Foul weather

We are currently in Normandy. It has been blowing a hooley without a break for over 24 hours. I didn't sleep well last night because even though our bedroom is the other end of the house to the prevailing winds, solid stone walls 2 feet thick and double glazing were not enough to absorb the howl of the wind and in an exceptional gale 15 years ago we had a chimney down and part of an out building collapsed. And my ears were constantly straining for any sound that might indicate damage.

We were out this morning and saw very little damage anywhere, which was reassuring, The DIY store was not full of people buying house repair materials

So far so good. We traveled over last Friday (Portsmouth - Caen) and go back Wednesday night. I was dreading the journey over as the forecast was so bad so I made sure I was really really tired before the journey, took a seasick tablet (anti-histimines knock me out completely) we had booked a cabin and I slept for nearly 4 hours through all the roughest weather and i hope to that again on the way back

Of course you don't have a shortage of water in your NE coast climate do you. Good idea re dog. She will look funny and unfamiliar!

Our heatwave has just killed off thousands of fruit bats, aka flying foxes.

www.qt.com.au/news/heat-kills-2000-bats-nature-centre-shut-as-council/2131174/

It has also killed off some of my seedlings, and put brown edges on all my vegetable leaves. A lot of my Chinese cabbages have simply curled up and died.

I had filled my watering cans the day before, and when I went to use them I had to pour out the water as it was just too hot. Then I had to spray the garden hose onto the concrete until all the hot water ran out.

We've booked the dog in for a shave - her Golden Retriever coat is just too much for her in this appalling weather.

I did spend a short time in the back garden today but that was only because I'd realised the drain was blocked.

Tegan and Jess I too am finding this weather really depressing and there is no pleasure in getting nearly blown to pieces I don't have a car so waiting for buses or walking is just not pleasant I normally cycle but can barely keep my feet on the ground so not trying that one

Had a bracing walk first thing tegan but then felt weedy and retreated under blankets, which is unusual for me.

I haven't wanted to leave the house for weeks. I don't mind cold weather but I find this really depressing.

It is a wild night down here, with lots of flooding and defences down on the actual coast. The house is feeling batters once again.

Another stormy front - wind and rain in N wales already. Grim winter for many people. Tides continue to be exceptionally high.

Heat is very draining. We were in France in 1990 when the temperature reached 40s, no air con in the villa. We spent an entire day sitting in the swimming pool with all the parasols lined up to give us some shade. When the storm came we rushed out in the hope of cooling off but the rain was like a warm shower. I remember the news reports and them asking to go and check on elderly.

People without air con usually spend days like today in shopping centres, the ones with covered car parks, enjoying free air conditioning. Many go to the air conditioned cinemas, or to a local swimming pool.

I watered my vegetables three times today, but I think some Chinese cabbages have died.

Oh joan that sounds grim. And humid with it in Queensland. I was shocked to realise that there and vulnerable people in AUs who cannot afford air-conditioning. in a rich country like Australia.
Granny23 what a plonker. Obviously thought a storm surge was something like a mini tsunami, rather than a higher than average tide. When we had the early Dec surge here a neighbour put out a marker in his garden, which was getting flooded, at the moment when the tide should have started falling. It carried on rising for another 40 minutes. That is a good illustration of what a storm surge is like.

It usually drops at night, but last night it didn't drop much. Tomorrow it will not be anywhere near as bad - max 33 min 21 if the forecast is right.

Yes, without aircon it is back to wearing wet clothes in front of the fan. Trouble is, the cold shower is never cold at times like this; it is warmer than lukewarm. And you have to be careful watering the garden - you have to spray the concrete until the hot water from the hose is gone. If you forget, you scald your plants to death.

Does it stay that hot at night too, joan? Got temps like that in Thailand and I worked in schools with no air-con, no fans even. Got very good at finding the draughtiest place in classrooms! At night it would drop to mid-twenties, which felt quite cool by comparison, but which I'd find hot in Scotland. Always v humid in Thailand, which makes one feel it more, i think.

MrBags said when he was in India the only way he could get to sleep was have a cool shower and wrap a wet sarong around him. If he got to sleep before the sarong dried, he was OK. Otherwise it was rinse and repeat...

