Sky Full

Natures beauty never ceases to amaze me….

After the recent unsettled, windy, wet spell, it’s a really nice start to the day here. Quiet, calm and nearly cloudless as the sun rises and I hope it will stay that way at least for today. Have reluctantly started to use the heating again but trying to keep the thermostat at least a degree lower than usual. It’s not too difficult to wear warmer clothes rather than have warmer radiators…. The price of oil will make the next tankful very expensive so I want it to last as long as possible! Roof repairs in August and upgraded insulation should help through the coming winter but at the time it was the leaks which were the main concern - now it’s the price of oil! Wish I could afford solar panels….

An interesting five day progression from the ECM 0z: This would be an interesting development in January but not so good in late September. Could bring some chilly temperatures overnight though.

A possible return to more settled conditions for mid September as predicted for the 18/09 this morning by the: ECM. GFS: GEM: I think it would be nice to have these conditions back for a time before the inevitable Atlantic storms of October and November arrive.

I have never actually witnessed a monsoon season in the countries which suffer from it, but the rain here is what I would imagine ‘monsoon season’ to be like at times. We are getting deluges of heavy rain every half an hour or so lasting ten to fifteen minutes and everything is now waterlogged. The pond is filled to overflowing and the seasonal ‘stream’ which forms in the unmade road here (runoff from the surrounding fields) has reformed for the first time since the Spring. Oh well, at least we needn’t worry about water shortages in the next few weeks….. The centre of circulation of this slow-moving low pressure system appears to be off the south west coast of Pembrokeshire now and is slowly moving east, so by this afternoon I expect the wind direction to have changed to a north-westerly and the shower activity to have moved away to the east. Maybe we can dry out a bit on Friday and Saturday!

Continuing the very unsettled theme here which has defined the weather all week. Frequent showers with bright breezy spells in between and when the showers arrive they are heavy, going on torrential. Every night this week I’ve been woken up at some point by really heavy rain and the ground is now showing signs of saturation. No actual thunderstorms though, just really heavy rain. It hasn’t taken long to balance up the rainfall deficit from the summer months.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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…..

Looking at the rain radar for the whole country shows an interesting picture. The only places in the UK getting persistent rain this morning are the south coast of Cornwall and, yes, Pembrokeshire - that poor drought-stricken county where the use of a hose pipe could bring a hefty fine. OK, I admit that the rain is light in nature but at least we’re getting some! Let’s hope some of it ends up in the reservoirs…..

Quite a pleasant late summer day, with about 50/50 cloud and sunshine. Warm in the sun but a fairly stiff breeze kept temperatures down. The threat of rain was there in the morning but it never came and so we had a dry day here, in contrast to yesterdays 12 hours of rain. Some of the trees are beginning to show their Autumn colours already which is probably due to the really exceptional heat we had last week but otherwise we’re not really suffering from the official ‘drought’ in any visible way.

I’m pretty annoyed about the press coverage of our ‘drought’ here in Pembrokeshire. Llys Y Fran reservoir was pictured on TV this morning proving that the water levels are indeed low, but claims that we haven’t had any rain since mid July are simply not true. We’ve had measurable, if not substantial, rain on at least four days in August, including yesterday when it rained all day. We’ve had hot and sunny conditions for a total of about 14 days this summer but otherwise the weather has been pretty average. The reservoir in question is fed from the Preseli Hills which may not have enjoyed their usual copious rainfall this year but it’s not been completely dry by any means. The issue for me is one of insufficient collection, inadequate storage and ageing pipes through which a lot of water is lost to leaks. That there is a need for some longer periods of rain is obvious, but that’s called ‘Autumn’ and ‘Winter’ around here and it happens every year. In the meantime the water company needs to have long term plans in place to improve their infrastructure if they are going to overcome the challenges of climate change.

Dry, cloudy and humid yesterday. No rain. This morning it’s much fresher, still dry and cloudy with a northerly breeze. No rain around here on the radar but showers could pop up later according to the MetO.

Hot. It’s very hot. Roof repairs starting today and the poor scaffolders have to work out in the blazing sun. They don’t complain about it either. I couldn’t do what they do in these conditions. The temperatures next week might be as much as 10C cooler so the roofing contractor will have better conditions to work in but for once I’m hoping we don’t get any thunderstorms next week. What I need now, selfishly, is another two weeks of dry weather…..

MetOffice amber 'extreme heat' weather warning issued for some parts Wales for the next three days. Wales weather WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK The latest Wales weather forecast. See the 5-day regional forecast and a long range national forecast up to 28 days.

A calm and misty August morning in Pembrokeshire…. I cherish these beautiful days.

On days like this with hot sunshine, wall to wall blue sky and only a light breeze to ruffle the leaves on the trees, it’s very hard to imagine the very different weather that winter can bring. Violent storms, days and days of torrential rain and temperatures only in single figures for weeks on end seem impossible when the weather is so fine and settled. What a varied climate we do enjoy here - well, I say enjoy now, but not always…! If only our summers could become permanently more settled and warm like this it would make up for our very wet and windy winters but I must be careful what I wish for….and grateful I don’t live in the desert which is south east England!

Wet indeed. All night and again this morning. I must say I find it difficult to believe the reports that Pembrokeshire is short of water. What do they do with it all? If the collectors and buckets in my garden are anything to go by we’re having no problem with the overall amount of rain. I think the water company needs to plan for more collection and storage - and maybe fewer leaks……. Definitely got blackberries ripe for picking here, too!