April showers and storms

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Globetrotter.uk

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2008
2,063
5
Norwich UK
Apparently after all the hot weather we've had over Easter, we are in for some heavy storms and weeks of showers yippee. A great time to test out tarps and other shelters.
 

Radix lecti

Native
Jan 15, 2006
1,174
1
57
Gloucester
Apparently after all the hot weather we've had over Easter, we are in for some heavy storms and weeks of showers yippee. A great time to test out tarps and other shelters.

I hope so Globetrotter, i have fashioned a 3x3 tarp out of an old 6 berth tent,just hope the new eyelets and stitching hold out in a downpour.

Daz
 

Kepis

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 17, 2005
6,690
2,104
Sussex
according to the Beeb and the met Office website we were supposed to get Thunder Storms yesterday and Saturday:confused::confused::confused::confused:, we are still waiting for them, i even had my camera gear set up to get some lightning shots when i saw some big fluffers as i call them (CuNims) heading our way, they never got here:(:(
 

Shewie

Mod
Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
24
48
Yorkshire
We got some rain on Saturday in Leeds, clear blue skies and red hot but there were some giant raindrops coming down for about ten minutes.

Just checked the Met Office site for next weekend and it's not too bad, the wind is going to pick up as the week goes on but not so much of the wet stuff. Both our water collectors are empty now so we could do with some for the garden at least.
 

Totumpole

Native
Jan 16, 2011
1,066
9
Cairns, Australia
I was out near sevenoaks in Kent on Saturday and boy did it rain.Lovely roasting hot day untill bout 4.30pm then Epic thunder & lightning right overhead. Rain so heavy it reduced visibility to bout 50meters for a while. Was chuffed cos its the first day I took out my new ventile smock and I got to test it - Torso stayed dry, legs soaked to the bone including boots full of water as I forgot my gaiters.

How safe is it being in the woods in lightning? I know you shouldnt be the only tall thing out in an open field, but is it relatively safe to take shelter under a tree in the middle of a forest? I suppose your never really gonna be far from a tree in the woods anyway so what difference does it make ;)
 

Lithril

Administrator
Admin
Jan 23, 2004
2,590
55
Southampton, UK
Yeah cheers for that, I've got 12 students on their Silver Duke of Edinburgh practice exped in Wales next weekend, could do with the rain waiting a bit longer.
 

mayfly

Life Member
May 25, 2005
690
1
Switzerland
The local weather sages around where I am on holiday at the moment in western France are predicting a 1976 repeat. Unbelievably dry for the time of year and the patterns are apparently the same as 1976. Farmers anxious. We'll see, all impossible to predict with certainty, but seems plausible.
 

Robbi

Full Member
Mar 1, 2009
10,228
1,027
northern ireland
Mmm thunderstorms. Gotta love the smell of ozone...

you are the only other person i've ever heard say that, ...i smell it every time but SWMBO reckons i'm bonkers ! ( i can smell it in photocopier rooms as well sometimes )
 

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
3,600
42
73
Durham City, County Durham
Lots of rain will be brilliant. I've just finished setting my veggies and rain in sufficient quantities means I won't have to stand out there each evening with a hosepipe.

Eric
 

courtney

Tenderfoot
Feb 21, 2011
57
0
near rugby
i ould really do without rain next week as im doing ,my 110 mile sponsored walk for the air ambulance. dont really want to be slowed down by all that rain. i dont mind abit and when i pitched up. but trying to pitch up while its all coming down i really could do with out lol
 

Melonfish

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 8, 2009
2,460
1
Warrington, UK
i'm thinking of slinging the old tarp in the garden and let the rain clean it off a bit, could do with a spot of a clean.
 

Barn Owl

Old Age Punk
Apr 10, 2007
8,245
5
58
Ayrshire
I've always smelled the ozone too.

Pals used to think I was talking rubbish when a boy and said I could smell the rain.
 

Balanophage

Member
Apr 11, 2011
34
0
UK
www.bushcraft-magazine.co.uk
I was out near sevenoaks in Kent on Saturday and boy did it rain.Lovely roasting hot day untill bout 4.30pm then Epic thunder & lightning right overhead.

We could hear the thunder from the North Downs and see the rain dropping at a distance, but we didn't get any. I suspect there was a line of storms moving across... I think what we could see was more towards Tunbridge Wells way. About the same time or a little earlier, though.

How safe is it being in the woods in lightning? I know you shouldnt be the only tall thing out in an open field, but is it relatively safe to take shelter under a tree in the middle of a forest? I suppose your never really gonna be far from a tree in the woods anyway so what difference does it make ;)

It's fine unless the one you're near gets hit. :) (Nearly happened to my mum - she was never good in thunderstorms at the best of times, and completely nutty in them after that. Lightning hit a tree on the other side of a wall from where she was standing, pretty much blew the tree apart.) I think sheltering under a hedgerow or field tree is more of a problem because it's more likely to get hit. In a forest you're generally sheltered though, so would you need to take shelter under any particular tree?
 

Balanophage

Member
Apr 11, 2011
34
0
UK
www.bushcraft-magazine.co.uk
It's easier to see when rain's on the way, up to a day or two in advance, especially if the weather's been very dry. If you look out over a distance, everything seems very clear and sharp (really unusually so) - this seems to be reliable even if the met office says otherwise!
 

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