Start of meteorological Autumn (September 1st)

[GloriaSmud]

Today is the start of meteorological Autumn and the weather this week, certainly looks like it's going to match up to the new season! As for the rest of Autumn, there aren't any strong signals either way as to what to expect but here are some thoughts from….
TheWeatherOutlook.
And Netweather's thoughts for the week ahead...

Made the Christmas cake this weekend. The currants are so tiny. Something awry with the growing season there.

NoWordForFluffy ~ that does about sum up the year really. Last year the Spring was too wet and went on too long. This year, the Spring was too dry and then we went on to have a dry summer. It's been a difficult year or two when it comes to gardening/allotments....

justasking111 ~ I was thinking a few days ago that I should get round to making mine (especially as a few Winter/Christmas forecasts are beginning to make an appearance on some weather websites!)

The cake is cooling in the kitchen. Smells wonderful.

Yes, apparently the Greek currant crop has suffered badly this year due to the dry weather. They are small enough at the best of times so I tend to double up on sultanas instead. Not that I've made a cake this year, as I've still got two hiding in tins from last year. (The Italian in me always thinks I'm cooking for an entire village!)

That's interesting. Thank you. Two spare cakes, such self control. I'd have had one at 🐰 🐣

Probably time to decide which Christmas cake recipe to use this year (maybe give this one a go!)

So an unsettled week but colder next weekend ~ could be some overnight frosts in some places...

I did a Jane's Patisserie lemon cheesecake last Christmas as an alternative dessert. It was dead easy and really nice!

We stick with Delia’s classic 80s Christmas cake every year. I’ve grown very fond of it!

Made carrot & coriander soup today, seemed like soup weather and we had a big bunch of coriander left over from making bean chili. I should have used more carrots though as it turned out to be Green Carrot Soup

It looks like Autumn has properly returned this week....

(MotherOfCatBoy ~ now that's a book (Delia Smith's Christmas) that's well used in this house!)

Use Delia for the bread sauce. But the Christmas cake and stuffing come from Good Housekeeping a huge tome 1976 edition.

At the moment for tomorrow and Thursday, it looks like there are two low pressure systems that could bring wet/windy weather to the country ~ one especially affects Scotland the other the south coast.

(On one of my favourite webcams of Rovaniemi in Finland, there are wintry scenes and the barriers (in the foreground) went up yesterday, which means the Christmas tree won't be long before it makes an appearance.
I'm waiting for this morning's Sainsbury's delivery before starting the Christmas cake ~ I like how we've started discussing recipes in the the weather section!😁)

It's looking wild for Scotland not too bad for Wales

Interesting on the possibile storm. On BBC breakfast weather they were discussing the difference between the USA modeling (NW Scotland) and the European modeling (Scandinavia and possibility of NE England)
They never seem to give that much detail, made me think of Gloria and OYBBK

I've used Good Housekeeping for my cake since I was 21, so that's erm, 33 years. My version is a 1992 one and I think it was a housewarming gift when I bought my first flat that year. Its full of memories that book when I open it at the same page each year and see my notes and scribbles.

Weather + cooking + nature are my only main interests. I guess they all tie in with the seasons @GloriaSmud 😊

RainbowZebraWarrior ~ 😀 That's the thing with cookery books ~ they're a bit like photo albums, full of memories, notes and in my case, quite a lot of pages that are glued together by food stains!

We have some wind and rain weather warnings issued by the metoffice for Thursday.

I had a purge of cookery books several years ago and just kept my very favourites but I also have a folder full of recipes I've written down and many that were given to me by friends and family, some signed, and gathered over the last 40 years. It's lovely to browse through.

As for the rain, at last!

Has been a chilly night here ~ temperature was about 5C when I got up this morning. Tonight and tomorrow looks awful from the Midlands southwards and around the coastline of Wales.
TheWeatherOutlook has some thoughts here...

This is from last month but it's well written and good to see acknowledgement of how dry the weather has been this year. In prolonged dry spells when plants are gasping for water, it annoys me to see forecasts talking about the 'risk' of rain.

https://www.netweather.tv/weather-forecasts/news/13146-drought-persists-in-parts-of-britain-even-with-september-rain

Bloody hell. Feels like the temp has dropped about 10 degrees since I went into work this morning. Going to have to turn the heating on when I get home I think.

Yes rafa. It was cool walking to work but the temperature definitely dropped by lunchtime. Must remember gloves from now on.

It's just under 7C here at the moment, a big drop.

It's definitely more chilly today. 🥶

I've just put the heating on here, as it's bath night and the bathroom is far too cold to be pleasant!

Yes ~ now Storm Benjamin's moved east (and that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be), it's turned colder ~ 4.4C here this morning!