A nor’wester and fiercely cold. Wind plus cold is hard on stock. And it blew hard and cold all night.
Lucky the animals all have shelter.
My Dad (a man of the sea) said a gale is anything over 30 knots. In the very noisy night the winds were gusting up 35+ miles an hour 35 is 30 knots.
But we did not get the prolonged gale force winds that were forecast – thankfully. The winds are strong. But not destructive.
“High winds usually bring change: significant difference between high and low pressure systems creates strong wind movement. When high and low pressure systems are situated very close to each other, it results in steep pressure gradients that generate powerful winds”.
And the weather begins to warm up tomorrow. By Friday we will be way above freezing. Sunday up in the ‘50’s then I will fly away!
Melbourne is lovely and hot. My fingers and toes are looking forward to the break.
Yesterday was a little warmer so I got all the frozen hoses hung in the trees to drain as they thawed. At last we were able to fill up the cows water.
I never take running water for granted! After we filled the stock waters all the hoses were drained again and hung on posts for next time. I was caught short with this cold snap.
This evening I launch the first of my bedtime stories. Chapter One of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Go HERE to sign up if you have not already.
I am a little nervous to be honest with you. This is a big change for me. But it feels right to replace the soothing sounds of the farm with the soothing sounds of a bedtime story. Let me know what you think!
Have a great day!
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
19 responses to “cold gales”
They are saying 48mph winds here this weekend 😳 …but the forecasts are often wrong 🤣
we all live I hope! That is a big wind for Cornwall?
Cornwall is quite stormy – the wind can get a lot stronger. When they repair tiled roofs, they often used cement!
Yikes!
A possible 90mph tonight and tomorrow: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2dxlwz219ko
You are a farmer, with a farmers mindset- knowing what needs to be done and accepting it but I wonder both for you but also for any farmer- when is enough too much? I wonder when that moment comes for someone who has worked the land and grown food for so long that they say “I am done”. I suppose like everything, each individual has their own point and it is probably varied. I suspect for me it would be the increasing long stretches of cold that would send me over the edge.
plus the problem with saying I am done is who is going to take over the farms. Many of our food growers are older and when they retire will the barns just rot and fall over?
It has to be an almost endless dilemma as farmers age, even more so if the family cannot or will not carry on farming for whatever reason… I think though, no matter who we are or what our livelihood or calling is aging makes us ponder these things, makes us say to ourselves or really look within ourselves to define what our personal limits are even though that does impact the bigger picture. I guess I’m thinking on when do we consider ourselves just as, or perhaps more important than the overarching ideal? All this talk of cold and winter the need to simply carry on has my brain on overload about lots of things- and I am not even a farmer 😉
It was really windy around here in eastern Iowa. We had 55 mph wind gusts. Just north of us they had 62 mph gusts. We had an old dead Elm tree break off and is leaning dangerously close to falling on the house. A tree service crew will come this morning to remove it.
Forgive me if this posts twice but I don’t know what happened to the first message.
Elm trees are a menace! We have two threatening the house. Hope your tree service gets that branch sorted before it snaps.
Thought this might interest you Jim.
https://open.substack.com/pub/riverraccoon/p/well-drained?r=299i3z&utm_medium=ios
The tree crew is at work now. I follow the author of that substack. Thanks for sending.
You are so welcome. And it does not surprise me at all that you already follow him!! Great.
those old elms are a menace.
I just finished reading this on substack Jim. Thought it might interest you.
https://open.substack.com/pub/riverraccoon/p/well-drained?r=299i3z&utm_medium=ios
what a contrast that will be to your body -)
I forgot about the hoses freezing! I am glad you are heading to the warmth. I will check out your stories!
Storm season has definitely arrived. They’re forecasting 60+mph winds for northern England on Saturday, along with torrential rain. Last week was Storm Bert, this one is Darragh (I think). They are all named by the forecasters, I can’t remember how they choose them!
Blustery winds here today. Melbourne sounds delightful! Patti
Really blustery all night here. I could certainly tell by the equines run in this morning – 2 wheel barrow loads!
keeping out of the wind. It is evening now and stunningly quiet – cold but stunning now