Tag Archives: Weather

6th February picture(s) of the day…

06 Sunday Feb 2022

Posted by in Photography, Picture of the day, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Today gave us little respite from the wild and windy conditions that have prevailed this weekend, the only different was that whilst yesterday was wall to wall rain, today was much more ‘four seasons in one day. We kept the high winds and torrential rain but this came in cloudbursts along with bouts of hailstones – in between which we actually had blue skies and sunshine!

To say that the skies were turbulent would be an understatement, but they were also fascinating to watch. The pair of us had little planned other than a quiet day at home. My intention was to spend several hours in the kitchen, batch-cooking for the freezer and fridge in order to give myself more time this week to concentrate on other things. Supermarket ‘fast’ foods are not our bag. We eat healthily and well – and like to know what our food contains.

In order to cook some of the recipes I had in mind I needed to venture out to a local Asian supermarket – despite the appalling weather. Plus, I wanted to get my daily exercise. It wasn’t a problem but I needed to kit myself out in full waterproof gear to do it. You’d have been forgiven for thinking I was headed to the top of Ben Nevis, not the shops, but it did mean I stayed warm – and dry. On the way home I stopped to bide a while on the edge of Halifax, looking across the Calder valley and watched nature in all its raw glory as the weather constantly changed. It was magnificent to watch. I can see why the artist Ashley Jackson moved to Yorkshire as the shadows and light in the Pennines are constantly shifting to put up a fantastic meteorological display. So, here’s a few pictures from today to show you exactly what I mean. These were all taken from today’s walk and within an hour.

The view from the Albert Promenade on the edge of Halifax overlooking the Calder valley with the Wainhouse Tower on the horizon.
Looking right across the valley (further to the left from the last view) as yet another storm front passes.
Can you believe this is the same day and view as the first picture, just an hour later?

Looking behind myself from the last picture as the sun breaks through a passing storm.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

28th November picture(s) of the day…

28 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Calder Valley, Halifax, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Winter’s arrived with a vengeance here in the Pennines although we’ve been very lucky where we live as our little patch of the valley side’s normally sheltered from the brunt of the weather – and this time was no exception. Storm Arwen hit on Friday evening but we’d no idea just how bad it was as we were protected from the height of the winds. Oh, we knew it was gusty but it was only when we woke up on Saturday morning and saw that the high ground around the valley was covered in a blanket of snow we started to realise what had really occurred. Then we started seeing comments from friends on social media and the news wires that made us appreciate just how fortunate we’d been. But, it was a close run thing. Norland, on the opposite side of the valley had the electricity knocked out with places not seeing it restored until this afternoon (Sunday). There but for the grace of God…

This morning the snow returned and stayed with us nearly all of the day, giving us several fresh dustings of varying severities, all of which clung as temperatures were so low and there was hardly a breath of wind. The trees looked magical and the valley below eerie as tendrils of cloud toyed with with the town, grasping at sections whilst leaving other areas unmolested. It was so attractive that the pair of us wrapped up warm and went for a walk through our local woods, along the promenade where we could admire the vista, then circumnavigated an almost deserted Savile Park before returning home to the warm, feeling like we’d earned our evening in together where we relaxed in front of the TV, but not until I’d rustled up a Chicken Vindail curry which added some spice to keep out the cold on a day when you really did need it.

Here’s a few shots from our perambulations…

The view from our bedroom window – looking down over Sowerby Bridge with Sowerby beyond partially hidden by low clouds which slowly drifted through the valley.
Looking across to Norland, which was still suffering from a power cut caused by the storm. It looks beautiful – as long as you don’t rely on electricity for heating! The top of the valley kept disappearing as low cloud kept overwhelming it. This is one of our regular walks because there’s the wonderful Moorcock Inn as a refuge at the end of the trek.
The edge of Norland and Sowerby Bridge just at the edge of the picture on the right hand side. The row of trees in the valley bottom disguise the railway between Halifax and Manchester.
Just a few minutes walk from the house our road has this avenue of trees which look superb in this weather.
Scarr Woods looked stunning after the latest snowfall without a breath of wind to blow the dust off the branches.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

