CAPTAIN'S LOG, STAR DATE WHATEVER......!

I try to keep a record, in the hastily scribbled pages of my diary, of the weather in Shetland each day. It's not a detailed scholarly affair, such as might be kept by an amateur meteorologist, with temperatures, rainfall amounts, wind strengths and hours of sunshine. It's just a rough sketch (to put it in artist's terms) of the conditions prevalent at the time of writing. A typical entry might read:

"Mostly cloudy, fresh NW wind, showers, drier in afternoon with wind decreasing."

However, I really struggled with Friday, when my weather report took up half a page, thus:

"Fresh NW wind with snow showers, after fairly heavy overnight snow with drifting. The wind dropped by daylight, and snow started falling gently, laying down another few inches. Around late morning, the wind was light to moderate E, veering round to SW by midday, with heavy snow turning to sleet and rain, wind near gale force. Wind gradually decreasing during afternoon, with sleet showers turning back into snow after dark. Wind light, then, around mid-evening, the wind picked up strong from the S and the snow turned back to rain."

As the snow fell on Friday morning, I set off with Ertie Burgess in his 4x4 fanbuster to collect a prescription at Scalloway surgery for my mother, and from thence to Whiteness, travelling on the main roads only (gave the Tingwall valley route a miss), in conditions best described as "passable with care". Of course, some of the drivers were overdoing the "care" bit, causing following motorists to brake and skid in the deep slushy mess. We arrived at Whiteness safely, and took the Brugarth brae, which had a foot covering of snow for most of its length, at the second attempt. We were obviously the first vehicle to attempt the feat that day.

Now, as I write this in Lerwick, the snow has been thawing slowly for two days, but I can see the white stuff is still lying deep in places in the hills. I won't be sorry to see the last of it, but I fear it will not be for a couple of months yet - at least.

Ugh!

Oh, and today's entry? "Bright at times, strong NW wind with sleet showers."