Something fruity for winter by Victoria Graham
Did you know that tomorrow marks the official start of the British tomato season….
It’s just something that caught my attention this morning as being rather unusual. I suppose I associate tomatoes as being grown in warm climates, ripened by the sunshine, two factors which are severely lacking in the British weather at the moment…but then it is January!
The mild winter and the lack of hard frosts have helped the plants grow in Greenhouses on the Isle of Wight, and the harvest is the earliest ever for cherry tomatoes grown under natural light in the UK….just a little bit of trivia.
Winter continues across many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, America the latest to be hit by ‘Ice Storms’ sweeping over Oklahoma. It has been described as the heaviest snowfall this season with accumulations expected to be in the region of 3 to 4 inches (up to around 10cm), and the temperature in northern sections of the state down to -32C (-26F ). Another storm threatens to hit later this weekend.
Georgia has also been affected. Flights and road travel were disrupted as an ice storm triggered weather warnings over 65 counties as far south as Houston County to as far east as Jefferson County. The reason is cold Canadian air slipping down the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains meeting moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. This combination of elements resulting in the perfect concoction for freezing rain, sleet, snow and sub-zero temperatures. The freezing weather is expected to linger over north Georgia through to Sunday, thereafter it should warm up.
Finally, a cyclone with frosty winds and snowstorms has arrived with a vengeance from the Sea of Japan. Sakhalin was issued with a storm warning of strong winds and wave heights of 5 metres in the Tatar Strait. Temperatures here have been 43 degrees Celsius (-45.4F) below freezing overnight and the winter conditions are expected to remain until the end of the month.
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