Northernlights

Lazy wind here too absolutely freezing with a strong wind earlier plus sleet showers at 5c.

My favourite type of weather at this time of year Arctic skies with vibrant colours and snow capped hills Photos from a drive up the A9 and minor roads this morning. Temperature from 3 to 7 c

Managed to finish sowing this morning before an afternoon of strong winds and heavy rain and hail showers. Hope the promised high appears this week as it is just like a midwinters evening here with a northerly wind howling down the chimney . Currently 8c after an afternoon of mostly 6c due to all the hail showers.

Fine day for sowing wind and sun earlier. Some showers late afternoon.Into last field 30 minutes ago and heavy rain came on. So stopped again.

Some sharp showers this afternoon with hail took the temperature down to 5c by early evening Wintry sunset with clear arctic air and snowy looking shower clouds over the hills. Sower rained off at 6.00pm but windy and dry again so hopefully get going in the morning.

Sowing today finally About rwo weeks later than usual.

Very gusty wind bright and mild at 12c.

SW Saltire SW Saltire Never seen it like this before but surface conditions very deceptive plenty of tales today of machines sinking suddenly inapparently dry looking fields and then having to leave large areas to dry out more before attempting sowing again .My own contractor was nagging me to go today but patience is needed. Must be down to excessive rainfall totals from last October till now. Sower arrived this evening ready for early start tomorrow as no one else would go today with high water tables being blamed in lower Moray just above sea level Thankfully we are on a hill and the water flows away from us.

Fine drying day again very windy and 16c maximum ground surface looking very dry. Tractors going into fields however finding soft wet spots especially in low lying areas with high water tables near the sea and rivers. Farming community under a lot of stress with the worst for anyone lambing or calving outside in the last few weeks Just odd fields being sown round about today mainly sandy south facing ones on gentle slopes.

Another dull damp day. Climate extremes are very real to farmers. Watching my estate today carting tonnes of soil back up a tattie field from last year which was washed down some bad gully erosion channels into the big ditch at the bottom . Breaking up tattie fields just after harvest may be made compulsory in terms of cross compliance if the head of SEPA gets his way .I have to say I agree with him. In the interests of balance found this very interesting from The Independant especially when we are being asked to do carbon audits and a lot of the time we are found to be recycling carbon and not creating more as farmers. How airlines greenwash the skies WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK Fancy a quick flight to Barcelona, but worried about your carbon footprint? No problem. Despite aviation being responsible for between two and three per cent of all carbon emissions, many airlines are claiming that...

"The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow". Pure winter afternoon with strong NW wind dull and 6c. Finished ploughing neep ground yesterday so all ready for spring barley sowing. Spring is going to a difficult one but at least in north of Scotland we have long days in May and June when plants can catch up on growth at least one benefit of being so far north . In Scandinavia they have spring barley varieties that go from sowing to harvest in 100 days with their long midsummer days.

Back to square one ground saturated this morning.

Another very windy morning three days now. Ground drying up well currently 12c

Quinach Exactly the same here dust starting to blow on tracks. Hoping to have a go sowing tomorrow if this keeps up.

A wall of warm air hit you when opened the door this morning after more overnight rain at 14c

Wet snow falling early this morning at 2c not settling but inland on moor road a few inches at 0c according to car. Saw one car off road bu.mried in bushes with lights still on.

Wet snow here too but not settling at 1.5c another depressing day .

Halfamilefromnowhere Totally agree coldest day of the winter. Strong NE wind and moderate rain all day with a maximum temperature of 5c. Currently 3c with sleet falling. . A chance we could be white in the morning.

Ravelin No Its always been cold in the spring up here but perhaps what is slightly different is the wetness. Usually Arctic outbreaks at this time of year have dryer air with dry snow and grauple falling in temperatures up to 6c. The wetness may be a reflection of a warming world. A few reasons why springs are cold up here sea temperatures at their lowest, frequency of of N and E winds at their highest, proximity of the Arctic with lots of winter cold to dissipate not so modified by warm seas. Went on an Agri College trip to Tomintoul to big sheep farm from Aberdeen in May 1975 where a few days before they were blocked in by 6 foot drifts . Easter 1968 April was very snowy for two weeks and a field that was only sown round the outside before the snow came emerged under the snow blanket . Looked fine and green when snow melted.Can be up to a 70F degree difference between the bottom and top of a snow blanket. Twas always thus in the spring up here. Our average cattle turnout date is 20th April and I would hope by then we will have seen some better weather.

Absolutely dire day with continuous light to moderate rain at 6c Positive note for the day the Houdini wintering sheep are off home to Skye .Won"t miss their company as there was a bunch that did not seem to like ours and we were forever rounding them up this last month. Their fence and dyke climbing skills were superb. Meanwhile spring sowing is being pushed further and further back. A lot of unhappy farmers out there.

Cool day with maximum of 7c after a start of 4c.Dull misty with drizzle, A real contrast to yesterdays sunshine and maximum of 15c. Getting frustrated by ground getting wet every day and nothing sown.

Quinah Caught the family out with this this morning . Idea came from cross compliance as there are all sorts of weird and wonderful things that we have to do in order to claim subsidies in the future.

On the subject of wet weather and potholes. Cross compliance rules are about to changed for subsidy payments for farmers. Each farmer will be allocated depending on the size of farm a number of potholes on local country roads to be filled in over the summer before autumn payments as councils no longer have the resources. Materials will be supplied by councils.

A side effect if this long very wet spell is the price of straw is rocketing About a third of winter wheat crops have been drowned or never sown and if spring sowing is delayed till end of April yields of grain and straw will be reduced dramatically.

Everything saturated again this evening really getting serious now even fencer tracking an older grass field today. Buds on horse chestnut which were bursting just over a week ago have turned yellow in the last few days. Nature is beginning to suffer. Currently 6c