A mighty wind

[gavin]

Even here in middle England it's been blowing a hoolie tonight …

So pleased that your time up here wasn't wasted!

Don't worry about Aonach Mor. Its often like that there. The hoolie has now arrived here.

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[Trog]

Even here in middle England it's been blowing a hoolie tonight … a roof had lifted on a stack of supers strapped up in the garden and the rain was so strong at one point the FreeSat signal cut out. Having read the post from Trog I checked the BBC website for weather on Mull …
Attachment 1937
… with no symbol (the two dashes), low temperatures, 45mph winds, 100% humidity and visibility "not applicable" I don't really think I've got anything to grumble about. Hope it's all OK.

Pressure's been dropping like a stone since teatime and the reason there's no observation is probably because the observer can't see for rain ... or they've been blown over! Still got power and internet, though

[snimmo243]

I left Glasgow an hour ago the scaffolding at queen st station wad taking a battering, seemed to be similar all way back to Edinburgh. I've just finished work heading out to car park and there is but a mild breeze in central edinburgh

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[greengumbo]

It was howling from about 6pm last night up here. Our holly tree was bent double and I'm not sure how the newly planted cherry will have done. Hives all okay though. Was dodging gorse bushes that had been uprooted along the road on the way back from work though.

[Trog]

I've never seen the pressure drop that fast before ... rose at a similar rate around 3am. That was a wild, wild night. A eucalyptus snapped at the apiary and could easily have flattened several hives. However, all it did was to shift a twinstock sideways by 6 inches and, thanks to our readily-propolising bees, the whole thing stayed intact; the floor didn't shift at all, just moved with the rest of the hive!

[Jon]

Just went up to do Oxalic treatment on 10 colonies I have at my allotment to discover the mighty wind had blown down a pallet fence on top of a couple of hives. A hive and a poly nuc had been knocked off their stands but both were upright and had not come apart so no harm done I think.

[wee willy]

Definately no dead bees on flagstones under hive stands
The gales have done a good clean up job!
WW


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[gavin]

Time to give you food for thought as it has been a little quiet on here today. That Mighty Wind business, are we experiencing more than normal?

It turns out that winter winds are strongly associated with the state of the NAO, the North Atlantic Oscillation. Maybe that shouldn't be surprising as the NAO reflects the state of the pressure systems over the N Atlantic, which themselves drive the winds. Anyway, see how close they are:


(from this presentation: http://www.gl-garradhassan.com/asset..._in_the_UK.pdf)

Unlike the El Nino Southern Oscillation, the NAO is less regular and periodic (and thankfully probably less dramatic). When the NAO is high we tend to get westerlies and when it is low the low pressure systems head further south and we get cold air. There was an exceptionally negative phase of the NAO (coupled with an El Nino warm phase which adds to the effect) in 2009-2010 which brought us that very cold winter. If I'm understanding this right:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_oscillation

the strongly negative phase of the NAO also warmed the Canadian side and thence the Arctic sea ice melted more than usual the following summer. That in turn drives cold air into Western Europe the subsequent winter, prolonging the run of cold winters. Where that leaves us now in 2013-2014 I've no idea.

PS John, do you have Scottish ancestors? That is definitely a Glaswegian phonetic spelling of the word!

Definately no dead bees on flagstones under hive stands

[Bridget]

Arrived back from the south last night to find no power. Quick trip round the hamlet confirmed we were alone in the dark so quick call to the hydro who, once they had worked out where we live, said Colin was on his way. Colin duly turned up 30 mins later, notable for his shaven head adorned only with a head torch, power back on in 15 mins after a trudge to the transformer, in the wind and snow. Great work these cheerful electric boys do in rubbish conditions. Of to the next job in the dark and cold. We didn't even have to cook our tea on the WOOD burner this time. :0)
Dog and I woken at 5.30am by a tree which lost a limb last week finally falling over.
PS Colin says they have been warned to expect another big storm Monday/Tuesday - so the one forecast for today will just be a small one then. Good!


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[fatshark]

Going by this lot …
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… last night was the worst yet. However, nothing compared to Wales and the North West I suspect.