Searching near and far,
Still no sign, looks like,
My sunshine has run away.
Where or where, could it have gone?
I won't stop looking, till it's found.
Clouds all around, rain drops abound,
But no sign, of my lovely sunshine.
Going to go the east, then west,
Until I finally find, just what happened,
To my glowing, flowing sunshine.
Now, if by chance, you see it first,
Be sure to let my sunshine know,
That I will be there soon,
No matter how long it takes.
Meanwhile, you may totally enjoy,
The beauty, of my delightful sunshine.
8.30.08
hlm

Yesterday, Friday 29th August 2008, I thought I had a temperature. I removed my coat. Even with just an open blouse - instead of a cardigan - covering my sleeveless tee top, I was hot. Heavens, the weather could genuinely be described as hot here in the far north.

Today, Saturday 30th August, the day was temperate again; I just wished I could have enjoyed more of the outdoors, other than going shopping and putting washing out, to collect it during the mellow early evening. I think a change to wet weather is forecast for tomorrow, just when we've made plans to take advantage of the day. I reckon we will be changing our plans fairly quickly.

Meet Jim, our New Zealand TV1 weather-man.

Spring is in the Air.

In many parts of NZ we have lots of winter snow. Last week it was reported that in parts of the South Island, snow was 6 to 7 metres deep. The most snow ever recorded.

Now the big question is - whatever happened to that BIG 'Global Warming' political scare?

That nasty scare certainly falsely justified the imposition of more and more taxes.

The BIG problem is that once taxes are imposed by Government Legislation they remain, regardless of the uncovering of all the political lies.

Yes, they certainly have hold of us by the proverbial you know what.

Oh, if only a a witch or a wizard could place a curse of the itchiest chilblains and the most severe frostbite on every guilty politician.

After being promised sunshine for the bank holiday weekend, I know realise the weather men lied....again. So when I awoke this morning to discover that the mountain opposite was shrouded in mist, it was hard to feel must enthusiasm. No sitting in the garden for a start - why do firms make parasols for the sun when we never seem to have any? THey'd do much better to make effective umbrellas.

Nor is this a recent phenomenon. Mr Penry remembers childhood Augusts watching his local sheepdog trials and getting drenched year in, year out.

But back to the mountain and the mist. There's a lovely old folk song that begins:

On a misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I met with an old man,
Clothed all in leather,
He was clothed all in leather
With a cap beneath his chin
Singing how-de-do and how-de-do and how-de-do again.'

So I sighed, shrugged, said 'How de do' and went back to bed for an hour. Alas, the mist was still there when I got up again....

Tropical Storm Fay has now been downgraded, to a tropical depression, but the rain is still falling heavily. The storm made four landfalls
into Florida, starting in Key West. It is now over Tallahassee, Florida, where rain has fallen, reportedly, at a rate of five inches per hour, for a total of twenty-two inches of rain. Sixty people had to be rescued from their homes. A total of twelve fatalities in Florida so far, and twenty-four in the Caribbeans. The depression is headed toward Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The thought was, that this was not going to be too bad, because it was not a hurricane. Now in hindsight, this was very bad.

Enjoy!

....and is coming out to play!

As requested by skip

Enjoy!

Rumour has it that in some parts of Britain the sun has made an appearance but here in my part of Yorkshire we still live in hope.
Tomorrow they forecast it may put in an appearance
So as i'm bored with posting about the rain (York races prestigious race meet was cancelled early on this week, due to water-logging) i'll play you a lovely track..one you all will know.

Well thankfully, the Tropical Storm Fay made landfall, without becoming a hurricane. It did spawn a tornado which blew away a barn, but did not harm the horse inside. The rain and wind are still going to take a while to move out of Florida, hopefully without any loss of life.

There is terrible flooding, now in the state of Oklahoma, residents had to be rescued from their cars.

There are still eleven people missing in the Grand Canyon, after torrential rains and the breaking of a dam in the area. The officials said, that the eleven people may have been swept downstream, or they may have left on Saturday, and not know that they have been reported as unaccounted for.
Eighty-three more people were rescued from below the rim of the canyon, who were part of an Indian tribe who lived there.

Have a great day. be thankful for all things, it could be worse.

Tropical Storm Fay is headed for the Florida Keys, the center of the storm is 100 miles from the Keys. Evacations are taking place in Florida. Forecasts afe that the storm will arrive in Tampa with 70 mile an hour winds.

The Grand Canyon has suffered flood damage, with rain washing out foot paths, and trail bridges. More rain is expected with possible further flooding. One-hundred and seventy people were rescued from the flood area.

Over and out.

Upon reading Skip's weather reports from snow-covered NZ I would like to smirk lightly and announce how nice and sunny it is on the opposite side of the globe. After all, we are in the middle of summer.

But it is not meant to be.

My summer holidays: Central Europe
1. Electric storms, lightnings and thunders - a daily occurance;
2. Twisters uprooting trees and lifting house roofs to new heights; turning over lorries and sweeping domestic beasts off their hooves - frequent enough for people to take for granted;
3. Hail the size of your fist accompanying regular downpours on the scale of the Great Flood - yep, any time!
4. Moments of scorching sunshine frying your brains and making you sweat profusely - sandwiched between storms and floods.

If that's North Europe - then I am Japanese.

We are prepared for a 'wrap up well' day. The forecast is for a southerly from the Antarctic moving all the way north over NZ. The official temperature here in Hamilton(NZ)at 6am was 7C and here we are 3 hours later and the reading has dropped to 6C.

