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Yep, sunny and warm, but not too hot today. I am off work due to a poorliness and am able to really appreciate it. On Sunday I was at a reservoir in the Peak Park clearing japanese knotweed, well for half of the day. Up there it is always wetter and windier but it was lovely. In fact I think grey clouds make the scenery more beautiful and dramatic. I hope everyone elseis having a lovely day.
There have been four very interesting postings since I last posted here. Our sincere thanks to those who generously share their time with us, whether it be regularly or occasionally.
Somebody might be kind enough to put me right on this one, as I feel that I might be behind the times. When I receive a comment to my posting I always make the effort to at least acknowledge. Generally that closes that posting. Noticing that some comments are not being acknowledged, I wonder if this has become the norm. Your opinion on this possible change will be appreciated.
Of late I have been more interested in the GB weather than what we are experiencing in NZ. Yes, for every preference there is a reason. For a change I have been giving attention to taping and watching GB TV, The attraction being both the Wimbledon tennis and the NZ versus England cricket one day series.
How pleasing that to date the weather at all venues has generally been fine and warm.
The Polar Bast has continued to pound the counrty. It has been super cold, extreemly windy and lots of rain. The irony is that the rain has not fallen in the area where the hyro lakes are. As the lake reserves are low we still are in the position where continuity of power supply is a risk and all users are being asked to save power with adds ruiing on TV daily. Expensive petrol, high food prices and now our power supply is at risk...........all a liitle disturbing....
I am afraid our weather in The Midlands is still springlike. Raining one minute and hot the next. I have no problem with this weather as I am not someone who copes with hot weather. Over the weekend I am out in the fresh aor a lot and hope at least then it will be mild and dry.
Fingers crossed
So how come we can have hurricane winds one day and monsoon rains the next (*)? It's just not fair! It bodes ill for tennis fans too.
(*) OK, I'm exaggerating, but only just! The rain is like a waterfall outside my window right now and my cat doesn't like it at all.
Cheers, Tom.
Well this is the 28th day since the review. There should be a letter today or tomorrow. I am not expecting too much although Mum deserves it. What we will do after receiving the decision I don't know. However we have done all we could.
There is currently a cold spell "polar blast" high winds thunder rain and snow in the south and in the central North Island. Many trucks stranded over night.
Look
All the way from Antarctica.
Early this week very cold southerlies are expected to sweep north across the South Island of NZ with snow showers to sea level in Fiordland, Southland, and Otago, and to near sea level in Canterbury and Kaikoura. A few heavy falls are possible. Later snow is likely down to 400 metres over the southern half of the North Island.
This southerly blast will be unusually cold. Farmers have been warned to shelter stock, and motorists should keep up to date with the latest weather and road conditions. In the wake of the snow a strong westerly flow is likely to bring severe gales and heavy swells to western coasts.
Much more than we were expecting. However, forecasters are often wrong and where there's hope let's keep smiling.
My latest post (today's date) on www.myword.blog.co.uk refers to this groan and moan. We have the mid-season solstice, or rather it came and went last night. Where on earth is the season to go with it? If I lived down-under I suppose this would be mid-winter. It feels and behaves as if it is just that time of year here in the Northern Hemisphere.
I'm here for a moan again, that is after all why I joined the weathercheck group, there's always plenty to complain about with regards to the weather.
I'm currently losing the will to live. The longest day today and it's rained for the whole of it. Went out this afternoon and it showed a temperature of 11.5 degrees on the car thing.
Football has been on TV all night and I mean all flaming night. I hate, hate, hate it. If and when it ever finishes then we've got the cheery old news, followed by Amir Khan boxing - oh joy, what fun. I've read the whole of the internet and am now completely bored, so much so that I even joined up to twitter. What is that all about? What the hell point is there in telling people what an incredibly boring life you're leading every five minutes, by text, IMS or Facebook or any other social networking medium you care to mention when I can do that just as well on here.
Umph, well I'm off to make some more toast now, I polished off a whole bar of chocolate this afternoon and already had 1 piece of toast and now I'm having another. Bothered if I get fat? No. If all I ever get to wear is thick woolly jumpers and big cardigans what is the point of being thin. 
Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold, ,
Or whether the weather be hot, ,
We'll weather the weather, ,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.
