Fiona Robertson

Reading has come in from NE quadrant near eye wall, windspeed 179 mph.

I see we're doing lightning stories so here's mine. After an amazing spell of hot weather in England, Scotland got the thunderstorms This was in 2000 or 2001. It was a foggy, rainy morning when the thunder started at around 10 am. I wandered into our downstairs bathroom for a wee and as I sat there with the windo behind me there was an absolutely blinding flash and at the same time the toilet and the suspended floor jumped and there was an incredible bamg. Not a rumble, a bang. I shot out of the bathroom, everything at ankles, yelling for hubby. Went out on hands and knees in a Noachian downpour to discover that a silver birch in the garden had been struck, the strike being 5 feet from our bedroom window. The roots of the tree are right beside our line to our septic tank which explains the jumping loo.

Got a thunderstorm passing over right now. Clouds looked amazing, but rain started before I could get a piccie. Was more concerne with getting panicky horses in without getting killed in the process. Saw hints of slight rotation, but rain started to quickly for a good enough look.

So far all of the thunderstorms have passed to the east, west, north or south of me and I'm feeling very left out. It'll be just my luck to get hit hard the next 2 days when I need to get the horses out. They've been stuck in since Friday when Storm came up hopping lame and it seems he has a hoof abscess. His pal can't go out without him and he can't stay in without her, so both have had to stay in together and they're getting cabin fever. They'r'e exploding with energy so if I get close thunder when they're this strung out I can see my stables being destroyed... again...

Rumblings in the central belt of Scotland currently. When the sun peeps out the heat is incredible and the high humidity is making it so sticky. I have great hopes for later on.

Kicking off here, hearing thunder and had a few spots of rain. It's still to the south of me, but heading my way.

Seems I'm in the high risk area and also in the "severe" area. This could get interesting.

Is it just me or is that blob on the right which is heading to Dover showing signs of rotation? I was watching the rainfall radar animation.

Well it seems that the bit of Scotland removed from the Met office warning for thunder is currently experiencing... thunder... who'da thunk it? It's still between 10 and 20 miles from me, but I'm hearing the odd rumble. Keeping an eye on lightning maps and rain radar.

BBC still has the initial thunderstorm warning from Friday for storms hitting Dumfries and Galloway and Lothian and Borders. It's at the top of their page. It's bannered on their weather page. Yet that warning was updated and removed Scotland from the warning area. When you check the warning on the Met Office site, Scotland is in the clear. However anyone going to the BBC weather page, seeing the link to the warning and clicking on it will get the warning affecting Scotland. Not a good look and may cause not only confusion, but cause people to ignore warningsin the future.

And with the luck we have it'll prolly hit in July...

Now have thunderstorm near West Calder/Livingston, some stunning lightning.

Just for info, I had thought that winter was over and put the horses out nekkid. Now, some of you may remember I posted a while back the observation that my horses suddenly drink their entire water buckets overnight in their stables, starting about 48 hours before a cold snap. I hadn't been following the model thread, having given winter up as a dead loss. Two days ago I discovered that both had finished their water overnight. Being convinced that winter was over I was sure this put paid to my theory. Then I saw the forecast yesterday this morning they had again finished their water. This evening I had a look in the model thread. It seems my theory still has legs.

@The PIT, your number 2 better expresses in fewer words what I was trying to say. I wasn't even in a warning area yet a 40+ year old tree narrowly missed our car. I walk under it (well used to) every single day taking the horses out and bringing them in. I'm glad I decided to bring them in early yesterday. You see, I looked at the Met Office warning and according to them I was way outside the yellow area, but another site had me right on the edge of an amber warning. I decided to play it safe cos horses are spooky in the wind. I don't know when the tree came down, but it snapped off 6 inches above ground level. But according to the Met Office I wasn't at any risk at all. I make decisions for my safety. I don't work for a local authority. The overall impact based on population is irrelevant to me if a tree is heading for my noggin. Yesty's Met Office warning maps conveyed a false sense of security.

