Rain Lady

Dry at first this morning, Spitting now. Interesting wet SW streamer on radar. Lake District being hit, but not Lancs seriously so far . Maybe the N Wales mountains giving some shelter?

Feeling guilty staying indoors listening to the wind howling in the chimney. Super dry weather for attacking work outdoors. But strong E wind is horribly bleak. No escape. There is a saying up here that if you get an east wind for 3 days, you'll have it for 3 weeks. Forecast charts don't seem to agree. Wind expected to drop and come more from south by midweek?

Still drying nicely. Some sun this morning but went really bleak this afternoon as grey murk came over from Yorkshire and beyond in the brisk east wind.

Scuba steve Well that drought was grand. :Things drying nicely and the big puddle in veg garden has gone. Wind became a bit brisk and chilly.

UK Met Office Fax Charts - UKMOMSLP Analysis and Prognosis WWW.WEATHERCHARTS.ORG UK Met Office . . Europe and North Atlantic MSLP analysis and prognosis charts Wondering if the Scandi high will be revving up by midweek? Two close relatives have birthdays mid March. Often celebrate with some sort of snowfall -- we call it their "little winter".

Cloudy and feeling raw. Snow on fells. Snowline about 300m. Temp 2.7 c..

A treat at the end of the afternoon 26th Feb. Just very light though wetting showers were around.

Also wanted to mention some unusual early season observations. Snowdrops were a day or two late opening, then had a rapid flush of flowering in the warmth and are now half finished. Normally we would have had another week before they started to fade. The curlews have been here since the start of the second week of February. They were very noisy in the gentle days last week. They have arrived earlier and earlier these last few years. Used to be always about March 1st. Some of the early apple trees have fattening buds. Seem 3 weeks early. However this last week a stoat in its winter white ermine coat has been dashing hither and thither among the tufts in the meadow. So maybe, suggest not wise to take off your fur coat. Could be lots of cold weather to come. Snow at Easter perhaps?

A bit of a catch up from me. Been trying to get some outdoor work done this last week when we had some drier spells. Apple pruning a priority and lots more to do. Total rain for Feb = 184.8mm. Feb average over 50 yrs is 109.2 mm. So far 382.0 mm this year adding to the grim wet legacy from last year. Saw a red sky peeping under the cloud at dawn, so not surprised we had more rain and then snow and the sleet today. Thin patchy snow layer for a while here by early afternoon. Thawed away by 3pm but the fells were still white at sunset.

Heard hail here too last night. Temp min overnight 3.3C. Also at edge of dark I saw a round yellow thing briefly. Took me a while to realise it was the moon. Such a long time since we've seen a bit of a break in cloud cover. Hoping for some blue sky slots now and then today.

Dark Horse Up on last year though.

Filthy wet today till about 2pm. And that's being polite.

About to leave for a social night out -- wearing wellies, several layers of clothes topped by a mac.

damianslaw It always snows in March here. It is our snowiest month.

Puddles had begun to dry up this morning -- they've come back now.

111mm so far this month. Got hot this morning when working outside in the sunshine. Had to take off a layer .

Misty murk still. Like being enveloped in cotton wool. However there was a 30secs sunbeam half an hour ago. 9.9 mm for yesterday's rain. No drying.

Another dark sunless day with bits of drizzly drops. No wind. Everywhere sodden. House lights on all the time. Max 9.8C but never felt comfortably warm.

22.9mm collected at 9 am for previous 24hrs. veg garden flooded misty dark murk but temp 12.3 c. Everything struck damp, even ropes of onions in an outdoor shed. Birds making a racket though, specially curlews who love the soaked grassland.

wrightc23 Interesting -- always said in my family that if there's a big cold and snowy event in the US then we'll have it 3 weeks later. So that would take us into March when we we always have snow here, sometimes memorably heavy.

Scuba steve ooo er There are more mosquitoes about nowadays in all these wetter conditions. I've had some bad bites when working in damp warm sheltered places in the last 3yrs. Midge bites no problem for me, but mosquito bites swell up badly after a few hours and itch for days. Mosquitoes hum like helicopters and are determined to attack. There's also the clegs -- well used to them July/ Aug. Slow silent approach on the look out for bare flesh to collect blood and the bites itch madly. You can usually thwack them before they've started sucking. And then there's ?"gnats"? ... relative in S Lakes had these secretly near conifers in his garden. Itching within an hour after being bitten. Always had an uncomfortable journey home after visiting. Nature in charge.

Drops of rain now falling after a dry night. 2.1mm for yesterday. Bone penetrating dampness. Miserable grey cloud. Feeling chilly though temp is 5.8C. No wonder some folks are unwell. We need sunshine.

Suddenly wild thrashing rain. Been an OK day till now.

Bleak out there. Now fine drizzle in the E wind. Snow on ground melting slowly. Temp 1.3C.

Horizontal big flakes blizzard now. .