Weather

Yesterday I was struck by a paradoxical site. An Autumnal looking stream that has practically dried up. A week ago the river could be seen, and the rocks, and stones. Last night, during a group run what I saw was yellow leaves sitting on still water, with no water flowing.

Water is still pooled in certain spots but it is still so dry, with no rain, no fog, and barely any clouds, that this Autumn feels like Summer. It’s warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts. Some people still cover up, but you don’t need to. Summer isn’t finished yet.

For a week or so there were a lot of flies clustering. I believe that this was due to weather weirding. For months it was too warm, and dry, so they didn’t breed as voraciously. Eventually the weather changed temporarily so there was an infestation for those with bad luck.

During this time I noticed that a fly or three tried to fly into the fridge. Flies tend to slow down and hibernate or die when they get too cold, so they might be full of enthusiasm and optimism when they fly in but once the door is closed they’re trapped. The light goes out so they think “bed time” but they also realise “Wait, this is a very cold place, and all of the food is covered so I have no food or drink.”

Recently I went out for the entire day and when I came home I had a swarm of flies sitting by the velux, two days in a row. The buzzing was loud. It’s a good thing that I am not squeamish about flies because this was the stuff of nightmares.

This summer I’ve had puce de canards burrow into my legs and die causing discomfort for a few days, I’ve gone for monday runs where midges were an issue, and recently I saw clouds of flying ants, but luckily these insects didn’t pester me.

Some people would have skipped this morning’s ride because it was cold. The temperature was forecast to be minus two degrees celsius and with the wind chill factor, and regional differences it could have felt like minus 5°c or cooler.

I skipped because the cold that has been annoying me for days is still around. Yesterday I was feeling much better and I had a big appetite,I thought it would be good to have another day of recovery.

Bike rides have been cancelled because of rain, rather than wind or other factors. When it rains cyclists don’t want to ride because it gets their bike dirty and they have to clean it, lubricate it and more. With hikers rain is also an excuse to be lazy, within some groups. With other groups rain is just rain and the walks and hikes go ahead.

Yesterday morning we had stormy weather. It was raining very hard, and so windy that rain was aerosolised rather than falling as raindrops. As gusts blew, so you saw a cloud of rain move with the wind. You could see gutters overflowing as the wind blew water out over the lip of the edge. It was strong enough to change the direction of water flowing with gravity.

Yesterday I planned to walk so I put on my hiking boots and just as I was about to go out I heard large rain drops hit the velux. I thought “according to the weather app the rain should be light”. It wasn’t light. It was heavy and sustained.

You might think “So, why didn’t you just wait out the rain. A few days ago I saw that rain was forecast, so I didn’t go for an after lunch walk. The rain never came so I ended up going for my walk at rush hour, when everyone was commuting home, rather than when it was quiet.

Last night I could have gone for a group ride, and it wouldn’t have rained on, despite what the weather said. As I went for a ride that morning, and felt tired, it felt rational not to ride in the evening.

Last night it rained consistently until this morning but now the sun is almost out again and the sky is brighter. In theory this means that cycling would be an option.

On RTS Info they warn about Erin, the ex-cyclone probably hitting Switzerland, dumping a lot of rain. The alert for some areas is level 5.

This is for a narrow band in the Alps on the Italo-Swiss border. The possible impacts are ’extreme rise in water of rivers and lakes, flooding in many areas, and landslides. Rail and road traffic could be impacted.

Around Nyon there is a chance of localised flooding, dry ditches filling with water, and in some places localised flooding in basements and other places.

On Sunday evening I saw that a ride was planned for Monday evening. Usually I would hae skipped this ride because I felt that I should rest. According to Garmin I should have taken a rest day.

I intended to have a calm bike ride, until I got onto the bike and started to pedal. I went through the road I find is dangerous, before taking a second road I find is dangerous, before taking a third road I find dangerous, before finally being on safe roads.

One of the strangest things, in my observation of other people, is that they dress as if it was warm when it was cold. They dress in shorts and t-shirts to walk in the mountains in spring. That’s quite absurd, given how the mountains, in April tend to be cold.

Others dress in shorts and a t-shirt to go running when it is barely above freezing and I find this behaviour absurd too. In theory you don’t need to dress if your body is going to be hot and sweaty after a quick run.