LadyPakal

My punt is for 5.2. LadyPakal 05.2c,161

Waxwings (a group of about 30 or so) were spotted in Aberdeen last week. They always seem to land here first and strip the Rowans before spreading around the country. I've seen a whole huge treefull some years - what a wonderful noise they make. Didn't see any last year. Birds seen regularly: House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Great, Blue & Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon (yuk, flying rats, eating the tables bare), Magpie, Crow, Rook, Robin, Lapwing, Herring Gull (stole a steak of the bbq-not happy), Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Pied Wagtail, Starling, Wren (nesting-babies so cute and dad so noisy and brave) Seen occasionally/rarely: Sparrowhawk (caught a pigeon - yey!), Long Tailed Tit, Hawfinch (I think he/she was lost, certainly looked as shocked to see me as I was to see him/her), Tawny Owl, Waxwing, Redwing, Fieldfare (the last 2 only when there is snow on the ground), Treecreeper, Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Ospreys have been seen flying over the local streets by some, and fishing in one of the 2 rivers Aberdeen was built on. We have resident Peregrines in the City center - had a brood of 3 this year and are sheltering in the old steeple they used as a nest spot currently). Red Kites were released this summer, there are feeding stations for the winter for them which I plan on visiting). I'm sure there are others I've forgotten but not a bad haul for Aberdeen city center.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1291458,00.html "This winter is expected to be mild, but cooler and drier then the 2006/07 winter which saw exceptionally mild temperatures and above average rainfall totals. Long-range forecasting company Meteocare said there would be some cold snaps, particularly in the North and East of the country, bringing the threat of ice and snow to all areas."

10.6 as a first attempt. S'funny guessing about the CET when it's usually cooler here - the CET seems almost balmy in comparison at times. Is there a CST I wonder?

Only an inch with each fall that settled. I give winter a 3 - too many high winds and way too much rain for my liking but there was a good 2 week cold spell early on under a high pressure.

Wonder how accurate this will turn out to be... http://www.snow-forecast.com/maps/uk_3days.shtml

Yes, I noticed the wind picking up. Such is life! It is supposed to get a bit colder again before this cold spell is over so we may see a wee bit more snow before next week. I'm at 18m, right in the city center - top end of Union St. For the past few days there has been enough decent sunshine to get the solar lights in the garden charged.

Someone was asking about Aberdeen earlier (apologies but lost the post so can't remember who it was). Went to bed with about 1/2" covering and below zero last night. Got up to a thaw - temps about 1 degC and it's been above freezing all day. My husband left for work around 8:30am, saying it was raining on the way out. In the 5 mins or so it took for him to walk there, the rain turned to a heavy hail shower and was snow when I rang him shortly after he arrived. This set the tone for the day - heavy hail showers turning to snow with melting between in the bright sunshine. At one point there was a mushy buildup of 1". The most fun was watching the pigeons being pelted by pea sized hail (shaped, oddly enough, like re-entry capsules) at one point this afternoon. Currently 3 degC.

Yes, started as graupel here then became nice dry sparkling flakes. About 1/2 inches here so far. Eased off but looks like another batch is due soon - could even be a continuous stream looking at the radar.

Sure I'm sure - it was wet and fell from the sky and made a plopping noise when it landed. Plus the radar says it's rain too.

Only rain here in Aberdeen - falling onto the start of a ground frost. Been beautifully sunny all day apart from the snow showers this morning. Lost the light covering of snow we had from last night tho'.

Snowing in Aberdeen at the moment (odd as the radar shows no ppt over us at all). Settling onto a light dusting from overnight with temps wobling between 0 & 0.5 degC depending on cloud cover.

Light snow showers here in Aberdeen this morning. Icy surfaces this morning - pretty slippy underfoot.

Hmm, was going to edit my last post but can't. Anyway - we had an inch last night, not half an inch (measured in a sheltered area when taking the rubbish out - was deeper in the garden on the path). Been dry most of the day with some melting however the clouds have gathered again and we've had a small snow flurry. Radar isn't looking too promising as sleet is not far to the west of us apparently. Temp 2, dew point 0.

About half an inch on the ground this morning - not snowing now altho' the sky looks heavy.

Pretty First snow on the ground of the season. Dry snow too so it's here for the night by the looks of it.

Snowing in Aberdeen - big fat flakes.

Currently having a hail shower here - was sleeting lightly about an hour ago. The hail comes with a dewpoint increase from 0 to 1.1 degC. Temp about 2 degC.

Heavy sleet (looked like wet clumps of graupel) here recently. Temp dropped from 2.7 to 1.8 in the last half hour. Dewpoint now at 0 - feels like -4.4!

winson.jpg for me. Makes me feel so small....

Here's a favourite of mine from 1st March 2006.

I took some yesterday - it is amazing around the Duthie Park area - there is one in the short term weather thread - page 4. People were skating about on the iced up boating lake in the park and one kid was riding a bike around on the ice - daredevil. Here: http://www.hardgate.net/park.jpg Currently -0.8 in my garden right now and barely got above freezing today (I think I'm in a cold pocket here). Been extremely parky here for the last fortnight, apart from a couple of cloudy spells where the temps rose.

I found this page interesting Zerouali. http://www.aamfc.org/weather/weekrep.htm You may have seen it before - it's data from a weather station run by an model aircraft club based in Dyce I think. They have a live local weather page (http://www.aamfc.org/liveweather.html) but I've noticed that the rainfall doesn't always record what I see here in the city. It has also been a bit warmer in Dyce than what I have recorded in my garden here during this cold spell.

We have a Dee and a Don running through Aberdeen city. It's been rather cold up here in the last couple of weeks with only two nights above freezing in the last 13 days.

A view taken this morning down by the River Dee.