What on Earth's going on with our weather?

I haven't written very much about the weather here in the UK. I haven't really needed to. It is always in the news and in the press. We often have bad weather here in the UK. It often rains and it is often windy - it is Winter after all. But I can't be alone in thinking that the last few months have been pretty extreme. Late last year, we saw flooding on the East Coast of England. There was significant damage to coastal defences and much of the damage remains, awaiting repair and will remain so due to lack of funds.

The combination of heavy rain, high tides and strong winds has resulted in significant flooding across large parts of the UK especially in Somerset and with further rain forecast, there is little hope of the area returning to 'normal'. There is huge criticism aimed at the government for having done too little too late and many blame the Environment Agency for the state of the rivers and lack of dredging that has contributed to the flooding

Today we have seen yet another severe storm which has caused damage to sea defences along the south and west coast. The train line from Paddington to Penzance has been damaged at Dawlish in Devon where the sea wall and track bed has been washed away by powerful waves. I know this stretch of line very well. I've even modelled it and consider it to be one of the most picturesque stretches of railway in the UK.

We've had severe weather before. We've had large waves before, but this time it is different. Never before has this much damage been caused. The bill for repairing the line will be enormous and it will be closed for weeks and possibly months to come. It will need a lot of money and a lot of engineering expertise to repair the line and to make the whole coastal stretch safe for trains once more.
As I write this, I hear that residents in Somerset are being evacuated due to rising flood water. There are currently 8 severe flood warnings and thousands are without power.
I hear so many who maintain that the weather is 'normal' for this time of year, but I'm afraid I can't agree. You really don't need to be an expert to see that weather like this, so damaging and so prolonged, isn't normal. I daresay that in six months from now, we'll be complaining that it's too hot and that we're heading for drought...

A Tad Breezy

There's an irritrating whistle coming from one of our doors. They are all double glazed and quite new so shouldn't be leaking air. But given the strength of the winds lately I suppose it'll seek out a path of least resistance. I haven't really known wind like this since first moving here in October 2002. Last night was lively to say the least with odd knocks and other less distinguishable noises.
No photo today as my wife had the car, but I could have taken many of fallen trees and other such debris. In fact the road from here to the next village was blocked by a fallen tree early this morning, such has been the ferocity of the wind.

A techie note and I have managed finally to get my Wii fully networked. It now sees every device and share on my home network allowing it to stream video and audio and show photographs from my somewhat growing collection. It's fair to say that I'm really getting the very most from it, which is good.

There's a lot in the news currently regarding racism, particularly following the conviction of two nasty individuals involved in the murder of Stephen Lawrence eighteen years ago. I now see that there is a media furore over comments made by Diane Abbott. Whilst any form of racism is wrong, I can't help feeling that things are beginning to get a little ridiculous, resulting in perfectly innocent comments being taken out of context. I really think it's about time some common sense prevail.

Photo of the Day 4

This, it appears is what happens to wind turbines when it gets too windy. Today has been memorable from a weather point-of-view for the near hurricane strength winds that have struck Scotland and parts of Northern England. Pretty dramatic isn't it...