AMAZING WEATHER

[Compo]

We had one heck of a thunderstorm here yesterday, thankfully I was able to shelter in my shed, although was worried about the lightning hitting me and my pal as we drank our tea!!

The hail that came with it was so heavy it stuck in little drifts on the side of the road for several hours. My maincrop outdoor tomatoes look a little worse for wear, leaves shredded and a little curled up, hope its not blight.............we will see.

Did anyone else have weird weather?

CoMpO

[oldherbaceous]

Morning Compo, we just had what was more like April showers all day, but as long as it doesn't start the blight off it was certainly needed.

Hope your toms don't look too rough this morning.

[Parsons Jack]

Morning all,

Yestrday was very windy, with rain on and off all day. Nowhere near as wet as Sunday though. The wind has dropped quite a lot this morning, and the clouds are a bit scattered. My beans are looking none too happy, with lots of shredded leaves.

[richard p]

hi compo, were about 15 miles east of you we had a few heavy showers but all in all a reasonable day, the washing that went out saturday morning actually got dry enough to bring in to go in the dryer , saturday pm and sunday we had torrential showers. today looks like being a mix of sunshine and heavy showers, please keep the hail we dont want it

[Primrose]

Horrendous hailstorms here too. After the first one I dashed out and put fleece over my outdoor peppers and aubergines. Amazingly they seem to have survived but some cabbage seedlings I had in tray on the patio have simply been washed away.

[Monika]

We had quite a few heavy showers but nothing that wasn't welcome, by gardeners at least, though not the holiday makers huddling under umbrellas! But the temperatures are worrying: just 13 degrees at noon today and not much better the last few days. I now realise that some of our peas and broad beans which grew very well and were/are full of flowers are not being pollinated. Some of the early broad beans have only produced five or six pods each and I did try to hand pollinate them! I wonder how that will affect commercial producers who, no doubt, rely on insect pollinators just like us humble gardeners.

[Compo]

Watched the news last night and it appears we had a mini tornado down the bottom of the village on the water park, it ripped up a shed and a trampoline, made the local news. We were lucky!!

[vivienz]

Blimey - that's impressive, Compo! Sunday was pretty horrible here, too, particularly as I had to spend it finishing off the tiling in my mum's bathroom
Still, got up to the lottie this evening and came away with a nice haul of spuds, raspberries and broccoli, so not bad really. Mind you, the squashes and beans are sulking like nobody's business. I'm hoping that summer will arrive soon, if only to bring them all out to play properly.
Vivien

[oldherbaceous]

Us British and our weather.

[alan refail]

Us British and our weather.

Well, OH, it's raining old women and sticks here - again. Nothing to do but polish my complaining skills

Many languages

[richard p]

been raining most of the day here aswell,everywhere is quite soggy now. must be about time for a hosepipe ban

[Chantal]

It's been coming down like stair rods here all day

[Monika]

I just have to be contrary: we had a lovely day today, at least up to about an hour ago. I did my shopping this morning which involves a 40 minute walk into town and then 40 minutes back (actually more likely 50 because I am laden and starting to flag!) and the sun shone all the way! Heard a great spotted woodpecker, a chiffchaff and a wren singing and saw lots of ringlet butterflies in the verges. This evening it's started to rain gently - it'll be a slug and snail paradise tonight.

[Colin Miles]

Definitely 'knives and forks' here, especially in the last couple of hours. And Alan, you have prompted me to put a plug in for a book by a couple of guys who live in the Black Mountains, namely, 'The Wrong Kind of Snow' by Antony Woodward & Robert Penn. Bought for me last Christmas and quickly read. Now my wife and I, when sitting down for morning coffee or whatever, read the 'what happens' on that particular day. It answers such questions as
'Why did blizzards lead to Elizabeth David writing about food?'
And, 'when, on average, do we mow the lawn or see a swallow for the first time each year?'

It's a fantastic read and, in the spirit of this thread, here is a quote from a part of the Aug 22nd entry.

SOME WELSH WORDS FOR RAIN

Bwrw glaw - raining
Pigo - spotting
Gwithlaw - drizzle
Brasfwrw - big space drops
Sgrympian - short sharp shower
Tollti - pouring
Byrlymu - pouring very quickly
Taflu - throwing
Hegar law - fierce rain
Lluwchlaw - sheets of rain
Pistyllio - fountain rain
Curlaw - beating rain
Tywallt - bucketing rain
Tresio - maximum-intensity rain
Mae hi'n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn - It's raining old women and sticks

[Primrose]

Non stop heavy rain all here today.
I feel sorry for the swifts and swallows. Haven't seen a single one of them flying around today. Guess all the insects have been washed out of the sky. What do these birds do for food when it's raining heavily and the insects disappear?