----THE END----
It's raining cars cats and dogs here at the moment and looks set to be the same tomorrow
people in the north of england are being warned to glue down their toupees tomorrow (sunday).
apparently, unseasonal gale force winds are on their way.
so it might look a bit like this - though i've looked everywhere in the shops for an umbrella like that, and still haven't found one.
but it will be nice for the start of wimbledon, so that's ok.
My sincere thanks to our two very kind friends who posted the previous two weathercheck stories. I now feel free to make a brief weathercheck posting.
At this mid-winter time of the year we in NZ can expect chilly evenings and very chilly mornings, especially with a huge anticyclone moving in from the south-west, bringing clear skies and calm conditions. At 8 o'clock this morning the air temperature was only 2.1Celsius.
The only possible relief that we can hope for, is the promised rain over the week-end moving in with a low from the tropics to the north. The forecast is for rain setting in tomorrow Saturday, becoming heavy on Sunday, but clearing on Monday. Maybe tomorrow our 2008 mid-winter's day, will find us much more comfortable and we may even stop complaining if that is at all possible.
Detailed Local Forecast:
Today: Cloudy periods. Light wind. Low: 4° High: 15°
Tomorrow: Becoming cloudy, late showers. Freshening northeast. Low: 10° High: 15°
Sunday: Periods of rain. Gusty northerlies. Low: 10° High: 15°
Monday: Rain easing to showers. Gusty westerlies developing. Low: 4° High: 15°
The rain beetles come in and you start seeing spiders in the bath.
It seems to me that creatures always know when to get under cover. There was a threat of a storm the other night and the dog hid behind the couch.
So I have had rain beeetles and spiders already this morning and the rain is predicted to be heavy. Maybe thre should be a sliding scale. One spider=light rain, two and a beetle heavy rain and two plus beetles very very heavy rain?
Softly softly we tread.
We are half-way through June and although we have been having plenty of rain here in the North of England we haven't had anywhere near as much as we had last June.
How will we ever forget the floods of last year? not in a hurry we won't.
I was lucky that I wasn't affected but my daughter had her cellar flooded and was fortunate it didn't reach any higher and this was only because she had a pump bailing out all through the crisis.
She took these pics near to her house and the BBC news used them on their breaking news web-site.
...she even did a live phone interview for the local BBC news station reporting the state of the road outside her house...so even through the trauma of the floods we still managed to have a laugh about her 30 seconds of fame 
The saddest thing about the consequences of the disastrous weather last June is that in Hull there are still many families in temporary accommodaton (i.e mobile homes) twelve months after the event, still waiting for work to be completed on their homes..
So, as I look out the window and frown at the low temperatures, the grey skies and light breeze...I hope it gets no worse and that we don't have a repetition of last year.
BTW...According to the Yahoo Weather web-site I should be basking in the sunshine in 30 degree heat this time next week...and folk wonder why I want to spend my winters out of this country...ooops..i'm in danger of complaining again
How lucky we are. Our four day mid-winter Fieldays Show has been and gone without a single hitch. The weather was unbelievable with not a drop of rain, no more than a gentle breeze, and the daily temperature averaging 15C.
To top it off all time records were set. There were record attendances and a total of over $100 000000 business transactions were achieved.
Some folk may ask why Fieldays is held in mid-winter when there is the likely possibility of howling storms and the like. It is only at this time of the year that the farmers who are the big buyers are able to spare the time. The cows have been dried off, the sheep have been turned out to graze, and the agricultural tasks are minimal.
There was a general feeling beforehand that this year's Fieldays would probably be down on previous years due to the rapid rise in the cost of living. However this was proved to be wrong with rich farmers buying on the spot $76 000 cars leather upholstery and all. With that sort of money the high cost of petrol that we are all screaming about never enters their minds.
Oh well, it's that time of the year again; the side shows (a fun fair) have arrived. All the awnings have been erected, the rides are up and running and the decibels of canned noise are blasting out as always. Just the same as always, our weather has changed...for the worse.
The fair comes up usually twice a year. Without fail, bad weather follows behind and we have to wrap up in waterproofs and warm clothing. We've been lucky to have temperatures of 10 or 11 degrees centigrade this week and with a Northerly wind.
