Quinach

Best display in many years, early Christmas present!

As requested

Last one before I get kicked off for spamming the forum, exquisite...

Its a relatively small area of nacreous but it's putting up a lovely show. 6c, brisk WSW wind and still patches of snow lying around.

Gorgeous nacreous display ongoing to the west of here.

Some violent gusts of wind hitting the house now, one at 5:45am managed to wake the whole house up. Now to wait for daylight to see what damage is out there. Some torrential rain overnight, light rain just now and 7c.

Subtle hints of it here, apparently stronger earlier on but missed the show. Phone camera as usual not showing it as vividly as the reality.

Wet and pretty miserable out, complete contrast to the lovely sunny day yesterday. 6c with light winds and copious amounts of rain. The Cairngorm Reindeer seem to have mutated into a new species...

Got to say, if the winter weather cannot be proper cold then the likes of today is a very acceptable alternative. Very mild with a max of 13.9c(!!), steady SW wind and dry - though 100% Permagloom™. Combination of the steady wind and mild air allowing hard surfaces to dry out for the first time in weeks - and the washing as well Plenty of people out taking advantage of the clement weather.

Skies cleared by lunchtime to leave a nice sunny afternoon. Temperatures dropping all day, now just hit 0c so a frost ahead. Plenty geese heading home southwards just now.

A chilly 3.8c outside with calm conditions and fog/mist coating the tops of the surrounding hills - meanwhile look straight up and you see chinks of blue sky so perhaps the reappearance of the sun later. Shower of rain at dawn and rain radar shows showers not too far away so the soggy theme continues. Impressive number of geese flying overhead northwards this morning, wave after wave of them so must be thousands in total - I would presume coming up from Montrose which is pretty much due south of here.

This . Never seen the garden so soaked as it is now, lawn literally a sponge with pools of water lapping around your feet when you walk on it. We've been lucky in that the pulses of heavy rain in the last few days have been separated by drier periods (though still with plenty of persistent drizzle) which have allowed the burns to stay just within their banks. Not particularly warm the last couple of days, overnight low of 2c with rain off and on all night. Showery outbreaks today so far with 100% Grade A+ Permagloom™, currently 5c with a steady easterly breeze. Nature already deciding that spring is coming, noticed fresh buds on the Clematis and Narcissi well though the surface...

Echoed by the dog this morning but got pushed out irrespective to get on with the business. Everything dripping with water, constant drizzle not giving anything a chance to dry up. Mild I suppose at 7c with calm conditions but my goodness the dry, cold, sunny weather of last weekend already feels like it is a distant memory.

Awful flooding at east end of Sauchen straight and on way into dunecht at 11pm-4x4 barely got through. Do wonder if the ordhead-cluny detour (to bypass the Sauchen a944 flooding) will be open for much longer. Rain supposed to stop in next couple hours, any longer and some very serious flooding is going to happen. Meanwhile it was a met yellow warning when in reality it justified a amber considering the atrocious road conditions. As you can gather a truly minging day with some torrential rain, especially in evening accompanied by strong se winds. The 7c car was recording this evening highest temperature for the day, and indeed for quite some time.

Absolutely beautiful out there with unbroken sunshine, calm conditions and hoar frost coating everything. That includes the utterly lethal hard surfaces covered in a few mm's of pristine, clear solid ice from the rain showers earlier in the week, been a while since ground conditions were this difficult. Impressively cold outside still at -6.4c, though forecast is for a rapid change to milder wet weather overnight.

Some torrential rain showers earlier this evening making driving even more entertaining when combined with patches of ice that seem immune to the thaw. Currently 3c with light winds. On different tack, the ongoing house hunt delivered this gem of a property advert to the inbox. First photos seem okay, if a bit messy. By number 5 you start to wonder what is going on - then number 9 reveals all, who wouldn't want a dead pigeon in their bathroom... And people pay estate agents for this kind of atrocious marketing! Check out this 5 bedroom maisonette for sale on Rightmove WWW.RIGHTMOVE.CO.UK 5 bedroom maisonette for sale in 1, Nelson Street, Huntly, AB548DE, AB54 for £136,000. Marketed by Future Property Auctions, Glasgow

Miserable end to the cold spell here. Air temperature 1.5c now (rising all night) but ground still frozen so the heavy rain showers that are passing through are having the predictable effect on ground conditions. Even the dog is disgusted with it all, walked out, slipped and came back in and went back to bed!

Gorgeous sunny day, and a ice one at that. Took a trip over to Balmoral, surprisingly busy with tourists with Americans, Canadians and Chinese in some number. Surprisingly it was colder in the vale of Alford than there, -4c or so on the car thermometer but "just" -2.5c at Balmoral. Roads completely clear and well gritted with little in the way of snow to be seen, just enough in the Balmoral area to whiten the ground. To be honest, best kind of winter weather to me as things look and feel wonderful but without the entertainment of trying to drive around on icy & deep snowy roads. Quite a bit of ice forming on the river Dee And its darned chilly out there this evening...

My goodness it's trying to give a show but so far not as good as the forecasts are saying... aur.mp4 Much better to watch the show in the warmth at this site in Shetland - now -7c outside and your hands really feel that after a few minutes. https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/burradale-wind-farm/

Perfect evening to see the aurora, was there faintly at 18:45 or so, but gone for the moment. Forecast good later this evening allegedly. Coldest night so far, currently -6.2c with no wind or cloud - zero snow cover. Lovely moonrise though phone camera hopeless at showing it.

Going by the trip back just now the car bodyshop business is in for some bumper trade tomorrow. Roads utterly lethal with black ice everywhere. Looks like the earlier showers melted on the road, washed off what salt was on them, then the remaining moisture has frozen over in the last hour or so. Currently -0.5c here with calm conditions and a dusting of snow on the grass.

Solid 20mins of snow has left this... So a good bit of heat left in the ground. Still, very acceptable for autumn!

Just heavy rain and dark ominous clouds here - does look like a more wintry mix falling over towards the Corrennie hills/Tillyfourie. Temp down to 2.5c.

The postage stamp sized gardens make them a big miss for us, along with the fact that the council will not adopt new estates - so estate service charges are a real issue (and a scandal in the making as we have a friend in a new build estate run by a management company and they've increased charges 30% this year - apparently changing the company is virtually impossible). New build quality is another issue round here but this is turning into property spotlight NE so better stop there! Kids are crossing fingers for a winter closure of the school - interestingly the school sent out to all parents their adverse weather policy yesterday.

On the search for a new house round here and the demand for decent family homes with a proper sized garden is very strong - a bit surprising considering the start of layoffs and the cost of mortgages (though estate agents was commenting that a lot of recent sales have been in cash to people outwith the area). Accordingly the "kite flying" by some sellers is amazing - one house we viewed is already under offer after just two weeks, the price is 40% higher than what the owner paid just 5 years ago and they have done nothing to the property! Meanwhile new build estates are not selling at all. Anyway, getting back to the weather, very acceptable day so far with plenty of sunshine. Thermometer is reading 3.5c but actually doesn't feel that cold outside for some reason, even with a fresh NW wind blowing.