Hairy Celt

We went for a short potter around Cromarty this afternoon so I took a few photos, some are slightly weather-related... There were a few large trees that had obviously been broken in last week's wind. This beech had been snapped off and then taken its neighbour (not in photo) with it. It didn't look diseased, it just happened to be in the wrong place. There was an ash nearby, similarly snapped well above the ground, and a few big conifers that had gone over with root plates now vertical. I've not heard of any extensive damage to forestry, it's all single trees (or 2 or 3 together) that were broken... A view over to Nigg with snow clouds beyond. We could see snow showers to the north and north-west all afternoon but no more reached the Black Isle. Snowdrops... catching the late afternoon sun. Swathes of them above the town. One of the Cromarty sweet chestnuts that are reputed to be around 300 years old. Crazy gnarly old beasts - fortunately none were broken last week, but they're not getting any younger. -4C out now and plenty of this morning's snow shower is still here, just burnt off in sunny parts. We used to have a big black cat who liked nothing better than to go out and kick and chase snow around. RIP.

We've just had a pretty heavy 20 minute shower of big fluffy flakes so everything is white - but the temp has crept above freezing already and it's all starting to lose its fluffiness...

scatter cushion. wibbleing chair lemon. My slidey blob is being interfered with by Ben Wyvis. Just bloody typical.

At teatime we had an almost straight northerly and I thought smugly, aha, here we go. 3 hours later and it's a westerly. Wtf happened there? Although there's a purple blob that seems to be sliding this way so YA NEVER KNOW!!!!

johncam Heck, we're only in the 1st week of February. Ye of little faith! We've had a couple of light and brief graupel showers since dark. A sprinkling, not even a dusting.

Current shower is thick splatty sleet. 2.5C and dropping. With a fair bit of snow mixed in as the shower fades away...

Cold, sunny, dry and very breezy here this morning and no rain in the forecast so all good. A much better outlook than recent deluges and murk. The only light on this morning is the lamp over my desk, the snowdrops are in full bloom here and a few winter aconites just up the road. I must get the oily wash on the fruit trees asap too, there hasn't been enough dry weather so far this winter. Crikey. I really spoke to soon - there's a really lively shower coming through just now...

FWIW, the radar is showing the ppn turning slowly more wintry in Caithness and Sutherland. @Halfamilefromnowhere will be along shortly to confirm (if he hasn't been washed away).

Blub blub if only blub blub all this rain blub blub was snow blub blub we'd be buried blub blub but it's not blub blub where's me blub blub boat??? Blub blub t'other side blub blub of the moat!!

The rain eased of to patchy drizzle with the odd heavier burst for the afternoon but started up again HD style at about 5. Currently moderate to heavy. Must be bad further west. Current forecast gives us another 20 hours of this.

Yeah but it only shows boring weather for me Shouldn't laugh really

XC rarely shows snow for here, even when it's actually snowing, so I'm always baffled by the competitive XC watch you guys indulge in. I also have to be careful when I open it as there's a strip across the bottom that shows my recent ebay views

Really wet out already and the forecast for the next 30 hours or so looks horrendous for the northern half of the country. Kayak at the ready. My drum's worn out but I'll keep beating it - if this rain was forecast for south England, there'd be more than a yellow warning.

<scratches head> Where's the Met Office based, again?

The wind has been picking up through the morning and we're now getting some really abrupt westerly gusts that make walking up the street a challenge at times. The firth is pretty wild too.

Highlighting text you want to quote (left click over relevant bit) then clicking on the tiny little box that pops up saying 'quote selection' works in the old way. It wasn't broke so why's it been fixed? Jeez, some folk have to fiddle with stuff don't they? It started raining mid-morning and doesn't look like it's going to ease up any time soon.

Yes!

We're just back from Inverness (PSB @ Eden Court which was fun) and got thoroughly splattered by wet sleet on the way home. Now 4C at home and a clear sky, still a fair breeze but nothing like earlier. This morning was horrendous, just short of causing serious damage in a few places.

Ross90 Different worlds!!! Apologies. I still haven't figured out how to do a proper quote.

Quinach We just caught the end of the line I think - 5 mins of torrential rain, with the street like a river briefly.

Strongest winds of the winter so far. The trees are roaring and the firth is a sea of foam on long waves - and this is just from the short fetch from Inverness. Somehow I doubt Snakey will make it over the hills...

Nasty blustery wind this morning with the rain just starting. Could be an indoors day!

How do I revert to the old way of quoting someone's post?

That squall line tomorrow could be quite exciting...

-1.5C this morning, plenty of hoar frost. The forecast suggests this may be the last frost for quite a while!