Tag Archives: Weather

Rolling blog: when stormy weather becomes the norm…

24 Monday Feb 2020

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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;

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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.

Pennine weather watch (No 435)

25 Wednesday Apr 2018

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I love living in the Pennines. I love the Pennine weather less. Whilst my former home in the South can be basking in sunshine and enjoying temperatures that would put the South of France to shame we can be wrapped up in waterproofs! It’s fair to say that the Calder Valley has its own microclimate. Whilst it can be raining in the valley next door we can be basking in sunshine, although it sometimes feels it’s more likely to be the other way round! I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom of Wainwright’s old saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” You just have to be prepared for anything up here.

The last few days are a good example of the changing fortunes. Last Saturday Dawn and I were out walking up to nearby Norland Moor in almost perfect weather, glorious sunshine, hardly any breeze and temperatures that made you think it was summer not spring. Footpaths that were a quagmire only a few days before had dried out, making ideal walking conditions…

 

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Dawn on a footpath high above Sowerby Bridge, which can be seen in the valley below.

Even the sunset played ball!

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Sunset seen from underneath the Wainhouse Tower, back on ‘our’ side of the Calder Valley from Norland

It wasn’t to last, the arrival of a new week heralded the return of the rain, which is rather unfortunate as it’s incompatible with doing what I need to – using electrical power tools outside!  So, today I’m playing hide and seek with this little lot, rain showers sweeping in from the South-East along the valley from Ripponden – as seen from our bedroom window.

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Right, time to get tile cutting…

The benefits of hindsight

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by in The 'Beast from the East', Travel, Weather

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Like many people, I took the mickey out of the ‘beast from the East’ as this weather front’s been called. It didn’t affect me travelling down to London yesterday and whilst it provided some spectacular clouds and snow showers, it didn’t really cause much disruption.

It’s had the last laugh.

When I was wandering through central London with a colleague after the Bradshaw address I went flying on an icy pavement. Apart from the loss of dignity it caused a minor sprain to my left wrist – just days before I start a 450km cycle ride around India.

This morning, when I threw back the curtains of my hotel I found Finsbury Park coated with a fresh dusting of snow. I wasn’t worried as the sky was a deep blue, so I took my time getting out and caught up with some work. What I hadn’t seen was the skies to the South…

It was only when I checked out that I saw the vast build-up of leaden clouds. Thinking “Oh well, this might be good for some snow shots” I headed over to some old photographic haunts on the East Coast Main Line and arrived at Alexandra Palace just in time for the blizzard! Now, I lived in London for 25 years and it’s not the first time I’ve taken snow scenes around there, but this was some of the fiercest weather I can remember. The wind was whipping the snow almost horizontally, so much so that I had to give up and retreat to Harringay station which is a little more sheltered. The Fast lines gave the game away, the line-speed is 90mph there, so the 4 foot was pretty clear of snow because it’s whipped away by fast moving trains. The snow was so heavy that they filled up again within minutes. Admittedly, It made for some good shots but it also made me start wondering if I might have problems getting home…

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A Siemens Class 700 powers through the snow as it passes Harringay station, heading for Peterborough.

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91107 pushes a VTEC service towards Kings Cross through a snowstorm at Harringay

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After the snow came the sun. Here’s 365503 arriving at Kings Cross.

What reassured me was the sight of Grand Central’s 1148 Kings Cross – Bradford flashing past me on its way North. It was a false sense of security. When I got back to Kings Cross after doing some cycle kit shopping I found that both following services (the 14.48 and the 16.03) were cancelled, leaving me with the option of hoping the last one at 19.52 was running, or coming up with plan B.

I’m currently sitting on Plan B, the late running 16.50 Kings Cross-Sunderland!

The idea is to bail out at York and catch the 19.18 Northern service to Halifax, which is the last through train of the day. After that I have to change at Leeds. If I do get back to Halifax at 20.38 as planned there’s a couple more obstacles.

