Wales/Cymru Regional Weather Discussion

[Wetterfrosch]

On 20/08/2022 at 12:30, snefnug said:

Many "autumn" words mean "end, end of summer,"

Look no further than the Welsh name for July which is Gorffennaf, meaning end of summer. And yes, I do consider August the onset of early autumn, even though it is still very warm, often muggy with some of the highest nighttime minimum temperatures. Some plants begin to 'look tired (like my mangetout peas having produced prolifically since early July) and early trees begin to acquire their autumn colours or have another shot like oaks with what I call their Lammas growth with initially very red leaves on a second growth, apart from acorns and beech masts now showing up nicely.

Other than that, still waiting here for any meaningful rain which may (or the way it's going may not) arrive tonight/tomorrow when I have an outdoor job planned. Bank holiday weekend looks decent enough, just hope some rain will arrive here before that, especially with the first 10 days or so of September promising to be mainly fair and dry too.

[snefnug]

54 minutes ago, Wetterfrosch said:

 

Other than that, still waiting here for any meaningful rain which may (or the way it's going may not) arrive tonight/tomorrow when I have an outdoor job planned. Bank holiday weekend looks decent enough, just hope some rain will arrive here before that, especially with the first 10 days or so of September promising to be mainly fair and dry too.

We have had maybe not quite torrents but enough rain over the last week to re green those plants that were beginning to suffer from the dryer conditions.  Consequently the Red Kuri squash plants are taking over the raised beds and the pole beans are shooting skyward with, finally, some blinkin beans.

I find it interesting that the press and presumably the scientists they quote re stressed trees and false autumn seem to think that autumn is ONLY about leaf colour change and fall, which is a natural phenomenon that happens given certain conditions - daylight hours, temperature, tree dormancy preparation, but in and of itself isn’t autumn.  My neighbour is having a mast year of her walnut and filbert trees.  I’ve lost a top loaded apple branch which snapped under the weight of its apples and my goodness the apples are hanging heavy on the boughs awaiting harvest.  I don’t suppose many now know that the cross quarter day in August was Lammastide.  

[Sky Full]

Continuous light / moderate rain since dawn today has  left everything soaked and dripping.   I wonder where all this free water goes??  We now have a very low cloud base which is shrouding all the valleys in mist.  The fields and gardens around here show absolutely no sign of a water shortage and remain lush and green.  

Looking forward to hearing updates on the drought situation…..

[Wetterfrosch]

Most memorable about today's weather was the humidity, reaching 86 percent at midday with a temperature of 21 C and sunshine breaking through thick but mainly low level cloud,  squeezing out a little drizzle on a couple of occasions. Do i dare hope for some 'proper' rain tonight/tomorrow as promised on ITV and indicated by the MetO? With so little rain for weeks (4 mm being the highest 24 hour total so far this month) I am almost amazed that nobody has proposed a hose pipe ban for the NW. Some birches and willows obviously suffering lack of water and getting yellow and brown and the water pressure is clearly down of what I'm used to. Just amazed the blackberries did so well in all this (over 29lb picked already, although generally smaller and less sweet compared to previous years), loads of wine and jam to look forward to.

[snefnug]

After a humid and wet night, a grey day and much fresher feel and brisk coolish wind.  Talking to local farmer, fields greening up again,thankfully, not having to break open just baled silage.  Streams and hill flows still very low, as is local river.  
 

We have all been made aware, through a local planning application refusal that the valley is a Special Area of Conservation as our Ceiriog River feeds into larger River Dee.  So new builds and change of use of chapel/non domestic buildings will all be knocked back.  Reason is phosphate levels in rivers too high, so more people using loo might cause phosphate build up in rivers, climate change causing river drying, plus farmers chemical fertiliser runoff, increases levels of phosphate and could cause  eutrophication (overly nitrogen and phosphate rich.  Blanket green gunge which kills off fish and shellfish in the rivers.  Feel sorry for those who bought barn/chapels for conversion pre covid and now find they can’t build. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by snefnug

[Sky Full]

5 hours ago, snefnug said:

After a humid and wet night, a grey day and much fresher feel and brisk coolish wind.  Talking to local farmer, fields greening up again,thankfully, not having to break open just baled silage.  Streams and hill flows still very low, as is local river.  
 

We have all been made aware, through a local planning application refusal that the valley is a Special Area of Conservation as our Ceiriog River feeds into larger River Dee.  So new builds and change of use of chapel/non domestic buildings will all be knocked back.  Reason is phosphate levels in rivers too high, so more people using loo might cause phosphate build up in rivers, climate change causing river drying, plus farmers chemical fertiliser runoff, increases levels of phosphate and could cause  eutrophication (overly nitrogen and phosphate rich.  Blanket green gunge which kills off fish and shellfish in the rivers.  Feel sorry for those who bought barn/chapels for conversion pre covid and now find they can’t build. 

