Penellype's Weather Channel

[Thelma Sanders]

WARNING - the temperatures are about to drop by about 10 degrees or more from the summer-like ones we have had over the past few days. There is a risk of significant night frost for the next 3 or 4 nights, particularly so on Monday night when widespread below zero temperatures are likely.

Yes, I saw that, it doesn't look nice at all - a real shock to the system after this weeks lovely weather!

[Chippy Minton]

Well that was exciting, a short but very sharp shower (radar had white!) just passed over with a touch of rumbling near the end, headed off in a north-easterly direction. That'll have watered in the spuds I just put in. All water butts were empty this morning, the one that collects off about 20% of the house roof now has about 50 litres in it from no more than 20-30 minutes rain.

[1Bee]

Thanks Penellype. Felt it coming and everything's protected. Feels like winter's last sucker punch, so hoping that'll be the last of the proper cold spells, although I know we'll still likely have a couple of frosts yet.

Now we just need some rain... Yep, it's another spring drought up here!

[Penellype]

I was hoping for some rain yesterday. The showers grazed the south of York, but its dry as a bone here. I've already started on my 2nd water barrel at the allotment and there is no sign of any more rain until at least the weekend, possibly rather longer.

Amazing how quickly it can go from far too wet to really rather too dry!

[quanglewangle]

A little rain in west Cornwall overnight: < 10mm. Very different feel today. Brisk 15kt wind backed from east to north-east couple of hours ago. About 12C but feels cooler. Beautiful day, actually.

[1Bee]

Yes, Penellype - my clay soil is perfectly workable for about one week a year!

[Containergardener]

^^^^snap . The time between claggy and concrete

[bikermike]

^^^^snap . The time between claggy and concrete

The joys of clay. Our plot is muddy at the shady bottom and was cracking at the sunny top.
We had a good heavy thunderstorm shower yesterday (headed northeast from us - vidoecon with friends gave check-ins of where it went). Much cooler today. 4c overnight tonight and 2c tomorrow. Hooray for forecasting- if I hadn't known, I'd have been planting out...

[Penellype]

This is always a dangerous time of year for gardeners as huge swings in temperature often occur. The period 11th-14th April is known as Blackthorn Winter (the blackthorn is currently in flower) as there are often frosty nights around this time.

[1Bee]

I rather foolishly lost a tray of tagetes. Could have sworn they were half hardy, but apparently not.... *eyeroll* Mind you, I think that's actually the first time I've ever completely lost something to frost. So not doing too bad, really.

[Penellype]

I rather foolishly lost a tray of tagetes. Could have sworn they were half hardy, but apparently not.... *eyeroll* Mind you, I think that's actually the first time I've ever completely lost something to frost. So not doing too bad, really.

Tagetes are half hardy - that means they are not frost hardy. I once lost a large number of strawberry flowers to a late frost, reducing my crop by about half. Its very easy to look at the forecast and think it won't be that cold - and then its a degree or 2 colder than forecast and things get nipped.

[ghexton]

Hello Penellype,

What is the long range looking like over the next few weeks?

Im just south of you in York, based in east Lincolnshire on the edge of the wolds.
Also do towns and city's suffer less from frost? im keen to get my toms in a sheltered unheated greenhouse.

https://ibb.co/JHBywdy

[Penellype]

Hello Penellype,

What is the long range looking like over the next few weeks?

Im just south of you in York, based in east Lincolnshire on the edge of the wolds.
Also do towns and city's suffer less from frost? im keen to get my toms in a sheltered unheated greenhouse.

https://ibb.co/JHBywdy

The next week or so looks dry and pleasantly warm, although not as hot as we have seen recently. After that, with a great deal of uncertainty, models are looking at more unsettled and possibly colder weather for the end of April and start of May.

You are right that towns and cities are warmer, and therefore suffer slightly less from frost - this is about 1-2 degrees, which can make a big difference at this time of year. As well as the warming effect of heat escaping from buildings, concrete and brick absorb heat and release it slowly like a storage heater. You can make use of this effect by putting more vulnerable plants against a south facing wall, where they are less likely to get damaged if there is a slight frost.

I think it is early to put tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse. You can help a bit by putting up a mini greenhouse inside the main one, which will trap more heat during the day, but if the night is very cold heat will escape and the temperature will drop.

[Gillykat]

Dry is good.....I'm digging the allotment over next week and continuing to get it sorted

Definitely going to leave my squashes another week or two before sowing at home

[sandspider]

A reasonable amount of rain over Friday and Saturday. Planted out my fig tree during the wettest spell!