Let us be grateful for small mercies.

I have just got up to an overcast and cool morning and the wind is getting up. I don't mind a bit. The coolness means I will get something done in the garden and which is very much in the same state as the house - a total mess. I do like blue skies but appreciate any daylight I can get after working nights for eighteen years.

Besides, I like to watch the trees dancing about, it's not right that they be completely still like they are sometimes.

No play today - maybe no play this week!

The quality of the photos aren't very good but they reflect the weather conditions at the time (the morning of the 14th), that of being dark, glum and overcast. 
The hens in the garden next door to us seem to be contemplating how they are going to get around the puddle and mud that has appeared on their patch.

We have had numerous heavy showers over the last couple of days and at one point it didn't look like the drains were coping.  Fortunately the alert has passed but there has been intermittent showers forecast for the forseeable future .

A very warm welcome to Anna. We look forward to your comments and hopefully some posts about your weather. Please don't look upon the weather suggestion as a restriction.

Skip.

PS - A warm welcome also to Zappy597. I have only now received the very good news of her joining our weathercheck group.

I am afraid I have been away for far too long. Busy season has ended until the end of September but home life has been hectic.

I have removed the rest of this as it was mostly about what was happening between the weather.

Hope skip doesn't mind. I can alays put it back.

Take care all.

I went for a short 3 mile country walk today with friends risking rain and sunburn all in one day. Luckily the rain held off and the sun shone enough for me to go in my shirt sleeves.We were about 20miles from home and home had a massive shower. My MiL didn't believe me when she asked had I been caught in it that I had mised it.

With all the rain we have had lately everything was lush and bright. I love the way the raindrops sit on leaves and branches waiting to drip on you if you even breathe on them.

Good job I don't mind a bit of rain because the forcast is for more of the wet stuff.

Skip's post The wonder of clouds reminds me that I'm member 3389 of The Cloud Appreciation Society.

Menhir's comment on that entry mentioned a cloud book which is presumably  The Cloudspotter’s Guide which is well worth getting if. like me, you're always looking skyward!

Happy cloud watching!

So many recent posts have been about rain I decided to share this little gem with you all:

The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust stole the just's umbrella

Still talking about the rain! another event due to take place this weekend gets cancelled

Pickering Showground, North Yorkshire
UPDATE: Thursday 9am
Following a site inspection at 8am this morning the site of the Pickering Folk Festival is covered in standing water. It is raining now and more heavy rain is forecast over the next three days so the event has been cancelled in the interests of public safety. The Events Office will be in contact with you after the weekend.
DISCLAIMER: Although every reasonable safeguard is assured, the organisers cannot be held responsible for any alterations, cancellations or postponements to any event or part thereof.

for further info about this (non)event folow this link. http://pickeringfolkfestival.theeventsoffice.co.uk/index.htm

The ironic thing about this is that one of the headlining acts due to appear are called THE WATERBOYS!

I was so lucky with the sunshine at the folk festival the other week so I was particularly disappointed for all the people who I know look forward to these events each year and especially the organisers who put in a lot of long hours and hard work to make these festivals happen.
Despite doing everything humanly possible unfortunately fate really is "in the lap of the Gods"

I haven't been in for a while due to being away on holiday in sunny and wet Yorkshire, frequently at the same time. Rain in Yorkshire is never a problem, the place just looks more lush and beautiful and there is a lot to do for the tourist.

In my part of the uk there has been rain but mostly there is a muggy feel, like waiting for a thunder storm, and the odd shower. A few days ago we had the most lovely rain. It fell delicately and felt almost mist like on the skin. but now it is too hot to wear waterproofs so I end up carrying my coat to and from work.

The lightweight bedding has been in situ for nearly 3 weeks now (I think -it might be less). It may be short-lived. The last few nights have been cold.

We're in the peculiar situation of some days it starts off really chilly in the mornings and turns kind of muggy mild in the afternoon, I guess it all wafts out to sea again, leaving us shivering.

The very special feature of clouds is that they just keep on changing. We never see two cloud formations that look exactly the same.

Following on from my last Umbrella post, have all you environmentally conscious bloggers seen this?

The Brelli umbrella is a new, totally bio-degradable umbrella design. It has more spokes than a traditional umbrella so it is less likely to turn inside out in the wind. It is semi clear so you can look up and watch the rain fall while staying dry.
The Brelli has a nice website which is worth looking at just for the groovy presentation. Check out Brelli at http://www.thebrelli.com/

They claim that it is the World’s first 100% biodegradable umbrella. totally beautiful and absolutely unique, very cool but at the moment it seems that apart from buying it on-line the only retail outlets that stock it are mainly in the United States although there are a few outlets in Australia and Holland.

..and yes, it is still raining here in Yorkshire and is forecast to remain unsettled for the forseeable future..York has been experiencing flash flooding thus creating problems for many.

Our Hong Kong office is closed today due to 'bad weather' (I think they have storm warnings of some kind)...

Is a bit drizzly and miserable here in London, too - plan to propose that we also shut office - seems only fair...

Thank you for accepting the invitation to join our friendly weathercheck group.

Kindest regards
Skip.

Fair weather clouds over Salisbury Plain at the start of July - just to remind you all what nice weather looks like! England can sometimes be a "big sky" country - and this is what I imagine Constable loved about East Anglia. (Not that I am comparing my effort to his superb cloud studies.)