6th April picture of the day…

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

Posted by in Musings, Picture of the day, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Well, what a weird day weather-wise that was! There’s an old Crowded House record called ‘four seasons in one day’. That’s exactly what we’ve had here in the Pennines – and over a large chunk of the country apparently. Freezing temperatures, an icy wind and a mix of clear skies and storm clouds as dark as Hades have produced a constant rotation of snow, sleet and sunshine. It’s actually been quite entertaining to watch – but not so much fun to walk in! Instead, I’ve spent most of the day sheltering from the storms to work from home, catching up on work and scanning yet more old slides to add to the repository ready for scanning. Its a slow process at the moment as so many need retouching in Photoshop due to the blemishes and scratches. Even so, I’ve added another selection from India and Nepal to this gallery.

Tempting as it is to delve into the past to use one of these archive shots as the picture of the day I’m going to take the rare step of using a video that I took of some of the weather we experienced earlier – just for a change!

West Yorkshire, in April. In the hour before I filmed this we’d had a mix of sunshine, sleet and slight snow on an endless cycle

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: when stormy weather becomes the norm…

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Flooding, Rolling blogs, Travel, Wales, Weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

07:30.

This morning the wind woke us up before the alarm clock got its chance! Our little refuge is getting a battering from the elements and as I made coffee the rain arrived, drenching the windows, making it difficult to see more than a few metres. A bush on the edge of the property provided a useful wind gauge as I could watch it shivering as each gust hit. I pity any birds planning on nesting right now! Stormy weather no longer seems unusual nowadays, it’s become the norm – a worrying thought.

We’re driving back to Yorkshire today, which might be ‘fun’. The weather forecast has just appeared on the TV news and heavy snow is predicted for the North – and not just limited to high ground. Our plans for doing some sightseeing before we head home may have to be binned…

09:45.

Packing the car in a howling gale was fun but at least the rain has abated and nothing got blown away. We’re now ready to sally forth from the warmth of our little retreat and brave the elements to indulge in a spot of weather-watching. Our first stop was just outside Beaumaris, where we spent some time observing a pair of vessels fishing close to shore in the Menai Strait, which was at high tide. This isn’t a sight you can normally get so close to. Watching them zig-zag up and down over a small area of the strait as they deployed and collected their dredging nets was really quite interesting. We worked out that they were probably after shellfish, but we’d no idea what. It was only when I looked up this trawler on the internet that the answer was revealed. Mussels.

According to internet records, the Belfast registered Mare Gratia is a 43 metre long, 315 gross tonnes mussel dredger built in Holland in 2003. The boat’s been a regular visitor to Wales for many years.

I’d hoped to have got some more shots of life around the Strait and the suspension bridge but the combination of high tide and low cloud didn’t lend itself to the sort of shots that I had in mind. Ah, well – we’re just going to have to come back another time! Mind you, as we’re planning to have a crack at that Penrhyn Quarry zip-wire in the summer…

12:20.

We’ve made our way back through the Ogwyn valley to Betws-y-Coed and boy is it wet! It was bad enough around the town itself, but then we headed North up the Conwy valley to get back to the coast and really hit the flooding. This is the B5106 across the valley to Llanrwst! The valley’s effectively been cut in half as this is one of only two few river crossings between Betwys and Conwy.

Here’s another view showing how badly the river Conwy has burst its banks. The actual bridge over the river is that hump in the road in the distance!
Here’s the fields to the left of the last picture. The fields are flooded to a depth of 1-1.2 metres. There’s a hell of a lot of water out there.

18:30.

We’ve made it home with little incident, despite the weather. Once we left the Conwy valley the weather actually brightened up and for a period we actually had some sunshine! Even so, the countryside on both sides of the border was absolutely sodden. I’ve never seen so many flooded fields.

Bowling along the M62 we were fine until we passed Manchester when the leaden skies opened once again. Leaving the motorway at Ripponden the roads resembled lakes as the water was running off the hills in torrents. The only consolation was that the torrential rain had washed away the dusting of snow the area had received first thing this morning. We didn’t see any, which was a relief.

The pair of us are now relaxing at home in the warm, unpacking our kit and grateful the journey back wasn’t as fraught as it could have been.

