Winter 2015/16

[plaques]

Looking across the valley towards Earby I can see the Salterforth 'lake' probably bigger than I've ever seen it before. I can never make my mind up whether I can see Wendy's place from our house so if Wendy will be good enough to give us a wave in the direction of Colne Edge I should be able to nail it. Its only 3.5 miles away.

[Wendyf]

I'm hidden from you behind Kelbrook Moor Plaques and can only wave at people in Salterforth, Barnoldswick and on the top of Weets. You may be able to see the houses on the south facing slopes of Harden Clough from there. Can you see Bleara?

[plaques]

Can you see Bleara?

Bad day for seeing anything today. Too much mist or hot air from swearing to pick anything out properly. I could do with a proper map that shows contours and then if I can remember what we did at school and take a section through it all I may get a better idea.

[Marilyn]

I would keep the drapes shut on that side of the house if he is looking for "contours", Wendy.
Some of these high powered telescopes...

[Wendyf]

Contours well hidden thanks Maz.
This might work Plaques....I've taken little Google man for a drive along Bleara Road towards Earby, and he is looking back towards Colne Edge from the bend above Kelbrook....
HERE
Can he see your house from there? if he turns round to the left and looks back up the road he can see my house in the distance!

[Wendyf]

The "Hell Holes" on the side of Kelbrook Moor look amazing from there!

[plaques]

Can he see your house from there?

He just misses it by a whisker. Another 300 yards to the left would have done it. This is getting all too technical. Besides I can't stand women who are smarter than me! I'll probably go away and sulk now and throw my toys out of the pram.

[Wendyf]

[Stanley]

All women are smarter than us P, they can have babies..... Resistance is futile.
Calm, not cold and all is damp but it's not raining at the moment. The glass is rising and is almost on 29.2". The forecast is for a dull, overcast day with no appreciable rain. The wind is in the east at the moment but will swing to the SE and increase slightly. The theoretical high is 10C but will feel like 8C. A quiet day and the outlook is for it to get colder.
05:50. Back in the hutch after a pleasant walk on a calm, mild dry morning. The only other human in sight was Mark the street sweeper, cheerful as usual. I have had worse walks....
It struck me this morning that I missed mentioning the shortest day on Tuesday the 22nd of December. We are climbing back up the hill towards summer! Only problem is the old saying; As the days lengthen, the cold strengthen. Still despite the Daily Mail getting it totally wrong we have had a quiet winter so far.....

[Stanley]

First thing this morning at 3AM it was dry, cold and just a light wind. An hour later and we had a very heavy, prolonged shower of rain. It has stopped raining now so it is damp and cold! The glass was falling yesterday and this morning is stable on 28.9". The shipping forecast is dire for the North, winds up to hurricane force at times and we are going to feel the effects of the very deep low up near Iceland eventually. The forecast is for a dry, bright day with a gradually rising Southerly wind. It will never feel warmer than about 6C. However, late tonight or in the early hours of Wednesday morning we are going to get a lot more wind and rain. Deep Joy!
06:15. Back in the hutch after a our walk. Cold enough to make your eyes water and give you a runny nose but surprisingly dry considering the early shower, That must be a drying wind.... High thin cloud but the moon was there peering through at us. I can believe that it will be a bright day but it will be what the old farmers used to call a 'brewing day', it could be the lull before some very nasty weather tomorrow. The only good thing is that the strong wind will hurry the front through....

[Stanley]

It was dry and windy under an overcast sky last night at 21:00. I fully expected to find it was wet this morning but was surprised to find the flags were dry. It's still fair so I have done my outside jobs like bringing the coal in and we'll look at an early walk because the forecast yesterday was predicting heavy rain all day. Perhaps the front is streaming up from the SW further to the west than was expected. The glass is falling and is almost down at 28.6" and the wind is rising. The forecast is still showing rain and strong winds until mid afternoon when the SW wind will abate and it will dry up and become colder. I think we will chance a quick trot out while it is still dry!
04:40. That could have been a smart move. We've had a pleasant walk on a very mild morning and it has not started raining yet. The forecast said the high would be 11C and I'll believe it, of course it feels colder in the wind but it is very mild. I think Barlick can rest easy today as regards flooding, Butts Beck is down at a normal level, it will take a very severe event to upset the apple cart.
06:10. Light rain has started blowing in on the wind. Behind schedule according to the forecast but it looks as though it's starting now.
11:10. The rain didn't start earlier but we are having a light shower now. The wind has dropped a bit and it looks as though we have been very lucky. the band of rain seems to be further west from us and we have escaped it. So Jack has had two dry walks!

