Tuesday 15 March 2011

Now you see it...

On first moving in, I said that if I stand to the right of my window I can see Bredon, and if I stand to the left I can see the Malverns. Now, four months later, I know that this isn't always the case. Bredon has many moods, from looming hulk to wafty Avalon, to shrouding itself entirely.

In presenting its public forecasts, the Met Office defines visibility as: very poor - less than 1 km; poor - 1 to 4 km; moderate - 4 to 10 km; good - 10 to 20 km; very good - 20 to 40 km; excellent - more than 40 km. Bredon is about 12.5 km from my window, and beyond Bredon the Cotswolds ridge is about 25 km. So it has to be good to very good visibility to see them. Because much of my view is fairly flat, Bredon takes on a greater presence and seems closer than it really is. So it feels slightly odd when it disappears, as it has done today in the mist after two days of brilliant sunshine. But meteorologically-speaking, it's a pretty mundane event.

Over in the west, the Malverns are about 14 km away. Of these there is the old saw, that if you can't see them, it is raining, and if you can see them, it is about to rain.

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