Tomorrow I abandon the roads (flooded or otherwise) to get back on the rails as I’m heading back to London for the George Bradshaw address tomorrow evening at the IMechE. It’s always a great excuse to catch-up and gossip with friends and colleagues from the rail industry and media and – more often than not – hear from an interesting speaker. I’m staying overnight at the home of a friend, so my trip will allow me to fill some picture requests from clients and catch up with the latest changes to the capitals rail network, which I’ve neglected recently as there’s been so much happening up in the North. At least the weather in my old home’s looking better than it has been here in the North recently so the camera should be kept busy. No doubt there’ll also be time for a rolling blog…

It’s grim up North…

20 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in Musings, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Although, judging by the weather maps, it’s grim over much of the country at the moment!

This morning we woke to the sound of yet more high winds hitting the house, followed by more rain pouring from slate-grey skies. At one point, as Dawn and I drove into Huddersfield there was a sublime monent when the sun broke through and picked out pockets of town and country which contrasted beautifully with the ominous skies. Typically, I was in no position to stop and capture it with the camera!After helping Dawn to pack up her desk (long story – ACoRP has the decorators in) I trudged through the rain into the town to do some banking and chores. For the first time since I don’t know when I had to pay a cheque in to a bank. Apparently, my bank is introducing a phone ‘app’ that’ll let you do this online, which will save a fair bit of a faff. Paying in cheques is probably the only reason I visit a local branch nowadays, other then perhaps to use a drinks voucher dispenser (aka an ATM). Gone are the days of queuing to pay bills or pay in a sheaf of cheques. It’s the same with Post Offices and posting off DVDs or memory sticks full of pictures to clients. The ‘post and stationary’ column in my annual accounts used to come to a not inconsiderable sum. Nowadays it’s tiny. I can’t even remember the last time I had to post an invoice. It’s not difficult to see why so many local banks and post offices have disappeared. The rise of the internet and ‘smart’ devices has changed the world forever.

Whilst Dawn went off to spend the afternoon her family I made my (roundabout) way back to the Calder Valley and home as I needed to catch up on some work. We’re all meeting up later as it’s Dawn’s mum Norah’s 79th birthday and we’re taking her and John to the Engine in Sowerby Bridge. At least the fine fayre and good company will make up for the atrocious weather which stayed grim until I finally shut the front door on a turbulent day. Typically, the sun then decided to put in an appearance – just to taunt me!

Our visit to the Engine was as enjoyable as ever. As there were six of us we tried some different dishes as well as the staples like this one, their delicious cauliflower.

Having enjoyed a great meal and good company we went our separate ways. There’s no going out and painting the town red for us as we’re up early to head off to Wales. Instead it’s the ‘rock and roll’ lifestyle of emptying the washer and matching up socks ready for another adventure! Admittedly, after checking the weather forecast for the next few days I’m not sure that it’s socks I should be concerned about. A snorkel and flippers might be far more useful…

After the floods…

10 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Despite some awful weather last night where the wind howled and the rain beat down, the waters of the River Calder subsided and the flooding abated. We’re not out of the woods yet as the forecast isn’t exactly brilliant, but Ciara, the storm that’s caused so much damage has blown over. Now there’s time for the poor sods who’ve been flooded to start picking up the pieces. Again.

I’d originally thought I might head over to Mytholmroyd to document the damage but I’ve been too busy to tear myself away from the computer long enough. I had a big batch of pictures to get finalised for one client, then deal with enquiries and picture requests from another, so I’ve spent most of the day huddled in the office cross-referencing picture databases. It’s not the most glamourous side of the job, but it has to be done.

Finally, after getting the pictures away to the client I went out for a stroll to stretch my legs and also clear my head. The wind may not have dropped, but the temperature certainly has. An arctic blast followed me most of the way, especially up on the promenade above our local woods. I’d have liked to have stayed out longer but as I gazed out across the valley I could see the next storm approaching, blocking out the view of the Calder Valley towards Mytholmroyd as it made its way Eastwards.