[Tizer]

Down here we've got 50mph winds and torrential rain, but mild temperatures. There hasn't been flooding in the Somerset Levels, others are getting the worst instead, but it's a close run thing, even with the new flood defences. The river is near full, the ground is soaked, water is pooling everywhere. As in Cumbria, it wouldn't take much more to overcome the new defences.

[Cathy]

Adelaide. We are in the middle of yet another heatwave again.
4.25am - I am up for a while getting some air and cooling down a bit.

[Stanley]

It rained late last night but nothing severe. The wind has dropped and this morning it's dry. The glass is steady at just above 28.5" so we are still under the influence of the latest low pressure system. The forecast is for a cold day, showery and with bright intervals with a constant and strengthening SW wind. It will get down to -2C with the wind chill later and it looks as though we could have a frost to bring in the New Year. The outlook is for similar cold weather. I wouldn't be surprised if Wendy had a snow shower.....
07:00. We're back in a warm hutch. It was dry as we went down to Kath's for the meat and the sky was mainly clear with a brilliant moon but it clouded over and started raining on the way back, Cold hard rain and the wind is increasing. I'm glad I put my scarf on and the Barbour! I think of Maz and Cathy having divided feelings they watch the weather in their beloved Barlick, torn between wanting to be back and enjoying the beginnings of their summer. You're better off where you are at the moment Kids! It's nasty, wet and cold.... a day for being in the house and perhaps doing a bit of light shed work or cooking.... I shall not be out in it any more than is necessary.

[Marilyn]

Bushfire down our way. Road closed to Adelaide. Some property damage reported.
We are actually wondering what's going on, as we saw smoke over distant hill a couple of hours ago, but it seemed to be clearing. Now we have the banner across the bottom of TV saying road is closed...so I am thinking it may have changed direction and strengthened with the high winds. It got to 42C here earlier but is cooling slightly and we have doors and windows open to a lovely breeze. Can't smell bushfire smoke...

[Wendyf]

It's brightening up a bit now after we have been out walking dogs and putting ponies out. My face was painfully cold coming back up the field in the wind and rain.

[Marilyn]

( oh what I would give to lay naked in your field for an hour, Wendy)
We have dropped son and girlfriend off at a pub on the foreshore where they are having dinner with friends. 10,000 people expected at the foreshore fireworks tonight, so I am sure they will enjoy themselves.
We live a bit further round the bay, but if we walk to the end of our road we should get a good view of the fireworks without the crowds. Still deciding if we will do the ten minute walk later...
Fire is either out or under control, so no danger there.
In the meantime, sitting here with son's Labrador at our feet. We love her dearly, but she has very bad wind tonight! ( and I think she could do with a good bath). Not good on such a warm evening to have smells rising...

[Wendyf]

An interesting prospect Maz....you would need resuscitating and a hosing down afterwards. So would my neighbours.

[Marilyn]

Eeeee...very likely I would upset your neighbours, granted.
But I am planning a cold bath before bed, which may also have you wrapping your cardigan more tightly around you just to think of such a thing.
We have wandered down to watch the early " childrens" fireworks. Sat on the grassy hill in our shorts...very warm night...it was fun.
Have to admit there is nothing as special as an Ozzy New Year Eve...better than Christmas for us.

