Posted by: @courtenay

Hope you enjoy Perth. Are you there for business, or do you have family there?   

It's a family trip- I was born in Perth; my parents and siblings live there.

Posted by: @davidd

It's a family trip- I was born in Perth; my parents and siblings live there.

Woohooo, another Aussie NarniaWebber!   I think that makes four of us currently active here — me, you, @pete and @waggawerewolf27. I was born in outer suburban Melbourne but grew up in Inverloch, a bit further south-east along the coast. My parents still live there and my sister lives in Melbourne. I now live in the UK (Cheshire, to be more precise, in north-west England) and usually get back to Australia to visit family and friends once a year.

Meanwhile, living in the homeland of so many literary icons (including so many of my favourites from childhood) is just awesome. Being able to visit not only C.S. Lewis's former home and college in Oxford, but Beatrix Potter's house and Arthur Ransome's favourite areas in the Lake District, Jane Austen's house in Hampshire, Rudyard Kipling's house and A.A. Milne's "Poohsticks Bridge" in Sussex, the real-life Watership Down...

Ooer, yeah, and as this is the weather thread, I had better add that today in Cheshire East and southern Greater Manchester, it's been alternately rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny, rainy, sunny (etc.) pretty much all day.  

@courtenay   Being able to visit not only C.S. Lewis's former home and college in Oxford, but Beatrix Potter's house and Arthur Ransome's favourite areas in the Lake District, Jane Austen's house in Hampshire, Rudyard Kipling's house and A.A. Milne's "Poohsticks Bridge" in Sussex, the real-life Watership Down...

Yes, I did that, too, or at least some of the places you mentioned. In 1997, when my husband & I finally got to go to UK, together, that is just what I did. We went to the Lakes District to see a museum near Bowness, where they had a boat tied up to the jetty, all done up for Captain Flint's birthday party, complete with stuffed parrot. We also visited a diorama display for Beatrix Potter, and along with Geoffrey Trease & Rosemary Sutcliffe's offerings, we explored York and Chester as well as Hadrian's Wall. 

But the day we went across Watership Down to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), it was raining, so we missed out on strolling around to enjoy the countryside, which we hoped to do. But it cleared up in the afternoon, we did get to walk round the Roman city walls, there, in a sleepy town with a rather small mobile library, and a bloke working on it, done up in plus fours & a handlebar moustache, looking like he'd stepped out of a P.G. Wodehouse book, who seemed amazed that we actually have mobile libraries in Australia (one we had in the 1960-1970's for City of Sydney Public Library was a semi-trailer, based at our Alexandria branch, at the back of Redfern). He also wanted to know if we knew someone or other who went to live in either Nambucca Heads or Narooma, hundreds of kms away on either side of Sydney.  

Back in Sydney, though it has stopped raining so much, and we had a relatively sparkling day, yesterday, it is still very overcast, & though I am dressed warmly, I'm still shivering with cold, when the temperature has barely risen from its morning 12C. But then, it is supposed to be winter. 

@davidd It's a family trip- I was born in Perth; my parents and siblings live there.

Wow! Welcome home. I've been to Perth, in 2009, to see some of the attractions, there, such as the Maritime Museum at Fremantle, where there is Willem De Vlamingh's pewter plate, left on Dirk Hartog's Island in place of Dirk Hartog's original 1616 pewter plate, as well as the hull of the Batavia, from where it was shipwrecked in the Houtman Abrolhos, and the America's cup-winning Australia II in 1983. We saw Wave Rock, the Pinnacles, as well as Rottnest Island's quokkas.  

The weather variations welcomed winter here. The first two days of June were sunny and pleasant. Next had the Northwest wind pattern that dumps rain on the west side of the mountains and brings us warm winds and an arch in the clouds on the Northwest side. Today will change to about a week of rain.

Atlantic hurricane season has begun. 5 months of listening to new locals fret and stress and old locals roll their eyes at the drama  and just get on with life. I've been here long enough that I go with attempting to educate and keep the hurricane supplies topped off.

Summer got her about 3 weeks ago. So 16 weeks minimum before the days shorten enough that the temperatures can't stay hot past about 5:30 p.m.. Right now, it just stays hot. 

@coracle Today will change to about a week of rain.

I wonder if it is the same weather system that has been dumping rain on us. This one seems huge enough to go further south to Victoria, South Australia & Tasmania, where such rainfall is much more needed. 

