Scottish weather discussion - Spring 2023/24

[Hawesy]

 Quinach That battle between haar and sun is not something I’ll miss in my new locale (albeit we will still see easterly murk, just not as much!).

Sunny spells and up 13c here today, great for taking the dog up to the Lomonds.

[Northernlights]

On the subject of wet weather and potholes. Cross compliance rules are about to changed  for subsidy payments for farmers. Each farmer will be allocated  depending on the size of farm a number of potholes on local  country roads to be filled in over the summer before autumn payments as councils no longer have the resources. Materials will be supplied by councils.

Edited April 1 by Northernlights

[Quinach]

 Northernlights Legally that sounds crazy, so who is then held liable if there is an accident/damage related to a pothole infilled by a non-qualified (road construction) person??  This country gets madder by the day.

As for weather, back to Aberdeenshire Permagloom™ with occasional outbreaks of drizzle in calm conditions.  Cool at 7c and surprisingly had very thick fog overnight.

Edit - hmm, that post time says after 12pm but just realised it is 1st April....  Mind you Aberdeenshire council wants everyone to grit their own pavements so repairing potholes wouldn't surprise me!

Edited April 1 by Quinach
Clarity and recognition of possible gotcha!

[Northernlights]

 Quinah   Caught the family out with this this morning . Idea came from cross  compliance as there are all sorts of weird and wonderful things that we have to do in order to claim subsidies in the future.

[Northernlights]

Cool day with maximum of 7c after a start of 4c.Dull misty with drizzle, A real contrast to yesterdays sunshine and  maximum of 15c. Getting frustrated by ground getting wet every day and nothing sown.

[NUT]

The wind's calmed a bit (that had been blowy all day) but the flipside the rain's set in so can't win either way. Chilly too

[mardatha]

Absolutely fed up of rain rain rain and yet more rain.

[Ross B]

 mardatha Lots more to come from a quick look at the models unfortunately, it's looking like a really wet week and into the weekend with lots of generally light rain interrupted by bands of heavy/torrential rain. I'm glad I managed to get the grass cut for the first time yesterday as I'm not sure when the next chance will be! Roll on my summer hols!

Edited April 2 by Ross B

[Quinach]

Get feeling the east is the new west weatherwise, but without the relative mildness.

Incessant rain, intensity waxing and waining with majority of it moderate.  Cold at 6c with a brisk easterly wind.  Kids now determined to emigrate.

Lawn is looking a tad sad..

[Northernlights]

Absolutely dire day with continuous light to moderate rain at 6c Positive note for the day the Houdini wintering sheep are off home to Skye .Won"t miss their company as there  was a bunch that did not seem to like ours and we were forever rounding them up this last month. Their fence and dyke climbing skills were superb. Meanwhile  spring sowing is being pushed further and further back. A lot of   unhappy farmers out there.

[Ravelin]

Is it just me or do we seem to be suffering a run of late or non appearing springs in recent years? In fact in the NE we seem to have largely been in the same run of weather since October last year.

Edited April 2 by Ravelin

[Northernlights]

 Ravelin No Its always been cold in the spring up here but perhaps what is slightly different is the wetness.   Usually Arctic outbreaks at this time of year have dryer air with dry snow and grauple falling in temperatures up to 6c. The wetness may be a reflection of a warming world.

A few  reasons why springs are cold up here sea temperatures at their lowest, frequency of of N and E winds at their highest, proximity of the Arctic with lots of winter cold to dissipate not so modified by warm seas. Went on an Agri College trip to Tomintoul to big sheep farm from Aberdeen in May 1975 where a  few days before they were blocked in by 6 foot drifts . Easter 1968 April was very snowy for two weeks and a field that was only sown round the outside before the snow came emerged under the snow blanket . Looked fine and green when snow melted.Can be up to  a 70F degree difference between the bottom and top of a snow blanket. Twas always thus in the spring up here.

Our average cattle  turnout date is 20th April and I would hope by then we will have seen some better weather.

Edited April 2 by Northernlights

[mardatha]

Is  there any sign what's causing this rain?  Is it the Icelandic volcanoes or anything weird? I can mind the backend of the year sometimes being like this -but not springtime.

[Hairy Celt]

The Icelandic 'volcano' is little more than a medium-sized incinerator with no filters so probably little to no effect this far away.

The weekend was passably good and got out on the bike and got remarkably muddy again too.

This winter spring I think have been about par for temps but above averagely wet. Starting to get on folks' nerves a bit - local gardeners wanting to crack on - it is April now after all. Farmers must be approaching despair.

I hope @Northern Strath and family are well. We had our little grand-daughter here for the weekend which was lovely. Now pottering around on her pins rather than hands and knees. We hope to see more of her again soon and I can't wait.

I would like to say something about Israel but dare not.

[101_North]

One good day over the weekend and back to relentless, vile pish! Shocking run of weather that seems endless! 

[Hairy Celt]

Akureyri, Iceland - still definitely winter there!

 

[NUT]

Might need a boat or submarine to go anywhere at this rate. Rain's pouring down once again. A measly 6 degrees at the moment. Looks as if it will get warmer............but only means warmer rain

[SW Saltire]

Reliably informed it was a nice weekend, sadly I was in cloudy Germany for that.

Was a poor Monday here and today is shocking. March reached nearly 150mm of rain which is well above average.

April is statistically our driest month (77mm) but it looks like in a weeks time we’ll be rapidly approaching that figure… Grim. 
Only positive is I’ve heard lambing went well overall, no harsh cold to cause problems.

[Hairy Celt]

Apparently, we've shifted to SPRING. Thanks @Paul, can you make this a reality please, it's minging still!!

[Quinach]

Grim repeat of yesterday's deluge, just even cooler as it's sitting at 4.8c currently.  Groundhog Day in many ways as it's feels like February!

[drm]

A dry interlude (albiet very brief) between the rain today feels like a victory, Friday morning some may wake to a slushy mess or a little more, certainly snow above 200m for a short period. Roll on Saturday afternoon when the mild air makes its way to us. 

[Paul]

3 hours ago, Hairy Celt said:

Apparently, we've shifted to SPRING. Thanks @Paul, can you make this a reality please, it's minging still!!

It'll be warmer and wet this weekend, kind of springlike ish? (If you ignore the 70mph winds at least)

[Hairy Celt]

1 hour ago, Paul said:

It'll be warmer and wet this weekend, kind of springlike ish? (If you ignore the 70mph winds at least)

Ks sake. I'm emigrating. Latest were photos sent by youngest HC from Capri. I nearly cried.

[Halfamilefromnowhere]

Bitter bitter cold day here, probably coldest it’s felt since December, light snow falling this afternoon rushed along on the icy ne winds. Windchill of minus 2 this afternoon but it felt worse.

[Northernlights]

 Halfamilefromnowhere Totally agree coldest day of the winter.  Strong NE wind and moderate rain all day with a maximum temperature of 5c. Currently 3c with sleet falling. . A chance we could be white in the morning.