Northernlights

Now down to -3c and grass sparkling under a clear sky, at least the mud is freezing and hopefully when it thaws we will get back on the fields in some nice spring weather next week although March and April can be like this with big swings in temperature from winter to spring conditions.

A few pictures of possibly ??? the last soft hail /grauple/ snow shower of 2008/2009 winter coming in off the Firth about 90 mins ago starting with it crossing the coastline then making its way inland to us where it gave a few snowflakes but mostly soft hail which the camera does not show too well and then progressing further inland to the south of us and onwards to the Cairngorm Mountains. Mean"t to say it is currently 1c almost no wind and a few light wintry showers to the NE, exepcting an air frost this evening if it clears.

A selection of photos from the 5th/6th of February 2009 snowfalls which gave up to 44inches of snow at Dufftown which is obviousy higher up and further inland from here We had about 8 inches.This was the snowfall that broke a lot of treebranches including pine and snapped a lot of silver birch in half.[ attachment=80853:IMG_0543.jpg]

Moderate snow shower to the east, now a very cold day(1c) but sun coming out more often. Hills round the Firth very white again above 1000feet

Currently 1c and in the last hour we have had a couple of moderate snow and hail showers coming off the Firth on the fresh north wind with bright skies in between a real spring day. Getting colder all morning as temperature static .

1c overcast fresh N wind and flakes of snow in the air and about 5000 geese grazing one of the greener grass fields as they have done for the last few days, most definitely not heading north just yet.

Very wet here today with a max of 6c and a strong northerly wind, hope the better weather for next week materialises as we had only 2 days last week when it dried up enough to sow barley. It must be nearly 9 months since I last saw dust in the fields and apart from those two dry days last week and the frosty midwinter spells we have been walking around in mud on the farm for the whole of that time. The ski slopes must have caught a lot of fresh snow though!!!!

Currently 3c and strong NW wind with a heavy wet snow shower 30 mins ago.

Don"t know if this is relevent but all the harbour webcams in Svalbard just now appear to show a frozen sea with snowcover or is this just a surface hugging mist . Haven"t seen this in the past few years much if it is totally ice covered and not mist. Has it been a colder winter up there?

Thank you for the comments, was feeding the cattle and thought the dawn looked interesting outside so got the camera a Canon Digital IXUS 70 we got for our 25th wedding aniversary (which I am still learning to use) last summer and pressed the button a few times so nothing very complicated.

A reminder of the severe frosts and freezing sea fog of the last days of 2008 up here which was mainly concentrated on the coastel strip of in the inner Moray Firth From Lossiemouth round to Inverness and Tain.

A few photos from an end of Jauary dawn

Ground starting to dry properly now after 2 days of strong warm wind so got into the fields today to take off some stones in preparation for sowing spring barley. Have to be in the right frame of mind to go to stone picking so the longer daylight hours and lack of mud seem to spur one on. Spring is definitely in the air!!!!!!

Currently -2c and falling, ice forming on any surface water. Patches of snow left from this morning in shaded areas so in spite of blue skies and sunshine this afternoon a real wintry feeling especially when the hills round the Firth are once again completely white again down to about 800 feet.

Currently 0c, overcast and 1 inch of snow overnight. Snow lying at some point here every month since October 2008, a total of 6 months and if you include snow lying on 6th April 2008 a total of 7 months in the last year have had snow lying at some point here.

2c here now and ground frost on the grass next to the woods with starry skies after some blustery showers earlier this evening following a very windy mildish sunny day.

Don"t keep detailed records but in the farm diary this last fortnight has been the longest frost free ( ground or air) since the begining of October 2008. The first ground frost here was on the 22nd of September followed by one on the 2nd October and then a gap till the 21st October and after that there were periods of frost on a weekly basis till the middle of February making it one of the frostiest autumns and winters in recent memory completely shutting down all grass growth from late autumn till about a week ago as the soil surface slowly warmed and growth recommenced. Grass might be in for shock if the models are correct about the temperatures for this Thursday morning and as we are heading down the A9 at 5.00 am to Glasgow again on Thursday this almost gurantees that they are with nice icy roads to drive on.

The 30 years I quoted takes us back to 1979 and I meant to say that after that year fresh growing grass was available to the sheep most Januaries and Februaries even after the cold December of 1981 and it is this lack of regrowth this year which meant we had to give them supplementary feed from mid January( as in the sixties) that makes it stand out although there is a hint of green now showing in the fields. Also the extent to which a lot of conifers have been stripped of their branches in the woods around us by the weight of wet snowfalls just at freezing point(dry powdery snow would have been shed as the branches bent) of up to 3 feet in early February shows up the severity of the weather we had.The following intense cold down to -15c and lower made the wood brittle and the weight of wet snow frozen on the trees lead to many broken branches.It is a scene of utter destruction in many woods around us with a lot of birch snapped in half and the roadsides littered with fallen limbs that have been pushed to the side. This means that there will be a reminder of this winter as you pass any woodland in this area for many years to come before nature hides the damage with new growth.

Well for me it has been the winter that finally put nature back on track with bulbs just emerging in the last week instead of in early January as in the last 30 years with 2 very cold spells at the end of December and the begining of February with lows below -10c and several days in each spell with maxes well under 0c. All plant growth was totally stopped by these temperatures something that has not happened in the recent past and hay and silage stocks are running out in the Highland area due to a poor growing summer in 08 and less fertiliser use due to sky high prices. This in my mind guarantees that we will see a cold spring and late onset of grass growth just to add to the shortage of conserved forage and the expense of buying in replacement stocks.

Can easily spot the north facing shaded areas of ground that have been frozen since the New Year frosts with minimums of -12c and no snow cover. These are the areas where the February snow is still hanging on and I believe is waiting for more. Very mild today and most of the snow has gone but as I have said before I don"t think this winter weather will end until April on low ground up here as it it seems to default back to cold all the time and we may even see fresh snow on the hills over 3000 feet in May and June. In fact in the last 2 years we have seen June and September snow on the high hills over 3000 feet as was the case in the sixties and seventies. This winter has been a reminder of these years with a generally cold theme with short lived mild periods and nature back to its old timetable in terms of bulb emergence and grass growth completely stopped in February.

Currently 0.5c and misty to the south with clearing skies to the north and wet snow cover. If the frost returns tonight it will be very icy, who says the cold spell is over?

Rain here now but still 0c a real mix of weather today!!! Ground temperatures will be very low after all the severe frosts this week.

Blowing snow on a strong S wind, have had 4 inches fresh since 7.00am on top of the 8 inches we already had,currently -1c. Speaking to my electrician this morning he tells me Moray Council are using JCBs and Lorries to cart snow off the streets at Dufftown as they have over 40 inches lying and more falling today, an older farmer in the Dufftown area told him he was just a boy when he last saw snow so deep. Also a local contract shepherd phoned me this morning to order small bales of hay for the first helicopter drop to sheep I have heard of in the hills to the south of me where 4 feet of snow is preventing him from feeding them. This wether is starting to have an impact.

As I type snow is falling and blowing about on a strong southerly wind, another 4 inches fresh on what we already have, currently -1c. Speaking to my electrcian a few minutes ago he tells me that the Moray council in Dufftown are using JCBs and lorries to cart snow off the streets as they have over 40 inches lying there . Wonder how London would cope with that?

An inch has fallen already in the last half hour so it looks like this cold spell is going to end with a bang!!!