Tag Archives: weather

When the haar rolled in

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A chum and I drove down the coast to North Berwick over the weekend. It was glorious, autumn weather – the sun is much lower in the sky, creating a warm, golden light and long shadows, and the light quality was making the colours on the trees incredibly vivid.

Haar At North Berwick 01

Haar At North Berwick 02

As we approached North Berwick, though, we could see some haar (a Scots term for sea mist), drifting over the islands in the Firth of Forth, just offshore from the town. A few wisps of mist were wrapped around this island, while much of it still caught the autumn sunlight, creating a lovely effect, so I hurriedly got the camera out to use the big zoom for a shot, knowing the conditions would likely change very quickly.

And yes, it did indeed change rapidly. By the time we had a leisurely stroll along the beach, then up a small hillside path to follow the coastal route, we realised we could no longer see that island, or the nearby (and much larger) Bass Rock. In fact, by now the mist was heading inshore, and the craggy rock of land that sticks out between the two main beaches, where the Scottish Seabird Centre and the harbour are located, was slowly vanishing under this soft, grey, wool blanket too.

Haar At North Berwick 03

By the time we had walked back to that spot to look down past the lifeboat slipway to the crescent-shaped beach and houses overlooking it, the mist had rolled in over the beach and into the town. With the low sun trying to shine through from behind, it created an eerie and unusual light quality, and turned the whole world into soft-focus.

Haar At North Berwick 04

Vid - Haar At North Berwick

The tide was just starting to turn – I was a little worried since such misty conditions often lead to ghost pirate attacks, but with the tide out, we were relatively safe, I judged – but now it was starting to come in, and fill the small harbour. Some sailors were readying their yachts, although beyond the harbour mouth was only a glowing white fog, drifting across the water.

Harbour Scenes 01

Harbour Scenes 04

The golf course runs right along by the beach, and as we walked back, the haar blanketed this too, leaving golfers wondering where the 18th hole actually was, but it did make for an interesting photo for my wandering lens!

Where Is The 18th Hole 01

Where Is The 18th Hole 02

Scottish Summer Time

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Even by Scottish standards we have had an exceptionally long run of wet weather this spring and so far this summer. A few hot, sunny days interspersed with heavy rain and skies as grey as battleships, then often days where we get both, one after the other, changing all throughout the day, so you are carrying both sunglasses and a brolly.

Spring Deluge 01

Spring Deluge 02

I was walking through the Meadows recently, warm and dry, picked up some lunch from the van near the University Library and sat on a bench to enjoy it. Ten minutes after I finished and was walking away, it started to rain, then quickly turned up to torrential downpour. I sheltered under a friendly tree for a few moments – it passed pretty quickly and was back to dry soon enough – and decided while I waited I may as well grab some photos of the deluge.

Spring Deluge 03

Spring Deluge 04

Vid - Spring Deluge

Of course, it’s not all dreich weather, we’ve had days of sun and warmth too – I took this recent sunset across the city from the upper deck of a bus as it crossed North Bridge:

View From A Bus - Sunset Silhouettes

And a glorious summer evening at Holy Corner

Sunset And Shadows

Snow day

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Light snowfall overnight, woke up to cold but bright winter morning, snapped a few photos on the way to work:

Winter Day 01

Holy Corner (so named because it has a church on all four points of this busy junction) was looking especially beautiful on this February, just a small amount of snow, but draped across the roofs, chimneys and ledges, outlining them in white against the slowly rising winter sunlight, had to grab a couple of photos on my way into work. The Italiante architecture of Morningside United Church (where Eric Liddell, whose story was told in the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire, worshipped – one of the stained glass windows still commemorates that Olympian) looked especially handsome.