@starkat Summer got here about 3 weeks ago. So 16 weeks minimum before the days shorten enough that the temperatures can't stay hot past about 5:30 p.m.

The winter solstice is on June 21 by my Northern Hemisphere calendar, only a couple of weeks away, proclaiming it as the first day of summer. Well, it might be in Cobh, Ireland, wherever exactly Cobh is, let alone your place.  But not here, where the calendar in another room shows a view of Hobart from a snowy Mt Wellington for June. And yes, it appears that the Snowy Mountains actually did get a second snowfall, to live up to its name, just in time for the skiing season. 🥶🥶🥶🥶

Posted by: @aileth

My cousin's daughter is affected by this flooding

Oh my, aileth! Have you had further updates? I hope they have managed through this challenge, and that their third child arrived safely.

Posted by: @stargazer

But today, and for the next few days, our big headline is wildfire smoke from massive fires burning in Manitoba.

Here too, plus wildfire smoke from northern Ontario. The past few days were especially hazy. This morning is better, but the forecasters are saying the high level smoke will return even as soon as this afternoon to again haze our sky. Our thoughts are with those thousands evacuated, as well as the dedicated firefighters.

Posted by: @pete

We've had a couple of frosts. 

Oooh, I revel in all frosts, but especially those first ones, which signal that glorious crisp weather I love so much. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

And yes, it appears that the Snowy Mountains actually did get a second snowfall, to live up to its name, just in time for the skiing season.

Wonderful! Two winters ago, we hardly had any snow (highly unusual), but this past winter we had loads, so skiing places all around were thrilled! 

I last wrote when we were in nice, cool spring weather, even with some frosty nights. However, that changed a few days later when heat and humidity started to descend. Some days weren't too bad, but yesterday, in particular, was nassssty. It ended up being our hottest day this season so far—31°C / 88F, which I know is not overly hot for some, but it sure is for us.

Thankfully, this was very short-lived, and we are back to lovely rain some days; a mixture of sun and cloud other days, and seasonable temperatures the rest of the week (22 - 24C / 71-75F), with little humidity, if any. Also, the nights are to be nice and cool for sleeping (10 - 12C / 50 - 53F). 

I don't know if I have ever mentioned here that since 2011 I have been a member of The Cloud Appreciation Society. This is their clever, almost tongue-in-cheek in parts, Manifesto:  

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that clouds are Nature's poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight 'blue-sky thinking' wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere's moods, and can be read like those of a person's countenance.

We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save money on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who'll listen:

Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and always remember to live life with your head in the clouds!

The smoke from numerous wildfires in northern Ontario and Manitoba has hit southern Ontario strong today. 

I don't notice a detrimental effect on my eyes or lungs, but my eyes can sure see the thick, smokey air this afternoon. I feel for people who have respiratory issues, and hope they can stay indoors today. Meeting my neighbour on my early walk this morning, she mentioned her eyes were already being affected by the poor air quality, and that was at 6 a.m.

And if the air is of this denseness here, one can only imagine how terrible it is closer to the fires.  

From Ontario Storm Watch:

"Toronto currently has the worst air quality for a major city in the world this afternoon!

Thick wildfire smoke continues to blanket Southern Ontario, leading to unhealthy levels of air pollution along a corridor stretching from Windsor through Toronto and into Ottawa."

I'm an asthmatic. Smoke and dust make it harder to breathe. I hope they can get it out soon and safely!

Wagga, the first official day of any season doesn't really mean much down on the Gulf coast here in Texas. Our "fall" last year was actually towards the end of November, the first of December. That's not always normal, sometimes it happens in October. We usually just go off temperature changes. We usually hit the 90F range between April and mid May. This year, the upper 90s showed up early. They usually show up end of June to mid July. 

Good news on the weather front here where I am located - we've been having a lovely rainfall yesterday and today, not too heavy (as we don't want it to flood) but not too light either - just a lovely soaking rain.  We need a lot more days like yesterday and today to end the current drought we're experiencing, but apparently this winter-spring time looks like there's probably going to be some relief - so that's good news!

@starkat   I'm an asthmatic. Smoke and dust make it harder to breathe. I hope they can get it out soon and safely! Wagga, the first official day of any season doesn't really mean much down on the Gulf coast here in Texas

Join the club! And I also hope for your sake, as well as theirs, that the Canadian & any other wildfires are soon put out. Yes, what is put in calendars, may not reflect when seasons actually start and finish, whether you are in Texas, where my calendar was actually published (Austin, TX, according to the publishing information on the back page). Or, whether you are anywhere in Southern Australia, especially NSW where climate is notoriously unpredictable. The Dharawal people calculated that there are really about six seasons altogether, here. Counting seasons sketchily called knock 'em down & build 'em up. 

