Saturday, 07 September 2019
Fed Up Of Windy Weather
It has been a very poor start to September and rather than it seeming like summer is continuing it certainly feels like autumn has arrived. We've had some amount of precipitation on the first 6 days of the month. That's not to say it has been a wet start as so far the total amount of rainfall is only 5.0mm (0.2in), but it's a continuation of the weather we had in the last few weeks of August. It seems much wetter than it really is and in truth the allotment is rather dry and it wouldn't hurt from a decent spell of rain. The strong to gale force winds have been the real cause of it feeling like autumn and it's certainly been the windiest start to September I've recorded in the last 10 years.
High Wind Speed Records 01-06 September 2010-2019
I highlight in red once wind speeds reach 20mph. These are wind speeds recorded at plant level not high above the ground and they're in a sheltered suburban garden not an exposed cliff top. A gust of 27mph in August was enough to bring down an apple tree in the garden. Obviously it's by far the windiest start I've recorded to September.
It didn't stop us having an afternoon walk around the lake at Clumber Park on Friday. It was a bit drizzly as we set off but luckily the sky cleared after a while and it wasn't too bad an afternoon.
Of course the squirrels as usual were only too happy to pose for a photograph.
The forecast for the next few days hints at some cooler than average temperatures but at least it's forecast for the strong winds to abate.
Sunday, 08 September 2019
Almost a Frost!
September is certainly off to an unusual start. Firstly we've had some strong to gale force winds to contend with and then in the early hours of Sunday morning the temperature fell to 4.6°C (40.3°F) which is unusually cold for the first few days of September. The only other time we've had a temperature below the 5°C (41.0°F)mark so early in the month was 08 September 2013 when it fell to 4.2°C or 39.6°F.
Temperature Records 06-08 September 2019
Hopefully, the allotment will have avoided a frost as well. Our climbing French beans and All Gold raspberries were still cropping really well but I don't think they'd appreciate a frost.
Raspberries - All Gold
Our Climbing French beans Cobra and Goldfield haven't enjoyed our recent windy weather but we tried a variety called Python and this variety has tolerated the windy weather much better as you can see in the video below.