mistyqueen

Well thankfully it is now a lot calmer and we managed to make it through the morning with no power cuts! ( I shouldn't have said that! ) Still a bit blustery but nothing to write home about. So now we get ready for the arrival of Conor in a few days. If he's as bad as Babs there won't be much to worry about here although I do believe that some parts of Skye have no power. Bummer for them!

She's here! Been chapping at the door since about 6am and now she's giving it a guid thump! I fully expect the power to go off at some point today, so if I'm not back on here within the next few days, I hope everyone has a very happy Christmas!

It was quiet......too quiet. The calm before the proverbial? Had a couple of lightning strikes here later afternoon, nothing to write home about. Unlike Staffin in the north of Skye which has no landline or internet now due to a stonking lighting strike this morning! Baaaaad!

3.8c, cloudy, rain, sleet, hail, rain, hail, sleet. Not much in the way of wind.....yet!

Morning Peeplings! Fairly calm here just now, a very light breeze to fool us into thinking it ain't gauny happen! Aye right! Temp at 5c and clear skies. Nice!

Sleety, rainy, hail and a wind that wid cut ye in three! Temp has dropped to 3c with a wind chill of -1. So, is there going to be a storm on Christmas day or not? XC and Metcheck tell me winds will be 5mph to a possible 15mph. That's hardly a storm now is it? Anyhoo, seein' as we are definitely getting a blast from Barbara, yesterday I defrosted the Christmas bird, cooked it last night and now it is back in the freezer ready to be de-frosted and warmed up for the big day. Canny be too careful seein' as how there is a strong likelihood we could be without power on the 25th. Hope not!

Snow on the hills behind the house but nothing to low level. Keeping an eye on the Xmas day 'storm'. The forecast changes what seems to be hourly! I guess it's still a wee bit far out to forecast with any certainty then. I hope it stays as it is at the moment!

Morning Peeps! A wee bit nippy here today, temp at 3.6c but no wind! I know that'll change though! I did hear what sounded like hail rattling off the roof a wee while ago. Some forecasts say snaw for us today but I think that'll probably be on high ground only. It does feel rather wintry though, time to get the stove lit!

We've already got some power cuts on Skye and one of my neighbours has recorded a gust of 89.9mph. Cannae wait for Big Babs tae arrive and sort oot these wee puffs o' wind we're gettin' the noo!

Have yourself a windy little Christmas.... Skye is in there somewhere!

Yes Catch, I was just looking at the wind speed charts and Friday looks worse than Christmas day! I'm aware things can and will change a bit over the next few days, but either way Scotland is in for a battering over the weekend! Meanwhile at the moment I,'m watching the wind whip up the sea so that it looks like smoke on the water! Cue for a song anyone? Heard a few things being blown around last night so will go and check what's moved overnight!

A large chunk of it disappeared and we had the whole of the back roof replaced. No point in just patching it as the old roof felt below the tiles was rotten anyway. Hopefully the storm will downgrade and no-one will have power cuts or severe damage to property and everyone travelling to see family will get there safely! Is that just wishful thinking?

Please tell me this will downgrade! Pleeeeeaaaaase!

Not so much bothered about broadband asj and we can cope with the power cuts, but the roof is worrying me a bit! After the battering from Frank last year when we lost a chunk of it and had it replaced by a builder ( the only builder we could find at that time! ) who didn't do the best job, yes, I am concerned about the roof! However, we'll just need to take it as it comes and hope the storm downgrades a bit! Wishful thinking? I find the best way to deal with it is to find a quiet corner with a bottle of something nice and some chocolate. That always helps!

Once again it's a Meh kind of morning. Yesterday temps stayed very steady around the 11c mark even into late evening. At least I don't have to put the heating on during the day and we only had one small fire on last night. I am watching the charts and forecasts avidly for the weekend. Both XC and Metcheck are forecasting gusts of 80+ mph on Christmas day. Baaaaaaad! Just as we are sitting down to our Christmas dinners....... off goes the power! Nae roasters! I'll just need to make do with mashers instead! If that's the worst that happens I'll be quite happy. I may sound flippant but I'm really rather concerned, so I'd best get off and check out the battery situation and get my oil lamps cleaned, trimmed and fillled ready for use!

