Emz by the Thames

I think the chilly, late arrival of springs has left everyone behind! And also a lot of stuff has rotted rather than germinated, my peas for example. Glad to hear the chillis are going well, I'm worried about mine, they're so small and just don't seem to be growing. I'm growing all the usual stuff (potatoes, runners, chillis, courgettes, salad bed, spinach, squash) but giving 'Munchkin' pumpkins a go, they are miniature pumpkins that grow up vines. And emir melons! We grew hops from seed last year - out of approx 30 seeds, four germinated and two of those seedlings died, one got eaten by a slug which left us with one plant! However, it's a female thankfully. It grew three branches and about 4 metres last summer, this year it's growing about half a meter a week and we've had to loop it back onto itself...and it's only May!!

What's this, what's this? Talk of thunder next week??? My allotment is on a hill and I can see from Marlow to Bagshot/Ascot which must be 20 miles away and would be brilliant to watch storms, but unfortunately there is no place to shelter at all! Looking forward to a mad planing out session on Sunday now the chilliest of the night is over.

Bit of a frustrating weekend at the allotment, quite a few things pot bound but rumours of a cold night or two mean they've got to stay in the polytunnel, bah.

Just to confirm we have absolutely no weather.

That is my dream. Already planning to retire to the West Country and market garden!! Will I still have a poly tunnel on Tuesday with all this wind I wonder!! We have it written into our allotment agreement that if it's windy we have to check our polytunnel the next morning. Apparently someone made a homemade polytunnel at our allotment, didn't anchor it, there was a gale and it rolled over squashed 5 allotments!!

I've built me a polytunnel. Boyfriend has one half and he's growing chillis/toms. I want to grow fun stuff in my half. I've already got some loofah seeds.

I'm surprised it was 8.c today, on the allotment it felt very cool and damp. I could see my own breath and lit a fire to keep warm. Those rainfall totals for Monday...should I buy a dinghy? Looking for melon seeds. Any recommendations?

Storm warning for East Angular. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings#?date=2018-04-22 Another lovely day here . Dare I say we are no longer behind due to the cold spring at the allotment...there's even talk of melons...

Wow! Heard thunder rumbling around just after midnight, then woken up by a proper storm around 3am, followed by heavy rain. I love it when you can still see the lightning with your curtains and eyes closed! And won't have to water the allotment today, bonus.

The squirrels are sunbathing!! This is lovely weather, it felt like November last week. All my seedlings are currently at a sheltered spot at the allotment but it looks like it may get back down to 4.c in the night next week so I shall have to bring them all back again!

Noticeably mild. Ran a million errands today and every time I walked out of a shop and was greeted by mild air it was quite a surprise! I wanted to go to the seaside this afternoon...but I had to clean a landrover instead using just one bucket and a water supply up 3 flights of stairs

Ermmmmmmmmmmmmm......what dis? Sleet on Wednesday Bucks? Noooo!! I love snow but you can do one now cold, it's spring!!!!!

It's been a lovely day to be spring cleaning, so mild out there, it's hard to believe it will be snowy in a few hours! I've got to go to London tomorrow morning on the train, reckon I'll be finished by 2pm and back home 3pm, is it likely that the snow will disrupt my morning/early afternoon travel plans? Or is the heavy snow arriving Saturday night into Sunday? I don't know what to do but I've got to decide by 5pm today which is annoying. Was hoping to finish my polytunnel and get the chillis and toms started too but I don't think that's going to be happening.

I hope you all enjoyed the snow, I loved it apart from when my partner took two hours to get home and I was very worried! On the Wednesday night before the snow turned fine and drifty, we had snowflakes visible to the naked eye. There was this one snowflake I saw walking home that looked soo much bigger than the rest that I had to photograph it! Roll on spring and summer now - I have a polytunnel to put up and the thunderstorms and plumes to look forward to!

Just had a 10 minute walk out there, well wrapped up. That biting wind is unreal and although I felt ok outside as I was walking, I felt shivvery for a good 10 minutes after I came in, never felt anything like it. Only about 2cms here and light flakes put I can see the individual flakes with the naked eye. Just looked at the warnings for tomorrow and we appear to be under two separate snow warnings at the same time!

Small flakes drifting down on the breeze. We are currently not under a single weather warning all week, though!

How does one brace oneself for a polar vortex? Is it like Sharknado? Snownado? Smashing day at the allotment, half of it dug over, poly tunnel frame built, legs now hurt very much. Microlites and hot air balloons in the air above, skylarks - wonderful sunny day.

You put your easterly in, your easterly out, in, out in out, the models shake it all about..... It's nerve-wracking being a MOD thread lurker, I think I'll take a few days off!!

Me: 'hey ho, spring coat, day off, off to Tesco I walk in the sunshine" 5 minutes later: 'ahhhhh' (runs in doors after being ambushed by 10 minutes of freezing hail) Typical. Hair is now a wet and fizzy mess again. All hands on deck at the allotment tomorrow. Not knowing how the SSW/possible easterly will pan out makes everything a bit uncertain, not really sure what to do, bah. I've covered my onions just in case!

The Dutton has spoken: @liamdutton Sudden stratospheric warming has taken place 10-50km up in stratosphere. More often than not (66% of time), it increases risk of colder than normal weather and high pressure 10-14 days later. Weather models showing signs of this later in Feb. Could be 'interesting.' Stay tuned! Thoughts return to the man in Marlow buying three sledges.

Just looked on the radar at the snow shower that has just passed and it only formed over Northants - it's a pep up.

From out of nowhere.... Small fakes and and settling on the grass/cars etc

How deep is your knowledge of meteorology generally already? I love the weather but I didn't do physics or geography to GCSE levels and missed out on some of the weather basics. So I took a short course from home in hours that suited me on Futurelearn (part of the OU) . I did the one Exeter uni offer, but Reading Uni offers them too. It's free (unless you want a certificate) and although it's 12 hour teaching time, I found it was taking me 2 or 3 hours a day as I read all the extra reading etc. When I did the course, some people were on it because they were considering study or careers in meteorology. If your have advanced knowledge already, it may not be for you but I found it a great distance learning beginners meteorology course - and the forums mean you can always ask for help. I have a great understanding of weather processes now and found the behaviour of air masses the most interesting part. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/come-rain-or-shine https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learn-about-weather

Light snow in Missenden, not in Wycombe, but then Wycombe is a circle of hell in which nothing good ever happens.

It's sunny...AND snowing