If there is severe weather on the way, it's severe whether you live in a city or in the middle of nowhere. As I said earlier an 80 mph gust is an 80 mph gust regardless of how populated the area is. I think there needs to be 2 different systems. Members of the public want to know how the weather is going to affect them, they're not interested in how many others are affected. That's a concern for the authorities in an area. I want to know if there is a risk that I'll get flattened by a tree if I go out in the car, if it's too dangerous to walk down my avenue of beech trees to get to the local shop, if I'm at risk of a tree falling on my house, if my stables will blow over, and all of that is totally independent of how many people live in my area. The problem lies in the dual purpose that they're trying to foist onto weather warnings. Since a weather warning also triggers various measures by local authorities, they seem to underplay each warning for fear of wasted expenditure should the severe weather be less severe than expected or be a bit further north or south. Personally I want to know if I'm in a area "at risk" of severe weather. Now that doesn't mean that I'll definitely get it, but there's a chance and so I can take appropriate measures for myself, my property, my family and assorted critters. A weather warning should be a warning about the weather.

For info, one tree down in the garden, just missed the car.

Might be higher winds coming in on the back edge.

To answer the really important question you just asked, yes, the public do view no warning areas as escaping the worst of the weather. I just did a straw poll and yup, that seems to be the consensus. It does seem as if this acts as an impact warning and not as a weather warning. It appears to be a pedantic argument, but it makes a huge difference to how people perceive the expected weather. Can you imagine what it could be like tomorrow morning rush hour when the rural peeps try to make their way to the M8 to get to work? Stirling, Callander, the Forth Valley, Lanark, Dunbar, Fife... peeps from those places work in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Looking at the gust strengths for tomorrow morning, I wouldn't be venturing out on the many wooded roads which lead to the M8. Good luck to anyone trying to cross the Forth.

Jo, promise me you'll be careful if you have to venture out in that. Call me superstitious or an old wifie, but I've got a bad feeling about this one. The track of the centre only needs to be off by a few miles for you and me to get hammered. I haven't had a chance to check yet, but what are the temps doing as Gareth tracks east overnight? Unless they go up a bit we're looking at a lot of drifting snow and blizzards.

Well, good ol' Gareth seems to be cranking up here. I've brought the horses in before they become unhandleable. Horses are really spooky in the wind, especially when their route takes 'em under trees and through bushes. Heavy rain started, then stopped to make way for the snow....

@Jo Farrow, just looking at your wind gust charts. Interesting that much of the area shaded in red for Wednesday morning is outside any Met Office warning.

Have to agree with @The PIT. I do understand that impact is important, but when I look at Met Office warnings I want a warning for the severity of the weather. I'm currently outside the Met Office yellow area for Storm Gareth (who names these? Gareth???), yet the isobar charts project stronger winds for my area than areas in England within the yellow warning area. Now, at a glance, I could heave a huge sigh of relief and think "I'm outside the area of the worst of the winds", but I'm not. I just so happen to be in an area that's quite rural. So these weather warnings tell me very little about what I can expect, in fact they can be downright misleading. I can tell you that if I'm out in this at 2 am tomorrow morning desperately trying to anchor my stables down with two panicky horses inside, I won't be taking into consideration how populated the area is or that it's in the wee hours of the morning. In my humble opinion, the Met Office should tell us about the severity of the weather expected and either government or local authorities can tell us about the impact based on population. It isn't much comfort as you sit looking at a tree on your house knowing that at least those in the south east got warned, but you didn't cos you're in a rural area. An 80 mph gust is 80 mph, whether you're in Sidcup or Shotts.

According to the Met Office I'm not even within a yellow warning area, yet according to this I'm right on the edge of an amber! Looking at the tightness of the projected isobars on numerous sites it seems that the isobars over Scotland, outside of the Met Office yellow warning area, are tighter than those inside the Met Office yellow warning area in England.

I'm concerned that the high winds will end up reaching further east in the Central Belt of Scotland. The M8 corridor is basically a wind tunnel

Last I looked they were lying down snoring their heads off which is a sign that they're asleep.