Can’t be too many of those in the immediate area, I wouldn’t have thought Snef?   Anyway, perhaps they might still get approval if their application is suitably green and fully resolves any dangers from pollution?   It’s a policy which I feel should be adopted much more widely than is the case at present, and not just restricted to AONBs and SACs etc.  There is too much pollution and too little regard for the long term adverse effects it is having on wildlife.  Unfortunately the problem goes directly back to the overpopulated nature of our country (UK, not Wales) and the very limited amount of land we have available for new homes -v- agriculture.

[Sky Full]

As far as the weather here is concerned, it’s rained on and off, mainly light to moderate but last night torrential for a time, for the last four days.    It certainly seems like it’s raining here more often than it’s not at the present.  The ground is soaking wet and everything growing is loving it.   On a trip to Cardigan yesterday and Carmarthen today, it does appear that surrounding areas are not getting so much rain and it might be restricted to just the Preseli hills, mainly.  The farmland in north Pembrokeshire looks much browner and less watered than around here, at any rate.

[Wetterfrosch]

Very heavy dew here this morning and with the sun still being low it made all the cobwebs on the gorse and high grass show up in spectacular fashion, something that I would normally expect in October. Autumn is definately coming. With the 10 mm rain measured yesterday morning (Hurray!!!) this should have been of some help to plant life.

[snefnug]

Lovely day yesterday, although a tad cloudy to begin with.  Looking good for today.  Not had to do watering so far this week but broke out the water butt pump yesterday evening.  Veg beds look fab, ie squash triffids all over the place but could do with a bit more produce rather than leaf.  

Blackberrying day today methinks.

Just opened door to let cat out.  By gum it’s chilly!

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by snefnug

[snefnug]

After a cloudy, Unmuggy coolish day, cloud cover breaking up and evening blue sky appearing.  Feeling revoltingly smug as supper is beetroot, red onion and feta quiche with our own red onions, beetroot, greens and sides of French beans.  Loud sounds of masculine yelling from rugby pitch so must be practice night.   Meanwhile in our garden, at last some butterfly’s, red admirals, peacocks, tortoiseshells, as well as a chittering of young long tailed tits.  Currently at terrace table enjoying a bank holiday glass of dry white.  

Edited August 29, 2022 by snefnug

[Sky Full]

Heavy 100% cloud cover and warm, still air - feels potentially stormy.  Forecast says plenty of rain and wind to come this weekend so that’ll be the summer over, then!

[Cambrian]

A very wet afternoon in store for parts of Pembrokeshire today according to the 03z UKV run. Several hours of heavy showers running north along a band into Cardigan Bay, the band slowly edging north and east by the evening.

 

Showers more widely across Wales by the early hours of tomorrow morning, again looking like some very heavy ones possible. And still going by 6am - plenty of noise on the roofs tonight then! 

 

Tomorrow afternoon looking drier, but still the odd shower about. 
 

[Sky Full]

Woken up at 04:40 by intense torrential downpour and gusty wind as the squall line of heaviest rain passed through.  Took about ten minutes to pass over and now everything has quietened down again.  Certainly put the recent roof repairs to the test.  I’m sure there will more of this to come in the next few weeks.

[Wetterfrosch]

4 hours ago, Sky Full said:

Woken up at 04:40 by intense torrential downpour and gusty wind as the squall line of heaviest rain passed through.

Similarly here in the NW. Woken about 5.20 by rather wild winds with strong and very sudden gusts. Plant pots rolling around in drive and this morning I found a few flat pieces of concrete landed between house and shed which will need investigating as to where they came from. Rain not much of an issue, just 5 mm since yesterday. Lacking my own weather station atm, a look at the MO computer forecast for next village brought up 50 mph gusts for two consecutive hours, then quickly receding to 33 mph and 23 mph by late morning with sunny skies. Can believe the first and confirm the latter as it now looks so innocent out there you would never know that such turbulent weather was possible only hours before. And yes, we will see more of this as we go further into autumn. At least, with the temps holding up, the garden should produce decent crops. Amazingly, my runner beans and sweet peas stayed upright and did not keel over as I had feared whilst we were in the midst of it.

[andy989]

Yes strong winds this morning. Gazebo was blown far down the lane and some hefty oak branches down 

 

 

[Sky Full]

6 hours ago, andy989 said:

Yes strong winds this morning. Gazebo was blown far down the lane and some hefty oak branches down 

 

 

Wow!  That looks dramatic!  We currently have another line of squally, heavy showers currently working their way north across us, with an even heavier lot on the way according to the radar.  This follows a fairly pleasant breezy day, with plenty of sunshine.  Such a sharp change from summer to autumn over the last two days - coincidentally occurring right at the start of meteorological autumn too.  Looks like the week ahead is going to be very unsettled with plenty of welcome rain, but I’m not so keen on the high winds at this time of year!

[snefnug]

Must have rained steadily overnight as waterbutts now full again.  Cooler feel to morning air and  valley shrouded in mist.  Happy that no watering needed, happier that it’s my holiday week.  

