Northernlights

Digital Confirmation, following starting of this topic!

Strawberry yields in the garden are exceptional compared to last year mainly I suspect due to an abundence of dry sunny days with only two periods of rain excceding 5 hours in the last 9 weeks. Compare this to last year at this time when nearly every day had a period of rain exceeding an hour and the soil surface never dried from mid May till mid August. The season so far has also been condusive to very good growth in cereal, grass,and root crops on the farm ironically when I am considering to plant less next year due to the astronomical price of fertiliser and fuel which do not seem to have stopped going up.

I concur with this as there was constant snow cover above 2000 feet from November onwards on the hills around the Firth and we had more frosts up till a week ago (mostly slight except for just before Christmas when we got down to -10c) than for many years. This has led to a very late spring with crop sowing still going on and hardly any potatoes planted and the latest turnout for the cattle to the grass since the 1970"s on this farm.( Grass and crops have only really started to grow in the last week) The only thing that was missing was a period of any sustained snow cover from sea level up to 600 feet above sea level which I think possibly had something to do with sea temperatures. Nearly an old fashioned 60"s winter.

This last week has seen the deepest cumulative snow depth on the Cairngorms since 15 years ago, little or no grass growth on the farm,due to a cooler winter and cool early spring, (daffodils still not in flower behind a north facing wall will still be flowering in May) and at least a ground frost nearly every night this month with the temperature hovering just above freezing first thing in the morning. (These light frosts have almost been continuous since late November.) It seems cold compared to the rescent past but 30 or 40 years ago this was the norm cattle not going to grass until May , only 3 years ago we had them out on the 7th of April. I still feel there has been a change in the synoptics since late May 2007 which has given us cooler conditions up here. Last summer we had an open fire nearly every evening it was so cool and wet with one of the poorest growing seasons ever due to the lack of sunshine, unheard of in the last 10 to 15 years when summers have usually been very warm and humid. Significant snow also fell on the mountains on the 23rd of June and the 27th of September 2007. The coming summer will be interesting to watch to see if the cooler conditions continue. A large area of spring cereals remain to be sown up here due to the heavy sleet and snow showers of the last 10 days and it may be the end of the month before the ground is dry enough to sow again.

Now -0.5c with a fresh NW wind dusting of snow now lying with plenty of snow showers to the north so anything we get overnight will settle Cloud tops turning pink in the setting sun a stunning winter sunset. North Sea temperatures must be low enough to allow the cold air to reach us. To me this is how it used to be in April with lots of north and east winds and winter hanging on. Proper spring rarely arrived before the end of April or begining of May when the first swallows flew in on the first 16c+ day with a south wind helping them get here.

Temp 0c currently ,had our first mini blizzard dry snow shower 30 mins ago. Stormy arctic sky to the north now with a strong N wind and massive snow showers to the north across the Firth. Snowiest looking sky this year, looks like we are in for stormy evening Hills now very white above 1000 feet all round.

A quick question does the CET refer to the whole of the UK as up here it seems to have been a more normal March of old temperaturewise with the daffodils only just coming into full bloom and only yesterday a slight greening of the grass with turnout for the livestock probably nearly into May as we next to no grass growth.

A day of light snow and graupel showers which seemed to intensify as they went inland so the hills must have got some good falls. Started to settle from 4.00pm when temp fell back to 0c from a max of 2c today. Looks like there will more tonight as the radar shows lines of showers to the north heading my way. The windchill was bad today and grass looks far from green The daffodils are in suspended animation with only about 15 % flowering and none where they are exposed to the north so its" s lining up for a late spring and a big rush to sow the spring barley in April. Feeding and bedding cattle in steading is a pleasure out of the wind. This has been the most more normal winter for a long time now into the 5th month of ground or air frosts at least once a week if not more frequently.

2c here now this morning so a bit milder than at midnight, sleet and almost no wind, still a sprinkling of snow on the grass.

