Northernlights

Real warmth today barley tillering like mad and everything a much stronger green colour. Made it to 20c in strong sunshine this afternoon.. Young Mr Northernlights taking stones off turnip ground in clouds of talcum powder dust. this evening.

For me this May has been very normal in the north of Scotand weather in comparison to the preceeding 12 months which have basically been very dry and warm. Over the years since my first memories in the early sixties I"ve lost count of the times we have put cattle out to grass in late April on a warm (16-18c) day only for the weather to produce snow in the following weeks .Have sown turnips in the last week in May in an old draughty tractor on many occasions when the temperature has struggled to get above 10c. More recently as we are terribly dry now the hunt for rain has started .Every time rain is forecast perhaps only three days away we get to within two days and it disappears from the forecast.This has been happening consistantly since last autumn. I think the preponderence of southerly winds since autumn has a lot to do with it as they are descending winds off the Cairngorms here and are therfore drying(20%RH) and warming as they reach us. Crops have been sown into dustbowls here any showers we have had drying up very fast in the exceptionally dry air. Probably said this before but my mother was a Londoner and came to live here at the beginning of the sixties. She always said "Spring does"nt happen in Scotland ,summer arrives on the 1st of June."

Azure blue skies across the Firth today here too. Currently 11c Ben More in Sutherland hanging on to its snow cap. Looking directly towards the cliffs at Dunbeath. A view across the fields to the North East.

Fabulous day with very clear arctic air. Still a few light showers around. A slight breeze which was cool at times.My favourite weather for working outside Finished planting out the garden and shifted cattle. Cattle happily grazing a new field with small showers to the east highlighted in the evening sun. Ben More in Sutherland still retaining its snow cover highlighted in the evening sun in the centre left of this photo. Young Mr Northernlights rolling grass this evening. Another photo showing wintry showers to the east this evening.

Showers making their way across the Firth Stunning colours with bigger showers to the east.

Another cold start to the day at 3c.After a day yesterday with rain/snow all round us inland we finally got a shower through the night. Just laid the dust. Another arctic sky this morning with small wintry looking showers to the north. A small snow shower showing up behind the cliffs at Dunbeath and a fresh cap of snow on Ben More in Sutherland

Fantastic arctic sunset with very clear skies and superb visibility to the horizon. But oh boy is it cold , already 4.5c. Can"t believe I was cutting domestic grasses in the late afternoon. It looks like spring but feels like winter.Thankfully it is calm. A few photos of sunset to the north and possibly the last wintry shower of the season heading towards us from the NE across the Firth

Cold sunny start to the day at 1c with a ground frost. Hills all round the Firth had snow down to 1500feet this morning and its still lying above 2500feet this afternoon. Ben Wyvis with a May coat. Hills in the distance to the north this morning. Mountains to the west over the oilseed rape have a coat too.

Actually this last week has felt normal just like an old fashioned spring and in a previous year of extreme dry weather is also a bit reassuring. Have often put out cattle in late April to be followed by a few days of snow showers. In fact this switching between winter and spring can carry on into June. Have often been frozen in the old tractor sowing neeps in the last week of May. Only a bit of light rain today but cool.Spring barley showing signs of cold stress and drought. Will probably give it a copper/magnesium trace element spray in the next week to help it along as its too cold for the plant to take up these elements from the soil. A true fresh NE wind this evening, very cool at 6c. A real spring synoptic

Yes some very welcome precipitation inland last night but not really anything here near the coast. Fire is still burning to the SE of me and rain will be helpfull but need days of it as peat is now alight and with up to five feet of it may burn for years.Keepers going round looking for mini volcanos on the peat and trying to damp them down with i.b.c."s full of water. The degree of dryness in this area is a real concern now. Currently dull and 5c

Yes back to an arctic sky and showers to the north.

Cold start to the day at 3c but bright and sunny with wintry showers coming in across the Firth from the North. Currently 6c

Dull breezy dry start to the day at 1.5c.