Psychologically, my mind and body tells me it is summer. Physically it is not. I have caved in; I am wearing layers, not under layers in the vest and thermals sense, but top and over layers, like tank tops,tie-up cardigans and jackets. In no way, does the latter replace a coat. A coat is definitely needed.
I wish the side shows a safe speed on their next journey elsewhere,(and soon I hope). 
I think that is how I would describe how it is for us in the Midlands at the moment. Not as variable as some days but it is breezy, occasionally sunny, overcast and cool with moments of warm sunshine.
I had a conversations today about salad. I like salad but the weather has to be hot. Otherwse I like winter food like pie, soups and stews with chunky bread. As a result I have to be cautious when shopping for salad for if the weather changes then I can't face eating it.
Anyone else have this relationship to food?
Isadora's post about signing the weather made me think about some of the words we use for different types of weather. For instance, when I was young, on cold days my family used to say they were 'shrammed.' It was years before I realised that nobody else had a clue what we were talking about.
Then I looked it up in a dictionary and discovered it's an archaic term from the West Country (i.e. Cornwall, Devon and Somerset) meaning 'extremely cold.'
Well I knew about it meaning cold.... I just never knew where it came from.
Does anyone else have any 'special' words for certain types of weather?
Clearly I am posting and commenting far too much in our blog 'weathercheck' - (86 posts and 217 comments). The only reason has been to keep our blog as active as possible.
Here's a move that will need your support to work for the good of all of us. As from now, I will refrain from posting until at least 2 of our 19 members submit their posts. I shall also make sure that I do not comment till at least one other member has done so. If I go back-stage it might be for the benefit of all.
All that is required now is your understanding and your support. In our group we need and we appreciate your posts and your comments as time allows.
Thank you in anticipation.
Britain does not have a CLIMATE it just has WEATHER 
As Skip mentioned in a comment earlier .."there's always something to discuss about the weather"
For sure, it's always a talking-point in Britain but why is that?
Is it something odd about British people? I think not 
it's more the weather that's the point of note.
The UK has some of the most interesting changeable weather in the world. You could have a hot sunny day but then it may rain or become cloudy in a very short space of time and we can often experience four seasons in one day.
This means that you can never rely on it and people are always talking about the changes in the weather. It is difficult to know if a special day will not be spoiled by unexpected rain and drizzle, just how many people have had a wedding or a garden party/barbecue spoiled by unpredictable weather? I for one have been camping in July and August and have had to take refuge on more than one occasion away from my soddened tent and as for the horrible sight on the tele of the poor kids rolling around in the mud at Glastonbury festival ..really we would expect it to be a little bit drier in June!
One plus in the british weather's favour is that you can start a conversation quite easily by referring to the weather!
New visitors to the UK might notice the preoccupation with the weather as it is always a good conversation opener!..For instance in my role as store-greeter I speak to many people during the course of the shift and inevitably the opening line is often with reference to the weather..
i.e
OPENER "This cold spell's going on a bit too long
RESPONSE "I know. We need a bit of sun".
OPENER "I hear it's going to snow later today
RESPONSE "Really, i'd better get my sledge out of the shed later then"
OPENER "Isn't the weather marvellous for the time of year"
RESPONSE "It sure is! I don't know what we've done to deserve it"
OPENER "It's a lovely day, isn't it"?
RESPONSE "Yes, it's glorious".
...... Etcetera, etc. etc.
SO I was thinking.. if it's a national obsession for all of us who are able to speak "naturally" then it is probably the same for the "dumb" members of our society.
Occasionally I have seen customers communicating in sign language as they stroll through the foyer and I would think how good it would be to learn basic sign language so that I could greet them also, but it was only a thought and I never did follow it through.
Perhaps I would have done if I had come across this learning video a few years ago as the lady tutor makes it fun and is so expressive.
I thought it would fit nicely into this post so I have included a link below.
Paula Cox from Sunny Signers (love the name 'Sunny signers') shows how to talk about the weather in British Sign Language.
Don't blame it on the sunshine you can learn these simple phrases today.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-talk-about-the-weather-using-sign-language
I've never really got used to using Celsius to measure temperature. For me it's always been Fahrenheit.... there's something about it that can get me quite excited, especially in summer when the figure nears that magical 100F mark.
