having a bit of weather here. The winds started in the evening last night and snow started around 8pm.  The winds here in Halifax were clocked at a sustained 93 km/hr with gusts to 120. The house shook from top to bottom for most of the night. Mercifully we only got a few inches of snow but the wind is still blowing. The power was out from 8:30 am until a few minutes ago (6 hours), temp -3c. The power crew could not go up in their buckets due to the fierce wind, as well their trucks were unstable due to the icy streets. A brave linesman in this section clearly went up anyway. Still 84,000 homes without power and the temperature is plummeting.

Yarmouth clocked 140 km/hr and Cheticamp in Cape Breton which is routinely hit by les suetes clocked 190 km/hr! The doors were blown off the funeral home there.  (Awaiting some clever comments on that.)

-8c tonight and above freezing from Wednesday onward.

from the internet:  "damaging local winds are known as Les Suetes, derived from the word for southeast: sud est. These southeasterlies are created when a frontal inversion causes a funnelling effect over the Cape Breton mountains. As the winds rush down the side of the highlands, strong gusts develop which have been recorded to exceed 150km/h (94 mph)." Someone will have to update that.

johnw 

[mark smyth]

I hope the winds arent coming our way! It's a nice 11C outside just now

[johnw]

re: I hope the winds arent coming our way!

The winds are still here and headed east. They'd better not turn back west.

johnw

[Paul T]

Big thunderstorms moving in from the south, here this evening.  There was even a fairly respectable tornado 100km south of us, at least judging by the picture they showed on the news tonight.  Not something we commonly see here (thankfully), just the little dust devils in summer.  I hope the storm bearing down on us doesn't produce any twisters within the city.  They still wouldn't be anything like those in the US have to suffer through every summer.

As long as we get some more rain out of it I'll be happy. 

[mark smyth]

There's a low flying bright white UFO in the sky outside my house today. Has anyone seen anything like it before?

[ranunculus]

It's a phenomenon called a solar glimpse, Mark ... cover your eyes and it will disappear.

[Gunilla]

I caught a glimpse of it too, but when I tried to get it on photo it was almost gone 

[Maggi Young]

Such colour, Gunilla! I almost feel warm enough to take my gloves off! 

[mark smyth]

Alex in another thread was talking about Crocus flowers elongating. It's little wonder when the sun is so low in the sky