Fog hollows and funny weather
Well the fog has gone that has been trapped in the valley for the last 2
days. What was rather different was the weather above 700 feet or so
Last 2 days I have escaped down to Perth and the journey has been very
interesting. Down in the Village it has been around 0 C and foggy, rolling
around in a fairly thick manner. There was little frost around, just a layer
of clear ice, say on the car.
Drive up the village to around 700 feet and it clears to blue skies and
thick frost. Driving down the Trochry Road I was basking in the sunshine but
ahead again lay the fog down on the A9 at Dunkeld (a particular fog hollow).
The day before about 3 miles of this road was fog bound but yesterday that
stretch was clear and what a sight...it was completely white with frost,
every tree, spider web, fence and blade of grass was white, like a winter
wonderland. As it hit the fog it immediately transformed to brown with no
frost, in a matter of meters.
It must have been the moisture from the fog the day before. But it was a
reversal of the usual.
That road from the A9 to Trochry has a great microclimate. It still has snow
on it on Christmas day last year even though the snow had fallen 5 days
prior and we had had 2 days in between above 11 C. It never gets any sun in
winter as it runs W_E and it a deep ravine. The difference in weather and
temperature yesterday on that little 5 mile stratch was remarkable. I always
have to crank up the heater as I travel on the road but yesterday it froze
my window water and the water on the screen.
it starts at 235 m at the Western edge and falls to 48m at Dunkeld, it
follows the river Bran and is called Strathbran (A822).
Last week you could look down on our valley and see where the frost started
(400m) in a band - ie the cold air had sunk and above the 400m line it was
green, below it white, this week the reverse was true.
Looking down at a fog filled valley when you are in sunshine is a great joy
to behold, not sure why but it is and driving back down into the fog is
terrific. Once again I failed to convey this to my wife who seemed less than
interested and more interested in her sore ankle (it's the Highland Ball
tonight you see). ;o)
brian
aberfeldy
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