Uh, oh – it’s coming my way…

Thinking it was a snowstorm I decided to get home before it caught me. I almost made it before the hailstorm (for that’s what it was) nailed me a few hundred metres from home! Drying out at home I thought I’d venture out again once it had passed, but the bugger keeps coming back. Every time I poke my head outside I find fresh hailstones on the door mat!The weather across the North-West and Yorkshire’s looking pretty mixed tomorrow so I may end up having another day in the office. If the Government does finally pull it’s finger out and the speculation is correct, tomorrow will see some big announcements on investment in infrastructure, which *should* include the new HS2 rai line. That said, we’ve been here before, but I’ll be glad to have the time to sit, analyse and blog about the contents of any announcements and see how the predictions I made when the Oakervee review was announced last August have stood the test of time. You can read that blog here.

I suspect we’ll see a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from those opposed to HS2. Most of it will be pure social media froth from the reprogrammed pro-Brexit trolls, plus the dwindling bunch of real people who live on the route but who’ve spent the past 10 years pretending to themselves that they were some sort of coherent campaign that actually had any political clout. I think for some of them the decision will take some time to sink in as they’ve listened to little else than the voices in their own little echo-chamber for so long. I’ll be interested to see what the announcement does to the tiny protest groups that are on several sites on the route. Will the announcement make more of them realise the futility of what they’re doing? After all, it’s all very well thinking that the decision whether to go ahead with HS2 hasn’t been made so you might actually achieve something. But when it becomes obvious that’s not the case…

Either way, we’ll be moving on to a very different chapter as construction of HS2 ramps up. No doubt there’ll still be some hiccups. On a project this size it would be a miracle if there wasn’t. I’ll look forward to what’s said with interest.

Once the nights get a bit longer I expect to be busy documenting the construction of Phase 1 and some other UK rail projects too…

West Yorkshire weather woes…

08 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by in Railways, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Yesterday’s torrential rains are causing ripples (if you’ll pardon the pun) today as rail services in the Calder valley are still disrupted. For once the line didn’t flood at Walsden but over in Lancashire. It finally reopened earlier this afternoon, but services are still chaotic with many trains cancelled. This morning, trains from Leeds were being terminated at either Hebden Bridge or Todmorden and nothing was running at all East of Manchester Victoria. This screen at Todmorden says it all…

I’ve ventured out as far as Walsden to have a look and get a few pictures (which I’ll add later). We’ve had very little rain so far today although the skies are constantly changing and threatening another deluge. Sadly, Valley folk are having to become accustomed to floods nowadays. Climate change is here and it’s real, and local human activity up on the moors is exacerbating it by allowing the rain to run off much more quickly.

Trying to protect our Victorian rail network from Climate Change is a huge task. What were once considered once in a century events are now happening with monotonous regularity – and there are no quick fixes or easy solutions as land around railways has been buried under roads or encroached on by housing and commercial developments. This is one of the reasons I’m such an advocate for building HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. We cannot expect to rely on Victorian infrastructure forever.

OK, as promised, here’s a few pictures from today.

The old Pacer’s still soldier on. Here’s 142079 which should have been working to Manchester but was terminated at Hebden Bridge instead
Nearly 30 mins after the Pacer, this arrived. Optimistically bearing a Chester destination, this service was only going as far at Todmorden, where it would reverse and high-tail it back to Leeds.
12.55. Journey’s end at Todmorden as the driver changes ends and prepares to head back to Leeds as the flooding in Lancashire precluded getting any further West for the next few hours.
Finally, at 13.30 this pair (150118 and 156459) were sent West on an exploratory mission to see if the line was safe to reopen and all the signalling systems worked. They’re seen here approaching Walsden station
The first passenger carrying train to make it through was this, 150102 working 1D76, the 1138 Leeds to Chester.

Rain, rain, go away…

07 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

It’s been a wet and miserable day here in the Calder Valley, the leaden skies have been unloading on us since early this morning. If I had plans for an Ark I’d be tempted to dust them off, but then we live high up on the valley side, so if the flood waters ever reached us an ark is exactly what we’d need!

Earlier, I donned my waterproofs and took a stroll down into Sowerby Bridge in order to pick up some shopping and also to get some exercise. I try and walk 5 miles most days in order to keep fit and get away from staring at a computer screen. Today it gave me the excuse to check on the River Calder which runs through the centre of the town. It’s not at Boxing Day 2015 flood levels but it’s way above normal. Here’s the view from the bridge across the river looking East.

This is a still from 2014 showing how this stretch of river normally looks like!

