Jump to content
Will it snow? 7 day forecast Weather Radar Will it be cold?
Snow?
Local
Radar
Cold?

Thundery wintry showers

Site forecast team
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    15,710

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Thundery wintry showers

  1. Thundery wintry showers

    Christmas

    By Thundery wintry showers,

    Well, it's coming up to the big day. Personally, I don't feel very "Christmassy" at the moment- it tends to be the case that I need there to be snow events shortly before Christmas in order to get me into the "Christmas spirit".
    My house is currently a construction site because of a new extension that is being built into the back garden, making things a little awkward, although it should be worth it come next summer when our garden will be more conducive to sitting outside.
    I will be meeting up with some of my old friends from junior school on Christmas Eve- most likely going to the local pub, and getting up to all kinds of daft stuff. However, as per usual, I plan to drink alcohol in moderation (if at all) and will hence not be hung over on Christmas Day- the last time I was hung over was back in October 2001! It will be interesting also to see what I get on Christmas Day.
    Christmas Day will see my grandparents come over, and then there will be a large gathering of immediate family members (uncles, siblings etc) for Boxing Day tea, which usually provides the opportunity to see various cousins, aunties and uncles that I see, on average, a few times per year. Last year's meeting went exceptionally well so I have high hopes for this year's as well.
    However, my immediate family aren't very "commitment intensive", nor do they buy into the "Christmas is family time, so you can't see your friends" malarky, and thankfully, nor do the immediate families of the friends that I currently hang out with these days. Thus, the traditional problem of my friends being unable to meet up with me because their families won't let them is unlikely to arise this year, which is another positive in my book.
    Perhaps most interesting of all, for me, is the possibility of an easterly around the 27th-29th December. It is by no means set in stone, but if it was to come off, it would represent my first experience of a "sunshine-and-snow-showers" easterly in the North East since 31 December 1996.
  2. Thundery wintry showers
    I would like to have an opportunity to take a photograph of proper snow using a digital camera. The last time I saw more than a few granules on the ground was on 26 February 2004- just before I got my first "digicam".
    For there to be an opportunity for snow photography tomorrow, those showers drifting down the North Sea need to come inland early tomorrow morning. The GFS has it progged to happen at around 9am which is pretty ideal, but things can easily change. Another issue is that my camera's lens only half-retracted when the battery ran out, so hopefully it hasn't knacked the mechanism, which would in turn trigger those dreaded E18 errors.
    Waiting with baited breath. If those showers in the North Sea were Weebl and Bob, I would be putting plenty of pie in my garden to entice them over.
  3. Thundery wintry showers
    Well, after an extremely hectic last week of term in Leeds University, I am back in Cleadon, Tyne & Wear for the Christmas holidays- but unfortunately coming down with a bit of a cold.
    Will be seeing quite a bit of the people I know from my junior school, one of whom has been my closest friend for over 10 years. Also have a bit of revision to do for exams in January.
    Having set up my professional weather station and, for the first time, having a thermometer which I know is accurate to within a couple of tenths of a degree Celsius, I am hoping that there will be a decent fall of snow in Cleadon- even if it happens while I'm in Leeds- in order to see what the "temperature profile" looks like, and whether snow does indeed settle readily at temperatures of up to 1C, or whether my past thermometers over-read a little. There might, just might, be a chance this Saturday. I'm not going to complain if it's a bog-standard 36 hour northerly with an inch of snow for Tyne & Wear if I happen to be here when it matters.
  4. Thundery wintry showers
    After the thread about gay marriages (which I played a large role in) up comes another controversial and philosophical blog entry.
    I am not homosexual, but I am going to admit to something equally taboo- as things currently stand, I have no ambition to have children. If nobody believes me that it's a taboo, consider the answers I usually get when I say I don't want children:
    "Oh, it's just a phase, you'll grow out of it and you'll want kids when you're older."
    "It's unnatural not to have children."
    "Not having children is selfish because you're unprepared to make sacrifices."
    "Your life is incomplete if you don't have children. If you don't try having children, you will never experience it."
    "All women want to have children because of biology, therefore a woman who doesn't want children is a freak of nature. Men should want children because of their desire for sex, and out of respect for the wishes of the women they marry, who will want children, assuming that they are not freaks of nature."
    "You should have children, you can get your future wife to look after them"
    "You would be a really good father."
    Re the view that not having children is selfish. Surely the real selfish people are the ones who actually do have children, and then don't look after them? That way, people are harmed, whereas by not having children, while one doesn't bring a new life into the world, one doesn't harm anyone.
    As for the idea that one should try having kids otherwise one won't experience it, I think that's a very good argument for decisions where one can turn back if it doesn't turn out well. Having children is a decision where there is no turning back and it shapes the rest of one's life- if it doesn't turn out well, tough.