Hope you cool down soon.

We are confined to the lounge room, husband, dog and I. The weather is just too awful to venture anywhere else - and dangerous if I stay out any length of time. But I have to water my plants or they'll die.

It is 43 degrees celsius in central Ipswich, Queensland. Australia but my suburb is always hotter, AND in a rain shadow, so we get a lot less rain than is forecast.

We have aircon in the lounge room and bedroom - heaven knows how we'd manage without it. I dread the electricity bill though.One year, in the times past when aircon was an unaffordable luxury, we had a similar heatwave, so the only way to survive at home was to shower fully clothed, then sit on a towel in front of the fan. Repeat as needed.

Rain and lower temps are forecast for tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. Our government (right-wing of course) is in denial about global warming even though Australian temps were up 1.2% last year. They've cancelled an anti-pollution tax, the carbon tax, in the spirit of 'bugger science, only profit matters.'

Oh well, I guess they have terrific air conditioning in parliament house and their own posh homes.

Not to mention the reporter on the Scottish News who was standing IN the flood water, next to the sea front at Ardrossan excitedly telling us that the storm surge was due in the next 5 or 10 minutes. 10 minutes later he was back on, standing in the same spot (with presumably his camera person). He sounded very disappointed that no surge had actually materialized.

Genuine sympathy for anybody suffering storm /flooding damage at this time.

I have to comment on the stupidity of people however. Don't the b----y idiots who think they can take little notice of warnings and not do everything to protect their homes deserve what they get. Unbelievable attitude by some residents interviewed on t.v. As for those who think they are immune to sudden rush of water and place themselves in harms way, well words just fail me.

I get so cross that fools put our emergency service personnel in danger by being so idiotic. Should be ashamed of themselves, what is the point of 'sight seeing' or trying to get a photo and not returning home to your family.

The film I saw today of the tides in Perranporth were far worse than anything I remember when we lived in Cornwall. There was the occasion about 25 to 30 years ago when two policemen were swept into the sea at Porthleven and drowned, but that was very much a one off.

yup and it was also responsible for the cold in previous winters. All linked in to the changes in the Arctic which are encouraging the jet stream to become more stable than it used to be - once it gets in a certain pattern it is staying there for longer giving us same old weather for weeks or months on end. It basically drives what is happening in the Atlantic - it is the big energy transfer mechanism.
I am picking up more of this oceanography stuff now that DH is back into it - one thing i learned this week is that the highest spring tides are a day or two after the new moon and not exactly on the new moon. And also this nodal thing that makes the current tides highest for 18 yrs (he just threw that in casually this morning as i noted not only the car park but the big rocks around it were submerged)

I have been told that the jet stream is responsible for this series of storms as it was for our hot summer. It's in an unusual position which brings cyclonic conditions across the Atlantic. Snow in the eastern US falls as heavy rain here because the influence of the ocean warms the air. I think...

Cactus I cannot remember such severe gales and floods as we have had in the last few years. The serious storm surge flooding in the North sea coasts in early December was the worst for 60 years. I

I have lived where I am now for 26yrs and there was hardly any snow until the two bitterly snowy winters of 09/10. For several years now we have had. what is for the UK, some exceptionally extreme weather.

Actually winter is not necessarily connected with gales and storms, unlike the Spring and Autumn equinoxes. Cowering under the duvet in Dorset and Somerset these last has not been my usual NY experience.

The last three winters have been exceptionally cold and snowy cactus60. Notable for their lack of Atlantic storms. This one is exceptionally rich in Atlantic storms and no fun at all for those whose homes and businesses are at risk of flooding. The unusual height of the spring tides is an unfortunate co-incidence. Something to do with the angle between the earth and the moon apparently.
I can see why people get weather-news weary though with the Express running shock weather headlines every few days.

Nothing like we've experienced Cactus in the last 60 years These are not normal winter storms well they might be where you are living but not where I am The last time we had to rescue people was 1953 nothing like normal

Well, yes, the media again. Same with snow.

BUT, here in Devon, living with the storms, it really is quite serious, and is the same in Cornwall. These are storms the like of which I have never seen. (Suppose I am being anecdotal.....)