Friday 27 May 2011

Impossible Forecasting

What a busy week. Not much time for 'me' this week but there have been some interesting  bits and pieces going on not least of which was a great thunderstorm and rain yesterday (Thursday). 

It has been very entertaining watching some dramatically dark and stormy skies. Sorry about the boring photo.

This provided very welcome water to the ground here and although my grass was just fractionally turning more orange than green, the natural colour seems to have reappeared, well at least for the time being anyway.

The local BBC TV forecaster has a blog through which he has looked at some of the more influential weather forecasters in the world to look at what they predict for the UK summer and predictably (excuse the pun) they are all different. He did this in response to typical uniformed tabloid reports of extremes of weather on their way - a summer to rival 1976, which I remember with fondness for a number of reasons and that included a long hot dry fabulous summer. 

I've often why editors choose this type of headline on a subject which is notoriously unreliable and impossible to predict with any real accuracy because there are literally millions if not billions of local variables which means showers do or don't appear where and when predicted, snow does or doesn't arrive and gale force winds do or do not blow tiles off the roof.

Indeed, why would we want perfect weather forecasting? What would we Brits have to talk about? Okay, I guess if you have a fete planned or a wedding marquee to look after you would want to know what's going to happen, but even if you did, what could you do about it in reality?

There's a bit planned for the weekend and the main task is to get all my plants out of the greenhouse and into the ground. It's the end of May and while frost is not entirely unheard of at this time of year, it's a rare as hens teeth (they don't have any by the way - an American phrase from colonial days.)

It's Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK and sadly the weather for the north east of the UK is not good, cloudy with rain showers - ah well. I don't feel so bad, a colleague has just returned from Greece and they've had a lot of rain and last Thursday they were sat in their apartment with the heating on!

Have a great weekend

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

7 comments:

  1. Sorted. I had my security too tight. Apparently, if 'disable third party cookies' is disabled in a browser, you can't post on blogger. Third-party cookies can be abused, without getting too technical. Meh. Get rid of them as I go along.

    'Ullo :) Bear and I have deliberately delayed most of our planting this year because of the dry weather. Having said that, a weird plant grew amongst the Basil on the windowsill, so, curios, I let it grow.

    Two giant green chillies almost overnight. Don't ask, I have no idea how they got there, shrug :)

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  2. Yes RLS looks like it is going to be typical Bank Holiday weather - well we can't expect two good Bank Holidays in one year, can we?

    Last week the wind blew all the leaves off my runner bean plants - and I mean all - they were outside hardening off - now they are just stalks.

    We have had a few heavy showers and everywhere is looking a little better but I do agree about forecasting. On the whole I trust the farmer to tell me what the weather is going to do - he can usually read the signs.

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  3. Hey Look here I don't mean to put the dampers on things, but I would like a bit more rain here, please.

    For some reason unknown to all but the rain god he/she keeps missing my little bit of England. The ground is still dry here. Go three miles down the road and there are flood signs out. Yes, we had black clouds gathering over the Village, the sky darkened and then it disappeared up the road and dropped the lot. So all I'm saying is next time could I have a bit more, please if it's too much to ask. Thank you.

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  4. It was a bit black over Will's mother's at lunchtime today. And it pelted down. Has done for two days. So why do my tomatoes still need watering?

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  5. I heard from Weaver that they needed rain -- East Yorkshire I think. We don't get any rain from now until October, but we do get cloud along the coast, known as May gray and June gloom. We have had a fantastic week so we're not complaining. The weather is as unpredictable as earthquakes. At least I can get out and do my required walking. I love reading about all you Yorkshire people -- and others.

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  6. since when do the weather men get it right!

    all this rain and our ' mile a minute' plant is only growing at an 'inch a minute'.


    Josie x

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  7. Hi Wheelie, computers never cease to baffle me - I can work one but how they work is another matter! As for seeds, I think a lot lies dormant in compost, they never really kill off residual seeds with their sterilisation processes.

    Hi Weaver, I would certainly trust a farmer with the weather - far more reliable. A friend of mine who works outdoors in the country says he can tell all sorts like air pressure, weather fronts, dampness, all sorts just by sense and sight. XX

    Hi Jarmara - I absolutely agree that for the time being, rain is needed. How about me arranging a gentle but persistent downpour for say Monday (because thats a bad day) through to Wednesday every other week? I'll ask my green man to work with the weather angels.
    XX

    Hi MorningAJ, I always ruin tomato crops, that's why I don't grow them any more - I can't keep the consistent watering regime they need and I guess rain just isn't enough for the thirsty blighters.
    XX

    Hi ChrisJ, Yes in general, East Yorkshire is much of a muchness regards weather with a few local variations. We do need some quality rain shortly, but when you read Jarmara's entry, she needs rain yet just down the road there's flooding signs up! Crazy! XX

    Hi Josie - no they generally don't do they. If they get it 80% wrong, why don't they forecast what they DON'T think will happen and they'll get more success. XX

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