LadyPakal

Hmm, I will go for 10.1 I think. I was rather too high with last years guess of 10.4 (and I thought I was being optimistic too...).

I'll plump for 3.3. Good luck everyone!

Currently a disappointing 2.5 here. Quite a temp gradient from the City of Aberdeen to the City of Inverness.

Odd sort of a day so far - from a high of around 5 at around 2am, the temps started dropping to around 2, reached at 8am. Rose a little to 3-4 mid morning and have dropped down to 2ish again. DP currently 0. Skies cleared with sunshine when the rise to 3 occurred, but since then some cloud has come over - this coincided with the drop to 2. Temps still falling. Seems the wrong way round to me - temps usually rise with cloud cover and fall when the skies are clear, in this sort of setup. Pressure a steady 1030mb, wind is a very light 7mph from the south.

Still around 5 here - this makes the 3rd day of fairly static temps and dull weather. There has been the odd spell of drizzle to break it up tho'...

I think a lot of this dissing of Inverness is jealousy because of the really hard frosts it is getting at the moment. Still -3 there I see.

It's actually warmer here now (over 5) than it has been all day. Quite frustrating when I look at XCWeather and see that cold pool just to the west.

Well, with all this arguing about what makes a 'proper' city, can I just add that size isn't everything you know. However, maybe only a woman can appreciate this. ;-) Most of the larger towns/cities in Scotland are coastal - makes sense if you think about it, because the middle bits are pretty inhospitable in the main, and transport hubs & fishing ports were where the largest gatherings of people tended to gather. Coldest place in the UK is recognised as Braemar. Had a rummage around in here: http://www.worldclimate.com/ Here are just a few I looked at. Aberdeen: http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.p...+1202+0003738G2 Annual ave 7.9. Glasgow http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.p...+1202+0003743G2 Annual ave 8.5. Edinburgh http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.p...+1102+0316002G1 Annual ave 8.3. Braemar (not a city) http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.p...+1202+0003788G2 Annual ave 6.3. Durham http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.p...+1202+0003785G2 Annual ave 8.3.

'According to the part of the British government known as the Department for Constitutional Affairs: "City status is a rare mark of distinction granted by the Sovereign and conferred by Letters Patent. It is granted by personal Command of The Queen, on the advice of Her Ministers. It is for Her Majesty The Queen to decide when a competition for city status should be held. Competitions are usually held on occasions such as important Royal anniversaries." Because of this peculiarity there is a discrepancy between the common meaning of the word 'city' and the 'official' meaning.' http://www.ukcities.co.uk/definitions/ Scotland has 6 cities: Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow Inverness Stirling List of cities in the UK: http://www.ukcities.co.uk/

Tomintoul is the highest - they certainly get lots of snow there and are regularly snowed in at one end of the place, but is only classed as a village I think.

Still grey, dull & glomy - been hovering between 3 & 5 since yesterday morning. Currently 4.7. Hold the phone, I see a bit of blue sky to the north...

Cloud cover appeared yesterday evening so the temps began moving back up from freezing. Grey, dull & gloomy, temp currently around 4 after an overnight low of 2-3. SSE 5mph breeze, DP 1, pressure 1041mb.

See here Roger: http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/articles/...;property_id=18 'The western tip of Lake Superior has frozen over in December for the first time in recent memory, and that could mean a long season of ice angling that hasn’t been seen in years.'

Temp has been falling from a high of around 5-6 - currently 1.8 and falling. DP 1, feels like 1. Very light WSW breeze. Been mostly overcast with the odd spot of drizzle but has cleared up now. Pressure a steady 1042mb.

Lovely start to the day - fresh, frosty and with clear blue skies. The sun is just starting to peep over the tres into the garden.

