[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

Just a few sporadic flashes of lightning and very distant rumbles of thunder here in St Leonards on Sea so far this evening but some welcome rain falling now.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

It's been a long wet and miserable autumn and winter so forgive me if I don't get too excited about a a few snowflakes falling down here on the South Coast on the first day of British Summer Time.

[Novel Coronavirus – China]

1 hour ago, Daniel* said:

I’ve dealt with a lot of anxiety in my life from a very young age very bad at times, but it is interesting I’m not the slightest bit anxious about this personally, maybe I’m desensitised now... and after seeing constant numbers rolling in you do need to remember they are human lives, but it is harder to stand up and notice until it directly or indirectly affects you in your bubble. I haven’t been in control over certain things in past but there are things you can do about this. Don’t touch your mouth and keep washing those hands. Of course it doesn’t just depend on what you do, so that seems it’s clear that is giving you anxiety in a work setting which makes you more vulnerable but I believe the risk is still low as long as you do your own efforts. A little perspective CC you are young, you will survive. We will all look back and take something from this, society may benefit in long term. We need to appreciate more what we have and what can so easily be lost for example footy.. and I really hope this changes attitudes on elderly we need to put my value on older generation. Maybe, this will make people rethink and become more selfless as folks parents/grandparents and neighbours/friends need our help the most with the times ahead. 

My utmost respect for this post.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

On 06/03/2020 at 19:18, Dami said:

I'm pretty certain on clear days in EB my Dad said you could see Dungeness. Now that area has a completely different feel to it.

I'm not sure about the view from Eastbourne but on a good day Dungeness is clearly visible from Hastings. It's about 26 miles by road but obviously closer as the crow flies.

I really like Dungeness, it's unique in many ways, not least of which is it is apparently officially designated as a desert :

 

'Britain's only desert' sells for £1.5m

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

A shingle beach, dubbed "Britain's only desert" by the Met Office, is bought by the owners of a neighbouring nuclear power station.

Back to the weather though. wet and windy again down here on the South Coast

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

What a thoroughly miserable day it's been down here in Hastings/St Leonards, and elsewhere across the region by all accounts .

By far the wettest day of the entire Autumn/Winter/Spring cycle so far with 36.4 mm recorded at nearby Herstmonceux. Relentless rain from around 8am until well after 10pm and feeling cold with it.

The A21 is still closed by flooding between Johns Cross and Seddlescombe and several flood alerts in place locally. Grim.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

1 hour ago, Kentish Kiwi said:

That’s perfect, exactly what I was looking for - thanks very much! Not sure how I wasn’t aware of it already...

You're very welcome, glad it fits the bill.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

It was good to see some blue sky and sunshine to herald the start of Meteorological Spring down here in Hastings today. 

I'm in awe of those who have already cut the grass or mowed their lawns given how absolutely saturated everything is in this neck of the woods. 

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

12 hours ago, Kentish Kiwi said:

Hi all, sorry for this rather off topic question. I wondered if anyone knows where I may be able to find a record of monthly average highs for London? Eg what was the average high in July 2018. I’m curious as to what the average high temperatures were in our hottest summer months but can’t find it anywhere on google. Everywhere just seems to list the overall mean... Would be very grateful if someone can point me in the right direction. 

Hopefully this is the sort of thing you are looking for KK. You can alter the date parameters to view any month and year.

https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/gb/london/EGLC/date/2018-7

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

38 minutes ago, alexisj9 said:

There's a wave on this storm that rapidly intensifies right over them, they named it for that, plus high seas

 

I'm not seeing any evidence of that Alexis but stand to be corrected. The 'storm' they named and issued warnings for was by their own forecasts, only going to affect the northern tip of Spain.

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

I'm not sure why the Spanish met office named a low pressure system which barely affected them? 

It's been a bit breezy down here on the South Coast today but nothing out of the ordinary, winds gusting around 40-50mph at most here in the Hastings area. 

One or two showers made it inland but most seem confined to The Channel and it's fairly mild. Temperatures locally peaked at 10.3c.

 

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

I got caught in a brief hailstorm here in St Leonards on Sea shortly before 4.30pm this afternoon. It turned to rain within a few minutes, during which time the temperature dropped from 8c to 4c and didn't recover.

Not expecting any snow down here on the South Coast but if memory serves i think I predicted February 26th for snowfall in Tom's competition ?

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

1 hour ago, alexisj9 said:

Each way on SenlacJack please, if that's OK. 

Ooops....I appreciate your backing Alexis but it seems as though the snow has fallen further north in our region. Personally I think East Anglia should be discounted as it's too far north

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

A slight improvement here in St Leonards on Sea this afternoon but feeling distinctly chilly as the showers barrel through The Channel. 

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

This is the moron who sparked a big rescue operation here in Hastings this afternoon. I hope he makes a big donation to the RNLI. 

