mike57
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Posts posted by mike57
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Travelling from Birchwood to Scarborough by train at the moment. Snow in Birchwood had turned mainly to rain when I left at 12.50, still snowing hard in Manchester 15 mins later. Thick snow out of Manchester to Stalybridge and up to the Standedge tunnel portal. Once you come out the tunnel on Huddersfield side there is just a covering now
Through Huddersfield towards Leeds it has stopped snowing and there is just a little left on the embankments but roads are clear. At Leeds it's clear, just on outskirts now
Picture is view from train between Manchester and Stalybridge
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Was sleety rain this morning at 06:00 (miserable cycle into work) turned to snow around 07:00, and been snowing since - Birchwood near Warrington.
Settling on grass and trees but roads are clear
Train home at 12:50, I wonder if its the wrong kind of snow
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4 hours ago, Terminal Moraine said:
In the meantime I can only sympathise with the unfortunate people who have been so badly affected, particularly those caught in the quite shameful situation of being refused insurance due to prior flooding.
The problem is that insurance companies are run for the profit of their shareholders, and any executive who continued to authorise insurance at a loss would quickly find him/her self in possession of a P45.
I think the issue of flood cover in high risk areas needs to be a government decision, to for example limit insurance companies liability and pay out the difference, the money would be taxpayers money, and as a taxpayer I think this would be a reasonable use of my contributions.
This would also encourage spending on flood defences as there would then be a direct saving.
We also seem to getting more frequent and more severe events, I have tried to think back, I have been interested in meteorology and climate since my schooldays (nearly 50 years ago!) and floods seems to be worse and more frequent. Taking York as an example I remember one major flooding event in York in the early 80's, and one in around 1976 (I think at the end of that hot summer, not sure...) but flood defences have improved since then.
More recently York has suffered in 2000, 2007 and this year. Are we getting more significant events now? I would like to see a plot of significant UK events by year for say the last 100 years, no doubt the data is out there. Did similar events happen say 50 years ago, but because of the advent the internet and related technology we can now share experiences with others so we are more aware.
Although 'global warming' gets the blame there are other factors at work, land use, building on flood plains, and often flood defences in one area will increase risks else where. In the same way that in some areas it has been accepted that coastal erosion cannot be stopped the same decision may be have to be taken with flooding.
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Again going by video from facebook Aire had burst its banks around Baildon by 3pm this afternoon imagine it must have got worse since then.
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Had a heavy snow shower last night around 17:00. It settled, and then froze later in the evening. By 20:30 local roads were icy, with a temp of -1C. Doesn't look to have been anymore overnight
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No snow on the Yorkshire Coast this morning, but a bad northerly gale. Checked on the Metoffice reports and 60mph gusts for Bridlington around 06.00. 4 miles north up the coast it is now brightening up but still really blowing. I am trying to rebuild our log shed, that project is on hold this morning, far too windy to put the roof on. I agree with previous post its the worst gale for a few years.
A neighbours TV ariel is blown down and power went on and off a few times just before 06:00.
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Had a storm down the coast at Bempton at about 15:30 lasted about 15 mins, nothing like the Scarborough one, but heavy rain for 10 minutes, a number of C-C flashes, didnt see any C-G. There seemed to be some disoragnised rotation and some very gusty winds, would have chased it but was heading off into the North Sea. Some after storm pictures below
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Was nice to sit back and enjoy the storm rather than panic trying to get pictures.....constant rumble for a good 20mins here
Same up the coast 4 miles north of Bridlington, constant rumbling for about half hour, but no lightning seen, and about 10 mins of heavy rain. Sun out now. At least its warmed up a lot, last 2-3 days have seen temps struggle to make 10C on the yorkshire coast. Nothing worth photographing here.
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I got a Nikon D3200 for Xmas with the 18-55 zoom lens. This is available for around £300. It is a very good camera and can deliver stunning results. You also have all the expected manual overrides to get the best results from a particular situation.
The problem with a DSLR is that you can spend a lot more on accessories, but there are ways of reducing the cost. We picked up a second hand Nikon 55-200 VR zoom from CEX for £99, it was in excellent condition. You may also want to consider a 35mm or 50mm F1.8 to cope with low light conditions, spare batteries... the list can go on.
If you are going to be shooting from a moving vehicle the VR mode will undoubtedly help your images, and there are other manufactures who can offer similar systems eg Canon IS.
One accessory wich we have found useful is the WiFi adapter, it allows you to download straight to your tablet or phone, and you can also use your mobile device as a remote control and you can enable 'live view' so that you can frame the picture using your phone screen.
