Northernlights

Another fine day still shirt sleeve weather and unusually we are able to work in boots or old shoes instead of the usual wellies at the cattle most unusual for mid winter when the mud is usually clinging to your feet. Instead between Inverness and Elgin we have dry dusty fields. 2018 has really been an extreme year weatherwise.

Spring like T shirt weather this morning with a soft SW wind at 13c while feeding and bedding the cattle. Spring bulbs now racing ahead and grass fields looking very green. For coldies I have to say that over the decades since the sixties Christmas was nearly always green with New Year much more likely to be white

A big turnround calm and -2c this time last night now this evening its 12c aand breezy.All the walls in the steading are sweating with water dripping off them.

Just finished prepping tatties, sprouts, carrots and parsnips for tomorrow and its a fine starry frosty night at -2c just now so very seasonal.

We had no snow late February early March this year just wind and -6c. Watched all the snow fall on the north side of the Firth around the Golspie/Tain area. I think its the disappearance of strong cold N or NE winds in winter over the decades that has stopped providing snow days in this area. Even November/December 2010 was completely calm.

Fine sunny day with frost lying in shade. Just talking to Aurora Storm about winters of old and how snow days for kids and teachers have become rarer. I remember in the sixties and seventies there was always at least one snow day a winter with on occasion several more days but in the last twenty years it has fallen to a day every four or five years so our winters are becoming more benign. Currently 1c

3c here too this morning, calm and with patchy cloud. Still great weather for working outside. As far as the farm is concerned the weather and the politicians will probably be our biggest challenges next year. This probably applies to nearly all buisnesses! Wishing everyone on here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Same here fine day for working outside and both yesterday and today there were wintry looking showers out to the NE across the Firth making the horizon very colourful as the setting sun highlighted them in pink. In spite of the overnight frosts most of the bulbs are breaking the soil surface so signs of spring already.

Another stormy night very windy again with southerly gales. Always feel that these very stormy periods precede changes in weather patterns. Currently 7c

Yes maximum day time temperature of -5c with heavy powdery snow and a northerly gale.Just made it to secondary school 7 miles awayand was immediately turned round. Took 2 hours to travel back 6 miles and then bus got stuck and we walked the last mile through the fields as the farm road had filled in between two four foot high dykes. Arrived home with one side of our faces snow encrusted. Still have the fax chart for middday from my grans Daily Telegraph as even then I thought it was something special. November / December 2010 almost matched it but was lacking the strong wind.

Violent winds here now hope we get some rain soon to calm it down. Cows went out to neeps for about an hour and then ran back in this morning and are now snoozing on a fresh straw bed Currently 2.5c

Really wild out there today with a gale force SE wind and currently 2c so stunning . Cattle very happy to be inside. Dust flying around. RH 34% A day for feeding cattle only and then into house to do end of year paperwork if electricity does not go off as its flickering quite a bit.

Yes a true winters day with frost persisting in most areas with a maximum temperature of 2c. Currently partly cloudy and already -1c

Just like a day in late spring with grond drying up rapidly . Been a strange old year for weather. Speaking to a hay customer who is a private jet pilot about the topsy turvey atmosphere and he was telling me about a fairly new flying problem they have had in the last few years.They normally fly at about 40000 feet but have suddenly hit pockets of much warmer air that will not support the aircraft which would stall . All the warning instruments come on and they have to drop quickly about 5000 feet to get colder air to support the aircraft. This according to him is not usual and is maybe another sign of a disturbed atmosphere. Not an expert but perhaps another sign of climate change

Strong gusty SE wind off the mountains this morning drying everything up very rapidly especially with an RH of 22% with dust blowing about. We have had almost no muddy days so far and we keep on getting closer to next summer and another potential drought. 75 and 76 were both very dry summers so it has happened before. Fabulous sunrise and currently 3.5c

Cool day with a maximum of 4c after a frost came in after the sky cleared at dawn.Some very weak winter sunshine. A very wintry picture round the Firth with most of the hills having some snow down to about 800 feet .Ben Wyvis in particularly has a substantial covering above 2000 feet. The snow on the Ben was very visible this afternoon against a dark cloudy sky to the north west

Fed cattle and washed cars this morning in fine calm conditions. Felt it was getting colder put there and its currently 4.5c with thin high cloud and with frost seeming likely tonight. Back inside for a clean up as we have some V.I.P. visitors this afternoon and I have to be on my best behaviour. Its going to be a long afternoon. Young Mr. Northernlights picking up the neeps that were weighed for the competition.this afternoon so we have some clean unfrozen neeps for sale or gifts at Christmas.

Just an update on the summer drought/heat . Auctioneer told me yesterday that the biggish sale for time of year at Thainstone yesterday was the result of farmers taking cattle in straight from the fields and selling them as they had to reduce numbers to enable them to eke out scarce supplies of feed and bedding .Obviously prices are taking a hit. Do I believe the predictions in the model thread? Yes absolutely as it will just compound the problems of last summer for farming and the broken down funicular seals it. Noticed too the council are only gritting the corners on the side roads in the last week so do they know something? or are they very short of cash/grit Currently dull and 7c after a shory night.

Real winters day here now gusty lazy wind at 5c with short sharp showers Cows out for thair daily feed of neeps came straight back to gate once finished to come inside, no hanging about today its a real cold wind. Mountains must be getting snow and all this on a west wind

Still -0.5c here so I think we just qualified although it appears to be rising.

Fabulous first ice day of the winter at -1c currently with no wind and weak winter sunshine from a clear blue sky.

-3c here first thing this morning. Ground hard so easy walking. Still have concerns about a dry winter for next summer.

Another wintry day with frost lasting all day in the shade .Sunny and calm Currently 1c Hills to the north across the Firth had a covering of snow overnight down to about a thousand feet and kept it all day so the snow is heading down to us.

A nice bright early winters day with some wintry looking showers across the Firth to the north just before sunset. Currently 3c. Cows and calves settled in tonight inside on a straw bed after taking them in yesterday. Calves vaccinated for pneumonia but if weather stays cold should help to prevent it after coming inside.

Fine day again bright cold calm and sunny. Tweaked back again last weekend levelling mole hills in garden.Had second visit to the remedial therapy lady today and am fully mobile again just in time to sort out cows and calves when they come in tomorrow. New bull arrived this week and has been a busy boy so found him lying on cleared ground in neep field today. An indication of how dry the ground is just now, unlike this time last year when the fields were a sea of mud. Currently 3c