Just put car in garage wipers frozen to windscreen, snow sparkling on grass and snow showers towering to the north across the Firth reflecting the moonlight, temp 1c and still windy

Forgot to add 100m above sea level

Strong wind temp 0c and heavy snow now falling and settling. thought it might before midnight Going to look pretty wintry by morning if this keeps up.

1c and wet snow falling here now looks like it will be white by midnight if the temperature continues to fall at this rate having been at 10c at 3.30pm this afternoon

Can"t say I agree with this threads title as I feel we have had a pretty average winter up here albeit without any substantial snowfall at low level say below 300m.(probably get a six inch fall next week after writing this) Frosts started in mid November and although mostly slight apart from Decembers inversion spell (-8c min) I don"t think a week has gone by without at least a ground frost right up to last night when it was -2c. Last winter was almost frost free. The countryside bears witness to this round here as the grass is mostly brown/yellow with little fresh growth unlike the last 10 or 15 winters when the wintering sheep had fresh grass to graze all winter.Check some of the trafficsctland webcams and you will see what I mean by brown/yellow instead of green grass.Even the bulbs I feel are more on time than in recent years as many daffodils are only just breaking the soil surface and we have none in flower yet. The hills to the west and north over 300m were spectacular yesterday with a solid cover of snow, "a blue sky 18" powder day" according to the skiers and a max temp of 3c here making it feel very wintry. We could still have some wintry spells here until the middle of April as springs in the past have often been late as sea temperatures are now at their lowest and north and east winds usually more frequent in spring .

No still March and April up here when the frequency of N and E winds is at its highest and finally the sea temperatures at their lowest ( this factor being the biggest spoiler for early and midwinter snow events nowadays) when synoptics are favourable.

Very windy here and wet now 3c after just being over 0c all day. Must be bad blizzards on higher areas as the A93, A939 and A9 Inverness to Perth road are closed due to drifting snow. This just seems like an old fashioned winter of 20 years ago with these road closures.and they may be repeated this week as west wind snow is usually very heavy.Cairngorm was shut early today and the last people and staff were led down in a car convoy as conditions were so bad. So far January is starting off in true midwinter fashion.

A dusting of snow this morning and light snow showers all day, temp 0c all day. Just had a heavier shower with "half crown " flakes floating down . Mod SE wind.

Howling southerly gale here,ground rapidly drying up, 70% RH, back ploughing, 9c and almost springlike. Amazing contrasts in weather in the UK at the moment !!!!

One crocus flowering under the hosechestnut tree in the garden today spotted by my son, must have thought we had our winter last summer. Bulbs starting to break the surface under the beech hedge ,not unusual for December as will go into suspended animation if really cold weather comes along and will flower at their normal time. Everything here has died off more completely this autumn here also probably due to the very dry September and October we experienced.

This last summer was cool dull and wet in June and July up here. Had open fires every weekend and the oil fired rayburn was on all the time when during the last 5 summers its been too warm and they were not used. Must have had a positive effect on snowpatch survival. Also the amount of early season snow at high levels on Ben Wyvis across the Firth seems more than previous years so it seems we have had more cooler spells in Autumn up here this year.

Maybe we are seeing the first economic cost of global climate change in grain prices more or less doubling this last 3 months. Reduced yields due to drought in Australia and other areas(also flooding) being one of the main price drivers. Meanwhile set aside is being scrapped in Europe to increase production this coming year to try and build up grain stocks as there are no grain mountains left with carryover stocks at their lowest level for years.

First snow shower of the 07/08 winter 10 minutes ago, temp now 1c and still windy

Very windy here also but not as bad as off the west coast,brief blustery showers and temperature has fallen from 9c to 6c in the last 2 hours

More autumnal today some heavy rain overnight and now blustery showers, 10c this morning at 8.00am and now 7c so feeling chilly and with a more wintry looking sky.

Nice day to be working outside making roads for the lifter in the turnip field, dry light wind from the west and about 13c this afternoon soil in the fields dusty on the surface much better than in June and July. Maybe its all about to change though!!!!!