The Great Meteorological Thread

Mornin' all from a bright and sunny Folkestone. :D (Although high cloud is filling in more of the sky as I type).

It might be worth me mentioning that there is a risk of thunderstorms for Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire tonight - between 12 am midnight and 9 am tomorrow morning then the risk fades away later on in the morning.
I might set the alarm to wake myself up in the early hours if I want to bag my first lightning shot of the season.
 
Hope you bag a nice one Ian :thumbs:

As I am quite found of saying "Simpson skies" today, light breeze and a balmy 15oC
 
Cobra said:
Hope you bag a nice one Ian :thumbs:

As I am quite found of saying "Simpson skies" today, light breeze and a balmy 15oC
Click to expand...

I hope so! Although I think it'll all be happenng to the west of me with Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire are areas most at risk of torrential downpours and perhaps local lightning (warning valid between 12 am tonight and 9 am tomorrow morning).
Actually, there is a lot of disturbance over France and some of it are heading my way - especially since it's come over grey and damp here at Folkestone. A bit of a come-down after having spent all day in the sunshine and now I've actually got my first sunburn of the season!

And now, a Ladybird's Book Guide to our Weather -The Battle of the Cold Winter Air still hanging over the UK Versus the Warm Continental Air trying to muscle it's way in.

Thecoldandwarmairbattle.jpg
 
LOL Great cartoon (as always) Ian :thumbs:
The sun is still shining but its getting cloudier as the sun starts to decend..
 
Mornin' all you awakenin' souls from a slowly brightening up Folkestone.

Seems there are two types of people about this morning. Those who are tired after having been kept up by heavy rain and thunder all last night - and those who fell asleep from being bored of waiting for anything to happen.

Guess which type I am? Yep, after having been on lightning watch last night, I saw sod all. Still, at least the lawn is appreciating the 5.1 mm of rain that had fallen in the early hours.

Anyway, all this talk of rain and flooding had reminded me of a cartoon I did back in 2000, apparently that year had a very wet Summer.

farmer.jpg
 
Last edited:
Perfect weather for my new turf :thumbs:



But if the rain stopped before it washed all the turf away I'd be happy :D
 
This time last year I saw my lawn turn into the colour of straw! Now it's a lovely shade of green - how it should be. :D

Well, I enjoyed the ten minutes of warm sunshine earlier on this morning, but then suddenly low stratus and mist had rolled in from the sea and it's gone all cold and clammy. Yuk. Even the hills to the north of the town are "lopped" off by low cloud base. :gag:
Perhaps the afternoon sun will try and burn away this muck. :)
 
I just wanted to say that's the third time in four days I've had the barbie out! another beautiful sunny day.
 
Steep said:
I just wanted to say that's the third time in four days I've had the barbie out! another beautiful sunny day.
Click to expand...

Indeed, it's the northern half of Scotland that has been doing well in terms of sunny weather in the past couple of weeks. I even put a "14" temperature there on my forecast map today! :D
That's because it is under a ridge of high pressure nosing in from the Atlantic, while that very feature is keeping it settled and clear over Scotland, it is also causing low pressure systems to be pushed further south than usual and keeping it there. It as if it is like a giant role reversal thing (usually high pressure over Europe keeps the South of the UK dry and warm and low pressure system crossing over Scotland makes it unsettled there).
But at the same time, warm air is trying so hard to push back in from the south - so when the two air masses (the cold dry air over the North and the warm and humid air over Eastern Europe) meet up, England happens to be right in the "cross fire" with the heavy rain and strong winds.
Now, if it is mid-winter right now, we'd be dealing with a 1947 or 1963 style set up!

Actually, this Meto Fax Output produced today explains the situation quite clearly. Note the "H" for High (usually produces settled and dry weather) over Scotland and the "L" for Low (where cloud and rain spiral anti-clockwise around towards a centre point) hanging close to the South West of England (where the "Azores High" should normally be!). A very weak high pressure over the South East of England is what gave me that bit of afternoon sunshine here at Kent:

bracka.jpg


Below - produced on one June Day last year is actually the "default" mode. High pressure to the South and Low pressure to the north.

isobar.jpg


Actually, it had turned out quite sunny in the afternoon over my neck of the woods today, although it did get overcast with low stratus and mist rolling in from the sea for a time.
 
Last edited:
I headed in an Easterly direction today and it didn't stop bloody raining all the way there
and most of the way back. :(

Both the little Ouse and the Great Ouse are occupying a lot more space than I have seen them do in years, around here, too.

So anyone know when this drought is supposed to be over :shrug:
 
Cobra said:
I headed in an Easterly direction today and it didn't stop bloody raining all the way there
and most of the way back. :(

Both the little Ouse and the Great Ouse are occupying a lot more space than I have seen them do in years, around here, too.

So anyone know when this drought is supposed to be over :shrug:
Click to expand...

