KEEPING AN EYE ON THE WINTER WEATHER!

GLOBAL WARMING IS A TRAGIC REALITY; HOW WILL I FARE THIS WINTER I WONDER?  POST NO.1/WW (A 9 minute read)

Good evening readers and I hope that it is a pleasant evening that you are spending and that you are spending it in good company! This is an introductory post to a new file/page of posts entitled: "WATCHING MY WINTER WEATHER". Once again this year 2023, we have made new records with regards to our meteorological conditions here in Spain, as well as world-wide.

For want of distraction, I am going to monitor daily the weather here in southern Spain where I am currently living and actually log day by day what the weather is doing. I know that we have very serious concerns in Andalucía, as the food garden of Europe and our scarcity of water. There are many areas who have suffered water restrictions this year and the outlook for the next twelve months is dire.

Rainfall is so infrequent and comes in such small quantities, as to be causing real drought conditions. Desertification is a reality here in Andalucía! Vast areas of agricultural crops are failing from lack of water but the natural source of water from the sky; always seems to fall somewhere else! So, I will be paying particular attention to our rainfall, if indeed we have any.

Today being 21st December 2023, it is the shortest day of the year by hours of daylight and our European winter time officially begins today. We have an ongoing debate here in Spain regarding the changing of the clocks or not! And if we do not change the clocks anymore; where do we leave them? On British Summer Time or on British Winter Time?

I will also be monitoring the sunrise and sunset times which do vary considerably from the east coast of Spain to the west coast of Spain. The eastern side want to stay in BST and the western side wants to stay in BWT! I think we may need two time bands in truth. The changes from autumn to winter here have been very subtle since I have lived this far south, this now being my ninth winter spent down here. 

Any who have read my first book titled: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN or my second book titled: ON THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT, both written down here, will know that the internal temperature of my home can fall pretty low and for the record, it is currently at 16ºC with the gas heater on! Hence I am tucked into my bed with the laptop writing this post!!

WHAT WILL THIS WINTER HAVE IN STORE FOR US?

Being as we are just four days away from Christmas Day, there will be many wondering if it will snow on that day and make all their Christmas card ideals come true; it would be a WHITE Christmas! Where I am right now in the Almería province by the Mediterranean Sea, I can FEEL absolutely sure that it will not be snowing here on Christmas Day!

No, I have never known snow at Christmas time in all of my thirty-three years lived here, both in Andalucía and Barcelona. There are places in Spain that will have a white Christmas and I will try and find out where they are too. My prevision for Christmas Day is for sunshine with a few clouds and maximum temperatures of 18ºC. A typical winter´s day here!!

In truth, I am not expecting anything extraordinary to come my way and take me by surprise. The winters are mild this far south and they have long been dry as well. The sunshine levels are high too (great news for those with solar panels of course, me not being one of them!), which does allow outdoor activities to continue without too much suffering.

It is the UV levels that particularly interest me, living in a southern position as I do. Fair-skinned as I am, I am really noticing year on year the increased intensity of the sun´s rays. My front porch is a sun-trap between 13.30pm and 15.00pm, which has been my saving grace all winter, every winter, thus far. 

Although we are now officially entering into the winter season, I am still needing 50 SPF suncream and can barely stay in the sun for 30 minutes! So, I will be endeavouring to keep my Vitamin D levels topped up, whilst not burning my skin and monitor the actual intensity of the sun throughout these winter months, as told by my own skin´s tolerance and the UV levels. 

THE PALM TREES SHOW ME THE WIND DIRECTION! NORTH-WESTERLY TODAY!

WHICH WAY WILL THE WIND BLOW?

The direction of the wind really does make a difference where I am sat in the world. I can see clearly from the palm trees outside of my window which way the wind is blowing. As east coastal dwellers, we are subject to the LEVANTE winds which blow in from the eastern Mediterranean. These winds bring warm, dry conditions as a rule.

Often we find the SIROCCO winds, which rise from the Sahara Desert region and drift northwards to smother us here in very hot African air. These are gentle and slow moving but also bring much Saharan sand floating on that southern air too. This post that I wrote in May 2022 shows a photo of a dramatic Saharan sand cloud that eventually drifted right up to my home village in Gran Bretaña. COMING OUT OF THE COLD; AT LAST! 

Actually I was acknowledging the arrival of spring and celebrating my survival of another bitter winter indoors in that post!!! But I was reviewing the chapter of my second book that I was writing when that whole very unusual event took place. The sky turned completely orange and stayed that way all day!! The photo shows the view that I had out of my back window! As the caption says; there was no problem with my camera!! That is how it really was!

We are also affected by the PONIENTE winds which blow in from the west across the Atlantic Ocean. These are the winds that bring a cooler, fresher feel to the air and bring the temperatures down accordingly, as well as higher humidity levels. Higher outdoor humidity levels mean higher indoor humidity levels and the consequent issues with mould on the walls!

Therefore, if I have a preference for wind, I have to prefer the LEVANTE which does keep a warm feel to the day and a drier sensation indoors too! It is the levels of humidity which create the sensation that the temperatures are lower than they actually are. The DAMP conditions of the winter months which see us wrapping up well and struggling to get any washing dry!!

RAIN, WIND OR SHINE!

So, rain, wind or shine, I will be making a note of it and begin compiling a comprehensive set of data. I will also be checking back on previous years and seeing how they compare. Has it been wetter, warmer, sunnier or cooler than ever before? 

I will be writing up the daily statistics on the "WATCHING MY WINTER WEATHER" PAGE ONE for any who might be interested in knowing how the climate is down here and I will write a weekly post for this page where I will summarise the week´s conditions.

A little something for me to focus on each day which is unrelated to my ongoing pages of posts: "TALES FROM THE TOMB" PAGE ONE and "UNDERSTANDING NARCISSISM" PAGE ONE. It will be as my meteorological diary. Something that I used to do in fact! I would always make a note on my calendar of the day´s temperature and conditions.

The last five years have seen me lose ALL of my positive habits and adopt so many negative habits instead that were never mine. It is time to get back on track and get back in touch with the reality of the weather at least! I have every intention of trying to get some positivity going again this New Year 2024, so I will start warming up (hopefully), with the daily weather!