Here’s another view taken from the left hand side of the first video clip, looking towards the railway. The river that joins the Calder under the railway bridge is the Ryburn. It was just the other side of the railway that the 2015 floods happened due to the sheer volume of water being pushed back from the Ryburn by a flooded Calder – just where Sowerby Bridge is at its lowest level.

Apparently, the railway line is closed due to flooding at a familiar weakpoint today, Walsden, to the West of Todmorden, where a culvert passes under the line, so the pair of Pacers you see in the video were the last train to make it through. I also hear that the road between Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden is closed due to flooding!

I’m now back at home in the warm, hoping that the Amber flood warning the Met Office has issued won’t cause us any more problems, but more rain is something we certainly don’t need.

Rolling blog: The judging continues…

29 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Calder Valley, Flooding, Mytholmroyd, Northern Rail, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Weather, Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

07:49.

I’m on the rails again. This time judging three stations across Yorkshire for the ACoRP awards. After the fun and games we had last week because of the heat, today could be problematic for a different reason. We’ve had torrential rain overnight and there’s more to come. When I walked down to Sowerby Bridge station this morning I did so along roads that were full of debris washed down from some of the steeper roads, which had been transformed into waterfalls. Crossing the river Calder I could see it was way above it’s normal level, although nowhere near its worst. In 2015 it was so high it flooded the lower level of the building you can see to the left of this picture.

Arriving at the station I walked straight on to a very late running 07:00 to Leeds, which was 41 minutes down after being delayed in the Walsden area due to flooding. This is a regular occurrence in the area due to a stream that runs under the line just by the station.

08:58.

I’m now waiting for the 08:48 from Leeds to Hull which is being delayed by flooding in the Stalybridge area. It’s currently 12 minutes kate, putting our 15 mins connection in peril. Not a good start to the day!

10:39.

We were meant to be at Driffield on the Yorkshire coast line 10 mins ago but we did miss our connection in Hull as we were 27 mins late. We’re now on the following service, leaving us 30 mins down. Luckily(due to the vagaries of the service) we’ll still have plenty of time to do our tour.

12:00.

First visit done, we’re now heading back to Hull from Driffield. Here’s a historic picture displayed on the station. It shows WW1 soldiers on the same spot we were stood, ready to go off to a war many of them never returned from

Driffield’s rather attractive. Here’s the old canal basin which is just 3 mins walk from the station

16:15.

The weather’s changed and I’m rather overdressed for the rapid rise in temperature now the sun’s appeared! We’ve left Bingley and headed into Bradford and walked across the city from Forater Sq to Interchange. There’s still residual delays, which means we’ll arrive in Mytholmroyd at the right time – just on the wrong train!

18:19.

The day’s done and I’m back at Sowerby Bridge, having a celebratory pint outside the Jubilee Refreshment rooms on the station before walking home. It’s a beautiful evening and such a contrast to this morning!

Summer lightning

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by in Travel, Weather, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Well, the weather’s well and truly changed! On Friday we basked in the hot and humid weather we’ve come to take for granted this summer. I have to admit, it’s been glorious – I love summers like this. Yesterday I was out exploring the Fylde coast, an area I’ve never known well but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by. Here’s an example. The Italiante station building at Lytham has been turned into a very attractive pub.

DG303887

The railway’s still here of course, but the only reason I discovered the place was because I was on a rail replacement bus service. The bus took me through little villages I’d never seen before but ones I’m curious to come back and explore.

Today we did something a little different. After a slow morning at home listening to the thunder and rain Dawn suggested we have an impromptu day out. Dawn’s idea was to drive over to Ilkley Moor, a place I’ve never explored. So that’s what we did. The weather was amazing, it was constantly changing, this wasn’t four seasons in one day, it was four in an hour! Here’s a few examples.

DG303942

DG303943

DG303947

DG303932. Thiunderclouds and lightning. Ilkley. 28.7.18

With weather like this I couldn’t help but chuckle when we popped into a local pub nearby and I found this (one of my long time favourite beers) was on;

20180728_153928

After exploring Ilkley moor (sans hat) we went for a bite to eat in the town itself. I’d never ventured far from the station before, so I was pleasantly surprised by the genteel feel of the town and range of pubs and eateries. We’ll certainly be back.