And today we managed it! our little garden weather station registered 100F at 1.45pm..... amazing! The paint has even started peeling off the front door.
It's too hot for the dogs - apart from Homer who goes and rolls in the dust and comes in looking very pleased with himself. The others would prefer a snowy day any time.
Wow. It's been the most gorgeous day today. Beautiful sunshine all day. It's 10.00pm now and it's still very light outside and lovely pink stripes in the sky. Mmmm, just how summer should be. I love the light nights.
Here's a tune from last summer. I put it on my blog last year but it's well worth another listen. It's just bright and cheery and just makes me think of summer days every time I hear it.
It's not the brightest of days here in Hamilton NZ as our mid-winter solstice draws ever closer. We had some rain during the night and with low clouds moving in this morning conditions are on the dampish side and rather cool.
At nearly 9am. our outdoor temperature is only 9.5C and in here only 11.7. I guess that the turning on of the oil filled electric heater is way to go if we are to survive.
Warm and sunny in my corner
We have had a lovely spring here, so far. The other day, we had 32 degrees C here, which is quite warm for being in the beginning of June. It is meant to be around 25 degrees tomorrow. We have had almost no rain at all here lately, which has caused bush fires.
Middle of June is the brightest time of the year. The sun rises at 02.46 and sets at 22.43 now and in a couple of weeks we will have 30 more minutes of daylight, but it never gets all dark at this time of year.
Soon enough it will be
at last!
a totally beautiful sunny day.
perfect blue sky, a touch of a sea breeze to cool us, and the opportunity to carefully expose various parts of my body!
the only annoying part of this is that so many people immediately fling off their clothes and there's something about that i find anti-social and disrespectful.
at least i bare my chest in the privacy of my own garden.
anyway - complaint over.
an utterly gorgeous day!
how was it for you??
I was up and about at about six o'clock this Saturday morning. No problem at all as the temperature felt to be up on recent mornings and that it was.
The seven o'clock readings were 13.7C indoors and 9.8C outdoors. Not bad for near mid-winter.
A big weather change is promised??? with gale force winds, heavy rain, and thunderstorms followed by a very cold southerly change.
We'll believe all that if it happens.
Yes, the weather is not too hot and not too cold, for me that is. The sky is cloudy but I don't mind. Looking forward to the weekend when I am at a local carnival selling stuff. Sunshine predicted. Hope it comes.
Most animals naturally respond to environmental changes that we humans often can't detect.
-When ants walk up the wall it's going to rain.
-Seeing cows lying down in the field means it will rain.
-When cats wash behind their ears it will rain.
-When spiders come inside its a sign of rain.
-When birds are flying low, a storm is on the way.
Well?
and it's been raining and pouring for three weeks by now! Talking about "be careful with your wishes, they may come true..."
Oy, the UK medicine people! Thank you very much for the rain clouds, we really needed them here, but that's about enough 
Let's forward them to some dry areas... anybody in the world needs rain?
The city saw light showers on Tuesday evening giving some respite to city residents even as the Met department predicted thunderstorms in the evening. Some parts of Ahmedabad like Rakhial experienced heavy rainfall. Porbander received one centimetre of rainfall.
With monsoon current set to reach Goa in next 48 hours, pre-monsoon activity has begun in Gujarat where people are reeling under temperatures touching 40 degree Celsius.
Weather officials say that reprieve will come in the form of thunder-storms or thunder showers that are likely to occur over places in the state. "Thunder showers or light drizzle is likely to occur over parts of the state in the next 48 hours as part of the pre-monsoon activity," said Mohan Singh Tomar, director of the India Meteorology Department (IMD), Gujarat.
Weather officials said that the monsoon current has reached south Karnataka and is moving along fine. "The current is moving at normal speed and is expected to reach Konkan-Goa in the next 48-72 hours. If it maintains its speed, we are expecting monsoon to set in Gujarat by its normal date June 15," said director (forecasting) Kamaljeet Ray.
In Ahmedabad, the mercury continued to hover around 40 and 40.4 degree Celsius while Vadodara recorded 40 degrees, Rajkot 38.4 degrees and Surat 34.6 degrees.
