Crying Wolf with Weather
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From my friend the Met-Office:
Anyone getting it?
We've had a good stiff westerly here today and a mate of mine called today and commented that it was rather breezy in Aberdeenshire. Is it that bad up north chaps?
Winds could well gust as high as 70 to 80 mph over parts of Wales, northern England and southern Scotland, enough to bring down trees, cause structural damage, disrupt electricity supplies and overturn high sided vehicles. Gusts of 60 to 70 mph are expected over Northern Ireland and other parts of England, these also bringing a risk of damage and injury.
We've had a good stiff westerly here today and a mate of mine called today and commented that it was rather breezy in Aberdeenshire. Is it that bad up north chaps?
The Original Whirly
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Pretty wild up here in North Wales. Don't know if the wind is quite that strong, but I did look a bit anxiously at the trees when I drove down the lane earlier today...and it seems to be getting worse.
Still at least here at 1000 ft I don't get the floods; according to the TV the river Conwy has burst its banks again, and the water is still rising....
I'm supposed to be instructing at Tatenhill tomorrow; I wonder what makes me think it's not worth getting ot of bed.
Still at least here at 1000 ft I don't get the floods; according to the TV the river Conwy has burst its banks again, and the water is still rising....
I'm supposed to be instructing at Tatenhill tomorrow; I wonder what makes me think it's not worth getting ot of bed.
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I thought an airfield QNH should only be used to 25 n.m. from the field. 
We flew from south of London to Scotland last night against a 71 kt headwind at FL 45. Only 68 kts this a.m. on the way back. Typical! When you want a decent tailwind you can't get one..
Not much happening at Taters today, Whirly!
We flew from south of London to Scotland last night against a 71 kt headwind at FL 45. Only 68 kts this a.m. on the way back. Typical! When you want a decent tailwind you can't get one..
Not much happening at Taters today, Whirly!
The Original Whirly
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Report from wild and woolly North Wales
I listened to the wind getting stronger and stronger last night, then when the lights started flickering I went to bed. I think the power went off a couple of hours later...at least that's when I woke up and couldn't read my electric digital bedside clock. I reported it to the electricity company at 8am, and an hour later phoned again to get a recorded message saying they had loads to do because of the storm, and to phone back at midday. Lit fire and wood stove and decided on a cooked breakfast because I could; cooker is calor gas. Got TAFS on laptop, and East Midlands, round the corner from Tatenhill, was giving 35G53, with a tempo gusting to 65!!!! Cancelled flying...wasn't starting till midday anyway, hence leisurely morning. Checked outside, and apart from a few large tree branches blown down, no obvious major damage. Decided further inspection could wait till torrential rain stopped. Still no power now, but I have laptop, open fire with happy cats round it, kettle bubbling away on woodstove. Quite cosy really. Isn't this how people used to live?
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Whirly,
We used to live like that in 1991 when the power went off up here due to severe rain ice pulling down all the power lines right back to the Trent power stations.
Took four or five days for us to get our electricity back. Couldn't go to work because the petrol stations had no power and couldn't pump fuel and I had an empty tank at the time of the power cut. Some shops couldn't sell stuff because they couldn't work the tills.
We were luckier than many as we had a mains gas fire in the lounge, a stock of large ornamaental candles for lighting (we used to live in Germany and brought back a whole load of them) and we used the caravan stove and the barbecue to cook with (in the garage as it kept snowing)! At least the freezer didn't need power as it was so cold. After about 36 hours, the water supply began to fail because our district has it's water pumped by electricity. After two days we were the only house in the street with water, a quirk of the way the mains ran. We ran a service heating water for drinks and hot water bottles for the old folk on our road.
Loved it! Just missed not havng an open fire.
We used to live like that in 1991 when the power went off up here due to severe rain ice pulling down all the power lines right back to the Trent power stations.
Took four or five days for us to get our electricity back. Couldn't go to work because the petrol stations had no power and couldn't pump fuel and I had an empty tank at the time of the power cut. Some shops couldn't sell stuff because they couldn't work the tills.
