4wd

Grim out there now with new minimum of +1.6C a few minutes ago. It's mostly hail and sleet. Hills are thoroughly white with something.

Complete non-event here with a gust of 32mph and 2.2mm from a half-hearted spotty period or two,

A lot of the problems are caused by reduced or no management. In the UK we are seeing this on moorland which traditionally has small plots burned on dry days through winter. This reduces the amount of combustible material and stops gorse scrub taking over. When this is stopped sooner or later there will be a huge hot fire over a very large area. Small fires in winter burn at lower temperatures, underlying peat is damp and does not ignite. When it is dry in summer peat also burns, destroying the entire system. It will often burn for weeks leaving only subsoil which takes decades to regenerate. In Europe the worst fires are also in areas where small scale agriculture has been abandoned, leaving managed semi-wooded areas to go wild. What was grazed or mown grassland builds up dead material and scrub which burns fiercely while cropped land has the combustible material regularly removed. It's the same story in the US - decades of fire suppression leading to far more dead material on the ground and very dense trees. Then sooner or later a very large uncontrollable fire will race through huge areas where previously it might come to an area with limited fuel which had burned in previous years. Fire is a natural process in many ecosystems, creating a diverse ecosystem with adjacent areas of differing maturity. This tapestry effect gives open meadow-like areas and deeper cover for shade and shelter side by side.

Similar here, about 13mm in passing showers since 16th March which was the last day with any significant amount that might have soaked in a bit. I fancy today will struggle to produce more than 5mm, 3mm or so on Saturday maybe.

Since it's only 11C with NE wind back again this seems unlikely anywhere near the east coast.

Over the last 100 years similar warming occurred before the 1950s as since, that doesn't particularly support CO2 being a major driver. It is known to have a logarithmic effect in other words you have to add more and more to get any further increase. All the model based predictions are running way too hot despite being gradually revised downwards. 'Climate change' has become a major self-sustaining industry in itself, and the compliant media rush to exaggerate any possible warming related event with scant evidence to support any link. In effect, you are all being brainwashed. It starts in schools and most of the media drip feed you reinforcement messages.

It's been mentioned before no doubt but the reason 1976 got so hot and dry was the dry winter and year before. In 2003 Europe had extreme heat at least in part due to dry ground no longer soothing extremes as water changed state on a daily basis. I'd not worry too much at this stage as dry spells in spring are common, and in most years there's a sudden switch even if we have to wait until European monsoon in June.

This identity politics approach is what's toxic, the real reason many are on the climate protest bandwagon is a desire to rabble rouse against a nebulous 'elite' whatever that is.

People buy what they think they want and need and at the lowest price. Be that housing, transport food and entertainment. Most of those items are supplied in a very competitive way by a combination of individual and corporate bodies Proposing all that should be controlled by the state as part some kind of environmental agenda isn't very realistic and would mainly promote huge inefficiency and waste. If such importance is attached to reducing CO2 emissions the way to do it is to invent alternatives that can compete. Disrupting traffic, scrawling on roads with aerosols and leaving mounds of litter is a good way to antagonize everyone they seek to bully, it doesn't achieve anythng.

These protestors seem light on practical solutions to their imagined calamity. How about doubling and quadruple oil and gas prices so that heating, food and transport are unaffordable for half the population, they'll probably die off quite quickly? That'll fix it.

-4.7C here this morning, quite severe for April. It was well below freezing before midnight too.

Only one day this month has reached 10C here so far. 9-11C sounds great, much warmer. It will be about 6C though.

It did brighten up somewhat yesterday and reached about 9C, struggling today at 6.2 and thick fog with some drizzle.Very typical of April here not far from the coast. I suppose sea temperature is also about 6C.

Stelvio looks grim but not particularly cold http://www.solda2000.com/webstelvioen.htm

Today could have been grim but the main showery mess is staying further west, we don't even have much wind. Hilltops are white from a sleety snow shower late yesterday.

Don't think so, a sun pillar goes straight up and is only visible after the sun (from your viewpoint) has set.

It's time for the lovely seasonal roak, 6C and thick fog with a keen NE wind since 5pm. It was quite dramatic watching the first tentacles racing over the hill tops at first. Anyone caught out walking up there won't be having fun.

It's just normal tree pollen at this time of year, mainly from trees which have catkins rather than obvious flowers such as birch and oak. I was surprised to see a Leylandii style conifer releasing visible clouds of yellow pollen with every puff of wind the other day. Pine trees are another huge producer of airborne pollen

It's the stronger sun which is on level 3, about 14.8C here so could be 16C or so in Leeds

My considered advice is it's probably F*%*$ed With the VP2 a common issue is failure of the capacitor(s) which hold charge enough that the battery is only needed after especially gloomy days, you can realistically change the capacitor on those but it seems almost a better option to change the whole board. If cleaning the battery terminals don't help (and maybe try another new battery) you could delve inside as a kill or cure repair mission, it will be interesting to have a look anyway - but assume it's replacement time. Sending off for repairs is unlikely to be economically viable. Five years is pretty good really.

Presume it was wet snow here for a while when it started at 1.4C pre-dawn, but temp is rising steadily and now 5.7c Already clicked past 10mm but looks to be about through by 1pm