    I think the image that people who have children always end up better off, and those who don't sometimes regret it, is misleading Many people who have children do genuinely end up better off, but it's also something that a parent has to feel- if a parent has regrets about having kids, how is that going to reflect on the parent and pass over onto the kids? To ensure that they bring up their kids well, they will have to suppress any such regrets. People who don't have kids have no similar self-reinforcing mechanisms that prevent them from having regrets about it, so we end up with a misleading picture of how people feel about having children.
    Some people also decide to have children because it's the done thing. I understand the argument that everyone decides things because they want to do them, and if they didn't want to do them they wouldn't, but social pressure is clever in that it attaches negative 'strings' to particular decisions. If I have a choice between doing A and being rejected (a common example of a negative 'string'), or choosing B and being accepted, I may choose B. From this, it follows that I don't want to do A, but my main reason may be fear of rejection.
    I also feel, incidentally, that measures to increase birth rates in order to tackle the aging population problem are not a good long term solution. In the short term they may work, but in the long term, as the elderly population continues to grow, larger and larger birth rates will be required, presenting risk of an overpopulation spiral.
    Disclaimer: I have nothing against people having children. I also retain an open mind to the possibility that I might change my mind when I am older, and have children. I can't say that I hate children either- indeed I have a reputation for being quite good with them. However, as things currently stand, I don't want to have children of my own, and there's a possibility that my stance will not change, no matter how un-PC it is.
  5. Thundery wintry showers
    In Cleadon, Tyne & Wear, the stats were:
    Mean Max 9.6C
    Mean Min 3.2C
    Warmest: 14.6C (3rd)
    Coldest: -3.7C (19th)
    Lowest max: 2.6C (28th)
    Precipitation: 49mm (62)
    Air frosts: 10
    Days of snow lying: 0 (smattering on 28th)
    Sleet/snow: 3
    Hail: 3
    It was the coldest November since 1998, and the sunniest since at least 1947 (probably for much longer). The first half averaged 10.2C and the second half averaged just 2.5C making it the warmest first half of November since 1994, while the mean minumum of -0.6 in the second half was the lowest since 1993. The month was a few tenths of a degree below the average for 1971-2000.
    Illustrating my approval of the month's weather, in Leeds (where the month was very similar) I awarded the month an average of 65%, which is the highest rating for a November since 1996, and the highest of any month since May 2004.
  6. Thundery wintry showers
    I had two projects to hand in on the 18th November- one of which was a Project Proposal for studying convective cloud initiation (a bit technical I'm afraid, but very much down one of my main interest areas)
    Went to a couple of parties the last couple of days. I nearly didn't go to either of them because it was difficult to find where they were, but Friday's was particularly good once I got there. I saw some of the people connected to those on my course- close friends, sisters, boyfriends etc and got on generally with them. It also helped that some of the pubs were open until late so I didn't have to leave until 0:30am (well it was either that or go to a nightclub) Hangovers? No way, I don't drink anywhere near enough alcohol- I consumed one Bacardi Breezer and one Vodka & Orange, and that was my lot for the last two nights!
    One thing about Leeds is that they seem to put out burger stalls at early hours in the morning. I have been tempted twice so far, including the night of the 18th/19th.
    I may have sung Lancaster's praises in previous years, but I have to say that for me, so far Leeds appears to be considerably better in almost every area of consideration.
    And now onto the sunshine. My main associations with November are anticyclonic gloom and mild damp windy weather, so to have six days on the trot of non-stop sunshine is almost surreal. I may not be a SAD sufferer, but there's no doubt that I tend to feel much happier and more contented with life when the sun is frequently shining.
    I remember November 1996 and early November 2001 being quite sunny where I was at the time, but nothing like what we have now. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that parts of NE England might have more than twice the amount of sunshine they had in October.
  7. Thundery wintry showers
    In Leeds, this was a very warm and extremely dull month. The statistics on Philip Eden's site suggested that the North East had barely half the normal sunshine, and I can believe it.
    The first week saw near-normal temperatures, and persistent anticyclonic gloom- layers of stratocumulus covering the sky the whole time. It became brighter in the second week with some notable warmth around the 10th and some sunny spells, but then it became dull again.
    The 15th to 26th was another extremely dull period, and this time it was generally wet as well, with an exceptional lack of cool nights. Only three days stood out as featuring any sunshine of note- the 16th was dry warm sunny and quite summerlike, while the 20th and 25th featured a mix of sun and showers together with a few rainbows.
    The 27th was a remarkable day- sunshine all day, and it must surely have maxed at between 18 and 20C. After the dullness of the past 10 days, it was amazing to see the sun again, let alone see it all day! However, after a day of sunshine and showers on the 28th, it became extremely dull again, while staying warm.
    At 42%, this October would appear to have been the lowest scoring October since I started taking weather records, and the lowest scoring of any month since November 2004. Sunshine (or lack of it!) was the main factor here.
    Data is again patchy, with no temperature records from 6 to 16 October inclusive, but here are the stats from the dataset I have:
    Mean Max 14.5C
    Mean Min 9.5C
    Precipitation: 75mm (this is the whole month's total; the device kept a record of total rainfall even though it stopped transmitting to the computer)
    Highest max: 18.1C (27th)
    Lowest min: 6.7C (23rd)