We were luckier than many as we had a mains gas fire in the lounge, a stock of large ornamaental candles for lighting (we used to live in Germany and brought back a whole load of them) and we used the caravan stove and the barbecue to cook with (in the garage as it kept snowing)! At least the freezer didn't need power as it was so cold. After about 36 hours, the water supply began to fail because our district has it's water pumped by electricity. After two days we were the only house in the street with water, a quirk of the way the mains ran. We ran a service heating water for drinks and hot water bottles for the old folk on our road.
Loved it! Just missed not havng an open fire.
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Phoned up the club. "You will not be surprised to hear ...", I said, and they started laughing long before I got to the bit about "... that I'm cancelling my booking for this afternoon."
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Returning to the original topic ... did anyone else cancel on Wednesday because of the promise of strong winds in the afternoon? I was due to do a cross-country all-day trip and instead just did local in the morning, because the forecast was 15G25 by lunchtime and (according to the duty forecaster himself at Benson!) 25G35 by the end of the afternoon - and it never materialised...!
Tim
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57 knots recorded on my roof this morning at 04:30
South coast.....still, didn't disrupt anything
(By the way, if you look at this post after today, the graph will have changed )
South coast.....still, didn't disrupt anything
(By the way, if you look at this post after today, the graph will have changed
)
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In Yorkshire the roofslates were rattling all night. Got to the hangar this morning, one tin off the side and the 1" door bolt was bent at 30 degrees, lucky not to have lost the door as well. This is on a sloped roof hangar with the roof into the wind which I thought was better.
I am away next week, hope we don't get any more
I am away next week, hope we don't get any more
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Weatherman 1, FF Towers 0
Lying in bed on Saturday morning, listening to the wind howl outside as it had done all night long, Mrs FF and I were laughing about the fact that we had managed to sleep through the "Fish" hurricane of '87 when we lived "dahn sarf", despite the fact that during the night, a ruddy great tree had come down in the garden narrowly missing the house.
Got up to make the coffee, drew back the curtains and stood for a few minutes trying to work out why the 30ft fir tree in the garden had adopted a horizontal attitude on top of two cars on the drive ...
And again, we'd slept through the whole thing !
One up for the weatherman, eh Mono ?
And spare a thought for those poor sods in Carlisle ...
FF
Got up to make the coffee, drew back the curtains and stood for a few minutes trying to work out why the 30ft fir tree in the garden had adopted a horizontal attitude on top of two cars on the drive ...
And again, we'd slept through the whole thing !
One up for the weatherman, eh Mono ?
And spare a thought for those poor sods in Carlisle ...
FF
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Hmmmmm. Threw caution to the, ahem, winds last night and indulged in a spirited dispute fuelled by more wine than a PIC come morning could handle. Well, I was assuming the worst with the wx, wasn't I? Actually didn't seem too bad this morning in the SE but my decision had already been made. Never mind, seems to be deteriorating now. First time I've been happy about that in a while!
The Original Whirly
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Penguina,
By early evening yesterday, still with no electricity, and the wind outside making the pub 500 ft below in the village less than enticing, I decided cooking a good meal and opening a bottle of wine to go with it was as good a way to spend the evening as any. I too had been hoping to fly today, but couldn't check the 18 hour TAFs - battery on my laptop had expired several hours earlier. When the power came on around 7.30 pm, after about 19 hours, I was delighted to find that "normal" high winds were expected today...since I'd had too much wine to make flying sensible. And for once they've got it right, which made me happy too.
By early evening yesterday, still with no electricity, and the wind outside making the pub 500 ft below in the village less than enticing, I decided cooking a good meal and opening a bottle of wine to go with it was as good a way to spend the evening as any. I too had been hoping to fly today, but couldn't check the 18 hour TAFs - battery on my laptop had expired several hours earlier.
When the power came on around 7.30 pm, after about 19 hours, I was delighted to find that "normal" high winds were expected today...since I'd had too much wine to make flying sensible. And for once they've got it right, which made me happy too.
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it's that flying normally turns some of us into teetotallers
It can be the occasion for mild embarrassment. In the local pub of a Friday night the landlady expects me to order my usual pint, and has been known to ask why I'm drinking grapefruit juice. "Er, because I'm going flying tomorrow" may not be the answer I wish to give in a pub full of my constituents, some of whom might think I'm not the right person to represent them on the council - if I'm so stinking rich that I can afford to fly I can't possibly understand their life circumstances, can I.
