Weather News by Louise Lear

   23/10/2003

It's inevitable really that once the first taste of winter arrives across the British Isles, the press immediately start to speculate on the severity of the forthcoming season and just how much of the white stuff will we get to see?

I'm sure for many of us; this week has been a shock to the system particularly after such a beautiful summer. A change of wind direction was largely responsible for this cold snap as easterly winds; gales at times brought a cold plunge of air from the near continent. In weather folklore the easterly wind is often referred to as the 'lazy wind', it blows 'through you rather than around you'.

Overnight temperatures fell as low -8 in Kin brace the Highlands over night on Tuesday into Wednesday morning. North sea facing coasts suffered a battering of showers for most of the week and parts of northern Scotland saw their first covering of snow for this season. A couple of centimetres fell on the tops of the Grampians and it lasted for a few days rather than, as is typical for this time of year, just overnight. So nothing too dramatic but as usual, it's set the tongues wagging!

It is basically impossible to say for certain what the weather is going to do long term but studies of some of the coldest winters of modern times show that they tend to follow hot summers.

Looking on the bright side if we refer back to folk lore, a 'year of snow, a year of plenty' There are few seasonal proverbs that have evolved from the history of farming that are rationally founded, but this is one of them. A covering of snow, incident to a cold winter delays the blossoming of fruit trees till after the probable season of killing frosts. It also prevents the alternate thawing and freezing so ruinous to wheat and other winter grains. For once farmers may be happy, despite the lack of rain…only time will tell!

Weather News from the last five days:
22/10/2003
21/10/2003
20/10/2003
19/10/2003
18/10/2003

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