Low Spring Tide Hike

Contemplating walking to Vico from White Rock at Low Spring Tide

Solstice afternoon

Waterspout

I found this photo I took about 30 years ago of a waterspout on the Irish sea (as seen from the ferry). If you have enough faith you can see the cone descending from the cloud and the water being sucked up from the sea.

Double figures

I got 11 degrees in the pool (the tide was coming in but hadn't cooled it down) and 10 degrees in the sea with my state-of-the-art German instrument .

I notice that 4 years ago we hit double figures 3 days later.  That's climate change for you.

Big waves at high tide

That was close!

Bit Nippy at the Vico this morning

Toby dons sunglasses

Summer has definitely arrived!

Bits of Iceland on my car

Anyone noticed a layer of dust on the car? I took a sample and looked through the microscope and it looked glassy (the pictue shows dust on the glass - I couldn't manage a photo through the microscope eyepiece). Could it be from the volcano? According to the plume map, Ireland is ash-free.


Good channel 4 Program here

Ice on the steps

When is this cold weather going to end?  There was ice on the main steps this morning and the sea registered 4.3 degrees on the digital thermometer (suspended in the sea for a good 10 minutes)

Weather beaten Vico

By popular request ... well, one request ...

Frozen sea at coal pier

Landslide

Removing the small but deceptively heavy and sticky landslide.

Mercury Falling Further!

Temperatures at 4pm today of -1C and 6.5C were not an immediately obvious combination for pleasant swimming, but nevertheless provided this vicover with two wonderful swims - requiring an intravenous transfusion of a thermos of tea afterwards however!

Last Sunrise of the Year

 and later that day - venus and the moon

Solstice Sunrise

Better than Newgrange!

Solstice watch

Sun-worshippers: Meet at 08:10 (if you can drag yourself out from under that cosy duvet) to watch the winter solstice sunrise at 08:38 on Sunday 21st. Fire and breakfast planned.
PS Forecast: 99% cloud cover.

Solstice sunrise - odd optical effect

Taken with the phone, so quality not great, but the sun appears this side of the horizon.

Temperature

M2 databuoy seems to be back in order (it stopped recording temperature last May.)

According to the Vico Department of Oceanographic Mensuration, the December 12th M2 databuoy temperatures were:

2008 11.1

2007 11.7

2006 12.1

2005 11.9

2004 12.0

2003 11.8

So it's not that cold, although it's the coldest since records began.

Tomorrow the 13th, the evenings start to get longer.

Cooling Down!

Bank Holiday Monday Vico Temperatures:

Water: 11DegC

Air: 6DegC

Rainbow, cloud and moonrise