Sunny and very cold today, with some high clouds. We had a hard, overnight, frost, which saw the thermometer down to -3C, and it's only just above freezing now. Rain will be coming in the next 24 hours, which should turn roads in the north of Scotland into ice rinks. Later in the week, a cold blast will arrive straight from Siberia, and the whole of the UK will be in the grip of frost. The Western Isles will probably come up the least cold, as the air will have travelled across the North Sea and the Minch.
The Southern Hemisphere is buzzing with no fewer than 4 tropical cyclones (hurricanes). Cyclone Laurence is going to do something very unpleasant to Western Australia in just under a week's time. As the forecast stands, this will be at least a category I hurricane which looks like it will make landfall near Port Hedland, between Perth and Broome on the west coast. Cyclone Cleo has resurrected west of Mauritius, and I notice a lot of visits to my TC blog from there. Mauritius is NOT under threat. Another cyclone is traversing the central Indian Ocean between Cocos Island and Diego Garcia, whereas number 4 is making straight for Sri Lanka, north of the equator. Cyclone Ward does not carry strong winds (about force 9 to 10), but as per usual does bring copious amounts of rain.
