View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Sunday 8 February 2009

Sunday 8 February

Bright but hazy and very cold out here. According to the Met Office, the mercury at 11 am stood at -1.9C, after an "overnight" low of -4.2C at 9 am. As I type, the mercury at coldspots Loch Glascarnoch and Tulloch Bridge is still below -7C. Aviemore went down to -14C apparently. Leaving the cold to one side, we're still having the best weather in the country. Southern England is due more snow today, and a winterstorm tomorrow.

The exact opposite in terms of weather is happening in southeastern Australia, where firestorms have claimed more than 80 lives, razing several communities to the ground. Reports quote winds of 60 mph and more fanning the flames. Temperatures have risen to 46C out there - I think I prefer our current frosty weather.

Encouraged by the successful emergency landing in the Hudson River a few weeks ago, two more planes have endeavoured the method. In Australia, a plane successfully landed in shallow water, and its passengers could wade ashore. A plane in Brazil was less lucky, when it was forced down by heavy rain. Although 4 survivors were found, several bodies were found in the wreckage of the aircraft.

8 comments:

  1. We have temps just above freezing today and after 2 days of melting we now have a weather alert due to flooding of the rivers which are jammed with ice right now. Thankfully I'm not where any flooding may occur. Prayers are going out to those in Australia. 'On Ya'-ma

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  2. The weather is beautiful here today. I took a jog earlier, which was amost impossible for days. Australia is a very lovely place, but that is horrid. I hope they have done something(if something can be done) to control the situation.
    ~Mary

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  3. Sorry to hear you are experiencing such frigid temps. We, on the other hand, are having a beautiful day for a change. Almost 60 and windy.

    The fires is Australia are just awful. I saw some footage on the news, it's very sad.

    I am planning on keeping my no fly rule.

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  4. Sorry for the typo, I meant "in" Australia, not is. :(

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  5. The fires in Australia look terrifying, I saw some of them on Andy's TV. The people affected have lost so much. It was warmer here today but got cold by dusk, we have rain now, so hopefully no more of the white stuff! Jeannette xx

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  6. Those Australia wildfires are really horrible. I was appalled at the number of deaths already. We're actually having a warm spell here, and it is very sunny today. I'm glad you aren't having a lot of snow or ice where you are, even though your temps are low right now. Hopefully spring is just around the corner for all of us.

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  7. Thanks Guido for mentioning this still developing natural disaster in my country. Our southern cousins are having a very difficult time of it. Whilst the temps are now cooler at 25C, the fires are still on a large part burning out of control. We need rain and a good amount of it but the weather patterns don't give us this until April.
    Thanks to the other commentors for your prayers and well wishes.
    Petar from Sydney

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  8. Guido those fires in Australia are terrible ~ I heard on TV this morning they could be partly caused by Arson ~ Ally x

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