Winter Day 03

Winter Day 04

Winter Scenes

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Monumental Sunset 02
The Scott Monument, lower half already in shadow even in the mid afternoon as the sun is so low in the winter sky, the upper half basking the golden honey glowof the winter light.
Fortress of Winter 01
Across the end of December and the start of January the ice and snow came to Edinburgh. Walking in the frigid, sharp air, the winter sun so low in the sky it casts as much in the way of shadows as it does light, and that light is stretched out, golden-amber. This is the sort of thing you see just going for a stroll in this magnificent city in winter…. (as ever click the pics to see the full sized versions of my Flickr)
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The charming head gardner’s cottage in a wintry Princes Street Gardens, but these days better known as Great Aunt Lizzie’s, after being used as the location in a popular kid’s storytelling show.
Winter Walk 04
“I got you”. Friend comforting a chum as they walk along the snowy towpath of the Union Canal
Princes Street Gardens, Winter's Day 013
Warming coffee on a freezing day
Princes Street Gardens, Winter's Day 02
Winter promenading in Princes Street Gardens during the snowy weather
Wintry Meadows 09
A splash of colour against the white snow – normally I like to shoot in B&W for my people watching pics, but with so much monochrome caused by the snow I felt like switching to colour (especially with such vibrant colours contrasting against all the white)
Wintry Meadows 06
Some enjoy a stroll, the crisp snow making that satisfying crunch-crunch-crunch noise underfoot, others decide to sit, chat and warm up with hot cuppas in the Meadows
Wintry Meadows 02
In Edinburgh we have a vast extinct volcano, Arthur’s Seat, rearing up right in the middle of our city – you can go hill-walking here without even leaving the centre of town! And what a backdrop it makes….
Winter Walk 03
Who cares about the cold, we’re happy!! Smiling couple walking along by the Union Canal
Winter Walk 011
Reading as the snow begins to fall once more
Winter Walk 010
Hot drinks on a cold day, from the floating cafe-barge, The Watershed, a regular haunt of mine on my walks, here serving up hot coffees and hot chocolate as the snow falls afresh
Ice Swan 01
One of the mute swans on the Union Canal, on the only small stretch of remaining free water, bordering the ice that covers most of the rest of the canal. The setting sun’s burnished colours can be seen reflected in the dusk waters
Ice Swan 02
And there she goes, raising herself out of the water and back onto the ice, as dusk falls along the canal
Sunset Along the Canal 01
Winter sunset along the Union Canal (frozen in the frigid temperatures), glimpsed between two tenement blocks on opposite sides of the Walker Bridge over the canal at Polwarth. My view on my walk home yesterday afternoon, breath misting in the cold air, crunch of ice underfoot, sounds of people enjoying a walk nearby, the soft calls of the mute swans, and these colours firing the skies. Glorious.
Sunset Along the Canal 02
Skeletal winter trees and chimneys silhoutted against a fiery sunset sky on a winter’s day.

Snow fun

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Like much of Europe we’ve been hit by some very severe winter weather, ironically just as meteorological spring arrives. Last weekend I was walking around town and noticing the first signs of early spring, the return of colour to the land with a few crocuses and daffodils starting to poke their heads up out of the cold soil. Last few days, several inches of snow and bitingly cold winds. For only the second time in the years I’ve lived in Edinburgh the buses were stopped, even in the city centre, trains were off, we were sent home early from work while we still could get transport and like a lot of places work just had to remain closed the next day as staff couldn’t get in and police advice was for nobody to try travelling. So fun and games! Still, even with severe wind chill and driving snow I still managed to get a few photos over the last couple of days…

Snowy Edinburgh 06

This trio of classic red British telephone boxes is a regular photo subject on the Royal Mile, I’ve snapped them a few times, by day and night and it’s a bit of a cliche as everyone takes this shot, but dammit, they looked quite cool in the snow, the red contrasting the white, so what the heck, take another…

Snowy Edinburgh 08

Snowy Edinburgh 09

Snowy Edinburgh 011

Snowy Edinburgh 012

The park by the Union Canal was pretty busy despite the awful weather, with folks making snowmen (or snow women, or perhaps non binary snow beings), lots of dogs going nuts in the snow (and clearly wondering why their humans were not so equally enthused), the canal itself was frozen and the ducks were reduced to walking on the ice rather than paddling along in the water.

Snowy Edinburgh 014

Snowy Edinburgh 017

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Snowy Edinburgh 030

On the walk home I paused to take a few pics in the old boneyard near my flat, when the skies opened and the snow came on heavily again, one of those snowfalls where you coat is covered white in seconds, so I snapped very quickly and beat a hasty retreat back indoors to the fireside…

Boneyard in the snow 01

Boneyard in the snow 02

Boneyard in the snow 05

Boneyard in the snow 07

Spring blossoms in December…

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Walking home today after a frankly dispiriting and depressing birthday (you know it’s not going to be a special day when the post arrives with several bills and no cards, not inspiring and it was downhill from there – should have stayed in bed and waited for the day to go away), passing the trees in the playground of a nearby school and more examples of how the bizarre weather is affecting plants: blossom petals appearing on the trees.

spring blossoms in December 01

These would normally be a March to April sight, but although we’ve been battered by gale-force storms repeatedly this month and lashing rain and floods, and despite those driving winds being bitingly cold, the actual ambient temperature has been way above what we would normally have in Scotland at this time of year. When I was home last week dad pointed out shoots of Daffodils pushing through the earth in the garden, this week I see spring blossoms in December. Strange weather, lately…

Changing light on the landscape

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changing weather, changing light 01

Out with my dad a few days ago, one of those days where we had bright sunlight, rain, hail and more all within minutes of one another. May make the weather unpredictable for going out but it also means constantly changing quality of light, something I rather love in Scotland, it makes even scenes you’ve seen many times before look different. We had driven up and over the Campsie Hills (a range of extinct volcanoes a little north of Glasgow) and coming down the far side towards Fintry we pulled over to watch a band of sun and rain move along the hills and mountains in the north. Above you can clearly see Ben Lomond, the most southerly of the Scottish Munros – a Munro is a mountain over 3000 feet and hill walkers and climbers who try to do all of them and tick them off are known as Munro Baggers – which is in the Trossachs and Loch Lomond National Park, still snowcapped as you can see even in late April, caught here in shafts of sunlight from gaps in the cloud while dark curtains of rain flicker over the other summits nearby.

changing weather, changing light 02

You can see huge areas such as the foreground in deep gloomy shadows from the heavy clouds overhead, some of the peaks in the distance being hammered with rain, others basking in sun (we watched the sun and rain move along the whole range in a few minutes), if you click on the pics to go the larger images on the Woolamaloo Flickr you can even see some smaller, lower clouds floating around below the actual peaks themselves. All this landscape beauty is just a short drive from Scotland’s largest city – it’s one of the reasons I love living in Scotland, even in the middle of a city you are never far from our landscape. Here where I live in Edinburgh I can catch glimpses of the Pentland Hills from the middle of town, or views down to the might river Forth and the hills of Fife on the other side. Best of both worlds.

