95 MPH!!!

enjoyed your videos, Sandra. The netting makes an amazing difference, even with such a high wind. It was nice to see all the things growing so nicely in your vid from last August...especially the marrows and hear the bawling of cattle in the background!... That's why those marrows look so healthy and huge!

Glad you're OK Sandra. It's been very windy here in Bracknell today but nothing as bad as you've had.

That's amazing Sandra!. Did you have a power cut? We lost 3 hours in the night so our night storage didn't charge up, but no damage thank goodness. I was wondering about the safety of the Newgale road but they say no news is good news...

I saw pics of Newgale yesterday with the road covered in pebbles again Stera...no power cut for us thank goodness and it all sounds quiet out there this morning.

Thanks Andrew yes we are fine I think we lost a few slates off the roof but nothing major.

Lori it amazes me how much the net cuts the wind. Glad you enjoyed the videos...hope you are all cosy and warm. Hows everything with you?

Really with hindsight that fishermen's net should be sold in garden centres. Or is there somewhere where gardeners can obtain it without going to a fishing port ?
It did a fantastic job.

I am amazed Diane..its only one layer of thin netting but it was amazingly different inside and out...we find it on the beach

Wow amazing....
No problems thsnkfully with the wind but the fields are now lakes and the village gridlocked with flooded lanes,,,keep safe xxx

Where did you see the pics Sandra?

Pam i hope u dry out soon....our valley is flooded but no one lives there and the birds are loving it.

Stera it was on the western telegraphs facebook yesterday

So glad you didn't get a lot more damage,Sandra..I saw on TV how bad it was ,your way..Your net windbreak certainly proved to be a winner..I'm sure it can cope with anything after Imogen ...I'm so pleased we have open latted fences instead of solid ones ,to let the wind through,for the same reason....

open latted fences are the best Sandra...it's the fastest winds for over ten years. We are over the moon the tunnel is still there and its been glorious in there today with some sunshine in between the hail storms..

Phew, Sandra glad you escaped without too much damage. My brother lives in Devon and he told me it was pretty horrible. Like Bloomer we also have open weave fencing so no damage thank goodness. Your net has worked well hasn't it?

It was nice to see the wind blowing on your video Sandra :) I'm glad it's died down though.
We had it bad too, but a much better day today :)

couldn't get the video to play on my laptop. laptop is on its last legs me thinks!

but enjoyed the blog and glad everything 'stayed put'

thank you...lets hope thats the last of the storms for a while...

Well I never would have believed that netting could make all that much difference Sandra, pleased to hear you have come through relatively unscathed so far, its been a b----r of a winter, never thought I'd be wishing for cold normal winter but enough is enough, isn't it.....Its been a windy but sunshine week here in Lincs but the forecast is rain for the weekend which started at teatime, I really wouldn't mind if they had got it wrong, lol.....

the rain is here too Lincs but we did have a couple of nice days this week and i did see a forecast for sunshine next week.. I hope they have that one right....:-)

Just catching up, what a difference that netting makes, it is almost unbelievable, that has given me food for thought...our garden like yours gets so battered that plants get ripped out of the ground, 2 heucheras during the last storm. They got replanted pretty pronto, but if I hadn't spotted them flying past I could've lost them, battered by the wind.
With the netting I can have wind protection and not loose my views! Sandra you're a genius. Now for a spot of beachcombing....

Glad u like the plan Resi....we were planning two layers but one did soo well I think we will leave it like it is. We find loads of nets on the beach..friends massage me to say they have spotted them. Good luck finding yours.

Wow! 95 mph winds is hurricane-force winds! It's amazing anything is standing. We had a really horrible wind storm which lasted two days, Jan 31st and Feb. 1st. It caused a tremendous amount of damage here in San Diego and around the county. The winds were from 40 - 75 mph. It was the biggest storm to hit San Diego in 11 years. We didn't get much rain, though...which we need so badly!

This past week it's been in the upper 80's to low 90's (31 to 34ºC) and will continue through most of next week. It now feels like the middle of summer.

I thought it was bad here, we had 80mph in some parts, our bamboo was bent double, thank goodness we have created a shelter belt, the old fence took a battering though..its the rain thats getting us down now, never ending......

Dottydaisy2:

You need to send some of your rain to San Diego. We need it so badly and we're running out of our rainy season very quickly. It's such a very serious situation with water here. We were expecting tons of rain because of the strongest El Niño on record. All we're getting here in very hot, dry weather.

Delonix I wish we could send u some our rain!!! The winter has been so mild my aeoniums outside are loving it! Although the wind did batter a few of them.

Glad your garden survived Dd2 and I am sure your bamboo will regrow new shoots.

Sandra:

Thank you! I wish we really could get your rain. I'm watering almost every day now. It was 92ºF (34ºC) here today (where I live). Tomorrow the same before it cools down a bit and then back to really hot weather. It's starting to feel like the very hot winter we had last year (which was the hottest winter on record for San Diego).

you mentioned "Imogen" and that's the ninth letter of the alphabet...does that mean you've had nine storms so far this season? You really are due for a break. Sorry to hear that you still have water shortage, D1. We've had the mildest winter in years...that Pacific juggernaut (El Nino) has meant that we had autumn right into January. Christmas day it was 15 degrees C. which set records all over the province. Then we had a very mixed up January, temps up and down like a yo-yo...and February started with the coldest days so far...minus 40! (that's the point at which the Centigrade and Fahrenheit scales converge!) and the reason was mostly the windchill factor. minus 40 with a stiff breeze is minus 60! brrrr... we had a mini thaw over the last two days and now it's going back down into the serious negatories... Just our luck, winter finally arrives when we are beginning to look for spring!... Hope you both get a break.

Yes Lori, we've had nine storms. They haven't all hit the same parts of the country though - most head across Wales, across northwest England, and into Scotland. Imogen mainly hit the south of the UK.

Lori:

It sounds like you've had quite an interesting, crazy winter...thanks to "Mega" or "Godzilla" El Niño. LOL!
It's funny what they're calling this largest recorded El Niño.

We really didn't think we'd be getting record heat in February. We were expecting records rains. Go figure!

Some "weather experts" here in the UK were forecasting our worst winter for 30 years. It's actually been incredibly mild for much of the country, although Scotland have received their fair show of snow.

Our "weather experts" are uncertain. there is no exactitude anymore... and Mega or Godzilla... it's the worst El Nino yet. What are your coastal water temps, D1?
Even the local groundhog who gives us his "expert" advice on Feb. 2nd...said that we would have an early spring, but the groundhog to the west of us, said the opposite! over the last week the jet stream has been wobbling and the polar cell has dipped down to give us horrible cold albeit for a very short spell... but the worry is: Will the cold continue into March and April?
Given the weather prediction record here in Canada...I'm betting on the groundhog and optimistically planning for planting in March. Jury is still out on the Maple sap run.

Lori:

The Pacific Ocean off the San Diego Coast isn't as warm as it was back in Sept., Oct., and Nov, when it was averaging around 80ºF (27ºC)...in Sept/Oct/Nov it was the warmest ever recorded during that time of year (just like back in March through May 2015 when it was averaging 72ºF (22ºC). It's down to 62 to 64ºF (16.7 to 18ºC), right now...which is just slightly above normal (but those few degrees make a huge difference in energy). Overall a very large area of the Pacific Ocean is much warmer than normal.

All I know is that it's been very warm to hot here for most of February. It looks like it may the hottest February on record, beating out last year. This is just insane! Tomorrow suppose to be 88 - 90ºF (30 - 33ºC) here, again! And it's suppose to stay hot all week.