Flash flood in Strathpeffer

[xmetman]

I so often write about extreme weather in other places but until it happens to you and your home it's never real.

Well this afternoon we had half an hour of flash flooding in the village which turned the A834 into a raging torrent. 

I was never expecting it to find its way through the garden gate and around both sides of the house but it managed it without much effort at all.

It came level with the front doorstep and no higher but it did find its way through an old Victorian cast air grille under the floorboards - hopefully given time this will all dry out.

It's at times like these that it brings home the reality of an ever warming world home to you - maybe there's something to all these stories I've been hearing:-}

I can see the culprit in the weather radar image moving away to the northeast which produced a mix of torrential rain and petit pois size hail for around 30 minutes with flashes of lightning and instantaneous peals of thunder.

I think my estimate of 35.8 mm might be on the low side - I wish I had stuck that old 5" copper gauge in the ground like I was going to do the other day.

This picture was taken after the storm had passed by but it gives you an idea of how the water cascaded off the road, through the gate and down the steps - all we have to do now is clear up.

I wonder how the folk down in Dingwall are faring?

I did remind my wife that I had said earlier (see earlier post about three days of warnings) that tomorrow might be just as bad!

[Brian Wakem]

Probably don't need to water the grass tonight then.

Must admit I am a bit jealous, I haven't seen any proper severe weather since Dec 2013.  That's the only time the stream that runs through my garden has properly burst its banks.

-- 

Brian Wakem

Lower Bourne, Farnham, Surrey

http://www.brianwakem.co.uk/weather

Live obs @ 17:43:16 : 21.2C, DP 16.0C, RH 72%, 1.4 mm 

[Julian Mayes]

Probably don't need to water the grass tonight then.

I must admit I was planning to say something about me having to water the garden later this evening....this national contrast is the thing that worries me most about climate change. I hope the storms currently over you (by the look of the radar) don't cause any further problems, Bruce.  I can't remember a time when the Inverness area and it's hinterland have had rain so frequently, regardless of whether the rest of Scotland is dry or wet. 

And today is another day when I am surprised at how high the min and max temps are, for England at least. 

Julian  

[Brian Wakem]

netweather rainfall accumulations:

[Julian Mayes]

The MO climate station, Inverness (Lentran), a few miles west of Inverness and just to the south of Brian's map extract on S side of the Beauly Firth had 27mm 06-18h. Tied with Kinlochewe. 

Julian  

[Jack Harrison]

petit pois size hail

How many Olympic Size swimming pools per Football Pitch would it have filled?

I watched your storm from the opposite side of the Moray Firth.  Trivial amounts here (fewer than ten drops of soy sauce per standard plate of chow mein).

Jack

[xmetman]

Hi Julian

I ran another analysis on today's rain and got a lower value (23.9 mm)!

I think it's to do with converting X/Y screen coordinates to lat and long coordinates - one pixel can make a big difference.

We're getting some sandbags tomorrow for any further emergencies this week.

Bruce.

[xmetman]

Hi Jack

Yes I heard one comparison the other day that said something like the ice melt on the Greenland glacier for one day last month was the equivalent to the amount of water in 83 million Olympic size swimming pools!

Bruce.

[Len]

I love petit pois. Much nicer than ordinary garden peas and don't hurt so much when you encounter them.

Trouble is they are hardly ever seen at this coastal location.

Had a flash flood though here on 9th June.

Rain came down in runner beans.

The roads turned to rivers, manhole covers were raised.

Luckily my house is a couple of metres above road level so I was just a voyeur.

Rain today 1.9 mm.

Len

Wembury SW Devon

[xmetman]

We're on a hill which can give you a false sense of security when very heavy rain occurs, sometimes you see the road outside your house become a gushing river as it passes by, today the river decided to pay us a visit due to a series of permanently blocked drains further up the hill.

I heard the phrase 'sharp showers' used a couple of times today to describe them. The showers we experienced today were a factor beyond moderate (which I would say constitutes a sharp shower), these were heavy verging on violent at times with hail mixed in.

[xmetman]

I see there are reports in the local press that Dingwall was flooded late this afternoon as I feared it would. I don't know how badly, but its the second time its happened in the space of a few weeks.