Tuesday 4 January 2011

Ayrshire and the big thaw

I was glad to see the thaw arrive with the new year. It seemed strange driving to Ayrshire and not seeing snow everywhere. I guess a whole month of seeing the white stuff everywhere does that.

However, what freezes must unfreeze too.. and when the thaw came to Ayrshire, the waters of the river Ayr started to rise rapidly bursting the frozen surface into huge ice cubes, around a foot thick. These chunks of ice all started to move downstream before jamming on the bridge over the A77. Motorists blocked the main road stopping to watch this spectacular sight as it built up on the inland side of the bridge.

I missed the main fun but there was still plenty of ice to be seen on its banks yesterday. I can only imagine the sound as the ice started to burst and break before heading downstream.

Shipping in the Clyde have been warned to keep an eye open for mini icebergs as the chunks could cause considerable damage to a fishing boat.

Yup..its was a c..c..c..cold end to 2010 and althogh the thaw cleared Decembers frost, I suspect we shall see a lot more snow before the trees come into leaf again.

The ice flow stuck on the banks of the river Ayr during one of the coldest Decembers in the UK since records began. Roll on the spring till I can get boating again.





2 comments:

blueskyscotland said...

Alex and myself were down here as well.Amazing sight.Only stopped as we were stuck in a traffic jam caused by folk slowing down to look over the bridge from their cars.bob

Donny Wilcox said...

Hi Alex..hope you have a good new year and nice to see you around :-D

I used to live in Ayr so knew I could park in Dobbies car park and reach the river by a short walk over the field..so I didnt add to the jam :-D