Hi Chris! It sounds like you was under that frontal feature which ran along the middle part of the UK.
Not sure whether the drought is over now, hehe. But at least it is preventing it from getting worse. Certainly making up for it after the two years of well-below average rainfall.
 
Last edited:
Ian D J said:
Hi Chris! It sounds like you was under that frontal feature which ran along the middle part of the UK.
.
Click to expand...

I wasn't necessarily under it Ian, the bloody thing just seems to follow me around these days :D

Forgot to say,cracking cartoon as always :thumbs:
 
Cobra said:
I wasn't necessarily under it Ian, the bloody thing just seems to follow me around these days :D

Forgot to say,cracking cartoon as always :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Something like this? :suspect:

stormcloud.jpg


Glad you like my cartoons. :D
 
Evenin' all. Yuk, today was a real "tupperware" type day. As in it felt like I was stuck inside a giant white plastic box where the sky remained a pale featureless grey all day and it became rather damp in the afternoon.
Hope this doesn't become too much of a habit!
 

Hi Ian :wave:
Pretty much the same in Hampshire today, featureless sky, but mild.
But as for good old MK is concerned, its been raining steadily for about 2.5 hours, and is still precipitating.
(BTW If that's not the right word it should be :D)
 
Pale featureless grey is our normal fare up here and I think it's back to that tomorrow.
 
Afternoon all. I'll get straight to the point. It's crap here at Folkestone. Low cloud, mist and drizzle. And it's only juuuuuuuuust snucked into double figures at 10.0 C.
I hate this easterly type set up at this time of the year. :gag: :D
 
Kent here also.
Not raining now, however the light is so bad it's like it hasn't reached full daylight at all today :(
 
Tell you something though, when we do eventually get to have our first hot spell of the season (and it will happen at some point in the Summer - just not this month), it's going to come as such a shock to the system we just simply wouldn't know what to do with it!
 
:lol: /\

Well I guess you could say that it rained a "tad" in Hapshire again today,
MK apears to have been largly dry.

As above the bloody rain seems to follow me :D
 
Mornin' all you well-awake souls from a cloudy and wet Folkestone. 7.7 C and 96% humidity.

<--- Looks at calendar. Yep, it is May and not February.

There are hints of a blink-and-you'd-miss-it warm up over Southern England on Friday. Might touch 70 F for the first time this year but that'll only set off thunderstorms as cold air try and come back in from the north in time for the . . . yep, surprise, surprise . . . weekend.
 
Yep Bank holiday week-end, I've already polished the wellies (out at a "do" tomorrow)
For now though, broken cloud and barely touching 8oC.

And of course congrats Ian, for keeping this thread going or almost a full year :thumbs:

(Ive not quite managed that with any of my spam threads :D
(not that I am saying this is spam of course :thumbs:) )
 
Damp and cold start on my way back from work at 07:30. Got up at 15:00, dry, bright and sunny. Outside (shaded) thermometer says it's just +5 °C, though. Dropping to +1 or touching 0 tonight? However, it's a full 'supermoon' and hopefully a clear sky, so it might not be all bad :)
I've 6 days off starting 14th, I hope it picks up by then.
 
michael23 said:
A minimum temperature of -2 last night, though no frost to show it this morning. Actually had a burst of sunshine this morning and still got some blue skies.
Click to expand...

Afternoon Michael and everyone else reading this.

After what it has been a damp and dreary morning, the sun finally came out to play at around mid-day and is now turning out to be quite a pleasant bright afternoon as I type - a shame that there is still that nip in the air, though.
After four days of being cooped up indoors on account of how dull and wet it has been, I just had to go on a pre-roast dinner bike ride. Naturally the camera tagged along with me and got this photo, taken at a local churchyard at 1.45 pm today.

May121.jpg
 
Well its been a full (and interesting) year since this thread started, bemoaning the fact that
some of you (Ian :p) were under drought conditions.
Yes we in the Anglia Water region are still under drought conditions,with a hose pipe ban.

Its been the wettest April since records began, and the hose pipe ban / drought warning continues.

BTW its Hissing down out there yet again :D
 
Well its now 10oC out there and the skies are darkening (even more) and I
am listening to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance....
Scratch that its geting closer :D
 

Hi Ian :wave:
That's only a few miles west of me as the crow flies.
We must have been on the periphery as the "storm amounted to "not a lot"
A few heavy thunder spots and the associated wind,
but that's it.
 
Afternoon all from a bright, mild and dry Folkestone. Actually, it's like being inside a giant lightbox at the moment!
It's generally quite cloudy but still very bright at the same time. Ideal for those into action sports and outdoor location photography where the light is strong enough to get very high shutter speeds but without the harsh contrasting sunlight/shadows.
 
Cold, grey and gloomy - with rain off and on - so absolutely normal. Kids (brats) mail me with Joburg autumn weather updates - blue skies, sunny and temperatures in the high 20s - so it's getting me down more than usual! SA is beckoning very strongly, spring starts in September............
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top