Weather

As I suspected yesterday’s cold nor’wester was doing a whitewash job on the mountains. Back Peak and Otarama haven’t looked so cool for a long time.

The norwester stopped at last and was replaced by a south easterly, the wind that comes from Antarctica. It brought heavy sleety hail that pressed bushes flat. The big Viburnum plicatum, laden with masses of white flowers, has sprawled onto the lawn. The afternoon temperature plummeted to below 3ºC.

I have left the tomato, cucumber and zucchini plants in the greenhouse, heavily wrapped in frost cloths. The grape vine has a fleece blanket between it and the polythene. There will probably be a frost over night.