  8. Thundery wintry showers
    Had quite a hectic week this week.
    On the work front, I had to sort out my project for my MRes course- am doing investigations into a convective cloud initiation project. This will hopefully be relevant to my interests as convective clouds have always been a major fascination area.
    The Atmospheric Science Away Day on Tuesday was good- if a little bit intensive, it is hard to maintain concentration through 3 hours at a time of talks! Also had a good party on Wedensday evening with the Tenpin Bowling Society- I brought a Halloween mask and scared the pants off a few people, and was the only one to bring a mask. Also improved my score this week- 294 in 3 games, so I am back to my usual standard of about 100 per game. Now to break 300 in 3 games! Also saw Man Utd vs Lille- a rather disappointing game in which they lost 1-0 and, IMO, never really looked like scoring. What on earth has happened to the Mancs, they'll be lucky to get in the Champions League again at this rate!
    Some students were talking about snowfalls in Leeds during February 2005, including one day when there was a large amount and there were some large scale snowball fights. So it does snow here, although I am reliably told that it snows rather less here than it does in Sheffield. Whereas during my Lancaster years I wasn't too fussed on easterlies, I would be all up for a good 'Siberian' blast this year, provided that it brought snow showers rather than days of dull dry stratocumulus dross and temperatures between 2 and 5C the whole time.
    There were a couple of impressive firework displays in Leeds last night. I just don't grow out of things like that- many of my posts on the forum may appear serious, but in reality the inner child still lives on. Probably the best displays I have ever seen with a great variety- and free, too.
    The main difference between Leeds and Lancaster continues to be the social side. As I have lamented about before, traditionally friendships have been hard to make and even harder to keep, but it doesn't seem like that in Leeds- I have found it remarkably easy to make friends here, and so far, there haven't been any problems with 'friends' showing themselves to be unreliable, or 'true' friendships being prised apart by possessive and jealous outsiders. Long may this continue, please!
  9. Thundery wintry showers
    A very warm first half. I spent the first third of the month on the Isle of Arran, with some very warm, sunny and summerlike weather during the first week, but the second week was somewhat more cloudy.
    A funny 'quirk' on the 10th- while I travelled from Arran to Leeds and then Tyneside, it was dull everywhere apart from a 10-mile radius around Lancaster (!!) where it was very sunny.
    The second half of the month didn't contain any particularly memorable events in Leeds (where I went to university after midmonth) but it was consistently sunny and generally warm.
    The month averaged 60% on my ranking system, and was the third September in a row to make a sixties score- by contrast, most Septembers of the 1990s 'achieved' forties scores.
    I doubt October will achieve anywhere near that kind of score though!
    Statistics from 17-30 September in Cleadon, Tyne & Wear:
    Mean Max 17.6C
    Mean Min 9.0C
    Mean SLP 1006mb
    Total precipitation 6mm
    Highest max: 21.1C (22nd)
    Lowest min: 3.6C (24th)
  10. Thundery wintry showers
    In most summer months, the east coast of Tyne & Wear is mostly thunderstorm and "sunshine and showers"-free, relative to much of the rest of the country. Not so in August 2005- this time Tyneside had quite a convective month while many other areas had a very benign month.
    The first week of the month was dominated mostly by sunny intervals and showers, with a couple of dull days thrown in there. Some quite dramatic convective storms too.
    The second week was also predominantly showery, and two days particularly stuck out: the 10th for its warmth and high humidity together with some torrential rainstorms, and the 13th for a thunderstorm, which passed just to the north of where I lived and brought some spectacular cloud formations.
    The third week contained a mix of dry sunny days and dull dry days, then the fourth week went back to being on the showery side, with the 25th sticking out as quite a convective day.
    My main memory of the month will be the Leeds thunderstorm on the 31st. A very hot sunny day was followed by some of the darkest clouds I have ever seen, lightning flashes at a rate of about five per minute at one time, and torrential rain- there was a fair amount of flooding. Interestingly, the Tyne & Wear region was reported to have been hit by a similar-intensity storm too, but for once, the fact that I wasn't there didn't matter.
    August 2005 scored 60% on my ranking system, a fairly solid score, and left Summer 2005 at an average of 59%- not a classic summer, but certainly one of the higher scoring summers of recent years.
  11. Thundery wintry showers
    July 2005 began with me taking a fortnight's holiday in France. The first three days were sunny and quite hot with a 32C on the 3rd, the day when I went to see the French Grand Prix (and subsequently suffered heat-stroke)
    The weather turned rather cloudy during the following few days. I remember one day with a little sunshine and a few convective showers, but most of the time it was dull.
    In the second week- which I spent near Strasbourg- the weather was hot and sunny with occasional thundery showers, particularly during the first half of the week. Temperatures reached highs of 27-30C, which I would find uncomfortably hot in this country, but over there the air was much cleaner and fresher and the humidity lower, and in any case the showers and thunderstorms were spectacular.
    Meanwhile, Britain (well at least most of Britain) was very sunny and dry, and hot too with 27-30C reported also, even in the north.
    The second half was spent in Tyne & Wear- and it was excessively dull, with cool days and warm nights.
    On my rating system, the month averaged 55%, but the final third averaged only 25%, offsetting a high-scoring first half. The last July to average a sixties score was back in 1999!
×
×
  • Create New...