pinkertonsurly

Wondered where the lightning strike was. Just heard the rumble in Winchester. No actual snow yet, so not technically thundersnow, but exciting nevertheless.

Here's a piece about summer skiing (or the lack of) in the North-Eastern Alps (with my translation). Article dated 22nd August 2017 Original link: http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/08/22/news/c_era_una_volta_lo_sci_d_estate_la_resa_dell_ultimo_ghiacciaio-173564734/?ref=RHPPBT-VA-I0-C4-P9-S1.4-T1 Translation (think he meant the ultimate, rather than last glacier): Once upon a time at the Stelvio Pass, there used to be summer skiing: the surrender of the ultimate glacier. For the first time in 50 years, the lifts are closing due to high temperatures. Not even the use of thermal covers can preserve the snow at a height of 3,000m. BOLZANO. Three centimetres of fresh snow aren’t enough to fill in the ever-widening crevasses on a glacier which is feeling the strain from global warming. So, summer skiing on the Stelvio Pass has thrown in the towel: the pistes should have re-opened on Sunday, after an unprecedented mid-August break. Instead, they’ll stay shut until a yet-to-be-determined date; that is, until the snow, which at the end of August, at 3,000m above sea level should be plentiful, sweeps away, with one white hand, the unsettling grey affecting all Alpine glaciers this year; grubby with dust, rocks and even African sand, and therefore even more helpless from the solar rays.

Here's my very quick translation (I'm an Italian/English translator amongst other things) of an article about the Calderone Glacier on Gran Sasso - not too far from Rome - about half way down Italy. Link to original (with photos): http://www.meteo.it/giornale/il-ghiacciaio-del-calderone-non-e-scomparso-12944.shtml My translation: The Calderone Glacier hasn’t disappeared – under the detritus, a layer of buried ice between 15 and 25 metres thick, can still be found. The Calderone Glacier, on the Gran Sasso Massif, is the southernmost in Europe, and in the last few days, some alarming news has been received on its state of health: it’s virtually disappeared! In reality, on the surface, only 3 snowfields of reduced size remain, and they’re unlikely to survive to the end of the season. The situation is explained by the unusual climate conditions of the last few months; from the scarce spring snow to the anomalous heat of the summer. Indeed, as Professor Fazzini, a climatologist from the University of Camerino confirms, the weather station situated at the Rifugio Franchetti, at the base of the glacier has recorded temperatures higher than 20 degrees on 5 separate occasions in the first half of August – exceptionally high for such an altitude. However, all this doesn’t mean that the glacier has disappeared; under the detritus, in fact, a layer of buried ice between 15 and 25 metres thick, can still be found. The glacier therefore survives, protected by rocky detritus, even though, as Professor Fazzini reminds us: “In the last 10 years its thickness has shrunk by around a metre”, in all probability down to recent climatic change.

Karyo - I lived and worked in Turin for 3 years, and inland from Ancona for 2, so I sympathise - sounds like where you were was worse, although I must say I thought I was going to die during my first summer in Turin!

Must be a piece of cake being a weather forecaster in Southern Italy, albeit a bit boring and uncomfortably hot: 'Intense heat for at least 10-12 days'.

We noticed!

Rain just started and increasingly frequent thunder in Winchester. Heading NE?

Sure does. I hate thunderstorms. Glad I don't live in the line of fire... Oh, wait a minute.

Fancy a little trip to the Cairngorms on Midsummer's Day?

Frosty bits and pieces around Winchester. The Mystic Meg thread looks very sad now - like a hospital ward being closed down while the last few patients sit by their beds, waiting to go home, and a few nurses come in every now and then to collect archive boxes.

I suspect that I'll see cars covered in snow coming from high-up villages like Four Marks, while Winchester has the odd flake. Still - there's always the entertainment on the MAD thread.

Ah - so good to be able to post what you want when you read the toys out of pram on the Model thread. Sun has been threatening to break through in Winchester but hasn't. 9.8 degrees and not a sniff of wind or rain. Forecast for the next week or so: a bit colder, but still drab early next week; the odd bit of rain and wind later next week, and after that, who knows?

String of showers now from South London to Southampton - plenty of thunder and lightning to the East of Winchester and rain now starting to fall.

Is it just me - or have BBC/Netweather/TWO forecasts been unusually inaccurate this year? I'm not complaining. Love the element of surprise.

I've seen a lot of snow in Winchester this evening. Granted, I was watching a DVD of Die Hard 2.