Sweltering

Mercury wasn't quite as high as yesterday but it was incredibly humid. Storms forecast for the evening and indeed eventually at about 11:00 pm they arrived from the Alps to the south & from Switzerland/Lake Constance to the south-west. No hail, just lots of rain & nature no doubt very happy.

Still getting regular flood warnings but connected with the very rapid snow melting in the Alps, particularly as we had record depths of snow in May.

The hail storm on Monday between us & Munich caused more damage than at first reckoned. Now stands at 700m €uros. Reckon it would have been much higher had it moved into central Munich & had not many people (cars) not been away on holiday.

As an island dweller for all of my life, until I moved to Munich in 1990, I hadn't really had much experience of thunderstorms. Here it was always a regular event in summer. In fact, I remember well being astounded by the sight of cars in Munich that looked as though they had been attacked by an army of sledgehammers. I was told they were from the record 1984 hail storm that damaged around 200,000 cars.

But it seems to me that back then, the storms came after a week of hot weather that increasingly got humid. Now it seems we only need one warm day. Even worse the frequency of winter thunderstorms has increased. Certainly storm/hail insurance is one of the few that seem to be worthwhile in these parts.

At about midday had loaded a trailer of garden "rubbish" - tree & shrub cuttings & taken it to the compost yard. It was sweltering but probably my last as I have now officially retired from all garden work - apparently incompetent. Took it easy for the afternoon, not even checking the bees as planned as they don't like thundery weather & get aggressive. Weather should be good by Monday.

I left the evening walk rather late despite the grey clouds & even set off just as the first drizzle started. Luckily it stopped after 100m and Luna was able to cool off with a swim. As we returned to the car, the drizzle started again.