He wasn't the only idiot though, I saw several families wheeling their tots in pushchairs right up to the waters edge, many of them getting drenched by big waves, waves which are filled with large pebbles. I saw at least 4 people get flattened and almost dragged into the sea whilst I was there. 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

Torrential rain here now in St Leonards on Sea as another squall line passes through.

The Herstmonceux anenometer seems to be up and running again and has recorded gusts of 50mph or more every hour since 8am this morning. The highest recorded so far at that site was 104kph (65mph) as the first squall line passed through. Quite impressive for an inland site, and it was undoubtably windier here on the coast.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

1 hour ago, snowrye said:

Think he was found alive down by pett level

That's quite some distance from where he started from then. Glad there was a good outcome but seriously, wtf was he thinking trying to surf in that ?  I'll post a picture of him later when Iv'e gone through all my photos.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

1 hour ago, snowrye said:

Think he was found alive down by pett level

That's quite some distance from where he started from then. Glad there was a good outcome but seriously, wtf was he thinking trying to surf in that ?  I'll post a picture of him later when Iv'e gone through all my photos.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

23 minutes ago, Team Squirrel said:

Hastings. Honestly, people who go out surfing in a storm and therefore put others lives as risk should be prosecuted, imo.

 

I'm just back from a tour around my favoured spots in Hastings, St Leonards on Sea and Bexhill and watched this drama unfold just a few yards from from where I sat in my car.

The moron was surfing at Rock a Nore, a regular spot for experienced surfers when the waves are favourable as it is partly sheltered by a jetty type feature but today the waves were totally unsuitable for surfing.  i have a couple of photo's of him as he clambered onto the car park several times holding his surfboard before going back into the water again.

After several attempts he was parted from his surfboard and for what seemed like an eternity was attempting to swim back and forth ( but bizzarely not back to shore ). The Coastguards were called and duly arrived along with the Fire Brigade and Police.

By then the guy had been in the water without his surfboard for about 15-20 minutes but I couldn't see him. I stayed there for almost an hour, not as a morbid onlooker I hasten to add, by now the emergency services were a couple of hundred yards away from my location. By the time I left there was no sign of the lifeboat which surprised me at the time because the lifeboat station is probably no more than 3-400 yards away. I have no idea what the eventual outcome was but having watched that video I am glad the RNLI are my nominated charity of choice.

I may post some photos I took on my tour around the area later on this evening, along with some more stories about some of the brain dead muppets I witnessed on the seafront today.

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

1 hour ago, LightningLover said:

@SenlacJack How is it around Hastings?

Nothing out of the ordinary here so far LL. I was woken around 2.30am by the wind howling but if anything it's eased quite a bit this morning. As others have mentioned though the worst of the weather is not expected to reach us here until later on this afternoon/evening.

Annoyingly the anenometer at Herstmonceux appears to have developed a fault and has stopped recording wind gusts recently. I always use that site to keep records since it's the nearest official weather station to me. ( approx 11 miles ).

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

This forecast from Estofex is worth looking at. That seems quite noteworthy for our region.

 

http://www.estofex.org/

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

Love this song from my youth and it seems appropriate this evening

Just joking but I do love this song.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

38 minutes ago, Hurricane Debby said:

Will it be as strong as Storm Angus in 2016 ? That one did scare me a bit, it turned a gazebo I had totally upside down and ripped it to shreds. I didn't have a light outside the back at the time and I didn't realise that it was one of the legs that was constantly bashing against the glass of my back door. I won't deny it was at this point I went to bed and crawled under the duvet not knowing if the window would last ! I can laugh now but I was terrified at the time !

My memory is not all it should be but having looked up Storm Angus I think Ciara is potentially on a par with that.

Slightly off topic but my Facebook page reminded me that on this day last year I was on the seafront in Hastings taking photographs and video of Storm Erik. It aso reminded me that on this day in 2017 I witnessed my first snowfall of that winter....and it was in Mallorca of all places. The day before that I was on the beach enjoying temperatures of 21c.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

Today was the absolute definition of calm before the storm here in Hastings/St Leonards on Sea. 

It felt like Spring with a barely noticeable breeze and mostly blue skies. 

This evening saw the 'Bad moon rising' for those of you old enough  to remember that classic 1969 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival

 

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

5 hours ago, Hurricane Debby said:

I'd love to meet up to say hi  I just hope my wretched car starts becuase its been playing up this week.... What  do the reckon will be the best time to go out, or will it really matter ?!

High tide tomorrow in Hastings is 10.54 am so all being well I will try and aim to be at Rock-a-Nore in time for that. That said if conditions are really bad I'm old enough and wise enough not to take chances with natures fury.

[South East and East Anglia Weather Discussion Sept 2019 onwards]

Perhaps we could have a South Coast Storm Party meetup .

Only joking of course but I might be tempted to take the short drive to my favoured viewing spots at Rock a Nore in Hastings and just a mile or so away on the seafront in St Leonards on Sea. Checking my camera batteries in the morning to hopefully get some good photos.