Polar Gael 2

All that thunder has woken me from my estivation... The weathergods be angry... Some screen captures from a mobile vid of this evening's superb thunderstorm around Crieff (from half 9 to around 11ish). The lightning was striking the local hill above the town, known as The Knock. Nature in full and epic fury - a magnificent sight. Back to sleep again now. See you all when the clocks go back.

Well, yesterday evening's promised snowfest turned into this: Only managed a covering overnight and it quickly went. Continuing wet snaw on and off through the day but it isn't settling. Currently 1.9ºC/-1ºC after a max of 2.6ºC and windy. Raw.

Cheers, mate! Much astrokudos to you, too! It's not a 'great' comet (like Hale-Bopp for instance) but it's bonnie wee thing in its own way, floating in the twilight like a ghostly golden shuttlecock. Zoom definitely helps mind!

Bingo - much astrokudos* to you! Best spot I've ever made. Couldnae see it with the peepers nor the bins but the DSLR worked it's magic. *sounds like a dodgy Greek island...

Somewhat O/T, but last Wednesday evening after a fine day up here, giving way to clear skies and frost, I went out into the fields and nabbed this. Time for a new game of 'Spot the Comet': PS: Still snawing & blawing.

Ok, so it's the much maligned occasionally accurate BBC 5-dayer, but it's mid-March & the 'Spring' Equinox is tomorrow - this is mental! It is the WWE (Winter Without End) - thank you, CODSAC!

Finally, behold the Greenie High: 'Tis a thing of beauty. All hail, the CoDSaC (COnsistent Deliverer [of] Snaw And Cauld)! PS: So, looking at tonight's charts, chilly ECM Easter anyone?

Breaking news on Crimewatch:

Seriously O/T - wish some of our politicians could understand that... Back to the weather: cold, snawy & very blawy!

Snaw really belting down here now. Upper fields near the Knock (big hill in Crieff) are now white and it's settling readily at lower levels, too. A few pics taken before the light goes this evening:

So, a brief review of the last few days here: Sat: cold & sleet. All day. Sun: cold and cold rain. All day. Mon am: cold and cold rain. All d... Mon pm: OOOOFFFFFFTTTTTT!!!!!! Snaw's back. Started at 2pm - very light stuff and wet. On and off. Has been growing heavier and more constant through the afternoon. Trying to settle, but ground is soaking. Still, temp is at 0.9ºC/1ºC and it's on for the night, so would expect it to begin settling soon. Fun and games ahead!

We're going to get blootered by the snaw - cracking!

Spring? Er, whit the **** is Spring?

Cold rain here unfortunately. If I could see the hills, am pretty sure the snawline would be right down them, but as they're wearing the clouds, nae joy to be had there. 2.4ºC/2ºC and the rugby to look forward to this arvo. This neverending winter is looking good for a few more days yet. Reminds me more and more of the winters of the 1980s - more to come in the years ahead, judging by how quiet the sun continues to be? http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/6/3/034004/pdf/1748-9326_6_3_034004.pdf

A non-descript day of grey here today. Must've cleared overnight as we dipped down to a low of -1.9ºC before reaching a high of 8.7ºC this afternoon. A few days of bleurgh weather coming up and then it gets tasty once again. Am really hoping we get some clear nights next week as this fellow comes into view, low in the west after sunset from Tues/Wed - IF it survives its encounter with the sun...

There I was, enjoying the spring late winter sunshine settled weather cloud, when along comes yet another one of these: This time? Really? GH and everything? Now, where did I put it again...ah, here it is:

A grey, cold and raw Shrove Tuesday morning here. 2.3ºC but feels colder. Best go make some cakes of pan to heat myself up. Speaking of which... Pancakes Today, I wake without a plan but know I must make cakes of pan. The stuff of life placed in a bowl, I stir and mix to make it whole. The flour, the sugar, the runny eggs, the salt, the syrup and milky dregs, I mix and stir until it's smooth, then set a flame upon the stove. Dollops of batter one, two, three bubble up with merry glee, I flip them over one by one making sure that they don't burn, and when they're done and looking great, I pop them out onto a plate, the finest breakfast in the land, Shrove Tuesday morning cakes of pan. And just to veer vaguely back on topic:

Did someone mention the R word? Found this down the back of the ECM sofa along with a phantom easterly or two...bit of TLC and a couple of licks of paint and we're in business Chasing the deep cold this winter reminds me a lot of Charlie Brown going to kick that football: But maybe this time...

A pleasant February day here today with lots of sunshine - good to see after so many days of cloud/rain/sleet/dreichness recently - and a max of 5.3ºC. Some genuine warmth in the sun today, too, for the first time in ages. Heard a lawnmower this morning - first of the season. Someone was keen! Would be good to have a run of sunshine by day and clear, frosty nights for a while. As others have noted, this has been lacking for much of this winter and would be a welcome respite from the saturated conditions of the past several months. If we cannot have snaw, let's have a wee spell of quiet weather for a change. Currently, 1.6ºC/-2ºC under cloudy skies and a still night.

No.2: -27.2ºC in Braemar. -25ºC where I lived as a kid (wee village a few miles west of Stirling). Snowfields. Ice on the inside of the doubleglazed patio door. Logs for the woodburner fused together by the cold. Endless days off school because no buses could run as their diesel engines couldn't take the cold. The (then) futuristic British Rail APT (Advanced Passenger Train) kyboshed by the Baltic conditions. Sledging, sledging and more sledging. A proper winter. No.3: Scorchio! 32.9ºC at Greycrook in the Borders.

Here's one to kick off. May even be my no.1: Weatherporn for a coldie. Here's a link to the great big archive of weather charts: http://www.wetterzen...n/fsreaeur.html

Quality - like a (near) Top Ten of Greenie Highs. Since we're having a countrywide outbreak of what I believe pre-winter of 2008-09 was called 'no' (e.g. I've had 3 inches of no today despite the GFS/ECM/UKMO/GEM/stratosphere/sunspot activity/Daily Express/grebes/flocks of geese/berries on the trees/chilblains GUARANTEEING that I'd get a two foot dumping of snow in FluffyBottomshire), here's a thought for a thread/diversion that could distract us and pacify/destroy the Moodswings Anonymous Model Output Barney Discussion Thread once and for all: your Top Three model charts of all time*, ladies and gentlemen, if you will. (*To clarify, that's time as in the past that has actually happened, as opposed to future model output which may or may not occur - coz - if I've understood the TOORPers correctly over many, many years of lurkerdom - it's never nailded and stella until the fat lady sings at Easter or suchlike.) Like a sort of Fantasy Football of Weather charts, but without the football. Form an orderly queue there now. And no, you cannot all pick 1962-63/1947 - come on, let's have a bit of creativity. [Disappears off to dig out some stonkers from 1978-79 and 1981-82...]

A dreich afternoon as the wet snaw gave up the ghost and turned to cold rain a few hours ago. Still steadily tipping it down just now. Temps unchanged for most of the afternoon: 1.9ºC/2ºC. Maybe later on this evening. Wet snaw: the ultimate meteorological tease.

Proper snaw:

Sleet with the odd snowflake para making it to the deck here. Zero prospect of any of it lying until it turns a wee bit colder. Currently 2.5ºC/2ºC. Meanwhile, in Londonshire later today...