"I Don't Care What The Weatherman Says....."

But I do, I do and regularly check multiple weather forecasts, keep up with a local weather related Twitter feed, monitor my own little weather station as well as cast my eyes and nose to the skies for the sign of imminent rain or the smell of snow depending on the time of year. Yes you can smell snow before it arrives! Thinking about it my interest in the weather was piqued at an early age when I was appointed as a weather monitor at primary school. This exalted position involved a daily venturing out on the school roof which was exciting in itself and would certainly not be allowed in this day and age. Once out there were temperatures to read and record, a rain gauge to peep into and I'm convinced that my duties involved the far from scientific technique of waving a hanky about to establish the wind direction. 

Spending some time traveling on trains last weekend gave me the chance to catch up with some of that backlog of garden magazines, including the September issue of the RHS magazine 'The Garden' (July and August are still in the to be read pile). My eyes were drawn to a snippet in the news section (page 8, if you have a copy) entitled 'Weather Watching', with mention of a free online course starting this month,"open to to anyone interested in, or wanting to learn more about, weather and its forecasting. Participants do not need any science or weather knowledge".

This is a course that has been devised by the Met Office in conjunction with the University of Exeter under the umbrella of FutureLearn, an organisation which runs a variety of online courses. This particular course runs for four weeks and involves two to three hours of learning each week. The last week of the course includes a "gardening module with content supported by the RHS Gardening in a Changing Climate report, and covers a topics such as frost, and adapting your garden for climate change. There are also options for photographers and walkers".  I'm hoping that it might be possible to do both the gardening and the photography modules but still need to check that out.

Further investigation revealed that you can study at your own pace and that there are bite sized sections. Well with the darker nights setting in I made the decision to enrol. I have just dipped my toes into the water and am slowly navigating my way through week one. So far so good. A good starting point is the really friendly discussion board before moving on to the more serious stuff. I will report back at some stage, but if the idea of such a course appeals it is not to late to join me on this journey. The course only officially started on the 11th September with a completion date of 22nd October. After that you can no longer access the course material unless you pay for it. All you need is some free time and internet access. You can find out more detailed information here.

I've had one eye to on the sky whilst I've been writing this. It's looking brighter than yesterday but it's cool out there. Shopping calls and a coat and umbrella are the order of the day methinks. At least it's not too windy to put an umbrella up. What's the weather like where you are?