Tag: weather

March 21st – Leaving my camera at home made a bad day for photos – but the day was dull anyway, so at least not much was lost.

Coming back through Brownhills, though, I noticed the sky was that gorgeous azure blue of late spring dusks, and the moon was a pleasing crescent above the still skeletal trees.

I feel certain we’ve seen the last of winter now – and I’ve probably just doomed it, but there you go – and I’m really eager for sunny, warm days.

With the clocks going forward on Sunday it seems like a real possibility and not just a distant dream now.

March 15th – Spring is in residence at Kings Hill Park, Darlaston.

The sun rises not long after six am, and sets not long after 6pm.

We are approaching the spring equinox.

Whatever the weather doom-mogers are saying, the light is here. There flowers are arriving. Spring is taking to her throne.

Welcome back, your majesty – it’s been a long winter.

March 4th – The thing about an inversion is it’s transient. This one came and went in about 15 minutes, and it’s ever changing. As it drifted away, it left clear skies, a very noisy gull roost and beautiful colour.

Even the coos looked impressive with their clouds of steam

That’s how you fix a bad mood, and that is exactly why I ride a bike.

February 25th – A day of continual light snow and odd sunny periods, but it was again fiercely bitter.

Returning from Shenstone Station, I stopped to note than in the daylight at last, my commute revealed the twin church towers of Shenstone – one in use, one very much derelict. 

Across the rooftops of the village, that’s a lovely sight and one that every year reminds me that although the weather may be bad, spring and warmth are on their way.

February 13th – A horrid, windy, wet day and nipping out in the afternoon on lan errand from work, I passed through Kings Hill Park just as the rain stopped.

Everywhere is sodden, this winter’s weather has been awful. But the flowers here are showing and everything is just waiting for warmth and sun.

Including me. Patience.

February 7th – A bitterly cold morning with temperatures recorded by the GPS as low as minus five degrees centigrade and a very harsh ride to the station. 

There was a fair bit of black ice and concentration was intense.

My longed for spring would seem to be on hold a little, but hopefully the daffodils – now forming buds on the verge outside my destination in Telford- won’t be deterred.

February 3rd – I headed back up the canal, but unusually, got off at Clayhanger Bridge and headed back up through the village because the towpath was so slippery and unridable – note here, It is almost one continuous puddle.

From the bridge looking towards Walsall Wood, I could hear the violent thrash of water cascading down the canal overflow behind me. The lower meadow on Clayhanger Common will flood soon, I think, and the Tame will be running high too. 

I’ve chronicled some bad weather on this journal over the seven years it’s been running – we’ve had some bad winters and bad summers. But I’ve never known a January this cold and wet.

There had better be a decent spring coming…

December 8th – The forecast had been for heavy snow during the day, and whilst it had been cold, the anticipated white stuff only presented a dusting by the time I headed over to Burntwood as night fell. I was quite disappointed if I’m honest, but I headed out into an impressively blue night to try the snow tyres for the first really icy outing of the year.

They were, as always, excellent, as were the views on the way, which made the ride much better than expected.

And then, something quite unexpected happened…

November 29th – As I got to Redditch, the frost was still quite pronounced and coated grass and fallen leaves. It’s been a bit of a shock this year, we’ve been plunged into comparatively cold weather surprisingly quickly in the season after several mild winters with only a few really cold days.

I do hope this is a portent and we have lots of cold weather to come – maybe even a decent fall of snow…