Weather watching

Being British and, worse than that, a British gardener, I’m fascinated with the weather. It is so important for deciding what to grow, when to plant and sow and whether it’s possible to go outside and do some gardening! And now that the climate is meant to be changing I thought it was time I kept an eye on it.
There are people that do this professionally – the Met Office and the weather station at RHS Garden Wisley for instance – but I want to check things out at home and in my garden.
So, I’ve decided to install a weather station in the garden. I’ve got my hands on an Oregon Scientific Advanced Professional Weather Station (WMR200). This provides ‘the ultimate forecast’; it gives comprehensive weather information, including weather forecast, indoor/outdoor temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, UV measurement, rainfall, heat index and wind direction and speed.
Once it’s up and running I’ll let you know how I get on.
So, is the climate changing? Well, a further indicator that it may be is that the record for the warmest night in January was broken in several places across the south of England on Friday (January 18). The temperature in London was 13.2C, beating the previous record of 12.7C. In my garden in Peterborough the temperature only went down to 10.3C. Anyway the plants seem to be enjoying it. I had to give a radio interview today, discussing daffodils and other plants that are in flower at the moment. January is now the new spring!