Weather early 2009

[Lori S.]

Robin, the amount of snow is certainly abnormal.  We had record snowfalls this winter (and the first time we've seen continuous snow cover ever in parts of the yard).  Sadly, I can't say the timing of the snow is unusual though... we usually get some snow in April, and even a week of horrible weather/snow in early May... but the amount, the length of the cold spells and the temperatures have been worse than usual.  (This week, the average highs/lows were supposed to be +14C/-1C, but were running at 0 to +2C and -5 to -10C.)  The forecast is to get back to averages now - hurrah! 

[cohan]

we have been about the same as lori, recently, some lows to around -12C, though i think we got less snow recently--although we had day after day with snow flurries, sometimes suddebnly dumping a couple of centimetres...the original snow from winter is still not all gone in some shady spots where there were deep drifts, though other areas have been bare for many weeks (between new snowfalls)...
next few days are forecast for lows above freezing(imagine that!) and highs in the mid-high teens C

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

I just wanted to pass on best wishes to anyone affected (or who know anyone affected) by the awful wildfires hitting the Santa Barbara area in California.  Apparently the winds, instead of dying down as they had been expecting, have increased and made things much worse.  According to our news this evening the fire front is now heading straight towards Santa Barbara itself, so hopefully something happens and they are spared.  Fires are something we here in Australia go through each year at least somewhere in the southern states, so we feel strongly when we see others going through the same thing.  Here's hoping that everyone gets out in time who needs to, and that the darn weather calms down a bit and the fires can be brought under control.

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Paul, I've just heard a news report of many thousands of folk being "asked" to evacuate the area..... very frightening and I hope the fire is soon contrilled, or better yet, quenched.

[cohan]

Yes, Paul, I've just heard a news report of many thousands of folk being "asked" to evacuate the area..... very frightening and I hope the fire is soon contrilled, or better yet, quenched.

tonight's news sounds better from there..hopefully starting to be more controlled., some people were returning 'home'..

there are fires in north/north central alberta (an hour or two north of me, or more) too..fortunately nothing as extreme as that, but homes have been lost, and communities evacuated...less densely populated areas than santa barbara, though!
we have started to get our first rain of the year--for some of you, probably hard to imagine that we have no significant rain for many months--all snow for a long time, then spring is rather dry ..rainy season really starts in june..

[ruweiss]

Yesterday we experienced the first hailstorm of the year. After a nice mother's day trip by car we were caught in a
hailstorm 6 kilometers away from home, the noise in the car was like sitting in a drum. A look in the garden was
not amusing, some plants were undamaged, but other ones did not look so good.

[Maggi Young]

Big hailstones.... and quite some damage to the Cyps, I see, as  well as general bruising. I hate hail! It goes right through Trillium foliage..... horrible.

[David Nicholson]

No hail here but it has been windy for weeks now with gales from the East for the past two days.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

It's been quite windy for the last few weeks here too...    no rain of any importance for 3-4 weeks now - getting very dry... 

[Paul T]

Just been watching time team on TV this evening...... it seems that it almost always rains at least at some point in their 3 days of work.  It amazes me!! 

[Ragged Robin]

Damp and drizzly, you could say it was sluggish start this morning 

[David Nicholson]

Paul, if this was the latest series it was probably filmed in the early part of last (NOT!) Summer.

[Paul T]

Actually, this one was copyright 2009, which is the newest we've ever seen of them.  We get a lot of old ones at times, but this one was recent about them finally finding Roman Temples (4 of them) at one site.  They only had light drizzle in this case, didn't effect them in the slightest, but there always seems to be SOME sort of rain.  I wish we'd get rain in any 3 day period, at least for a few months!!

[Anthony Darby]

Glorious sunshine all day today. Too cold to sit outside though. Another frost expected tonight.

[Maggi Young]

We had three/four good days in a row .... now it's grey again.... I suppose that was summer