Back to the calendar that I bought for myself, this year, to note down appointments etc. The January illustration is a beautiful picture of penguins on top of an Antarctic iceberg, very pleasant to look at during a normal NSW summer heatwave, in January, of about 40 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit). Whilst the June picture is of Cobh in the city of Cork, in Southern Ireland, famous as the last stopping place of the Titanic, I learned .  July's picture is of Times Square, somewhat appropriate, as July is the beginning of the Financial Year of 2025-2026. Whilst August is of Macchu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes. 

@pete  Good news on the weather front here where I am located - we've been having a lovely rainfall yesterday and today, not too heavy (as we don't want it to flood) but not too light either - just a lovely soaking rain.

Oh, that is really good! Sounds just like Dorothea Mackellar's famous poem, My Country. Yes, we truly are "a land of droughts and flooding plains". And I hope Victoria does get some reasonably useful follow-up rainfalls this year. 

@jo Oh my, aileth! Have you had further updates? I hope they have managed through this challenge, and that their third child arrived safely.

As far as I know, the cleanup in Taree, after the floods, is well underway, a week ago. As far as I have learned from our news reports, that is. I don't know about aileth's cousin & I hope everything works out well for her. If in an affected area, she would have been evacuated to higher ground, however, other surrounding towns from Coff's Harbour to Maitland on the Hunter River, have also been affected in this year's floods. 

Posted by: @jo

Oh my, aileth! Have you had further updates? I hope they have managed through this challenge, and that their third child arrived safely.

Not yet; not sure if baby hasn't arrived, or if I just haven't heard.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

If in an affected area, she would have been evacuated to higher ground,

Fortunately, their house is on higher ground, so above the worst of it.  Their own private Ararat, you might say.

Posted by: @courtenay

Meanwhile, living in the homeland of so many literary icons (including so many of my favourites from childhood) is just awesome. Being able to visit not only C.S. Lewis's former home and college in Oxford, but Beatrix Potter's house and Arthur Ransome's favourite areas in the Lake District, Jane Austen's house in Hampshire, Rudyard Kipling's house and A.A. Milne's "Poohsticks Bridge" in Sussex, the real-life Watership Down...

And alas, I didn't make it to any of them (partly because it was off-season when we were there) and Watership Down...that was a minor tragedy.  I saw it on the map after we were past it.  We would have made the very short detour if I had known!  We did make a point of stopping at "The Bird and Baby" (aka Eagle and Child pub) and walked a good deal in Oxford, but fell shockingly short in the literary department.

Posted by: @davidd

I live in Vancouver

Ah! then we are practically neighbours!  I'm in the Southern Interior--Okanagan-ish.  And have cousins in Perth--strangely small world sometimes, eh?

It's finally getting hot here (not @starkat kind of hot--that'll come later, but without the humidity, which means we never achieve quite such a level of discomfort) and we are completely smoke-free for the nonce.  That too might come later, but mostly the air currents trend eastward, where we share smoke with everyone downwind.  So generous of us!

@aileth   Fortunately, their house is on higher ground, so above the worst of it.  Their own private Ararat, you might say.

I'm glad to hear it because we are getting more rain. We are getting snow at Orange, up on the other side of the Blue Mountains, and down on the Southern Tablelands. It is still very cold at the moment. Polar winds have been coming, sent to us from Antarctica with love, no doubt.  

And meanwhile in north-west England, after The Hottest and Driest Spring on Record (so we've been told), temperatures at the start of summer have barely got into the mid-teens (Celsius) and it's been raining most of the time. I do love this country.  

@jo, I enjoy looking at clouds too, unless they are obstructing my view of the night sky or a solar eclipse.

Summer has arrived here; the high yesterday in a small town west of here was 99F/37C - not unusual for those in warm climates but unusual here, especially so early in the season.

Meanwhile, we've entered a wet pattern. It's raining here now with up to 4 inches/110mm of rain expected over the next 48 hours. This unsettled pattern is possible over the next 10 days. At least the plants will be happy!

Canadian wildfire smoke remains an issue, even in the rain. Some days it just gives a haze and an orange tint to the sun and moon; other days you can smell and even taste it.