Scotland/Alba Regional Weather Discussion 16/03/2018 Onwards

[101_North]

Coldest night of Autumn so far. Currently -4c. Heavy frost and blue sky. As usual airport is colder at -7c. Pretty impressive lows for October!

Edited October 29, 2018 by 101_North

[Northernlights]

15 minutes ago, 101_North said:

Coldest night of Autumn so far. Overnight low of around -4c and currently -3c. Heavy frost and blue sky. Beautiful.

Same here and first ice on puddles. Newly dug ground in garden frozen too.

[Gogoslo]

Showery morning in Balmedie.  Seem to have missed the real cold as 6 degrees here.  

[Polar Gael]

On 27/10/2018 at 17:22, More Snow said:

Just out of interest does anybody know of a good pub to go to for food with kids for when we move back up to Crieff in 5 weeks??

The Tower is a good gastropub. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Polar Gael

[Polar Gael]

-5.8C overnight here - and a snaw flurry as well. Currently, -3.0C. Aaaaaand we're aff! 

[ciel]

The hill-tops had a fresh top-up of snow overnight, but this is disappearing as I type as is the earlier skim of ice on the car windscreens.

A quick scan overhead and of the radar would indicate that a rain/sleet shower is imminent. Cold, damp, temp 2C currently and generally nae nice outside.

It’s usually at this time of year I start feeding the birds, the berries have gone except a few in the Yew tree, but unfortunately some rats appear to have taken up residence in the barn/garden. Two have been trapped recently (one was enormous!) and although I have not actually seen any since then, I suspect there may be at least one more hanging around.

 

[Scottish-Irish Skier]

Heavy frost here overnight and it's still thick in the shade. Middle of the day and only 1.7 C in the sheltered back garden.

[Norrance]

Had a brief heavy shower which had something wintry in it.  It sure what though? Sun back out now and temp jumped up to 6C. Low this morning of -1.0C.

[mardatha]

Ciel we had rats for a time as well. Girl next door was overfeeding the birds like hell - huge loads of pasta and bread scattered all over her garden every morning before she went to work.  The whole terrace  of 4 cottages had rats - one poor man came face to face close up with one that popped up out of his bin  under the sink! So we clubbed together and got a Rat Man in

[Northernlights]

Snow showers on the horizon coming in across the Cairngorms from the SE.    Last time I saw this was when the Beast from the East struck at the end of February this year. The button was certainly pressed for winter last Friday as its currently 4c with a moderate SE wind

[ciel]

12 minutes ago, mardatha said:

Ciel we had rats for a time as well. Girl next door was overfeeding the birds like hell - huge loads of pasta and bread scattered all over her garden every morning before she went to work.  The whole terrace  of 4 cottages had rats - one poor man came face to face close up with one that popped up out of his bin  under the sink! So we clubbed together and got a Rat Man in

Hoping that I don't have a full-scale invasion! but certainly no bird seeds will be put out meantime. Doggie has flushed out two, and she is always desperate to get into the barn these days, but being a spaniel she is pretty useless a catching them, plus I would hate her to get bitten by one.

[Polar Maritime]

28 minutes ago, ciel said:

Hoping that I don't have a full-scale invasion! but certainly no bird seeds will be put out meantime. Doggie has flushed out two, and she is always desperate to get into the barn these days, but being a spaniel she is pretty useless a catching them, plus I would hate her to get bitten by one.

I have found the live rat trap cages work very well in the past as I didn't want to poison them due to having dogs (Boarder Terriers). The only problem being is there is no humane way of killing them once trapped.. But certainly better than the agony they must go through being poisoned.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Polar Maritime

[ciel]

16 minutes ago, Polar Maritime said:

I have found the live rat trap cages work very well in the past as I didn't want to poison them due to having dogs (Boarder Terriers). The only problem being is there is no humane way of killing them once trapped.. But certainly better than the agony they must go through being poisoned.

The trap I use, I'm afraid, is one rather like a large mousetrap. I would not consider using poison either.  

For mice, live traps are used when necessary and the trappees are released up Glen Esk or thereabouts - I believe house mice are quite adaptable to different environments??

[Northernlights]

1 hour ago, Northernlights said:

Snow showers on the horizon coming in across the Cairngorms from the SE.    Last time I saw this was when the Beast from the East struck at the end of February this year. The button was certainly pressed for winter last Friday as its currently 4c with a moderate SE wind

Like Scottish Skier frost lay in shade all day .Did a bit of late afternon  digging in garden and freshly turned soil is skinning up with the frost as it is now 1c and grass sparkling. This is what I call winter even if it  is still only October!!!!

[Benvironment]

As we're up on the hill we didn't go subzero here, bottoming out at a respectable 0.1C....but that's still the coldest October day since 26th October 2012 when it was -0.9C. 

[Hairy Celt]

8 hours ago, ciel said:

The hill-tops had a fresh top-up of snow overnight, but this is disappearing as I type as is the earlier skim of ice on the car windscreens.

A quick scan overhead and of the radar would indicate that a rain/sleet shower is imminent. Cold, damp, temp 2C currently and generally nae nice outside.

It’s usually at this time of year I start feeding the birds, the berries have gone except a few in the Yew tree, but unfortunately some rats appear to have taken up residence in the barn/garden. Two have been trapped recently (one was enormous!) and although I have not actually seen any since then, I suspect there may be at least one more hanging around.

 

Oh nice, everyone loves a pet rat in autumn!  I had one in my work accommodation near Wick (now permanently vacated). The owner feigned horror when I reported the clattering and banging in the roofspace.

Anyhoo, I'm home on the sunny Black Isle now for a few days so I can report... sunshine! It was a bit chilly out but a nice day to be in the garden on and off, and trying to unravel the mayhem of different wheels, tyres, bolts, spacers etc for the changeover. 

[edo]

9 hours ago, Polar Gael said:

The Tower is a good gastropub. 

@More Snowis moving within 25 miles of me...... a great first sign of snowy weather this winter 

[Hawesy]

Showery rain on and off this evening, currently 4c. Roads were bad locally this morning as overnight showers washed off the grit and black ice formed. There were several accidents between Cupar and St Andrews.

[Ravelin]

Scraped a good layer of frozen slush off the windscreen thus morning, then proceeded up the toad and over the hill, which had a thin layer of lying snow for the top 100m or so. 0c at the top at 7:30am. 

1C and heavy sleet on and off on the commute home. 

I'd rather it doesn't get any worse for the moment as my alternate, lower, route is closed for roadworks. That's a longer route to start with, the diversion will be massively worse. 

[Northernlights]

Very cold this morning at -5c.      Coldest October morning for quite a few years.      Its had a real sting in it this cold spell.

[Hawesy]

Much milder here this morning with showers and a fresh easterly wind off the sea. 8c.

[101_North]

Most amusing automated Met Office update on my phone this morning! Sadly I jumped out of bed in anticipation:

Unsurprisingly it wasn't snowing!!

Still a bit of frost but considerably milder than yesterday morning.

[Hairy Celt]

1 hour ago, Hawesy said:

Much milder here this morning with showers and a fresh easterly wind off the sea. 8c.

Still no wind here and still at 0C this morning. Blue sky.

[mistyqueen]

Temp now up to 3.8c from 0.6c just after 8am. Lovely clear skies, so I reckon it will be outdoor stuff today!

[shuggee]

A good 5mm of glaze ice all over the car this morning - heavy freezing rain at -2C. Bugger to get off!