Better hope you don't get pulled over.

Yeah, I don't like getting pulled over in those situations. I prefer being pulled in other, more pleasant directions.

Meanwhile, a huge mass of arctic air has been swirled down over Europe and brought remarkable cold. There is sea ice on the Black Sea and in Venice's lagoons.

Yeah, and the Dutch are going to have their famous long distance canal ice skating race for the first time in ages.

Go Hans Brinker!

Snow flurries were hinted at here.
We had a few floating icy drops at lunchtime.

Once you added windchill, our region was supposed to be the coldest in the country.
I had my jacket unzipped in the still air even at 16.00, waiting for the bus.
It just did not feel all that cold. Not warm, but not headline-inducing freeze.

Early warnings issued for significant snowfall on Friday.
Nowhere near me though.
We're just too protected here!

Then again, I remember my fury at the winds in Leicester, and how I couldn't walk anywhere without hair in my face, so I suppose I should be grateful.

Temps still apparently low here, wind from the East (Scandinavia and Russia that way)
We're currently dry with no frost, no snow and no freezing fog. Although the ground is hard frozen, which means I can cut through the churchyard without slipping on the mud.

For those of you watching the US news today, it's nothing but TORNADOS !
At least 96 tornados were reported on Friday, 3/2/12

Mostly, our TV is showing only clips of the devastation in a few hard-hit towns,
but to appreciate what was going on yesterday, maybe this weather map will help...

Here is a link to the Wundermap.com... a customizable website for weather geeks and laymen.

http://www.wunderground.com/wunderma...rtland%2c%20OR

Holy moly. Stay safe, folks.

Tornadoes are scary because they're so sudden. At least with hurricanes and cyclones you get warning. These buggers leap on you with maybe two minutes notice if you're lucky.

I was glad to see Grav post here today, after hearing of the tornado destruction in KY.

Yeah, its been crazy down there.

snowing Tues. 60 deg today.

OMG rain. Rain rain rain.

It has been raining almost nonstop for a week and a half. I mean, yes, we wanted to put a definitive end to the drought, but dammit. My backyard is up to 4 inches deep in some places.

Ahh, Clod, I know that scene. Very familiar one here. We have a pome about it.

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/author.../hanrahan.html

Happy Vernal Equinox to everyone...

Spring in PDX is the appearance of daffodils and triliums.

Record high temps here in Burlington yesterday and today. Nearly 80, and hardly a cloud in the sky.

April 12 was when the baseball season started. It was also the day that leaves came out on trees.

Well they keep advancing Opening Day. But the weather keeps advancing even faster. Yesterday, the first leaves have sprung from some trees. Baseball is going to have to start their season weeks earlier.

We should go straight from football to baseball. Skip basketball altogether.

The trees on campus are all flowery. And it's only March.

Warmth and sunshine has the awful neighbours outside, where their noises bother me more. Curse you, spring.
On the bright side I had quite a nice little walk this afternoon.

Carrot had a nice play in mum's garden this aft. Spring has sprung.

You reminded me of my favorite spring poem, Blueflare.

Posting a little early this year:

Spring
By Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892–1950


To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Spring has definitely sprung here. My lawn was covered with Hispanic gentlemen yesterday, edging all of the beds. They have to come back for the mulching.

As I was driving around today, I saw a couple of spectacular dogwoods, and there is greenery erupting on the willows.

Do they intend to grow roots like flowers? Or just visit like insects?

They prefer the term mariposas.

On the evening of the equinox, a cool wet southerly swept the summer hot air away, and we've had cool showery weather since.

Well, we'd been getting southerly fronts every couple of weeks or so all summer, but this one was quite well timed.

We had summer, last summer, then fall, then summer again.

Eff this. Where's my spring?

It's buried under the sloshy-wet, overnight snow here in PDX.

Daffodils look sad, camillias all doubled over, car tracks... not pretty.

Pray for sun

It's HOT here in the Ohio valley! Too hot by far for measly old March
April is supposed to be all minty and diamonds dripping from fresh
spring rains on eerily green-glowing leaf babies...

It's all mixed up as it is July now. Grrrrrrrr.

Very warm for the last week here.

Started pouring an hour ago. Like the clouds have no bottom.

Yay...we're supposed to get rain starting after midnight and some of tomorrow. Probably not enough. If I don't get spring then give me thunderstorms NOW!

Some areas just north of us (where ducksnuts now lives) had 9 inches of rain from 9am to 7pm yesterday.

It's been raining a lot in Qld this summer.

Sorry guys. I put some grass seed down on a big bare patch in the front yard a few days ago. So we won't be getting any rain on the East Coast for the next month.

Rainy. Wow Ali - is ducks flooding????

You need rain? Just ask. I'll leave my sunroof open tonight. Guaranteed. It might only be a light shower. But it will rain.

Some charlatans actually charge money to make rain.

Ducks can swim.