[Stanley]

Glad you enjoyed it Maz. Wendy is right it was a cold wet nasty day to be out. The sky started to clear around 21:00 and the revellers were letting their squibs off until almost 1AM. Not good fore Jack but he's OK this morning. Clear sky now, brilliant moon and a hard frost, coldest night of the winter so far. The glass was rising all day yesterday and is almost on 29.2" this morning. The forecast is for a bright cold day until 17:00 this evening when scattered showers could come in until midnight. The S/SW wind is light at the moment and will strengthen to a strong breeze during the day. It's freezing now and the temperature will drop until 09:00 when it will start to rise to a theoretical high of 5C tonight but due to the wind chill will feel like -2C almost all day. A completely different day, I wonder if the jet stream has changed course a bit and is running further South? Whatever, it's a nice change and the outlook is continuing cold.
05:20. Back home after a bracing walk. Pavements just starting to ice over where they are wet. A very light wind and cold enough to make your ears tingle! Quite a few people about on foot, I doubt if they are early risers, more likely to be on their way home to sleep off the revels... Nice to see a bit of winter weather.... How the hell do the birds survive? They were singing in the lamplight this morning....

[Tizer]

The river a few hundred yards from my window has now topped its banks, the fields are flooded and there's increasing water in the view hour by hour. But it doesn't bother us, this is the `normal' traditional flooding of the Somerset Levels and we are several metres above that water level in the fields. Being many square miles of flat land it takes millions of tons of water to raise the level even by a singe metre and it's being constantly drained at the same time. The flood leaves behind a layer of nutrient rich silt and raises the ground level ever so slightly year by year. And the more the ground rises the faster the water runs off towards the sea.

[Cathy]

Sounds a little bit eerie Tize. Good to know you are high and dry and hope you have all you need in house and don't have to venture very far.

[Stanley]

I hope it stays 'normal' Tiz....
Here in Barlick it was cold and damp last night with broken cloud. As far as I can see the overcast is more solid this morning and there may have been a shower during the night but it's not raining at the moment. No frost. The glass was tending to rise yesterday but this morning has fallen drastically to 28.5", not a good sign! The forecast is for a day of mist, fog and scattered showers gradually getting heavier throughout the day. The wind has changed completely and will be in the east all day until late tonight when it swings into the South. The theoretical high is 8C but will never feel warmer than 5C during daylight hours. Not the most inspiring day I have seen..... I think we'll chance an early walk.
05:15. Back from a quiet dry walk. Barlick still dead to the world.... I suppose it'll be Monday before we get back to something near normal. One small cloud on the horizon, Gale warnings in all areas except Trafalgar and Biscay on the shipping forecast this morning, many of them severe gale 9 and storm 10.

[Stanley]

Cold, gloomy and damp sums up yesterday. Never heavy rain but it was wet for most of the day including 21:00 last night. It's the same this morning..... The glass was falling most of the day and is on 28.4" this morning. Not a good sign! The forecast is for another overcast day with rain from 11:00 to 19:00 tonight. The wind has settled in the SE again and will be moderate all day. Slightly warmer than yesterday but it's all relative, still cold and damp!
Back at 06:00 after a damp walk in light rain but nothing that the Crombie couldn't deal with. We tend to forget that in the days before modern waterproof clothing that the standard protection against rain was a heavy coat, preferably tweed like the Crombie, the rain tends to cling to the hairs sticking out of the cloth instead of wicking in and these same hairs mean that when hung up in a warm room the cloth dries quickly. Not a lot of wind and we had the town to ourselves. I noticed yesterday that some fool has put a window in in what was Hacking's shop in Gisburn Road.... I don't understand it.
Jack is rubbed down and feeling no pain, I am warm and dry and we have had our morning exercise.... Things could be worse!

[Tizer]

Here's the view through a rain-drenched upstairs window in our house here in Somerset on the morning of 3rd January 2016. Looking across the old orchard on the other side of the lane you can see mostly water all the way across to the low hill about 2 miles away. You can see two green bands across the centre of the picture; those are the grassed, raised banks on the sides of the river. The river runs from right to left of the photo and then has a 10-mile journey to the sea. The raised banks mean it's surface level is above the surrounding fields. The water in those fields doesn't come from the river overflowing the banks, it comes through a complicated network of drainage channels and the level in those channels and the river are controlled to ensure that the local towns of Taunton and Bridgwater don't get flooded.The drainage system has done its job well for hundreds of years but is now being severely tested by the effects of climate change and we'll find out if the flood protection work carried out over recent years will stand up to the greater rainfall and storms.