PeteB

28 degrees a few minutes ago with hazy sunshine. Just got back from Rhyl where the windscreen on our car got hit by a few massive raindrops, a portent of things to come I think. Pete

Survived the storm with the only damage being to my garage roof, however for some reason we lost power at 21:30 and it didn't come back on until 02:15. I'm guessing it was some sort of knock on effect from the storm. Pete

Calmed down here and the Sun is out. Need to go into town now so I should get a good idea of any damage. Interestingly, the large house over the road once had 12 Lombardy Poplars ringing the garden. They were planted sometime in the late 19th century and the first one came down in the great January storm of 1968, the next one in 1975 and gradually their numbers have been reduced to just 2 left standing. I just had a look and both look to have survived , Pete

Sad to report that another large part of Colwyn Bay pier has collapsed into the sea, could well mean the end for this historic listed building. Pete

Section of the M56 near Helsby now closed as is the The Thelwall Viaduct. Seeing reports of local power outages too with traffic lights out at busy junctions. Pete

Garden flooded, part of my garage roof has blown clean off, many branches have come down but thankfully no trees. Many roads around here closed or partially closed with long queues around Queensferry. Wind speed has died down a touch but still some frightening gusts. Pete

National Park Wardens are reporting a 100 mph gust in The Pen-y-Pass, about 5 miles from Capel Curig and very exposed . Pete

Reports from Ellesmere Port of flying trampolines ! Pete

Flintshire Bridge closing now. All rail lines on The Wirral are now closed by fallen trees. Pete

Reports of several trees down on the Wirral Way. Pete

Damaging gusts coming in now, reports of many trees down in North Wales. Pete

Tree blocking the Wrexham to Bidston railway line at Caergwle. Just had a few more strong gusts 40 to 50 would be my estimate. Pete

Looks like I'm right in the middle of this unfortunately. I'm surrounded by trees, one them is a massive Scots Pine fir that bends even in 40 -50 mph winds and although it won't fall on our cottage it could fall on the power lines..nasty. I'm expecting some major disruption as the Flintshire bridge will almost certainly be closed at some stage and The A55 is really exposed up around Holywell. Anyway I've already moved the cars into what is hopefully a safe place, and I'll move anything that isn't secure in the morning. BTW, don't recall ever seeing an Amber warning covering such a large area. Pete

Loads of trees down in North Wales, including one blocking a major road not far from where I live. I find this rather strange as the wind is fairly gentle, I'd estimate the strongest gust at no more than 30 MPH. Pete

17 degrees this afternoon down the road in Hawarden, still 16 degrees at 6 o'clock!! Pete

Snow reported not that far away in Llandegla which has an altitude of 830 feet, just cold rain down here (at 350 feet) Pete

It's strange, but I can remember weather events of 50 years ago in great detail but apart from the odd extreme event I only have limited memory from 2000 onwards. Anyway, my favorite month of all time was August 1976. Early in 1976 I'd booked the last 2 weeks of August off to stay in a caravan on the Llyn Peninsular. Seeing how hot July was and knowing how unpredictable the British weather was I was getting pretty concerned that the weather would, break but it never did. 2 weeks of unbroken sunshine with temps in the high 20's, just amazing. There are 2 other months that stand out, March 1965 and January 1982. March '65 was a fairly snowy month, no great accumulations but several falls of a couple of inches followed by a thaw. Then in the middle of March it turned really cold and an Easterly set in, a really biting wind the coldest wind I've ever known even surpassing anything in 62/63. The bits of snow left on trees and roofs started blowing off and piling up into mini drifts but the main action didn't start until I got home from school when the snow started in earnest. Huge plumes of snow crossed the field by my house and by 6 o'clock the drifts were up to my knees. It was still snowing when I went to bed but had stopped when I got up. I had to walk to school, 3 miles, but on the way helped dig out some guy who got stuck in the lane and had slept in his car. Amazingly, within a couple of days it was a balmy 16 degrees and the snow vanished alarmingly quickly . Jan '82 was incredibly cold, I recorded -18 or lower several nights on the run and there was also a very rare daytime blizzard but what stood out was the speed of the thaw which produced an event I've never seen before or since. Before I went to bed I recorded -18 but around 3 in the morning I heard the dreaded sound of hissing water which actually turned out to be my header tank defrosting itself. The temperature had shot up to 10 degrees and a rapid thaw had set in. There hadn't been any new snow for several days so it was well compacted down our lane but as the snow melted it formed what I can only describe as mini icebergs a couple of feet long and 2 or 3 inches thick which floated along the road. Walking was treacherous, driving was impossible for several hours, weirdest weather event I've ever seen! Pete

Rain turning to snow here, big flakes too! Pete

Saw a couple of flakes around 15.00.! Pete

Not much happening up here, occasional blustery showers, bit of wind, pretty similar to the last few months really. Eventually we will break free of this pattern. Pete

63 MPH Gust down the road at Hawarden earlier today, The wind having dropped considerably since then is now ramping up again. Pete

Still have the 4.5 Tog quilt on the bed, says it all really Pete

Yet another miserable day in this most miserable of winters. The only change has been that instead of mild rain we're getting cold rain. Roll on spring. Pete

Well, its just 1C here with constant and blustery heavy showers of rain, hail and just lately sleet. Roads are very bad and with a frost forecast its not going to get any better. Pete

Had to defrost my car at midday today and it was only 2 degrees at 2 o'clock. Need to put my winter quilt on I think. Pete