[Wetterfrosch]

That's more like it - persistent rain for a few hours, quite heavy at times, yielded 16 mm. Garden will be happy and so am I. Quite like this set-up of overnight rain to be followed by sunny skies in the morning with temperatures still very respectable for the time of year, both day and night. More showery/thundery rain expected by teatime, so better take dogs out in time. Wondering now what winter might bring as there is speculation as to what effect the Tongan volcano at the beginning of the year might have with huge amounts of water vapour being deposited into the southern stratosphere.

[andymusic]

thunder kicking off here in ponty

[DeepSnow]

I've just missed it by about 10-12 miles as in work. My other half said there was a lot of thunder and lightning in Barry. Im gutted, still yet to see a good storm  

Edited September 5, 2022 by DeepSnow
Spelling Mistake

[snefnug]

8 hours ago, Wetterfrosch said:

Wondering now what winter might bring as there is speculation as to what effect the Tongan volcano at the beginning of the year might have with huge amounts of water vapour being deposited into the southern stratosphere.

I read the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab press release (only site I could find it on was WUWT).  They say “ The excess water vapor injected by the Tonga volcano, on the other hand, could remain in the stratosphere for several years” and “a small, temporary warming effect, since water vapor traps heat. The effect would dissipate when the extra water vapor cycles out of the stratosphere and would not be enough to noticeably exacerbate climate change effects.”   So do you think we get warmer winters or what?  Genuine question here.  Is there conversation on this subject on netweather forums?

Weather wise, been a windy, cloudy sunny in intervals day, fab for drying washing.

 

[snefnug]

Gluts and the kindness of neighbours - sharing it on,

I dogsat for friends at their smallholding over the weekend.  Their Katie apple trees were weighed to the ground with rosy apples and there was an invitation to help myself, which I did.  Not enough to make a dent, but sufficient to share with my neighbours.  Neighbour share in return was a goodly amount of blackberries, going into conserve tomorrow.  Meanwhile, friends with a glut of tomatoes send a bag of nearly overripe ones which have just gone to make sauce for canning.  My single Zephyr courgette plant is super producing, so share again, ditto pole beans.  Elderly client who has embraced Decluttering has decluttered 2 litres of gin my way, as well as 1kg of damsons from her abundant trees.  Late rhubarb by way of WI.
 

So, rhubarb bitters made, rhubarb ginger liqueur and Nigel Slaters Spiced Plum Liqueur on the cards to make tomorrow, which will go out as Yule gifts.  Don’t you just love this Harvest time?

[Wetterfrosch]

2 hours ago, snefnug said:

So do you think we get warmer winters or what?  Genuine question here.  Is there conversation on this subject on netweather forums?

I wish i could give a qualified answer. With so many factors that go into the equation, some enhancing each other while others work in the opposite direction, stratospheric water vapour is only one of numerous pieces in the big puzzle. On the one hand, it traps outward radiation from the surface but also reflects or dissipates some incoming radiation from the sun. Haven't found a thread specific to the Tonga volcano yet, just a general one largely discussing the Icelandic ones. I came across it on severe-weather.eu. Being so far away, it might well have a negligible effect here in Europe.

2 hours ago, snefnug said:

 Don’t you just love this Harvest time?

Your fruity liqueurs sound interesting. Of the 36 lb of blackberries picked this year, 22 lb have been turned into 10 gallons of wine now merrily fermenting and the rest is currently frozen and expecting to either be processed into jam once our cooking apples are picked or go into pies, fools or cordial over the autumn and winter months ahead. We too have a Katie apple tree which I just relieved of it's load days ago. I do love their colour and taste but this year they turned out generally smaller despite all my efforts to keep them watered. Only disadvantage is that they don't keep too well. Rhubarb still plentiful but with thinner stems than normal. Will likely be stewing much of it and freeze portion wise for later in the year.

[Sky Full]

Another torrential tropical downpour in progress in this part of Pembrokeshire which, with all the combined rain over the last couple of days, should be helping to make a difference in the reservoirs by now.  There certainly seems to be plenty of excess moisture in the atmosphere right now, but whether this is partly of volcanic origin or simply evaporating from the sea due to above average temperatures, I couldn’t say.  We haven’t seen any lightning or heard any thunder in this area but I wouldn’t rule out some storms if the weather gets any more active.   In the meantime, more rain on the radar heading this way accompanied by gusty winds.

[wimblettben]

3 hours ago, Sky Full said:

Another torrential tropical downpour in progress in this part of Pembrokeshire which, with all the combined rain over the last couple of days, should be helping to make a difference in the reservoirs by now.  There certainly seems to be plenty of excess moisture in the atmosphere right now, but whether this is partly of volcanic origin or simply evaporating from the sea due to above average temperatures, I couldn’t say.  We haven’t seen any lightning or heard any thunder in this area but I wouldn’t rule out some storms if the weather gets any more active.   In the meantime, more rain on the radar heading this way accompanied by gusty winds.

Yeah, you're right about the no lightning bit.

Wales has probably been the worst place to be for thunder in the country so far in this last couple of day's.

Quite frankly it's been appalling and i've never known to have so much bad luck of not getting anything even when all the forecasts keep giving us good chances for day's on end.

Edited September 6, 2022 by wimblettben