The weather - General Thread

[Jerry]

Hurricane Leslie is making its way towards Portugal this evening. They're expecting some damaging winds to affect the western side of the country.

Will that include Faro do you know? As my sister has been on holiday there and is flying back to Cardiff tomorrow night.

 

[Aviador]

Will that include Faro do you know? As my sister has been on holiday there and is flying back to Cardiff tomorrow night.

From what I could make out the worst was just to the North of Lisbon. Have you managed to contact your sister?

 

[Jerry]

From what I could make out the worst was just to the North of Lisbon. Have you managed to contact your sister?

She says it's a bit windy but it doesnt seem to be stopping planes landing and taking off.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Storm Ciara

Set to hit this weekend (8 - 9 Feb). Met Office forcasting winds of up to 80mph along with plummeting temperatures and heavy snow fall for northern England and Scotland.

Kevin

 

[Aviador]

You don't get these very often in the UK, a full blown Tornado warning earlier today to the North Leeds moving quickly East.

View attachment 16009

As if the weather wasn't bad enough!

 

[Kevin Farnell]

You don't get these very often in the UK, a full blown Tornado warning earlier today to the North Leeds moving quickly East.

You might be surprised, Aviador!
Following the Birmingham Tornado of 2005, there was a documentary which stated that the UK has the second highest number of Tornadoes globally. The only nation with a higher number is The Netherlands.

Another source states that England has the most Tornadoes, with 2.2 per 10000 Sq KM. That may seem like a huge area but equates to a box of just 100 x 100 KM.

Admittedly they are not on the scale of those in the USA's Tornado Alley, but they can be fierce enough to be a danger to life.

Birmingham Tornado 2005 Aftermath

I was in Kings Heath just a few days later and saw the destruction for myself.

I also remember as a teenager, we were holidaying in Devon and Cornwall. Sitting outside our caravan on a lovely summers day, I saw a swirling current of air picking up dust, leaves twigs etc and lifting them 20 -30 feet onto the air. My Sister was also sitting outside, wearing a matching top and headscarf that my Mom had made for her (this was the late '70's!). The whirlwind passed over her, lifting her headscarf and carrying it across several fields.

I've also witnessed a waterspout, whilst sitting on a beach in southern England.

So as we have witnessed this weekend, England's green and pleasant lands are not quite as benign as we may like to think.

Regards

Kevin

 

[Aviador]

Just spotted this tornado or waterspout heading down the English Channel View attachment 16992

 

[thunderchild]

I do love a good thunderstorm!

 

[JENNYJET]

Last night turned into a non event here despite the forecast and the way the wind got up, time slipping away for this year's thunderstorm season!

 

[mullion]

Very strange up here also in Stockport as with you wind got up lightning seemed to be a long way off then took do for last walk and as I got back
lightning seemed to have passed over only to have 4 flashes very close and the last but one I thought had taken the roof off as it lit the whole area up
with poeple down road running shouting and screaming followed by 10 minutes of medium rain and it was gone

 

[Kevin Farnell]

We've had the first thunderstorms all week in Cambridgeshire today. And wow, what a storm it was. It started in the early afternoon and went on directly overhead until early evening. The one thunderclap started with what sounded like an explosion, followed by a long very loud rumble of thunder. I heard no sirens, so assume nothing was hit.
Driving around the village this evening, I saw that we had gained a lake. The whole centre of the village green was flooded with a diameter of around 30 to 40 meters. As I drove past, a young lad went running into it and the water came over his knees! I've never seen it flooded before.
Forecast for more thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Kevin

 

[JENNYJET]

What a relief, a good night for sleep both for .myself and my dear Staffie who finds heat difficult. Peggy is getting old now and finds excess heat and exercise too much like torture and like myself much prefer a hard winter.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

What a relief, a good night for sleep both for .myself and my dear Staffie who finds heat difficult. Peggy is getting old now and finds excess heat and exercise too much like torture and like myself much prefer a hard winter.

I've always been able to accept excessively cold weather more easily than excessively hot weather. Both my wife and I have found the earlier part of the week quite oppressive - we had three consecutive days with 30C/30+C temperatures where we live and in the UK. Unlike in some countries we've visited such temperatures at home are all too often accompanied by a heavy, 'sticky' atmosphere.

We've never liked very hot weather. Our ideal summer's day in the UK is sunny, around 23C with a gentle breeze.

 

[JENNYJET]

I used to choose destinations that were the hottest or with high probability of storms, Aswan in Egypt and Colombo became my chosen bolt hole. But since the illness, I dread the weather forecast suggesting heat in the extreme. Cannot deal well with it hence my keen anticipation of cold snaps!

 

[Aviador]

I have to admit I like a good storm too @JENNYJET We don't seem to get storms like we used to, or at least not how I remember them. I remember the sky turning black through the day and a storm lasting what seemed like hours.

 

[JENNYJET]

I feel that we are done for this year for the humdinger storms and are left with those showers that pack a punch occasionally courtesy of Atlantic Storms ex Caribbean. It is still a blessed relief to return to temperate weather.

 

[Scottie Dog]

We've been fortunate in the north Lakes over the last few days as, although sunny nearly all day there has been a breeze to take the edge off the heat - although that has led to my nose be coming rather red (and it's not because of the wine!!). The only problem has been the evening when it has become rather oppressive. Tuesday night we had the mother of all storms when the thunder just seemed merger from one roll into another, followed by 4 hours of torrential rain beating on the caravan roof.

 

[Aviador]

Some of the computer modelling the weather are suggesting a wintery spell in the UK towards the end of next week. Having just done a bit of digging I found this incredible footage coming out of Russia apparently.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Makes me feel cold just looking at it. 1962-1963 winter was pretty bad and even in the West Country where away from the hills it's relatively mild we had eight weeks where the temperature rarely got above freezing and packed snow up to the top of hedgerows blocked country lanes. It all began on Boxing Night 1962.

 

[Aviador]

Not quite so bad as seen in the video but the 2010 or there about seemed fairly high up the snow and cold scale.