WANT TO KNOW THE WINTER WEATHER?

No need to water the plants this week then. With Callum in our rear-view mirror, the Met Office has released the rest of the storm names for the 2018/19 season. Next to debut will be Deidre, then Erik, followed by Frayer, Gareth, Hannah and Idris. You can find the rest on the internet.

I have mentioned before that I am a big fan of the Weather Without Technology website, written by the colourful character, David King.

David predicts the weather ahead based on years of experience and nature’s signals and clues.

He is pretty accurate to be fair and I love reading his reasoning and explanations based on observations of nature and wildlife.

This winter, he predicts, will be cold but dryer than average, and with very little snowfall.

He is forecasting foggy mornings and frosty nights but sunny dry days (on the whole). And that is based on the autumn offerings of fruit and nuts.

What is interesting is that I was told that a lot of berries and fruit indicated a hard winter, as nature is providing an opportunity for wildlife to stock up the larder.

David has a broader take and says: “Normally the huge displays of nuts, fruits, hips, haws, seeds and berries would indicate a long hard winter; however though there is a magnificent display of all such items this year, there is another reason – there is an acute water shortage in many places, so nature in its wisdom provides extra such foods, food that contain liquids, that help alleviate the acute water shortage, food that contains extra energy too; masses of quince, medlar, bullace and damsons, juniper fruits rarely seen (or for some even heard of) yet in masses this year; rose hips also come into this equation.

“Nature is never wrong, nature looks after its own, and gives the weather 90 to 180 days down the line.”

I’m not sure how the recent floods affect that prediction here in Wales but it is going to be interesting to find out.

Oh and he is also predicting a similar “scorchio” summer for next year!