Explosive Cyclogenesis

The term "Explosive Cyclogenesis" has been used by meteorologists over the past few days to describe the severe winter storm that hit the northern UK today. The media have preferred to use the term "weather bomb". Either way, I was due to lead a Ramblers walk today and the forecast did not look good.

Waking up to the occasional sound of thunder and flashes of lightning during the night did not help my mood and I wasn't sure whether the walk would go ahead. However, in the knowledge that the worst of the storm was meant to be in the north-west and in western coastal regions, and that my walk was a low-level one in east central Scotland, I decided to go ahead.

At the meeting point in Cumbernauld only one other walker had turned up - the rest, I think, had more sense and had stayed at home - but we drove up to the start of the walk at Powmill to be met by another person. So the three of us did a much-shortened version of the route, walking from Powmill up to Crook of Devon and then along the River Devon path to Rumbling Bridge (from where this photo was taken) and back to the cars.

The wind was not as severe, nor the weather as cold, as I had expected. However, it was still quite gusty and there were also a couple of heavy hailstorms, intermittent rain and sunshine, and one flurry of snow that blew horizontally into our faces, starting just about the time I was trying to take this photograph of the river.

In the end, I was glad to have done the walk and equally glad I didn't do the whole walk listed on our Ramblers' group programme. And it was good to retire to the Powmill Milk Bar at the end of the walk for some hot soup and rolls.

Not a day for taking many photographs. And most of those I did take feature either raindrops or snow-blurs on the lens. All in all, and interesting day out.