Weather in April

April is an odd month in the UK. Some days can be hot and sunny, whereas other days can be cold and wet. 

No wonder we like to talk about the weather in the UK! This was this day some years ago, whereas today it is very sunny.

Rain, hail, thunder - will we ever see the sun?

At the moment it is hailing here. I will probably disconnect all antennas, PC and rigs until the storm has passed over and moved away. We had a few settled days last week. Maybe that was our summer? We usually see thunder and lightning in late July and August. June is rare.

See www.lightningmaps.org .

UPDATE 1500z:  The storm seems to be moving away now, although I can still hear thunder. I shall wait until all danger is well gone before reconnecting antennas, rigs and PC.

Storms - gone QRT for now

We have just had a second hail storm and thunder, so I have disconnected all my amateur radio gear for now. The photo was taken through the window. It feels more like February than nearly May! According to the map, the storms are passing right over us.

See https://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en .

UPDATE 1513z: The storms seem to be moving away, but I shall probably stay off the air for a few hours, then return to 472kHz WSPR.

UPDATE 1534z:  An internet friend has reported 5cm of snow in Vermont, USA.  I should stop moaning about the UK weather. :-)

QRT - hail!

As there is a hailstorm currently, I decided to go QRT on all bands and disconnect antennas and PSUs. I am probably being over-cautious, but I can go on 10m WSPR another day. In the last few hours it has just been locals and no DX on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1700z: See http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime?lang=en. At the moment the maps show thunderstorms to the north of here. I may go on MF later.

UPDATE 1848z:  As the nearest storm is in the Leicester area, I think it is safe to resume MF WSPR transmissions.