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To be fair the pile fire at Windscale (later Sellafield) had nothing to do with nuclear power, the two air cooled reactors were only used to produce plutonium for the weapons programme. The heat was a waste product. It was the realisation that this heat could be used to generate electricity that promped the construction of Calder Hall power station next door to the Windscale site. Calder Hall went online in 1956, initially operation was geared to producing plutonium, with electricity being a 'by product'
The are now reactor designs which are passively safe e.g. pebble bed reactor which avoid the possibilty of a meltdown, which is the worst dase scenario in an accident.
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Started fine this morning then clouded over about 15 mins before the maximum eclipse, a slight break in the clouds allowed me to get this picture at around 9.34, almost maximum.
It went darker, but no where near as spectacular as a total eclipse. As I said in an earlier post USA 2017 looks good
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We have just bought a Nikon 3200 (admittedly new) and are very pleased with it, its an entry level camera in the Nikon range, but supports a wide range of accesories. So far we have a 18-55 and 55-200 lenses. Havnt tried the video mode yet. We paid about 280 for the body and 18-55 lens and picked up a good used Nikon 55-200 from our local CEX shop for just under £100, so it should be within budget.
One gadget which we have been particularly impressed with is the wi-fi dongle, it allows viewing and instant downloading to a tablet or phone, and allows said phone/tablet to act as a remote control, much better than messing with a self timer for group shots, as well as simplfying setting up shots. adds about £45.
When you read the reviews about cameras there is a lot of tech detail, this can help, but sometimes it doesnt give the feel of the camera, the D3200 will work well as a point and shoot in fully auto, for 'normal' pictures, but with a bit of experimenting is capable of a lot more. For example I have just copied about 200 x 50 year old colour 35mm slides with very good results using the 18-55 lens and a set of extention tubes.
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Does anyone have experience of weather changes during an eclipse. Temperature/ wind anything else
I've heard that the darkness is eerie and that birds quieten down, anything else?
There is a cooling, which is to be expected, In France in 1999 there was a light breeze, which if anything calmed down. I think the most noticable thing is the quality of the light, its totally different to dawn and dusk, even although it goes dark. This is due to the fact that what light there is coming from (August 1999, France) high in the sky, not the horizon. I thimk its one of those things that until you have seen one in the flesh you dont realise just how spectacular it is. Its not just totallity, but the darkening before and lightening after. The videos you see dont really convey the whole 'feel'
If I get the chance I will try and get to see another one, USA 2017 looks good, may be as part a longer holiday, a shame its not earlier in the year as it could be combined with a storm chase or two. (another thing on my wish list)
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I travelled to Amiens to view the 1999 eclipse, from Yorkshire this seemed as easy as travelling to Cornwall. Went by train to Lille, from there I had intended to get train/bus via Haute Picardy, however there were far too many people for the one train so I shared an 8 seater minibus with 7 other random brits, and we watched totality from the McDonalds car park on the outskirts of Amiens with clear skys. I have to say it is one most strange things to see, should be on everyones 'bucket list'. On return to the UK that evening I was glad I went to France, as there were a lot of disappointed peoplewho travelled to Cornwall/
Travel to the Faroes is out of the question, and as others have commented chances of a clear sky are not good.
If I had the chance I would 'eclipse chase' again, but would pick my location, to avoid the disapointment of cloudy skys. I wonder if we will notice a darkening on the Yorkshire Coast
And one question, why do they say that you shouldnt use a welding mask to view the sun, I would of thought it would be ideal
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Something weird happened yesterday morning (Jan 19th) at around 7.30/8 am... here in Grimsby! I was in bed, and I swear I heard thunder twice outside... I immediately looked on the lightning detector but nothing! Asked other people if they heard it, no, not a thing. I don't know whether it was just a few isolated distant strikes that the detectors didn't pick up but it was really strange. There was first a distant rumble but definitely loud enough to catch my attention and think 'No way!' Then about 3 to 4 minutes after there a smaller rumble that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been listening for it. But the second rumble convinced me that what I was hearing was thunder. Now I'm not sure what it was but it sure did sound like it, pretty strange to hear after the light snow we had last night (although it doesn't surprise me because we seem to get more and more thundery-type activity with snow these days in this country).
We live near Bridlington, and have experienced thundersnow when the conditions are right, one ehing I have noticed that it doesnt always show up on the lightning detectors, anyone know why?
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A few rumbles of thunder and some small hail in Bolton this morning, was working so not sure how near it was as I didnt see any lightning due to being inside.
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Bempton, near Bridlington
Spells of heavy rain since 11, thunder and lightning for an hour or so from 3 ish, with a few spells of torrential rain, stopped raining now and less windy, but still grey
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire - Weather Chat
in Regional
Posted
Several heavy snow showers in Bempton this afternoon, but not cold enough to settle properly, about 3C at the moment, and snowing hard. Driven by a Northerly wind I would expect Hull to see some wet snow