Scotland/Alba Weather Discussion 2019

[Hairy Celt]

2 hours ago, CatchMyDrift said:

There's a huge shower just to my north at the moment, only a few drops of rain here so far:

@Hairy Celt please tell my grass to stop growing. It hasn't been that much wetter this year but the growth especially in the back garden is incredible:

 

At least yours looks like grass - my lawn is mostly moss. Not that I'm bothered these days, no boys to play footie with any more. Nice picture of the blackbird (is it?)….  We've had clouds like your most of the day but no ACTUAL RAIN yet. Cue downpour as me and Ms HC head down to the lighthouse.

(Ok, dog owners - why does the onset of tourists coincide with scatterings of dog shits?)

Edited May 20, 2019 by Hairy Celt

[Northernlights]

 Steady rain here tonight which in a way is great but has stopped any thoughts of sowing turnips for a day or two.Currently 9c.

[Quinach]

Quite a mild day with max of 16c accompanied by light winds.

Very wet though with moderate rain off and on all day, not complaining though as the garden was needing a good few days of rain.

[NUT]

Funny over the last couple of days albeit not brilliant blue skies has been relatively dry now as it's getting dark tonight..............we've got a shower

[101_North]

Dark sky here now with some rumbles of thunder and a heavy shower.

Edit: Absolutely torrential rain and hail here now!

Edited May 21, 2019 by 101_North

[NUT]

The showers have turned heavier as they have moved east but here it's just about stayed dry and more or less been sunny all day (apart from a tiny 5 minute sprinkle)

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

19 minutes ago, 101_North said:

Dark sky here now with some rumbles of thunder and a heavy shower.

Edit: Absolutely torrential rain and hail here now!

Had a torrential shower here a few hours ago with a rumble of thunder and can see the cb's / showers over your way 

[ciel]

3 minutes ago, Kirkcaldy Weather said:

Had a torrential shower here a few hours ago with a rumble of thunder and can see the cb's / showers over your way 

Had a wee 10min  storm here around an hour ago - torrential rain, hail and a couple of flashes and crashes.

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

[101_North]

Cracking sky out the back at the minute!

[mardatha]

Short heavy hail shower and rumbles of thunder in the distance, all cleared up in a few minutes.

[snowidea]

Today's life lesson, never wear flip flops in Scotland, not even in May. Cowered in the car in Tesco for 20 mins avoiding the hailstones. 

[Hairy Celt]

Just varying sorts of dull wetness for me in Moray and Aberdeenshire. Not really cold though so barely raising complaints among the locals. And a nice sunny evening before the skies are promised to open again tomorrow.

[Northernlights]

Well in this neck of the woods we can certainly say that we have lost our benign climate in the UK having gone from raging moorland fires and extreme dry to saturated ground in under four days .Its currently  6c too with heavy rain and a north wind .

[Northernlights]

Seems we are about 70% down on numbers of swallows sand martins and swifts round the farm buildings this year so it will be a pretty quiet summer. Normally can"t  put car in old garage at this time of year as it gets into a big mess very quickly but of around 12 nests on the rafters only 2 are occupied this year.Had a very good breeding season last year.

Reading reports that a lot of these birds are being shot and netted on their  way through Africa for the Chinese market or is it  climate change that is impacting them.

Other native birds are still emptying the feeder every day.Too cold for much insect life today.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Northernlights

[4wd]

They are about 50% down here, in fact probably just two pairs.
It seems hard to believe that any method of catching them could have caused such a big drop more or less in one year.
Best not to jump to hasty conclusions, however they do funnel through preferred routes such as the Nile valley so are vulnerable.
Usually by our second cut in August there are dozens swooping round cows and tractors looking for disturbed insects.
There's a barn owl in one of the old cowsheds they usually nest in, I think they won't dare go in there this time as it would eat the chicks for sure
 

[Hairy Celt]

Minging day by New Deer today, home now and it's dry but hasn't been above 12C all day. The garden's looking good though. Spoke to my sister earlier in Cumbria and they're still enjoying summer, and we got a day visitor from Edinburgh who came up in a bikini and suncream - well, not quite but that was the gist of it. The stove's on this evening, first time in 2 weeks.

Certainly I'm not seeing as many house martins or swallows the last couple of days but they do tend to go into hiding at this time if the weather's poor, and then re-appear when it warms up. So I reserve judgement on that one for a few days.  Swifts are uncommon here, we only ever see them passing through.  Also we were by Ness Islands in Inverness a few days ago and there were swarms of martins and swallows there - that was a warm evening, Saturday I think.

Have to say the outlook for the weather is poor. Pfft.

[Northernlights]

 A bit of a weather related story .We have a very large  black tom cat  called Senior Mick who about 6 weeks ago went on one of his regular walkabouts disappearing without trace. These happen mostly in long spells of dry weather and end when the weather becomes wet so this morning about 5.00am   I was  woken by this yowling cat. The wanderer has returned absolutely saturated and really starving although he is still in good condition .Right now he is loudly purring at the feed bowl.  I think this does not augur well for the weather in the near future

Very wet again this morning and currently 9c

 

[mardatha]

I'd take the cat model over the Met Office any time !

[Big Innes Madori]

15 hours ago, Hairy Celt said:

Minging day by New Deer today, home now and it's dry but hasn't been above 12C all day. The garden's looking good though. Spoke to my sister earlier in Cumbria and they're still enjoying summer, and we got a day visitor from Edinburgh who came up in a bikini and suncream - well, not quite but that was the gist of it. The stove's on this evening, first time in 2 weeks.

Certainly I'm not seeing as many house martins or swallows the last couple of days but they do tend to go into hiding at this time if the weather's poor, and then re-appear when it warms up. So I reserve judgement on that one for a few days.  Swifts are uncommon here, we only ever see them passing through.  Also we were by Ness Islands in Inverness a few days ago and there were swarms of martins and swallows there - that was a warm evening, Saturday I think.

Have to say the outlook for the weather is poor. Pfft.

Aye HC, it looks like we have descended in to the auld boak enducing North / South divide!

This week they have been enjoying 21-24 Deg C doon the Sooth East and it's taken for granted and no headline news, unless it's the High 20's tae Mid 30's Deg c!!!     

Big Vomiting Innes

[ciel]

On 22/05/2019 at 08:54, Northernlights said:

Other native birds are still emptying the feeder every day.

A typical late spring day here; temps around 13C, breezy, occasionally threatening rain. 

A couple of usually less frequent visitors to the feeders, but now regulars.

.

 

 

[Norrance]

The sun came through at times here from late morning raising the temp to 17.2C. Feeling warm but now clouded over again.

My bird feeders are also emptying quicker than even during last Winter. Only the peanut feeder which take longer to eat still has food left by the afternoon. Sparrows and tits are very active, presumably feeding young. Unusually I have not seen any swallows or martins locally at all this Spring.

[mardatha]

We've got a couple of pairs of swallows that's all.

NL the husband wants me to ask you - is it true that cows lie down when it's going to rain?

Edited May 23, 2019 by mardatha

[Ravelin]

A couple of pretty dismal days, especially yesterday as it defied the forecast to rain heavily most of the day. On a positive I'm not going to need to water the garden for a while, which partially makes up for getting soaked and cold as I was out in the rain for several hours. Today was at least mainly dry, but 100% cloud cover. 

At this point I'd happily take a sunny mid teens..... Please! 

[mardatha]

Was lovely here. Well, still is.