Monday 9 November 2015

The West Wind and the Rain.

There is one combination here in the Yorkshire Dales which is lethal as far as the weather is concerned.   That combination is heavy rain and a strong wind (Abigail) blowing from the West.   Here it has been a blustery day with periods of sun and periods of rain, but higher up the dale, on the tops, it has been continuous rain (over two inches today) and that has led, as it always does, to serious flooding of the River Ure.    The Ure, usually a gentle, peaceful river, is fed by dozens of streams, becks, gills (call them what you will) which cascade over the fells to join the main river.   By tonight it is well over in those places which local know will cause problems and many road are impassable.   Hawes, which is fifteen miles West of our farm, has serious flooding all round it and will have to sit it out until the water goes down (few, if any, of the cottages and farms are affected - the Ure has always done this since time immemorial, so all building has been built to take this into consideration.)

Friend W and I went to Teeside Park shopping centre this afternoon to buy our turkey crowns from Marks and Spencer - they are frozen and we took our cool bags and transferred the turkeys to our freezers on our return.  (we do this every year and I can thoroughly recommend them).   By the time we reached the A1, about six miles to the East of our village, the wind had dropped and the rain had stopped.   On our return we collected both wind and rain in the same place.  It had rained and blown here all afternoon.   That, in a hilly area, at this height is the nature of the weather, Abigail or no Abigail.

12 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

Since 1987 our weather forecasters have gone mad. If we ever get a real weather problem like the hurricane of that year I don't know what they would say do you? Nobody takes any notice of them these days.

Dawn said...

There is no sign of the weather abaiting here, they are saying there is more to come, so its plenty of time indoors apart from essential outdoor stuff :-)

Gwil W said...

Yesterday we had 24 C (75 F) . On my walk I saw lots of ladybirds.

Heather said...

It has been far too mild again today but not so wet. My husband even managed to cut the lawn. How sensible not to have built houses, etc., in the Ure area if it floods regularly. So many housing developments are built down here on flood plains and then everyone is up in arms when the worst happens.

angryparsnip said...

I must look up what a turkey crown is.
Hope the sun comes out soon as Abigail zooms away.

cheers, parsnip

Philip said...

It continues to be mild but wet in East Anglia and although no where near 24 C, as Gwil has also noticed, there is an abundance of ladybirds. I've never seen so many at this time of the year.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Mild, windy and wet today, but not as wet as other places by the looks of things. I managed to get out a fair bit today.

A Heron's View said...

It is quite rough here not that much rain but there is a strong wind gusting overhead
and it is definitely a night for sitting by the fire.
No floods near us as we are nearly on the top of a hill.
Not sure whether we name our storms or not, nor I cannot see the point of doing so.

Cro Magnon said...

Are you thinking of Christmas already? I buy my Turkey on Dec 23rd.

thelma said...

They are also saying of course that we are heading towards climate change as well. Is the weather here in Britain becoming extreme or has it always been like this? Today, Tuesday, and a beautiful sunrise and the wind has died down for a time.

donna baker said...

That kind of weather worries me. Don't know why, or perhaps it has to do with my anxiety. Sunny, warm days for me always (but it isn't always.)

The History Anorak said...
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