It’s minus 5.

There’s no taxis running.

I’ve a mile and a half to walk home.

I’m carrying several bags (including a f**k-off 14kg camera bag).

The last part of the walk home is either down a steep cobbled hill (suicide), or an almost as steep tarmac road.

This is going to be fun…

The icing on the cake is that I’m in a rush to be back as Dawn and I have made new wills and we’ve got an early morning appointment to sign them tomorrow as I’m off to India on Friday.

I can hear the ‘Beast from the East’ laughing now!

20:38 update.

As with most plans, it never survived first contact. We were signal checked for several minutes outside York, which meant that we passed my connection on the way. Tbe good news is Trans-Pennine Express were running a 19:40 to Liverpool, which I caught (mid blizzard) instead.

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The railhead conditions weren’t great and the unit struggled, but it got me Leexs in time to catch Northern’s 20:19 to Brighouse via Halifax. I needn’t have rushed. It was 10 late leaving due to the driver being delayed on their way in on another service. There’s a lot of snow on the ground here and more’s falling, so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when I get to Halifax…

23.00 update.

Well, I finally made it home!

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One of the Class 155s built for the Calder Valley services brought me home…

The snow persisted all the way which actually worked in my favour as it’s a damned sight easier to walk across fresh snow than the icy, compacted stuff. I even made it down the infamous hill without going arse over tit.

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The ‘Beast from the East’ has arrived…

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

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This morning we woke up to a covering of snow across the Calder Valley, whilst the media have been going into overdrive about the ‘Beast from the East’ as the weather front’s been christened, the effects are no more serious than anything we’re usually used to seeing in Yorkshire. Here’s the view from our bedroom, looking across the valley.

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Not too beastly (yet)…

I’ve had a quick look at real-times for our local train services where (apart form a couple of very early cancellations) everything seems to be running normally and to time. Of course, the forecast reckons that there’s more snow on the way, so we’ll have to see how things pan out.

I’m heading down to London today to attend tonight’s George Bradshaw address at the IMechE where Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy will be speaking. I’ll be staying down tonight and coming back tomorrow so this blog will get updated as I travel. The contrast between North and South should be interesting. The South tends to go into a panic over a bit of snow, whilst up here you can tell when it’s bad – the posties stop wearing their shorts.

I’ve a lot of travelling to do this week as I’ll be heading back to London on Friday to fly out to India for the Railway Children ‘Ride India’ charity cycle challenge (it’s a wonderful cause, so please help me to help them by sponsoring me via this link). I’ll be blogging from India when I can.

Meanwhile, enjoy the snow!

Whilst walking to the station I spotted this and wondered what story it tells…

A Yorkshire Cinderella?

Heading South on the trains has been fun, whilst there was a lot of snow around home, the more Easterly I got the thinner the snow was! By the time I arrived at Doncaster there was hardly anything on the ground and the station was bathed in bright sunshine. A pair of snowploughs sat, forlornly, in the sidings as they clearly weren’t needed. All changed by the time we reached Newark because then we started hitting the blizzards. The rest of the journey has been a real mix and match: Blue skies and fields with fresh dusting of snow contrasting with leaden skies and almost white-out conditions as the tendrils of snow sweep in. Then just as rapidly as it arrives, it clears and we hit a patch where houses and fields are untouched, they’re little green oasis in an otherwise monotone landscape. It’s lovely to watch from my grandstand seat in a nice, warm train!

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Fields North of Peterborough after a fresh coating of snow.

UPDATE: 16:40.

Now I’m in Central London before heading off to the Bradshaw address. The capital’s had a dusting of snow but nothing like many places which is hardly surprising as the capital’s always a degree or two warmer. On thing I did notice was this lovely ‘tiger-stripe’ pattern on the roof of St Pancras station a few minutes ago.

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I’ll see if I can add a couple of pictures from tonight’s address later…