Tag: Weather

Wet

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Wet, rain, pouring, chucking it down, tipping down, soaking….

That’s what its like today, our canvas covered gazebo is literally on its last legs, the water on the top is making the sides bow. My partner has used a broom to empty it off but I think he will have to do it again soon.

Yesterday’s storm winds have dropped but the rain is torrential. I was coming back in the car from an appointment earlier and a storm drain lid was pushed up in the middle of the road and water was fountaining out of it!

I’m in the warm now but I got soaked. Sopping wet as they say… we are lucky to get rain in this country but the weather comes from all directions, we had a very hot dry summer, but I’m not sure what farmers will think of this. It might spoil their crops.

I was up at our village hall earlier and you could hear the rain drumming on the roof in places. Here you can hear the water overflowing the guttering and loudly falling outside the front door, or dripping and splashing off the window ledges. Hurrying traffic is sloshing water up from the road surfaces, lights shining through the curtains of rain. People rush past, umbrellas tipped to fend off the water. Darkness increases as the clouds lower overhead.

I’m off to make myself a warm drink.

X

 

Weather

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Storms and hooks of cloud.

Hurricanes and tornados, monsoon and typhoon?

The weather worsens and land is submerged.

Subsumed under water, pouring over ground.

The heat is rising, bubbling up.

Jet stream and Gulf stream, stream and steam.

Poor polar bear, starving now the sea is no longer ice.

Ship’s can sale through warm waters,

But is this good? No it cannot be,

The ocean and the sea,

Will rise above our heads if we don’t change.

Carbon dioxide expands, exhaled from life and oil.

Let us hope we can ride out the waves,

Let us survive and make amends.

Love the world, the Earth,

Do not love greed and money.

 

Storm

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The sky was clear earlier, just a few clouds skudding past as the sun set, the sky deepening in azure blue as the night arrived. But now, less than two hours later, the wind has picked up the leaves that had fallen early because of the drought. The storm is blowing around the house like an old steam engine, puffing and panting, whistling and roaring. I could imagine gouts of flame shooting out its boiler.

One minute all is quiet, then gusts blow down the chimney, the air in the room cools and stirs. The cats have come in to seek shelter, yet they are restless, torn between comfort and agitation. Nose to the glass looking out at the chaotic movement of the air…

The traffic noise is amplified by the wind. Unseen cars blur past in a loud buzz, like bees scattering from a hive seeking food at breakneck speed.

Still no rain in this gale, tiles rattle but not from raindrops, this storm is selfish and does not want to share its water. Jealous of allowing the land to drink. Will it rain? Perhaps, maybe wet the feet of the trees.

I think of the poor and destitute. Wrapped in an old duvet or plastic bag for shelter. How will they cope with no roof to protect them? This storm is the first of the season, big bulky winds rattling plastic sheeting, tearing it from cold bodies.  Why are they unhomed, unheeded, unheated, uncared for?

In a land due to celebrate the centenary of the end of the first world war, in a land that was fit for hero’s, we have gone back to the maelstrom of survival of the fittest and devil take the hind most.

My safety from the wild wind is their loss. I grieve for them.

Its raining!

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I just did the strangest thing, I saw it was raining hard outside, and then checked my tablet to see what the weather forecast was saying (light rain). Is this an indication of how addicted to my tablet I am.

Thinking about it, is that why they are called tablet computers? I know that’s not true but it makes you think.

Anyway the rain has just poured out of the sky, all those black and grey piled up clouds finally released their water. If I were living a hundred years ago I would have just watched it, but today I took photos and filmed it! Not such a great event in the scheme of things, hardly worth noting. So why write about it in a blog? If I had a diary and was writing 100 years ago I think it would have been about daily events, or even the war (not known as the 1st world war till later) I certainly would not have taken photos of rain, even if I had a box brownie. I once made a pin hole camera and developed my own pictures. You put a piece of photographic paper inside a biscuit tin in the dark. You make a tiny hole in the tin and cover  it. Then you go into a lit room or outside and uncover the pinhole for a second. Cover the hole again then develop the picture in a darkroom. I got some good results.

Anyway, I changed the subject…..yes, rain, good stuff, unless it causes flooding, damage, mud slides……

Bye x

Hanging baskets

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This was my garden…….in 2017….20170831_153616

This was my back yard last year. Everything was lush and green with lots of colour. This year things are not as good, some plants are wilting in the heat, others have only just survived. I haven’t taken photos of them because its all a bit messy. Still I will persevere. We might be getting some rain on Sunday if we are lucky.

There may be some thunderstorms east of us but nothing due here. It’s so strange, we are a wet country usually. We are normally known for complaining about cold wet summers, and grey dismal winters.

Climate change? I don’t know. But something is going on.

Multiply up all the gardens in the country where the plants are struggling. Then think of all the farms that are having trouble, having to feed hay and winter food stocks to there animals because there is not enough grass for them. It’s not normal. While over in Europe temperatures have risen above 40°C.

But we are lucky in comparison with other parts of the world. Terrible floods, droughts. The world’s temperature has risen since the turn of the millennium.

