Northernlights

Currently 13c and with moderate to heavy rain and a fresh wind from the NE off the Firth.The local radio station says the A96 is closed due to flooding east of Inverness. After last nights downpours its easy to understand how this has happened.

As can be seen by the time, I have been woken up by the roar of a cloudburst with everything awash. As I said in the whining thread yesterday it seems we have a more tropical climate than west european maritime at the moment. It also seems to me that these short excessive rainfall episodes are occuring more frquently in our summers than they used to. As I type there are now flashes of lightning along with thunder, it really is a stormy night here!!!!!

Just another observation its been like living in the tropics these last 10 days up here or so as most mornings start off dry and humid but by 2.00pm there are frequent thundery downpours and so haymaking is out of the question. Probably if you are nearer the sea near the Firth the showers have been more scattered but we are far enough inland to be affected by showers drifting north off the Cairngorms.

Well to me in recent decades we seem to get prolonged periods of either very dry weather or prolonged periods of very wet weather and not the mixed weather of my chidlhood when high prssure followed low pressure in typical British weather fashion. We have now had nearly 10 days of rain at some point in every 24 hours with todays particularly heavy and thundery this afternoon, no use for cutting the last of the hay. Am very glad we got some excellent hay at the end of June .

Currently 24c and sunny and still humid so not that big a change from yesterday with only a brief burst of rain late last night from the front which was supposed to cool us down. Secured another lovely batch of hay yesterday but the spring barley crops are now really suffering with the heat and prolonged dry weather with large white areas appearing where they are prematurely dying off. No second cuts of silage in this area unless we get some significant rain soon as most grass has stopped growing or is completely brown , the lawnmower will be in the shed for a while!!!!

I moved to Scotland as a child from Hertfordshire in the August of 1961 and the temperature was over 90f as our last whole night in England was a sleepless one. The next night we took the sleeper to Scotland and getting off the train at about 7.00am in a cool Aviemore was bliss.

Dull and hazy here some very thundery cloud to the south over the Cairngorms so we get a heavy shower later. Currently 23c and a light north wind off the sea, just heard a rumble of thunder!!!!

Some good strong June sunshine today with a max of 18c, currently cloudy but warm at 16c with a hint of rain coming much better overnight growing conditions than for some time. Strawberries really ripening fast with a big pick today. Going to cut some hay tomorrow so heres hoping the forecast for this week is correct and stays predominantly dry.

Good September harvest day here with a strong, drying , cool west wind and occasional sharp showers which dampened the ground for a few minutes before it all evaporated Maximum temperature of about 15c and ground still very dry even after yesterdays rain.

Anoter fine day here near the coast with a light easterly wind . Plenty of convectional showers inland all day but we were mostly dry all day with about 15c max .The nights recently have been very cool averaging a min of 4c and sometimes lower . This has almost halted growth and with a rising soil moisture deficit crops are maturing too fast in order to produce seed for survival of the plant in the future and are unlikely to yield well so if this is repeated across the northern hemisphere grain prices could take off again.

Very stormy evening here with torrential showers and gusty wind complete with . good thunder and lightning about 8.00pm which as it was overhead rattled every window in the house. Such a complete contrast from early in the day when it was largely cool, dry and sunny. Currently 7c.

A bit of clear sky a few minutes ago allowed a chance of a photo of one of the many hefty showers coming in off the Firth and heading for the Cairngorms. Currently 6c and a fresh N wind. Showers very welcome for the farm as everything very dry.

Really cold and wet now with frequent sharp rain and hail showers and a temperature of 5c about 20 minutes ago. The peaks of the mountains around us must be catching a bit of snow today.

4c at 6.00am this morning and fresh N wind, wintry looking cloud and showers all round us. Cairngorm webcams showing snow falling to quite low levels and settling. A really dramatic change from last weekend but one that I have seen before in June 1975 when i watched snow showers coming in off the North Sea as I sat my final exams at college in Aberdeen.

A view of the Cairngorms with the remaining snow as seen between Aviemore and Carrbridge on Friday 29th May with the car thermometer reading 25c at about 2.30 pm

Bright with scattered cloud , excellent visibilities and fresher after overnight rain . Currently 12c with a moderate W and a brief shower of hail about 10 mins ago which sent the farm cats scurrying for shelter after lying in the sun all morning.Really funny to watch!!!!

Wonderful sunset tonight after a showery day currently 8 c and no wind. Photo taken at 10.00 pm looking north across a a field of spring barley to the Moray Firth and the hills of Caithness and Sutherland beyond, my favourite time of day at this time of year if there is little cloud cover.

Taken at 10.00 pm this evening looking due north across the Firth with still a few weeks to go till midsummer when it will be even lighter.

Much cooler and fresher day today with a max of 10c and light showers on a fresh W wind. Snow lay on the top of Ben Wyvis above 3000 feet all day , you can just make it out in the photo. Superb visbilities and some impressive shower clouds, a big change from April.

Made it down to -1c at 5.30am this morning but now sunny with cloudless skies. I saw my first pair of swallows this morning on the telephone wires so they must have shivered a bit last night!!!

After a misty start a wonderful sunny day but a cool breeze off the sea with a maximum of 10c, currently 0c under clear skies and falling, coul be quite a frosty night yet.

Wonderful hazy sunny day with blue cloudless sky and a max of 16c dust rising behind the rollers. Not worried about soil moisture because on our boulder clay soils we could go another month without rain especially after what seems to have been a fairly wet previous 9 months as just below the surface soils are quite damp.

Drove to Glasgow down the A9 today starting about 4.30am. According to the car thermometer it was about 0c all the way to Perth. On the return journey as we left Glasgow about 2.00pm the temperature was about 17c and there were blue skies and sunshine all the way home, a day of complete contrasts. My contractor finished sowing the spring barley today into ideal soil conditions with dust flying up behind the sower so another cycle has started.

Light rain showers most of the day, dry this evening, max of 9c today. Working in fields till after 8.00pm and for the first time this year saw a glow to the north after sunset a reminder that the long hours of daylight and midsummer are not to far away. Wonder if some people will manage midsummer skiing in June in the high Cairngorms as they did last year, must be some fairly deep drifts up ther after this winter which should give them a chance and with the advent of webcams and digital cameras and the internet we can get reminders of winter all the year round up here with summer snow patch survival being closely followed online and any fresh high level snow much more observed and reported tyhough probably not in July or August.

Dusting of snow overnight max of 6c today with bright intervels but feeling very cold in the strong west wind but at least the ground is drying up and it was fine and cool for getting some stones off the fields this afternoon.