Inga Horwood

Heavy rain on the westward flank of Winter Hill.

We had a lightning flash and thunder clap followed by a cloudburst on Winter Hill at 5.20 pm yesterday. Pretty dramatic while it lasted.

Lightning on Winter Hill, 12.50 am.

Well, you can't expect (some) American Conservatives to be keen on allowing women to have control of their own bodies. They won't support organisations which offer birth control and abortion to women in other countries, and it is a main battleground of the culture war within the US. It's politically inept to connect the two issues, though it does allow one to trace the tangled webs of conservative hypocrisy and dishonesty as they react with fake shock and outrage. Ethiopian women would benefit from birth control: the whole world would benefit if America took its energy and resource profligacy in hand.

Thanks for what you do.

Snow has been settling here, near Curley's.

According to the Bolton News, we'll be getting that at Christmas! Nathan Rao has apparently moved on... http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/16611359.met-office-says-heatwave-could-return-and-last-till-december/

Some rain on Winter Hill late last night and maybe overnight too. It's still overcast - there may be more rain today.

Nothing for Winter Hill yet. Glad you're getting help on Saddleworth, though.

https://www.inbrief.co.uk/neighbour-disputes/hospipe-bans/ Aside from the legal consequences, in my experience people who breach hosepipe bans are unpopular with neighbours who observe them doing so. I suppose one could send the lads round to threaten anyone frowning on your use of the hosepipe - depends what sort of place you live in.

That tells you how tight our water supply actually is. We are used to thinking we don't have to worry about water, since we have the rain, the reservoirs, the ground water to draw on. But we forget how much water we use regularly, more and more every year. It seems we are only just staying ahead of demand, even when it rains every week.

I think I am like Terry Pratchett's kind of troll. I need cold weather for my brain to work properly! Incidentally, our walk took us by the Entwistle and Wayoh reservoirs - I was shocked to see them so low. Right on cue, BBC North West warned us to start using water responsibly. The Jumbles was topped up though, fortunately for the lads jumping into it.

Oops. West Lancashire plain.

I've just driven home from Turton through Bolton. The bank of smog extends west through Bolton onto the East Lancashire Plain, as far as I could see from the highest point on Chorley Old Road.

Nope. Nothing at all on Winter Hill. Dry as a bone.

Horrid start to Wednesday, but by 10.30 the White Coppice and Brinscall area was bathed in sunshine. I have never seen it looking more beautiful! Perfect for our club walk.

Heavy snow in strong winds on Winter Hill. Settling.

First BBQ of the year sitting out (well, in two fleeces) on the patio overlooking Astley Park. Perfick!

I enjoyed reading that - much more than the weather! Very cold on Winter Hill, but the strong, freezing wind yesterday seems to have disappeared a lot of the snow round mine, thank goodness.

Congratulations on the grandchild. Sorry you missed the big moment because of this filthy weather.

Snowing on Winter Hill. The Met Office missed the potential for snowfall but got the gloom and precipitation, while the new BBC site seems to think we are having sunshine and showers. Smallish flakes but not settling except on the remaining snow.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100707124649/http://www.globalcoral.org/LONG%20TERM%20ARCTIC%20ICE%20TRENDS%20AND%20GLOBAL%20WARMING.1.pdf

The effect for the Met Office could be dire. It is a government funded department, subject to all the cost cutting and hostility that entails from a Tory government. It cannot lower its fees without encountering fierce criticism from its many enemies on the right. With Osborne sniffing about for more privatisations to launch, the Met Office must be high on his list. Now there is a huge hole in its budget, which the government will take as an open invitation to launch a privatisation, with all the loss of quality and service, and rise of commercial gloss and flim flam that brings with it. I imagine the Fox is licking its lips at the prospect of such a conveniently unlocked hen-house, too... Meanwhile my licence fee pays for the BBC and my taxes pay for the Met Office. I expect to get my money's worth, which is the BBC making clear and approachable the Met Office forecasts.