Rough weather

Better inside than out.

As I write the wind is again wuthering round the chimney stack and rain lashing against the windows, as we receive the current storm hurled across the Atlantic by the jetstream. Here in eastern North Yorkshire we have got off comparatively lightly from the effects of this winter's weather, the brunt of it being relieved for us by the southern and western parts of these islands. A friend's Facebook post this morning drew my attention to a remarkable animation of the weather systems in the North Atlantic for the past couple of months, from the surfers' webpage magicseaweed.com. It is well worth watching (here), as it gives a very dramatic idea of what has come this way. With the jetstream apparently fixed in a standing wave across North America, between warm air and the polar air mass, it seems that we are set for a continuation of the same for some time to come, presumably until returning Spring warms up the landmasses. I use the BBC weather pages for day-to-day weather information, but find it very helpful to look at what the jetstream is doing on netweather.com's jetstream forecast page. This long run of lows is of course the opposite of the extended cold easterly flow we endured last spring, and of the two I prefer the westerlies. But they have caused a lot of trouble and damage that takes longer to fix than a delayed spring.

The Settringon Beck, outside my house, in spate after a downpour. Being close to its source it rises and falls very rapidly, soon returning to its normal narrow bed.

A serious casualty of wind on Wednesday: an enormous Tilia platyphyllos in the Castle Howard avenue crashed down across the entry to the Yorkshire Arboretum. Its partner in the avenue for three hundred years was removed (being rotten) in January and the gap let the wind in. Pic by Anna Porter.

The dismembered lime-tree on Thursday, when the size of the tree was more easily appreciated. These main trunks are 20 m long. Luckily nobody was around as it came down.

Between depressions have been calm, bright and quite mild days; Galanthus elwesii 'Comet' flowering here on Friday.

A good dinner makes one forget the storms - a fig frangipane for friends last Saturday:

and so does a nice fire, here burning the cones of Pinus x schwerinii.