We are worried by plastic in the oceans, maybe we should really worry about the climate before its too late. Climate scientists have reported that the weather could actually become so hot that we end up in a “hot house Earth” scenario.

If not for our generation, but for future ones we need to stop listening to business people whose interest is short term gain and move to a more balanced, less greedy world. If that means that rich western countries should share technology with the whole world then that’s what we should do. Rant for the day over. ..

Thunder

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If you search blitzortung on the internet you get taken to a site en.blitzortung.org

This is a real time lightning display around the world.

There are several maps, so you can hone down the areas you want to see, for instance to North or South America, or Asia. Then you can refine your search even more, down to particular countries or States.

The site shows you where lightening has struck over the last couple of hours, the colours of the strikes changes from white (within the last 20 minutes) to deep red for one’s that happened a couple of hours before. You can choose to see where the detectors are which are picking up the lightening signals, and also include sound, so you hear a click for every strike. Its almost as if the thunder is happening in sequence sometimes, as if one strike cascades to another strike over vast distances…

I like this site because its free, you can see if storms are coming your way. You can also see storm fronts developing and moving over countries. It’s just interesting!

My only quibble is that only capital cities or state capitals are marked on the maps. I’ve looked at another web page that does pretty much the same thing but the maps have more info. But when I realised they were getting their information from this site I just reverted back to blitzortung…

Rain….

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We saw a bit if rain at the weekend, but not enough.

RAIN

The Sun is shining, it’s not raining.

The air is hot, its not raining.

The fields are dry, its not raining.

The clouds are gone, its not raining. ..

No water, no clouds, no green, no flowers…

It’s not raining.

 

The reservoir’s run dry, its not raining.

The rivers are low, its not raining.

The canals are closed, its not raining.

The grass is burning, its not raining…

No fish, no frogs, no newts, no fogs,

It’s not raining.

 

The crops are withered, its not raining.

The cows are hungry, its not raining.

The sheep are thin, its not raining.

The moors are burning, its not raining.

No chill, no cold, no frost, no fountains,

It’s not raining.

 

The jet stream is north, its not raining,

The pressure is high, its not raining.

We cannot bathe, its not raining.

We cannot drink, its not raining.

Global warming? Climate change? More to come?

It’s stopped raining…..

 

 

Rain and Shine

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The UK is one if those weird places in the world where the weather can change at the drop of a hat (or a cold front). The hot dry weather we have experienced over the last few weeks has taken us a bit by surprise.

British people expect changeable weather. If its sunny for a few days, and hot, we expect a thundery breakdown of the weather, raining cats and dogs…. (metaphorically)…If it is raining we expect more of it, or fog or snow, or hail….we can’t get used to it….and yet we are fine if we go abroad, where its always sunny!

Britain lies in a temperate climate, with winds coming towards us from all directions…East winds bringing cold Siberian temperatures or rain from Europe, North winds with storms and snow, West winds with Atlantic gales and low pressures, or areas of high pressure that can bring sun or frost. Heat rising on winds from the South,  dragging up sand from the Sahara ….

There are many sayings in Britain along the lines of “if you can see _____ its going to rain, and if you can’t see _____ it is raining.” That is why its such a green land.

But, we are using too much of the water that we have in reserves, there are canals being closed for the summer because they don’t have enough water. Some reservoirs are almost empty…it is not a crisis yet. It may not get that bad but we are hearing about possible hose pipe bans.

Maybe It is global warming, all I can say is I hope humanity decide to do something about it…..

Blue knots

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Blue knots of electricity,

Shoot across the sky,

Bang and bash the clouds,

Thousands of feet high.

 

Thunder bursts my ears,

Fights across the sky,

Light a fire in trees,

So that they will die.

 

Light and air explode,

Giving spark to life,

Never ending power,

Cutting like a knife.

 

Thunder now and rain.

Blue lightning shines so bright,

Water streaming down,

Electric, awesome, might.

Waiting for lightning

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The forecast is for thunderstorms. ….IMG_20180329_004651_329

The heat has been here for only two or three days and already the forecast is for thunderstorms and then a drop of about 10 degrees Celsius.

Back to normal for April. Cooler,  hopefully not too cold…

Looking at http://blitzortung.org you can track the lightening, an hour ago it was heading in this direction. Now it has tracked slightly east. The weather over the Channel looks bad, with lots if storms in north France.

I want to write a poem about waiting for the storm….

Here I am, on Earth I stand,                                                                 waiting for power to flow,                                                                     from sky, to ground, down ribbons of charge                                    zagged into flash and sound.

I watch the signs, the sighs of air, deep rumbled                              groans of noise. There are now ways to see the moves                      of clouds and wind that pound.

But though I wait in stifling heat,                                                        no moisture hits the ground,                                                                the sky stays dark, not lit, not sharp.                                                  The storm has turned around.

No excitation of the land, no rivulets of rain,                                   no exultation of the skies,                                                                      no lightening strikes abound …….

Well, I think that explains how I feel. I have sat and watched lightening on many occasions, it is one of the things I love. To sit safe while the maelstrom whirls around the house. But like the photo of the clear sky above, nothing seems to be happening tonight.

Oh well there is  a small meteor shower due this weekend so I might see something…..