". . . and now we go to Kelly for the latest in the weather."

I've been a month or more trying to remember to do this post, but it always seems that the only time I remember to do this, I'm miles away from my computer. As I'm sure all of you have noticed the Weather Bug gadget to the right, I think it's about time I talk about the weather here in England . . . or at least my part of England. Just so that I know that I've covered this little tidbit, let me mention now that the Weather Bug needs to be told what city to retrieve weather data for. Either input Gateshead, United Kingdom in order to view the weather here.

Having grown up in Georgia and the Southeast, I'm used to . . . let's just say, energetic weather. By that, I mean the usual thunderstorms, the occasional tornado or hail storm and when all else fails, a good heavy rain. Let's not forget the super-dense fogs that frequent warm mornings and the crippling hot and humid summer days with haze so thick you can't see more than a mile. In my part of the state, the northwest corner, the annual rainfall is about 48 to 55 inches of rain, except during periods of drought.

Here, the weather is anything but normal for the 55th parallel. In most any other part of the world at 55 degrees North, the summers are cool at best and the winters are brutal. But because the British Isles enjoy the benefit of the Gulf Stream coming up from the East coast of North America, England enjoys exceptionally mild weather year round. Indeed, I have never seen grass displaying a lush green year round as I have here. That's not to say that it doesn't get cold here, but I'll get to that later.

Earlier today, as I was hanging out the laundry to dry, the temperatures were hovering around a very pleasant 72 degrees. Even now at 7 pm (as I write this), it is about 69 degrees and we have another 2 and a half hours of sunlight left. The hottest it has ever gotten here in Gateshead since I have been here is about 82 degrees. Everyone around here were about to drop out because of the heat. My wife looked at me on that day and made the comment that finally she saw me sweating. I replied to her that where I come from, we don't bother sweating until it gets above 80 degrees.

The average rainfall for much of England is about 32 inches or so. Back home in Georgia, that amount of rain would be considered drought conditions. However, because of the gentle nature of rain here, it soaks in with very little run-off. What my wife considers to be a big downpour barely qualifies as a normal shower back in Georgia. In fact, what inspired this particular post was a thunderstorm we experienced a month ago down in Derby (pronounced Darby), the very first thunderstorm I've experienced since I've been over here! No joke! To be honest though, Rebecca and I heard thunder one time a couple of years ago. Just the one instance, and it wasn't even rainy that day. It was off in the distance and we weren't even sure of it for a minute or so.

Then a few days ago, we had a thunderstorm here one afternoon. The lightning terrified Rebecca! The rain that came just a minute or so later was the hardest I've seen it rain here ever. Rebecca thought it was a flood. I thought it merely a shower. I guess it's all in what you're used to.

The fact that the rain here is gentle all the time and is spread out very evenly year round, means that the water table here is very stable. The soil remains moist most of the time. But when extra rain comes, the ground isn't able to soak up much more than it normally gets, thus flooding occurs here during periods of excessive rain. By excessive rain, I mean, if a quarter inch of rain falls in a 24 hour period, they get floods all over the place! The balance is quite delicate. If less than 30 inches of rain fall during the year, the region falls into a drought. More than 34 inches, then extensive flooding. Britain and Ireland are so green because they get regular rain on a very regular pace. Not too much and not too little. Any more or less than their normal rainfall causes disaster!

What the weather lacks in enthusiasm in its rain, it makes up for it in the wind. Northumberland has got to be the windiest place I have ever been! Gale force winds are not uncommon here. There are days when the wind doesn't get below 35 miles and hour, all day long! When they forecast gales here, one can count on winds between 35 and 45 miles an hour with gusts over 50 miles an hour. I'm not kidding! And on windy days that are not so gusty, the winds are commonly like what we would encounter in a heavy thunderstorm. It's so windy here that Windmill Farms are springing up all over the place. In this part of England, a sizable percentage of the electrical power comes from windmills. The sight of 70 and 80 foot towers with three 50 foot blades swirling in the wind, is becoming more and more common.

Oh, before I forget it, in case any of you are wondering about the famous London Fog and if it affects any of the rest of England, there is no London Fog . . . at least, not any more. That reputation was earned back in the 1800s when London was perpetually cursed with what we would nowadays call smog! London was famous in the nineteenth century for the very same thing that Los Angeles became famous for during the twentieth century. They just didn't have the same knack for making new words as we do today.