Friday, 6 March 2020

First Sowings on the Coldest Day of Winter - Err Spring!

It's funny how the weather likes to play tricks on us. We've had only a few frosts through winter and even then they haven't been all that cold. We're now in the first week of meteorological spring and what do we get the coldest night since last November.
Temperature Summary for 2020
The coldest night of the year, so far, has occurred in the first week of meteorological spring. It's worth noting the mean temperature for the month so far of 3.7°C (38.7°F) is well below average. The last night colder than -2.6°C (27.3°F), was on 30 November 2019, the last day of meteorological autumn when the temperature fell to -3.8°C or 25.2°F.

However, Friday has been a mostly sunny day. It felt nice and warm in the greenhouse and after a little bit of tidying up I sowed our first seeds of the year. First sowings were made of parsley, Moss Curled, and lettuce, All Year Round. Each seed packet contains lots of seeds so I can risk sowing some early in the hope of some early lettuces and parsley but, if they fail to germinate I've plenty of left over seeds for sowing when the weather hopefully warms up a little bit.
The seeds have been covered with a propagator lid which I'm hoping will serve to keep the seeds a little bit warmer and protect them from any mice hunting for food in the greenhouse. 


Posted by Martyn at 19:08 1 comments

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

February Turned Out To Be A Record Breaker

If you've followed my blog post through February you will be well aware that it's been an extremely wet and windy month. I've now finalised the rainfall figures and wind speeds records for the month. It's turned out to be both the wettest month and windiest month of the last eleven years.
Wettest & Windiest Months 2010-2020
What's more neither record has just crept over the line into top spot but is there by some considerable margin.

There seems to have been an awful lot of talk about how mild this winter has been but my weather station records didn't confirm it as the warmest of the last eleven years, with the winter of 2014/15 still holding on to that record. Rather unsurprisingly with all the rainfall of the last month, this winter's turned out to be the wettest I've recorded.
Winter Averages for Rainfall & Temperature 2010-2020
It seems rather incredible that in the middle of September last year the plot was very dry. Some parts of the plot were in need of watering and I didn't start any winter digging because the ground was too dry. I thought a little bit of rain would make digging over the ground so much easier. Little did I imagine that once the rain started it was going to continue through the rest of autumn and winter without any break.
Plot 18 September 2019
February's average temperature was a little above normal but only managed fifth place out of eleven years. However, as you can see the amount of rainfall in the month was more than double the previous wettest February I'd recorded.
February Averages for Rainfall & Temperature 2010-2020
This winter has been remarkably frost free and it's meant that our early rhubarb hasn't had its early stems knocked back by any frost. We managed to pick a few stems at the weekend which I suppose you could say was our first "fruit" harvest of the year.
I'm rather glad to see the end of February and I'm looking forward to some better weather in March. Hopefully, we'll get some dry and sunny days to help the garden and allotment dry out for the start of the main planting season at the beginning of April.  At least our only concern from all the rain is how it will impact on our start to the gardening year rather than those whose homes have been flooded and will need months of drying out and repair works before their homes are fit to live in again.

Posted by Martyn at 11:35 4 comments

Friday, 28 February 2020

More Wet Weather - Four Times Average February Rainfall!

Just for a change this month Friday turned out to be another wet day. During the course of today's rain, this year's February total surpassed four times our 10 year average for the month of February.  
February 2020 Rainfall Record
I'd have to say that over recent years February has been one of our drier months but that's definitely not the case this year.
Wettest Months 2010-2020
It's not a case of this month just making it into number one spot, it is the best part of an extra month's worth of rain ahead, and of course as it's a Leap Year there's an extra day to go. Storm Jorge is due to arrive tomorrow bringing more rain and gale force winds over the weekend. 
Some of the rain this week fell as wet, sleety snow, but never in any great amounts and not enough to settle. Our squirrel has been putting in some regular appearances this week. It's normally around in the morning and it was looking particularly bedraggled in the pouring rain one morning.
Hopefully, March will bring some better weather.

Posted by Martyn at 19:01 0 comments

Sunday, 23 February 2020

Wind & Rain Goes On And On

The wind and rain goes on and on and on. There seems to be no let up at all. Just for a change, we didn’t have a named storm for this weekend but that didn’t mean it wasn’t wet and windy, far from it. In fact the readings from my weather station suggest we had higher wind speeds on Saturday than we did for either storm Ciara or Dennis. 
Rainfall, High Wind Speeds & Temperature Records for February 2020
Individual gust speeds reached 34mph on Saturday moving them into my list of highest gust speeds. Indicating that it was windy all day, the average wind speed for Saturday was 8.8mph getting into sixth place in my top twenty list.
Wind Speed Records 2010-Date
This means that with the strongest wind gust speeds of the year, we had no type of Met Office weather warning and no named storm. This February is rewriting my windiest day tables. 

Of course it's not been only the wind but the associated rainfall this month that's breaking records. It’s been wet enough over the last week to move this February’s rainfall total up from third place into top spot in my table of wettest months since I began keeping records ten years ago.
Wettest Months 2010 - Date
Based on the last 10 years the average rainfall for February is 40mm (1.6in) so this year we are three times above what we might expect. There's no wonder that there is lots of flooding around.

There is still more rain forecast before the month is out and the output from the weather models suggest it will be little different as we move into March and the beginning of meteorological spring.
This squirrel knew where to come to find some dry peanuts and sunflower hearts. He was probably checking out that supplies were adequate in case we get any of the snow which is forecast for parts of Yorkshire on Monday morning.

Posted by Martyn at 20:58 7 comments

Tuesday, 18 February 2020

It's Getting Repetitive!

