A Drop or Two of Rain

For once the forecast of heavy rain proved to be correct - an inch of rain in a few hours this morning.



I received a weather picture from The NOAA 19 weather satellite a couple of hours after the rain. Plenty of cloud cover!



The actual signal shows on the right hand side of the screen grab. On the left are the two pictures as they are transmitted, visible light on the left and IR picture on the right. These are then combined in software and false colour added to give a final picture:



I am receiving clearer signals now the weather satellite aerial in mounted on top of my mast.



At one stage during the downpour I noticed the flooding in the garden was getting too close to the robot mower ...



... so it was on with the wellies and out for a quick paddle. Fortunately the water hadn't reached the batteries or circuits. As the ground is nowhere as saturated as it was a couple of months ago the flooding is already subsiding.

Temperatures

As you may have gathered I am fascinated by all aspects of our weather systems.
Once the satellite map information has been decoded it is possible to see the recorded temperatures as I move the mouse over the map.

From NOAA 19 at 08.10 this morning (BST)



While the ground temperature here (where the salmon coloured cross is on the map) is about 19C the air higher up is in the region of 10C. To the south of the ROI the red / black heavy rain area shows cloud temperatures ranging from -30C to -60C. No wonder the temperature at ground level can drop so sharply in a heavy rainstorm. I assume that area is the one which is forecast to bring heavy showers to Lincolnshire later this afternoon.

Tomorrow's Rain?

I see the Met Office is predicting some heavy showers for tomorrow.
BBC Weather predicting possible electrical storms tomorrow afternoon for E Midlands.

Is this what is on the way? (the red area)



Captured from the 08.22 (BST) pass of NOAA 19

 

NOAA 18 (11.37 BST)

Storm Ciara squall

When Storm Ciara crossed the UK on Sunday there were several lines of squalls.
One passed over here.

From my weather records on Wunderground:



The top graph shows the temperature dropping from 14.7C to 7.1C as it passed through.

 

The rate of rainfall reached  50mm / hour (about 2 inches per hour).
Fortunately the squall passed through in about 15 to 20 minutes.

How it looked through my kitchen window:



There were lots of reports of Lincolnshire roads bring blocked by falling trees.
Talking to J, a dog walker we often meet, he had a narrow escape.
As he drove out of the small estate behind me a large tree crashed down ahead of him.
Needless to say he decided to go back  home.

One 'heritage' disaster was the 5 sail windmill in Burgh le Marsh losing its sails.
It looks as though the whole rotating section was blown off.
J told me he had heard that the sails were rotating backwards in the high wind.
Found these videos on t'internet.

When the sails started to break up:

The final damage:
 

 

Built around 1844. A working mill until the 1960's
Now owned by the County Council and run by volunteers.
I wonder whether it will be restored.

Wetter

Recent flooding in my back garden had gone down nicely - until more rain arrived late yesterday.
Over an inch of rain in eight hours and still steadily precipitating this morning.
I've seen it far worse than this in the past.
Fortunately the lawn is lower than the building so not a danger to property.

Result


Not all bad though.
Blackbirds love it as it forces the worms to the surface


Just the sort of morning to have a bit of a change to my usual breakfast.
Instead of my daily Weetabix I cracked open a tin of country vegetable soup.
Sliced a burgerless burger bun and covered the slices with Pro Active spread.
Dunked in the hot soup - lovely jubbly.

Wet, Wet, Wet

Today Lincolnshire seems to have taken the brunt of the wet weather.
Possibility of a month's rainfall to be dumped on us in a couple of days.
Quite a few trees down, blocking roads.
A great long list of roads closed by flooding.
Fire and rescue inundated with calls to pump out flood water.

These about sum it up locally:

Garden


Overflowing drain


At least one more day, maybe two, of rain to come this week.
To think a few of days ago there were calls for farmers to take less water from our local rivers as levels were so low. Now many have burst their banks.

Be Still Little Flutter

The four legged boss woke me soon after 5 a.m. this morning. As I blearily opened the back door for her we could both tell it was chucking it down with rain. She poked a nose out, nearly changed her mind but finally decided, yes, it was urgent. Race down the garden like a bat out of Hell. Disappear under the remaining trees for a while. Then back again like a run-away express train. Pause in the kitchen for a quick rub down. Back to bed. Unlike the two legged one who decided it wasn't worth going back to bed as it was less than an hour to his usual getting up time.



For once we had a decent amount of rain. Just over an inch in three hours. It certainly freshened up the general atmosphere and got rid of the stifling heat of the past days for which we were both grateful.

On our mid afternoon walk down the lane I finally found a butterfly, and one which rested for a while. Apart from 'cabbage whites' I have seen very few flutters this Summer and this was the first one to land and rest since last Spring.
A Speckled Wood:



Over the past ten days or so I have kept my eyes peeled when we walk between the tall hedges at the end of the lane. A favourite place this time of year to spot dragonflies. I have seen a few but so far none have landed. All have been too busy zooming about chasing food.

We are fortunate in not having much of a litter problem in this part of the village. Usually a discarded drinks bottle or can, an occasional crisp packet, so this was a more unusual find:



I'm a Red Leicester or Wensleydale fan myself.

A Drop or Two of Rain

It's a good thing yesterday's short sharp shower



only lasted a few minutes as it was falling at the rate of nearly two inches an hour.

In the evening the crescent Moon was visible between the dark clouds:



At the same time visible to the naked eye but more difficult to photograph was Venus:



You may have to click on the picture to see a larger version.
Venus is the small white dot half way down on the right hand side.

Anyone For a Paddle?

Sheesh. Talk about wet. Easter Monday saw about 14 hours of relentless rain. Not a tropical deluge, just non stop from around midnight. I  will not have been alone in this. Here are a few screen grabs from the Government Environment Agency Flood Warning pages:

For England:
 

My nearest river is the River Lud which flows through the market town of Louth about four miles away from here though it looked as though some of the dykes surrounding me were in danger of flooding:



Water flows down from the Lincolnshire Wolds and through Louth which is in a narrow valley so the water level can rise quite rapidly after heavy or persistent rainfall:
 

My back garden had started drying out nicely after the last lot of rain and now:
View from the kitchen window:
 

From the back door:


Finally a short video from three of my cameras:



As the path was well under water I had to wear my wellies when topping up the bird feeders. It looks bad but is still a long way from causing any damage to the building. It has been worse than this just once in the past. The state of the front garden? Fine. The only time that started to flood was when a water main burst at the top of the lane and the lane turned in to a raging torrent.

It looks as though recent inclement weather conditions have damaged my weather station. No rain recorded and the temperature it reports looks to be about 7C too high. It got water logged once before. I had to open it up to empty it out when the drain hole for the rain gauge got blocked. Also the rechargeable batteries may need changing. They don't last for ever.