Morning all! Murky and mild here again! I've been keeping an eye on the forecasted windiness over the festive period ( naw, nuthin' tae dae wi' sprouts! ). The forecasts change so quickly, one moment storm, next update shows wee puffs or a breeze! It would appear that we'll get some sort of breeziness on Christmas day, then I saw the chart for wind gusts on the 28th which showed possible gusts in the region of 90mph. Not good! Hope that one calms down a great deal. Start praying maybe?

It's a Meh kind of day here again, murky and mild with horizontal rain. Oh for some clear skies and sunshine and crisp frost! A girl can dream, eh? Just had a look at GFS wind speed charts for the weeks ahead. Boxing day looks interesting, although I realise that's a long way off and a lot can change. I do hope so! Edited to say it always helps to add a piccie, although the charts have already changed since this morning. This now shows a storm for late Christmas day rather than Boxing day.

Well, a better morning than yesterday, when we managed 97.3mm of rain! We were out in that trying to rig up new accommodation for ducks and hens as they all have to be grounded for 30 days due to this outbreak of swine flu in Europe. Ducks will have a new temporary home in one of our garden sheds which we cleared out and I've laid sawdust and straw and left a wee paddling pool in there too! Chooks are in original duck hut which has more room. All we have to do is round up the ducks and try and get them into the shed! Cue Benny Hill music.....

So, Monday night returning from Portree temp was -5c, this was about 7.45pm. At home it was -3 . Yesterday morning dawned dull and mild at 8.5c and the temp crept up all day reaching the dizzy heights of 14.3c. This morning at 8am it was 14.8c and now the wind ha picked up and we have horizontal rain. Oh bliss! Back to a normal Skye winter then!

Morning Peeps! Well what a beautiful day! That's two days in a row we've had sunshine all day, but the temperature? Ah yes, it was a wee bit nippy yesterday but not freezing. I did notice the drop last night when I went to put chooks to bed, it was just below freezing. It dropped to -2.8c in the wee small hours and the mercury has fairly rushed up the thermometer and we are currently at -0.8c. Everything has a thick coating of frost and looks braw! It wont last I know, we'll be back to temps in the teens and horizontal rain this week. Meh!

So, the 1st of December is the first day of winter they said. They lied, I tell you , they lied! It's currently 10.2c just now. Think I'll save myself some money and switch the heating off, looks like I won't be needing it on for a while!

Morning Peeps from a very mild Skye! Temp currently 9.2c, light winds and cloud. What on earth happened to winter? Oh, wait.....that was last week! So far we have had no gales, little rain, some frost's, nae snaw. It's unusual for us to have such a benevolent Autumn, so it makes me think that winter ( if and when it arrives! ) may well deliver everything that we haven't had yet! So, multiple storms and torrential rain may well be what to expect over the next three months! Basically what we had last year, only later. Give me a clear frosty day over horizontal rain, power cuts and damaged roofs any day!

Afternoon Peeps! Well, what a change in temps today! 6.3c at 7am this morning and we haven't seen a high like that for a while! Still, at least it's not raining, so we have a lot to be thankful for!

Afternoon Peeps! Well, it was as I predicted, temp got down to -1c last night, that's the coldest we've had for a while. I don't think it got as cold as that last year! Temp has struggled today, currently at 2.3c. Beautiful white and sparkly day! More please!

Well temp has just plummeted to -0.4c. A bit breezy and wet yesterday with temps up to 5.5c, nearly tropical! Beautiful clear day today, and even though all forecasts I've looked at today say that the overnight temp will be miniimum of 3c, I think they're wrong! Gin clear skies out there too! Braw!