Tuesday 9 November 2010

The North East wind doth blow.


...and we shall have snow. Well, maybe not although places higher up the Dale have already had a sprinkling on the tops.

But last night, when the farmer took Tess out for her last Utility Walk at around 10pm, he came in saying that there must have been a strong wind because our Scots Pines had shed huge branches onto the lawn.

This morning, on the local news, there was talk of a Helm Wind blowing through the Pennines. Wikipedia talks of a helm wind which originates on Mallerstang Edge under certain conditions - so maybe that is what caused our Scots Pines to shed branches. As the crow flies (or the wind blows) we are probably about twelve miles East of the Mallerstang.

But strong North Easterly winds are now forecast - good for the bird watchers as it may blow a few more unusual birds our way. Five minutes ago the sun was shining; now it is so dark that I am having to type this with the light on. Any minute there will be a downpour. What wild weather we are getting. Paul Simons in The Times says this wild weather is the result of the jet stream, which apparently is hurtling above our heads at one hundred miles an hour.

Hold on to your hats!

14 comments:

jeanette from everton terrace said...

Hold on to your hats indeed. This was the first morning I had to put a sweater on to go outside. I love the changes in weather.

Tess Kincaid said...

Batten down those hatches!

George said...

Better a North East wind than an ill wind. Dream on and wait for spring.

Cloudia said...

Your words evoke the global and local glories of WEATHER & SEASON.


Well done :)



Aloha from Waikiki :)

Comfort Spiral

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Heather said...

The temperature here in the south west has dropped today, and the barometer is still very low. We haven't had the heavy rain and gales I anticipated though it has been wet and windy. The garden pond looks as full as I've seen it and the water butts are topped up too. It's a good job I haven't any drought loving plants!

Gerry Snape said...

I read that about the jet stream also and I believed it when I went to Liverpool today and the wind got me no matter which street I walked down!

Elizabeth said...

Well the wind that blew your branch down
made the flight from Milan to JFK take nine and a half tedious hours. GRRRRRRRRR

Just read yesterday's post.....
skipped to the end immediately just to make sure it ended well.
Thank God.
What a horror. Yes, do get her chipped.
Would save a certain amount of anxiety.

All best wishes.

Dartford Warbler said...

The North East wind is blowing chill over us tonight. I can hear it creaking branches and rustling the last leaves outside. This morning there were flocks of finches and thrushes feeding in the rain-sodden fields.

I hope your pine tree survives the gales of the next few days.

Titus said...

Helm Wind! Sounds so Lord of the Rings!

Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway underwater yesterday, freezing today and there's snow on the hills...

Gwil W said...

There were two anti-cyclones at work - one over northern France and one in the Mediterranean - so the air was spinning anti-clockwise and coming at you from the east. In Russia there was a high pressure system. Yesterday the wind was coming at me generally from the s-east, from Romania and the Balkans but also from the east - Hungary. The warm Sirocco has been blowing from Africa up into the Adriatic for a good week or maybe even longer. This combination of weather systems has caused catastrophic floods in the north of Italy, I read that 30,000 farm animals had perished, and already brought some heavy some snowfalls in the Julian Alps.

Caroline Gill said...

I wonder if others suffered the loss of tiles, roofs etc. - I hope not. It's very bright and still here, but quite early in the year for us to be having our first frosts of the season.

Golden West said...

I've been reading there's a La Nina brewing, that down in Australia and Tahiti where the pertinent atmospheric measurements are taken they're observing conditions more extreme than at any time since the early 20th century. It will be interesting for us all!

Anonymous said...

Definitely wild weather at the moment. The Cat and Fiddle road in north Derbyshire was closed because of snow on Sunday morning.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for answering - weather here is deteriorating as I write this mid-afternoon - giant winds and rainstorms forecast.