Nice weather, if you're a duck! [/time-wornsaying]

She's ok. Just a big cranky pants over it all. :)

don't mind if I do

Bravo! I was chair dancing. Love it.

Please report in Dani!

I know you were safe last night because you were posting, but do update us on the weather.

As far as your photos suggest, you live high on a hill. But your part of the world has been battered.
Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd - about 8-12 miles away and featuring on the national news. Okay they're the other side of Halifax, but if I was that close to flooding I would be concerned.

Are you going to get on the bus to help with the dampness? ;)

Ahehe. Nah, we fine in Northowram. Heavy winds and lot of rain, but nothing too bad. Half expecting Ma's house to flood at any time though. It's built into a hill, so the damp comes through the back wall, and if the hill becomes waterlogged it might flood like it did a few years ago.

We could use some of your rain. Where are my summer storms? It's just hot and muggy. Alerts on electronic highway signs "Air advisory...carpool" and I'm like "not possible" as I'm driving into this airless smelly City of Smog.

They have flood sirens in Dana's part of the world. Adapted from the old air raid sirens.
(Hmmmm, that might be a poor comparison - did you ever have air raid sirens in the US?)

Must be terrifying to hear them.
Ooh! Found this on YouTube. Todmorden is close to Dana, as above.
Although this clip is of a test they were sounded this week...

Yeesh. That's a shiver down the spine sound alright. Haven't had any of that on my side of the valley.

But I know they'reve been bailing out shops and schools in Hebbers.


Glorious sunshine out there right now. Yesterday you couldnt see for the rain. half expected to see animals marching two by two.

Glad the weather calmed. Today was when the Olympic torch came through Halifax. Via the Bradford road, which took it along the outskirts of my village and past Stump Cross at the bottom of the hill, where my Bro and his family live.

Local radio took a roving report from our Sophie, who was stationed in town at the Piece Hall for the ceremonial stuff.

Quite exciting really.

Yes we had 'em. All over.

By the time I came along, they weren't 'air raid sirens' anymore. For a lot of years the old air raid siren, on the city square, was sounded every Friday at noon. We could hear it waaaay out in the county. Took forever to wind up/down.

Now, we have tornado sirens that blare the first Monday of the month at noon, and also when there's a tornado in the area. They're called COWS, County-wide Outdoor Warning Siren/System, wtfe.

Attachment 39253

I'm ready for Tropical Storm Debby to move her ass. Elsewhere.

In our town (Martin, TN) too, the siren blew at noon each day,
and was also the call to the volunteer fire dept.
With 1,2,3, or 4 blasts, volunteers from all over would head to that section of town
to meet up with the fire truck and it's 1 full-time paid fireman/driver.
That was back when the phones were still party line,
so word spread quickly whenever the siren blew.
It was a small town then, and fires were quite frequent.

as for the weather... it's cold and rainy, *again* today. I really want to get out and work in the yard, but it is just too miserable to do so. *grumblegrumble*


I must also say, I'm happy I am not on fire or under flood, so... thanks for that.

My county just instituted a burn ban because of the drought/dryness. That means no more drinking a few beers by the fire in our new firepit at night...:(

But they can't ban fireworks!

Yeah, it sucks. I want rain! :(

Betcha they can :p

Here let me send you some of ours. We have gallons of the stuff.

No, the county actually said they can't. The fireworks lobby is pretty tough here in Indana.

There is a song in there somewhere, dana, about sending me a bucketful of rain. Maybe ill compose it tomorrow when my mind is quicker and my fingers get to be nimbler.

As to IN that is so true. Everyone knows you go to IN for the good fireworks!

Yeah, but that only started in 2006, when they finally made fireworks legal. When I was growing up, the best fireworks came from Kentucky...;)

You mean KY used to be good for something?

Kidding grav, I love me some kentucky...it is beeyooteeful!

They'll ban fireworks during declared droughts as soon as a fireworks show is somehow responsible for a brush or forest fire... a wayward rocket , a still-smoldering bit of stuff, a tinder-dry patch of road grass and thou...

Make sure it has a good rhythm for the people on the bucket chain :p

They most definitely will be, and they most definitely will.

Colorado is turning into a crispy critter from the Front Range (Colorado Springs, Denver, Ft. Collins, etc.) to the Western Slope where I now reside. We had a big fire just 16 miles from here with evacuations and much loss of property - about 9,000 acres burned, I think.

I am stunned at the reports and pix from my old hometown(s) of Manitou Springs/Colorado Springs. Almost everyone I know from the old days has been impacted in some way. The entire town of Manitou was under evacuation orders until yesterday and now they're evacuating much of the US Air Force Academy situated northwest of Colorado Springs.

And the fire season is only beginning here in the West. June isn't even over yet and we still have July, August, and September to go. We are all praying for rain, but the forecast is for continued record breaking temps. Cortez hit 100 degrees yesterday when the norm for that date is 90. :thepain:

http://www.gazette.com/articles/blaz...fire-side.html

So glad to see you posting again SamIam.