I realise that my blog posts, like the weather, are getting repetitive. Storm Dennis has followed almost exactly one week on from storm Ciara. 
Storm Dennis - Temperature, Rainfall and High Wind Gusts 15-17 February 2020
For us Dennis hasn’t been any worse than an average winter storm, in other words wet and windy. I'm not sure whether Dennis occurred at some time between Saturday and Monday or if it lasted from Saturday evening all the way through to Monday night. It certainly has been windy all weekend. Enough rain fell on Saturday to make this February the wettest I’ve recorded. The previous wettest February was in 2011 with 84.0mm. It also makes this February the third wettest month since January 2010.
Winter Rainfall & Wettest Months 2010 - 2020
It’s rather worrying that thanks to last week’s storm Ciara we’re already past that amount and we are only half way through the month. I thought that this winter would be easily the wettest I've recorded but it isn't the case just yet. It's currently in third place but with a couple of weeks to go to the start of meteorological spring it might yet manage to move into number one position. 
However, the wet and windy weather has meant that temperatures have remained on the mild side. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to this weather.

Checking back through my records, March 2011 was a cold sunny month following on from that very wet February and we managed to catch up on our jobs at the allotment. We haven’t visited the allotment much at all this month and, should the weather continue into March, we will have an extremely late start to the gardening season. The greenhouse at home has survived Ciara and Dennis intact and I was pleasantly surprised when I popped in to check for any damage to find our apricot was in full flower.
Apricot - Flavourcot
It's normally the first of our fruit trees to come into flower. It's hard to imagine there are any pollinating insects around in these wet and windy conditions so Sue headed up to the greenhouse around lunchtime with her pollinating brush.
All outdoor gardening activities continue to be on hold until we get some improvement in the weather and both the garden and allotments can start to dry up before any sowing or planting is due to take place.

Posted by Martyn at 10:10 0 comments

Monday, 10 February 2020

Storm Ciara Gone and Good Riddance

Storm Ciara was at its worst here through the morning with gale force winds and heavy rain. The rain was worse than the winds and by the end of the day Sunday had become our second wettest day of the last 10 years with 40.4mm or 1.6in of rainfall.
Rainfall, High Wind Speeds and Temperature Records 09 February 2020
The worst of the storm was at 11:00am as the 'Squall Line' passed through. The temperature plummeted by 5°C, the highest wind speed of 31mph was recorded and the rainfall intensity for a few minutes was 77.8mm/hr or 3.1in/hr. Luckily for us it didn't remain at that intensity for more than a few minutes but certainly it did in other parts of Yorkshire resulting in some serious flooding.
By the end of the day the day's rain came to 40.4mm (1.6in) making it our second wettest day of the last 10 years.
Top 20 Wettest Days 2010-2020
Luckily we've avoided any damage from the wind and rain although we haven't checked for any damage at the allotment. A month's worth of rain in one day will not have done much to help the allotment dry out.

Rather worrying though this is the forecast for Thursday.
Forecast from https://www.tameteo.com/modeles/en-royaume+uni-ecmwf-94.htm
The wind doesn't look to be an issue but it looks like more heavy rain or possibly even snow!

Posted by Martyn at 10:52 2 comments

Sunday, 9 February 2020

Storm Ciara Arriving

It's been windy and wet up to 10:00am on Sunday morning even before the arrival of storm Ciara. The worst of the storm is expected over the next 12 hours with the strong winds continuing on into Monday.
Rainfall, High Wind Speeds and Temperature Records 09 February 2020
The rainfall so far is 19.6mm (0.77in) the highest daily rainfall this year and it's forecast to continue raining for most of the day. There already reports of flooding in North Yorkshire. Whilst it's been very blustery we've had stronger gusts this month although the worst of the storm force winds are yet to arrive.  
Needless to say we have no intentions of visiting the allotment today. After a few days of reasonable weather the plot was probably beginning to dry out a little bit but after all today's rain it will be back to square one.

Posted by Martyn at 10:31 2 comments

Friday, 7 February 2020

Frosty with Gales to Come!

We had just one day when the temperature fell below 0°C (32.0°F) in January. February has started off fairly mild too but we’ve already had a couple of below 0°C mornings this week. Not anything serious but cold enough to remind us that it is still winter.
Temperature Records 05-07 February 2020
It looks as though next week is going to provide us with the worst weather of winter so far. Beginning on Sunday we are set for a week of stormy weather with gale to storm force winds accompanied with heavy rain and the possibility of snow showers. 
Forecast from https://www.tameteo.com/modeles/en-royaume+uni-ecmwf-94.htm
The weather model forecast above is from the ECMWF weather model for Sunday at mid day and, yes we are somewhere under that purple colouring indicating very heavy rain accompanied by gale force to storm force winds.

On a brighter note our main seed order from Kings seeds arrived a few weeks ago but we still had to sort out our potato varieties for this year. Our local garden centre always holds a potato day around this time of year. It’s possible to buy individual potato tubers and so we take the opportunity to buy 4 tubers of six varieties we either haven’t grown before or haven’t grown for a good number of years.

This year we’re trying Gemson, Maris Piper, Mayan Rose, Pentland Javelin, Sarpo Una, and Ulster Prince.
Trial Potato Varieties Chitting In Egg Boxes 
For our main crop this year we are growing Apache, Casablanca, Elfe, International Kidney, Nadine, Osprey and Rudolph.
Main Potato varieties Casablanca, Elfe, International Kidney and Osprey
These have all been set out to chit in the summerhouse covered with fleece as some protection against night time frosts. We’ll be planting some early roots up in bags and boxes towards the end of February but our main potatoes won’t be going into the ground until the beginning of April. Well that's the plan!



Posted by Martyn at 10:42 4 comments
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