It may, or may not, have been a lack of wood that finished them off, but it wasn't a lack of wood that buried those settlements under the (advancing) ice, only to be found again recently as the ice retreated. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science...nd-vikings.html This is interesting: http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/greenland/ 'As the Greenlanders' isolation from Europe grew, they found themselves victims of a steadily deteriorating environment. Their farmland, exploited to the full, had lost fertility. Erosion followed severe reductions in ground cover. The cutting of dwarf willows and alders for fuel and for the production of charcoal to use in the smelting of bog iron, which yielded soft, inferior metal, deprived the soil of its anchor of roots. Pollen analysis shows a dramatic decline in these species during the Viking years. In addition, livestock probably consumed any regenerating scrub. Overgrazing, trampling, and scuffing by the Norsemen's sheep, goats and cattle, the core of the island's livelihood, left the land debased. Greenland's climate began to change as well; the summers grew shorter and progressively cooler, limiting the time cattle could be kept outdoors and increasing the need for winter fodder. During the worst years, when rains would have been heaviest, the hay crop would barely have been adequate to see the penned animals through the coldest days. Over the decades the drop in temperature seems to have had an effect on the design of the Greenlanders' houses. Originally conceived as single-roomed structures, like the great hall at Brattahlid, they were divided into smaller spaces for warmth, and then into warrens of interconnected chambers, with the cows kept close by so the owners might benefit from the animals' body heat.'

Aberdeen reached 11 yesterday with the warm sector moving through - positively tropical compared to today. Clouds & rain arrived this morning and it is getting quite windy/gusty now (45mph gusts). Windchill currently -2. Temp around 4. Pressure falling - currently 999mb. We went to pick up the xmas tree a couple of hours ago and it was pretty parky in the forest. Stopped for a venison burger (it's a tradition!) and the man in the burger van was saying he'd had to dig it out this morning - he comes in from Tomintoul.

There's a link to the report (pdf) here: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fus...5d-6e2d71db52d9 Quite a lot of names in that, with links to the various reports they used to base their statements on.

Buddleia bushes are loved by butterflies, also have a nettle patch as some caterpillars feed on them. Check out this site - a section on Foodplants & Gardening under the Forums menu: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/index.php For birds - teasels, honeysuckle, sunflowers, fruiting bushes (like blackberries, wild roses, holly) http://www.tiscali.co.uk/lifestyle/homesga...-for-birds.html Add some feeding stations and get the kids involved keeping them suppied (old fruit from home, scraps etc). General site that may help: http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/wildlife.html Don't forget insects - make a logpile for hibernation of insects as they are extrmely important too. Maybe add some nest boxes for bumblebees too.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/16...h.htm?list91627 Looks ike this coming solar cycle could be interesting as far as aurora go. 'NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms.' 'The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event.'

There is a Scotland average that the Meto produces (and England, Wales, N Ireland & also the UK as a whole). Numbers to November: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2008/november.html

Hedgehog hibernation info: http://www.thehedgehog.co.uk/hibernation.htm 'Hedgehogs hibernate to bypass the cold months of the year when food becomes scarce. If the weather is warm and food is put out for them every night, some hedgehogs do not feel the need to hibernate and will stay active all through the winter.' 'Hibernation begins for most hedgehogs in the October or November months. They can be seen wandering about, however right up until Christmas or even after, especially if the hog has not managed to collect enough food to see itself through the winter.' Grey Squirrel hibernation info: http://www.pznow.co.uk/wildlife/squirrel.html 'It is a common misnomer that grey squirrels hibernate. In winter during warmer spells they have to feed, this is when the stores are dug up. To meet the cold winter their coat becomes longer and thicker.'

I never got the one (last year I think?) with my photo of the Blackbird in the snow in it either - just for the record. Never heard any more about it, even tho' I asked, once the last pic for the calendar had been chosen. I just figured it hadn't been made after all.

Getting really bored with the rain now - hasn't stopped since around 12:30am on the 4th. The low pressure seems to be sat right on top of NE Scotland. This says it all really: http://wxweb.meteostar.com/cgi-bin/meteogr...C.cgi?ICAO=EGPD Currently around 5, reached the heady heights of 6 earlier for the first time in a while. Feels like 0 with a pretty cold 16mph NE wind. DP is around 3. Pressure has risen slightly today to 992mb.

Still raining here - hasn't stopped since that front reached us night before last. Currently a whopping 5.4, pressure rising on 979mb.