[Scottish weather discussion - Spring 2023/24]

Pretty raw feeling in the wind but a few spells of wet snow earlier. The snow line has been steadily moving down the hill as the day's went on and seemed to be lying down to about 250m as it started to get dark. 

My other half booked a ski session in at the Lecht tomorrow for a beginner friend - they'll probably catch a fair bit tonight but I suspect it could be pretty grim by lunchtime if things warm up as forecast! 

[Scottish weather discussion - Spring 2023/24]

Doesn't look particularly mild here with a daytime max of ~3 degrees and a chance of a snow shower seeming likely but nothing overly exciting either. 

Hopefully something more interesting appears as we head towards the new year. 

[Scottish weather discussion - Spring 2023/24]

To echo others a miserable couple of days and ground conditions are the worse I've seen them for a while - the path to my woodshed is normally reasonably drained but is currently a bog that I can barely push the barrow through. I wonder if there's been a persistent subsurface layer of frost that's stopped the surface from draining. 

Hopefully with a westerly flow and high pressure we might get some pleasant weather later in the week? 

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Yep, pretty grim out there - ventured out as far as the wood shed. The chimney is whistling away too which is never a good sign. 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

Just been out for a 3 hour walk round the the lower tracks on the North side of Bennachie and was coming on to post about how glorious it had been. Lots of sunshine, no wind, no mud and only a few patches where the snow had turned a bit icy to contend with. Certainly no rain - amazing how conditions can be so different over such a short distance. 

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To add to the reports of snow in the vicinity of Mair Snow's hoose - my girlfriend recorded this on her way home about about 20m ago. 

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My dad reporting 3 degrees and hailstones when he went to do something at our house a few hours ago. 

Will feel fresh when we come back tomorrow as it's currently a very pleasant 24 with a gentle breeze looking out over the cliffs of Los Gigantes in Tenerife at the moment. 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

On 12/11/2023 at 20:33, Scottish-Irish Skier said:

Took the 'Western road' oot ae Insch the day tae join the A96 before Huntly.

Nae been gritted ah guess. Rain + frost = black ice

That road often seems worse than others round about for some reason although even the well gritted main road between Oyne and Insch had a big icy patch in the usual place where it crosses the railway - definitely made the pickup squirm!

There is often good XC skiing in the Gartly woods near the top though, it holds the snow well and there's not too many steep hills so good for beginners or hopeless folk like me! 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

Glorious autumn day today, crisp with little wind and quite a bit of sunshine. 

Looks like a cold one tonight with the windscreen of the pickup already frozen hard at 1630.

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As others have said, a very pleasant couple of days for a change! 

The one exception was a heavy shower timed perfectly for the fireworks display in Premnay - it poured down just after they lit the bonfire. Still a good laugh but we were pretty wet by the time we'd watched the display and had food. 

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Haha, no not a pub sadly although we could definitely do with one. Just getting around to replacing an old rotten shed/workshop that was damaged in the storms a while back. 

Hopefully I can make some better progress if we get at least a few dry days! 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

Bit of a miserable day after a half decent if icy start, but not nearly as wet as the met office forecast suggested. 

Managed to get a fair bit of work done outside with well timed tea breaks meaning I missed the worst of the rain. 

Another wet day forecast tomorrow and then fingers crossed, it looks like we might get at least some dry weather for a few days. 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

Mice have started coming in here as well now, caught the first one of the season during the frosty night last week. 

Over the years I've tried a variety of "alternative" traps and repellents with fairly limited success. I finally got rid of the seemingly completely useless ultrasonics when one seemed to annoy one of the dogs. Traditional snap traps loaded up with sticky chocolate and checked daily seem the most effective - got 20+ last winter... 

Miserable weather continues - persistent if pretty light rain for most of the last few days but some torrential pulses coming through now. 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

2 hours ago, Scottish-Irish Skier said:

Relentless rain here but at least the wind has dropped. Ventured oot fir a raither driech walk. 

Dug mighty suspicious of the new water feature that had popped up at the side of the road.

And no, the mound is normal and not squidgy. 

Haha, slightly further up the garden but I suspect this is linked to the squidgy mound! Dog also curious! 

 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

20 minutes ago, Scottish-Irish Skier said:

Is there some sort of membrane underneath the lawn? Maybe put down by builders / previous owners to stop previous plants coming back up? The way it bursts suggests maybe.

If that's down in Oyne, springs appearing like that as the water table rises in natural valleys would be entirely expected, but grass should be rooted and the layer permeable normally. 

We're up out of Oyne itself on the lower slopes of Bennachie but are on the natural spring line - there are loads of little artesian springs popping up at our height if you follow the contour round the hill so upwelling water is to be expected. 

The seemingly waterproof grass is a bit of a mystery though! I've had a dig down in the daylight today and there's nothing obvious that could form a waterproof layer other than the tightly matted turf which has entirely separated from the very claggy clay soil underneath. 

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As others have said - hasn't really let up since late afternoon. 

So much so this rather odd feature has appeared in the garden. Not entirely sure what's going on there! 

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Wind picking up now but nothing exceptional yet, occasional bursts of heavier rain but mostly just drizzly stuff so far. 

Squirrel seems to be enjoying itself though! 

 

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Yep, enough sleet in the mix to show up nicely on the velux windows. Pretty heavy too so should be a covering somewhere with a bit of proper height. 

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19 hours ago, Mair Snaw said:

Ahh so it was you making all that noise ...

The pond is down the avenue of trees (as i call it).. past the phone box there is a small steading set back from the road  on the right hand side..(the folk that live there sold the house inluve in to the current owners..) i had a good history lesson off them while on a dog walk the other month..

Ah yes, I know where you are. Complete mind blank! 

Another half decent day with plenty of sunshine but very windy now with the trees roaring away. Probably worse than the "storm" a few weeks back! 

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10 hours ago, Mair Snaw said:

An absolute beautiful day here today.. a cracking day for a long walk out with the dog...

 

It was lovely - hope my chainsawing/wood splitting didn't spoil your peace! 

I obviously know the whereabouts of most of the pictures but can't place the pond at all for some reason! 

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Very pleasant day after a miserable weekend. Almost flat calm all day and surprisingly warm in the sunshine. 

Was hanging some deer gates today, dug the posts in by hand, 4ft into thick sticky clay, glad I managed to borrow a post chapper for the main fence as my shoulders are already feeling it! 

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Similar here, no rain gauge but the accumulated radar suggests a fairly substantial total. The burns around us run down off the relatively steep North side of Bennachie so are usually quite "flashy" but the levels so far aren't anything particularly of note. Very squelchy late night wander having a look though. 

Will see what the morning brings. 

[Scotland Weather discussion]

We've had some heavyish spells of rain over the last hour or so but despite the met office automated forecast showing the peak the wind speeds due around now, it's only moderately windy out there.

Certainly nothing noteworthy yet and was much windier over the weekend (with no warning issued).

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As above, absolutely glorious today. I nipped down to Edinburgh first thing to collect a motorbike for my dad and enjoyed riding it back up in the sunshine. Not sure on the accuracy but the bike trip computer was showing 27 degrees as we came around the Aberdeen bypass before easing off to 25 by the time we got home. 

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It's been very pleasant here for the last few days with lots if blue skies and unbroken warm sunshine. I was surprised to see a light frost on the grass at first light today though which fits in with minus 2 being recorded further inland.