The last few days have seen incessant heavy rain in the north east of Scotland as successive weather fronts stacked up against a high pressure area over Scandinavia. Unable to progress eastward, the fronts stalled and the rain just kept coming. On each of the last three days rainfall totals on my weather station have been above 25mm (an inch), with the three day total near to four inches, driven on by very strong southeasterly winds.
On all three days the low cloud level and heavy rain meant that it didn't really get light at all. Even a short walk was an unpleasant experience in wind, lashing rain and temperatures of about 3.5 Celcius - truly the very worst of all weathers.
The rivers are absolutely roaring, the fields saturated and flooded. The level at the bridge over the River Don at Montgarrie is very high - further downstream the river has burst whre it enters flatter country.
The volume of water coming down the Don is astonishing. There's no massive noise because all the normal features of the river are submerged, just an unsettling sloshing, sucking sort of sound
At last, this morning was rain-free although heavy showers set in later. In unaccustomed daylight we went to look at the river. Looking upstream, it's obvious that much more volume will cause the river to burst here too. The water coming down the Esset Burn (on the right of this picture) is backing up as it tries to enter the flow.
Looking downstream the width of the river has more than doubled - the flood guage is about three feet below the surface. The tributary on the right here is actually the riverside path.
Hopefully there will be a respite in the rainfall.
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