Stormy weather

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Down to Portobello this afternoon with my mate and his dog to let him have a run around off the leash on the beach (the dog, not my friend), only to find what was a cold wind in the city centre of Edinburgh was a howling gale coming right off the North Sea at Porty, whipping the waves up into big foaming gray peaks and slamming right into the sea wall so hard they splashed right up the side, across the Esplanade and hit the wall of the structure on the other side. That was when we decided to walk around the block at the worst bit 🙂 Pictures are a bit fuzzy, the wind was so high my camera lens, glasses and my face were all getting whipped by flying sand granules and salt spray, had to clean them repeatedly but within minutes they just got covered with a film of it again.
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Things you don’t want to see…

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…Raindrops pooling along the brim and then dripping off of your nice Panama hat you put on to keep the summer sun from your face as you went on a walk of several miles along the beach…

Of course, being Scotland it was still sunny as it rained. Another thing you don’t want to see, raindrops running off the dark lenses of your sunglasses.

And add in a a t-shirt that was now two-tone, darker on the front where it was soaked and sticking to me (yes, ladies, you missed Joe’s Wet T-Shirt Beach-a-thon, try to contain your disappointment or your lunch, depending on your point of view or inclination) and still the normal on the back where it was dry. Still being summer the rain was reasonably warm. And when the sun came back out again the rain made all of the plants glisten as if covered in diamonds.

Stormy weather

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Ferocious storm in a nearby river or stream swollen from rain? Nope, this is right outside my work in a sudden huge deluge a few days ago, enormous droplets bouncing off the pavement, turning the road into a river so quickly that cars going past caused a wave which washed right up over the pavements to the edge of the buildings. Then hailstones, thunder and lightning. Ah, Bonnie Scotland in the summer! Didn’t last long, but while it did it was torrential. Later on when it was simply drizzling I passed a couple of Canadian girls (you can tell them my their maple leaf flags almost all Cannucks stitch to their backpacks when touring abroad so people don’t mistake them for Americans), poor souls over for a summer trip in light tops, shorts and flip-flops walking through the puddles while I had my trusty John Steed style umbrella. Not as summery but much more practical for the Scottish weather.

Seasons

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There’s a definite feeling of change in the air, the wheeling of the seasons. We’ve had an early taste of winter as cold winds blow up the Forth, driving rain so that you have to constantly angle your umbrella sideways rather than above you. When we have had sunlit days they have been different; the sun is bright, the sky a glorious blue, but you can feel summer’s last breath slipping away and autumn ascending the sky. The glowing sun (when it does shine) no longer burns as it did only a few weeks ago; already its light is becoming stretched out, the glare of summer replaced by a far softer, golden light. The quality of sunlight turns to amber and copper at this time of year in our little northern kingdom; as the leaves begin to turn, losing their greenery they too take on a coppery-red sheen.


Most canopies are still green but each bough already bears yellowing leaves; in a few weeks more the green trees swaying in the breeze will wear crowns of vermillion which glow in the golden sunlight of autumn, a final hurrah before the winds blow the leaves loose and the trees take on their bear, skeletal winter form. Although the winter here to grants beauty – devoid of their rich, lush leaves the bare branches are the perfect canvas for nature to paint upon with glittering frost. There’s always something beautiful to look at in any season if you eyes know how to look.

So once more we move into the “seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness2 and true to the old poem the autumnal mists are already rising in Edinburgh as the warmth of the autumn day meets the cool evening. Castle Rock is wrapped in soft, grey velvet as the sun sets in the west; as the lights are lit their glow is diffused, like distant suns shining in a faraway nebula. Everything becomes softer; the sharp outlines of jagged volcanic rock on Arthur’s Seat (where Hutton, entranced with the sculpted stone of nature gave birth to geology) become blurred and dissolve like a dream.


You can easily imagine Hogg’s Justified Sinner (surely a parent to both Jekyll and Hyde) with his internal torments atop that extinct volcano, just as you can imagine the muffled footsteps you hear in the wynds and ways could be those of Burke and Hare carrying another body for Knox through the misty streets of the Old Town. On such evenings in Edinburgh you could almost believe that the mists will momentarily part on a dark evening and you’ll catch sight of Deacon Brodie leading his double life or the gawkit gait of Stevenson in his velvet coat, his wan complexion reflecting the light above a favoured tavern, the moisture on the sandstone blocks shimmering like stars.