The Weather Thread - Storms! Floods! Snow! Sun!?

[Stuart Wallis]

Good old Tory Lords - the one set of people who make me feel sane by comparison. Baron Ian Levine of Telos, anyone...?

[Nyder]

Well at least no-one's blaming gay marriage any more!

[Philipnet]

Well at least no-one's blaming gay marriage any more!

I can't believe that even came up!

[Stuart Wallis]

It's been blamed for everything else.

[SiHart]

It was a really rough night last night. High winds- big branch down from one of the pine trees in the garden. This morning's drive to work I saw several trees down all over the town, including one down outside the library, plus lots of missing/ down fence panels and a whole lot of debris blowing around.

Hope you're all safe.

[Nyder]

I thought I wasn't going to get back from Wimbledon as night as all the trains started to become delayed / cancelled. A very windy night here in SW London but no damage to report!


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[Wayne]

Hope you lot down south are ok.
It's pretty windy up here in the Midlands but seems like things are really bad further south....
Just read of a woman killed in London by falling masonry, and a facebook friend was on a train the ploughed into a tree that had been blown down onto line. Miraculously, no-one was hurt apparently.
The worst we've had here is a few wheelie bins being blown about, but it's pretty gusty.
Similarly, we've had lots of rain but no sign of the severe flooding that has affected other parts of the country in Nottingham.

[MacNimon]

Same up here...very windy, rain then heavy snow yesterday although there was no chance of it lying because of the amount of rain beforehand...if it had froze though, we'd have been in bother!

Tiles off the roof though, the exact same ones which were replaced just over a year ago which suggests shoddy workmanship to me...

Things have calmed down though, it's pretty nice this morning.

[Mike Saville]

I feel very sorry for Environment Agency and they are being scapegoated. They weren't the ones who built unsuitable housing on a flood plain below sea level. My partner Rascal works for them, and the Lack of cooperation they've had from local authorities, land owners, the water companies and others who weren't prepared to commit funds or resources to prepare for these eventualities is staggering. Some land owners have even charged EA for access to their land, which she has discussed with me long before this happened.

The big problem with multi agency responsibility is there is too much opportunity to point fingers and deny their share of the burden or accountability.

[Stuart Wallis]

Certain flood defence work that started in Essex in November has had to be halted for the moment because of flooding.

Heard some sinister creaking in the flat last night. Luckily it turned out to be the trees swaying in the wind, which are thin but still standing.

[Rob McCow]

too much opportunity to point fingers

How DARE you allow these floods to happen?! We only cut your budget by 40%!

I'm surprised the press haven't blamed the Romanians and Bulgarians for this - the additional weight of all these immigrants has clearly caused the south of England to sink.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm sure the Daily Mail is making up the typeface as I write, Steve.

[Stuart Wallis]

I'm amazed they haven't accused the French for putting a wind machine and a running tap at their end of the Chunnel...

[Rob McCow]

Apparently our Prime Minister personally refused assistance from the Dutch in dealing with our flooding crisis.
Also - http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...oil-protection

Almost as soon as it took office, this government appointed a task force to investigate farming rules. Its chairman was the former director general of the National Farmers' Union. Who could have guessed that he would recommend "an entirely new approach to and culture of regulation … Government must trust industry"? The task force's demands, embraced by Paterson, now look as stupid as Gordon Brown's speech to an audience of bankers in 2004: "In budget after budget I want us to do even more to encourage the risk takers."

Six weeks before the floods arrived, a scientific journal called Soil Use and Management published a paper warning that disaster was brewing. Surface water run-off in south-west England, where the Somerset Levels are situated, was reaching a critical point. Thanks to a wholesale change in the way the land is cultivated, at 38% of the sites the researchers investigated, the water – instead of percolating into the ground – is now pouring off the fields.

Farmers have been ploughing land that was previously untilled and switching from spring to winter sowing, leaving the soil bare during the rainy season. Worst of all is the shift towards growing maize, whose cultivated area in this country has risen from 1,400 hectares to 160,000 since 1970.

In three quarters of the maize fields in the south-west, the soil structure has broken down to the extent that they now contribute to flooding. In many of these fields, soil, fertilisers and pesticides are sloshing away with the water. And nothing of substance, the paper warned, is being done to stop it. Dated: December 2013.

Maize is being grown in Britain not to feed people, but to feed livestock and, increasingly, the biofuel business. This false solution to climate change will make the impacts of climate change much worse, by reducing the land's capacity to hold water.

[Mike Saville]

Yup. Once again the tax payer will pick up the tab of damage caused because of reckless abandonment or disregard for common sense standards and practices because 'regulation stifles industry'. And I bet after it's over we'll hear from those same poor farmers about how they've been effected by the flooding and we should give them even more money to compensate them.

[Rob McCow]

The thing that sickens me is that it's presented that the flooding is an inevitable effect of global climate change. It's not! We could fix it easily! This is stupid!

[Jon Masters]

Yup. Once again the tax payer will pick up the tab of damage caused because of reckless abandonment or disregard for common sense standards and practices because 'regulation stifles industry'. And I bet after it's over we'll hear from those same poor farmers about how they've been effected by the flooding and we should give them even more money to compensate them.

Apart from the implied bias about giving crops to animals (hey, herbivores convert plant material far more efficiently than humans do), the other thing you KNOW will happen is a massive hike in food prices later this year 'because of all the flooding damage'

What burns my goat is all those clamouring for dredging would explode if the cost of it was attached to their council tax bills (hey, local problem - local funding)

[Philipnet]

And there will still be a hosepipe ban in the summer

[Philipnet]

They heavens just opened - and there was a mighty downpour.




But now it's stopped

[MacNimon]

It's sods law, isn't it...great weather during the week while you're stuck at work and can't appreciate it, and come the weekend when you can, what's forecast? Rain! For the 3rd weekend in a row!

I hope the trend doesn't continue into next weekend, we've got a BBQ planned with over 30 friends and family coming along...could be a bit of a problem if it's chucking it down!

[Dirk Gently]

No rain in Glasgow please! I'm enjoying the Games too much.

[Mike Saville]

Whereas this miserable curmudgeon is praying for rain and storms to clear this air and I am able to take some of this unbearable heat.

Pal of mine is cycling from Gateshead to Southern Italy, and I'm not sure if he prefers this heat, or the rain and foot of standing water he was cycling through this time last week.

[Philipnet]

It's looking good right now

We'll see if it lasts

[Jon Masters]

Lots of lightning and thunder this morning from about 6am - lost the power until about 10ish, and its popped off a couple of times since.
Plenty of flooding on the roads too - had fun picking up number 2 son from camp !

It's already getting hot again now though

[Nyder]

I escaped to Leeds today, so when I return darn sarf later this evening, I expect to see my alarm clock winking at me - proof positive that there's been a power cut or three!