Very dry here too very little rain for 12 months now .Had some over two days at the beginning of April but a strong southerly wind dried it all up in three days Even todays showers just wet the dust for an hour or so. Big cracks appearing in the ground and reading on the BBC news that a loch to the south of us has dried out this spring.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-48132901

Some hail showers this afternoon and some great cloudscapes in a fresh N wind. Its currently snowing just now at 3.5c

Heavy shower of hail a few minutes ago temporarily whitened the ground. Lot of snow on some of the hills immediately to my north in Sutherland but not much on Ben Wyvis to the North West.

Think it should be fine with just coastal and hill wintry showers.If all main routes are like the A96 yesterday at midday (must have had lots of advanced warning) yesterday they will have been pre salted. Going up A9 to Dornoch for retirement celebration this evening .Fortunately because of being busy on farm still have winter tyres on but they will come off next week.

True northerly this morning at 3c with snowy looking showers on the hills across the Firth. Feels very very cold when you are out in it

Just been out to check on cattle and we have the first glow of dusk to the north I have really seen this spring as we move to midsummer and dusk all night. Find it fascinating to be looking at a sign of midsummer with a northerly straight from arctic highlighting the shower cumulus on the northern horizon. A magical mix of summer and winter. Currently 5c.

Really cold here this evening too but at least the air is clean and visibility is improving. The first small wintry looking showers are appearing to the north across the Firth. Really like this time of year if we get an arctic outbreak as with the strong spring light and the clean air the clouds can have some very vivid colours. The rain we had this morning has all but diappeared.Currently 5c

Some nice light drizzly rain here too this morning.which has since cleared leaving a few showers over the Firth. Has become a lot colder though with it now 5c in the middle of the day. Winter is returning though as was on the A96 at midday and they were pre salting so must be expecting a reasonable frost tonight. Will shift cattle to a more sheltered field This evening night and give them some of the last neeps. Nothing unusual in this weather at this time of year

Yes on the fourth floor of the agri building in King Street Aberdeen doing animal husbandry exam watching snow showers roll in off the North Sea on 1st of June.Two weeks later at home making super hay at 28c and it carried on the whole summer. Harvest finished by second week of August only to be matched again by 1976 2003 and 2018

Fabulous dry sunny warm day here too .After a morning at paperwork got mower outf or first cut of domestic grasses.The grass was like steel wool to cut even with newly sharpened blades so drought is not far away. but at least it was so dry there were no chokes. Finished the day off by sowing veg in garden in anticipation of rain /sleet/snow at the end of the week.Nice weed free seedbeds after dutch hoeing in such conditions.for the last two weeks. Moor fire broke out again this afternoon so any precipitation from the sky this week will be welcome. Heard today that some ofthe farms nearest it have dug wide ditches and created vegetation free gaps to try and protect their fields if it threatens them again.

Another dry day currently 12c. Looks as though we will have to wait till mid week for significant rain. Make a prediction that the rain risk will subside as Wednesday approaches. On a different subject a pheasant was sitting on eggs on the farm road under some brambles and the eggs were all eaten yesterday. 90% sure its a badger as there is a badger highway just 20 metres away . There are really no wild pheasants,oyster catchers ,partridges, hedgehogs or hares left here.Even rabbits are non existant. Sure badgers are the main problem since they were protected in the sixties and their population exploded and wild pheasants started to disappear in the seventies.Most shoots have to put down reared pheasants to have anything to shoot today and these ground roosting, tame birds keep a larger population of predators alive in the winter than would otherwise die from starvation.Just my opinion of course

We got few drops of rain last evening and that was it. The wind has risen again this afternoon and the fire is going a bit again.They must be getting tired fighting this fire. Currently overcast and 17c Put some fertiliser on today onto barley and grass so need some rain. Above is from last evening forgot to post it .Still dry this morning dull, and calm at 10c